A REGION OF PERFECT STILLNESS. 85 



exist, it would be insensible. There is a region, o) 

 which we cannot define the limits, which enjoys » 

 perfect calm, and if any displacement occurs it is 

 that which results from slow and imperceptible 

 molecular motion. The temperature of that region 

 is very nearly the same over all parts of the globe, 

 and its ^altness is considerable. There also reigns 

 the most profound obsiuiity ; and life, constrained in 

 its development by the absence of light, the insuffi- 

 cient supply of oxygen, and the great quantity of 

 carbonic acid contained in the water, ceases at last 

 altogether, probably as it does in the aerial atmo- 

 sphere at a height exceeding 26,000 feet. The study 

 of that calm and perhaps lifeless region is not, 

 however, uninteresting. By means of soundings we 

 are able to ascertain, in some measure, what is 

 passing there ; anl if we avail ourselves of these 

 facts, aided by the science of the geologist, it will 

 not be difficult to infer from them some curious de- 

 tails concerning the history of the globe. 



