30 RESULTS OF DEEP-SEA SOUNDINGS. 



covery of truth alone, and without the most distant 

 reference to the Atlantic Telegraph, yet that tele- 

 graph has been one of the results of that study. 

 Who can tell how many more shall follow 1 And 

 even were no other result ever to follow, this one 

 may prove to be of the most stupendous importance 

 to the human race. 



Another discovery that has been made by deep- 

 sea sounding is, that the lowest depths of the ocean 

 are always in a state of profound calm. Oceanic 

 storms do not extend to the bottom. When the 

 tempest is lashing the surface of the sea into a state 

 of the most violent and tremendous agitation, the 

 caverns of the deep are wrapped in perfect repose. 

 This has been ascertained from the fact that in 

 many places the bottom of the sea, as shown by 

 the specimens brought up by Brooke's apparatus, 

 and more recently by Professor Thompson's deep-sea 

 dredge, is composed of exceedingly minute shells of 

 marine insects. These shells, when examined by 

 the microscope, are found to be unbroken and 

 perfect, though so fragile that they must certainly 

 have been broken to pieces had they ever been 

 subjected to the influence of currents, or to the 

 pulverizing violence of waves. Hence the conclu- 

 sion that the bottom of the sea is in a state of 

 perpetual rest and placidity. 



Indeed, when we think of it, we are led to con- 

 clude that this must necessarily be the case. There 

 are, as we shall presently show, currents of vast size 



