ITO APPKN11IX. 



" The number of medusa; in the olive-green sea was found 

 to be immense. They were about one-fourth of an inch 

 asunder. In this proportion, a cubic inch of water must 

 contain 64 ; a cubic foot 110,59.^ ; a cubic fathom 23,887,882; 

 and a cubical mile about 23,888,000,000,000,000 ! From 

 soundings made in the situation where these animals were 

 found, it is probable the sea is upwards of a mile in depth ; 

 but whether these substances occupy the whole depth is un- 

 certain. Provided, however, the depth to which they extend 

 be but two hundred and fifty fathoms, the above immense 

 number of one species may occur in a space of two miles 

 square. . . . What a stupendous idea this fact gives of the im- 

 mensity of creation, and of the bounty of Divine Providence, 

 in furnishing siich a profusion of life in a region so remote 

 from the habitations of men" (p. 179). " The economy of 

 these little creatures . . . constitutes the foundation of the 

 subsistence of the largest animals in the creation . . . The 

 common whale feeds on medusa^, cancri, actiniae, sepise, 

 etc., and these feed probably on the minor medusse and ani- 

 malcules. The iin whales and dolphins feed principally on 

 herrings and other small fishes ! These subsist on the smaller 

 cancri, medusa;, and animalcules. The bear's most general 

 food is probably the seal ; the seal subsists on the cancri and 

 small fishes ; and these on lesser animals of the tribe, or on 

 the minor medusa? and animalcules. Thus the whole of the 

 larger animals depend on these minute beings . . . and thus 

 Ave find a dependent chain of existence, one of the smaller 

 links of which being destroyed, the whole must necessarily 

 perish. It is not a little interesting to trace the physiology 

 of the preservation of these smaller animals. As the mean 

 temperature of the atmosphere in the Spitzbergen Sea is ten 

 or twelve degrees below the freezing point of salt water, it is 

 evident, that, were the water of the sea stationary, it must, in 

 the course of ages, be frozen to the bottom, and along with 

 it, as a matter of course, all the smaller animals, not having 



