122 THE MICROSCOPE. 



shell or the minute animalcule reposing in 

 tranquillity, may the great cable of the Inter- 

 national Telegraph remain all undisturbed, 

 however fiercely the war of the elements may 

 rage above. 



3. On this point, the researches and disco- 

 veries of Lieutenant Maury are as interesting 

 as they are original. In the second edition of 

 that magnificent volume, Johnston's Physical 

 Atlas, published so late as 1856, we read: 

 " Between Cape Clear, in Ireland, and Cape 

 Kace, in Newfoundland, there is said to be a 

 remarkable steppe, or raised bottom, on which 

 the sea is estimated to be probably no more 

 than 10,000 feet in depth." 1 And in a note, it 

 is added, " This has been, perhaps hastily, 

 called the telegraphic plateau, from the pro- 

 jected submarine telegraph across the Atlantic. 

 The distance from shore to shore by the great 

 circle route is 1600 miles" (1640, Maury's [1856] 

 Physical Geography of the Sea) ; " and it is 

 believed, that while the depth is not so great as 

 to prevent the wires from sinking down and 

 resting on it, it is yet sufficient to guard them 



1 Physical Atlas, p. 43. 



