124 THE MICROSCOPE. 



ball, and has a cup at its base with a little soap 

 or tallow on it for causing the specimens to 

 adhere ; or, what has been found to answer 

 better, the barrel of a common quill is attached 

 to the bottom of the rod to receive these speci- 

 mens. Thus the bottom of the North Atlantic 

 Ocean has certainly been reached at the depth 

 of 25,000 feet, and the most delicate specimens 

 safely raised from that depth. " What is to be 

 the use of these deep-sea soundings ?" Mr. Maury 

 asks, and quaintly follows it up with Franklin's 

 question, " What is the use of a new-born babe ?" 

 These deep-sea soundings, the moment they 

 were announced to the world, assumed a prac- 

 tical bearing in the minds of intelligent men, 

 with regard to the plan of a submarine tele- 

 graph across the Atlantic. First, the existence 

 of the great plateau from Cape Clear to Cape 

 Race, never probably at a greater depth than 

 10,000 or 12,000 feet, was ascertained ; and the 

 farther remarkable geographical fact was no- 

 ticed, that this plateau, now in the sea now 

 on the dry land probably encircles the earth. 

 Thus, between 45 and 50 north latitude, we 

 have the British Islands ; then on the Conti- 



