THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA 3 



no real idea of the bottom of the sea" Sup- 

 pose we imagine an aeroplane, or an airship, 

 from some distant planet soaring miles above 

 our earth and hidden from view by impenetra- 

 ble clouds. Imagine such an airship drop- 

 ping weighted lines downward to our earth's 

 surface, dragging nets across our plains and 

 mountains, gathering samples of our soils and 

 plant life by tiny grapples and grease-coated 

 weights. Would such methods give the be- 

 ings in the aircraft a true idea of the appear- 

 ance of the earth, of its flora, its animal life 

 and its details; would maps prepared from 

 data thus obtained be accurate charts of the 

 earth's topography; would learned volumes 

 written by the crew of the airship and based 

 on the material they gathered throw any great 

 light upon the appearance, life or formation 

 of our land? Of course it would not, and yet 

 by such methods alone do we know anything 

 of the ocean depths which cover three-fourths 

 of the entire surface of the globe. 



It is marvellous that we have accomplished 

 so much; that we should have learned even 

 the little we do know of the vast areas deep 



