62 APHORISMS AND REFLECTIONS 



a considerable portion of the superficial layei 

 of the sea-bottom can be scooped out and brought up 

 from any depth to which the lead descends. In 1853, 

 Lieut. Brooke obtained mud from the bottom of the 

 North Atlantic, between Newfoundland and the 

 Azores, at a depth of more than 10,000 feet, or two 

 miles, by the help of this sounding; apparatus. The 

 specimens were sent for examination to Ehrenberg 

 of Berlin, and to Bailey of West Point, and those 

 able microscopists found that this deep-sea mud was 

 almost entirely composed of the skeletons of living 

 organisms— the greater proportion of these being 

 just like the Globigerime already known to occur in 

 the chalk. 



Thus far, the work had been carried on simply m 

 the interests of science, but Lieut. Brooke's method 

 of sounding acquired a high commercial value, when 

 the enterprise of laying down the telegraph-cable 

 between this country and the United States was 

 undertaken. For it became a matter of immense 

 importance to know, not only the depth of the sea 

 over the whole line along which the cable was to be 

 laid, but the exact nature of the bottom, so as to 

 guard against chances of cutting or fraying the 

 strands of that costly rope. The Admiralty conse- 

 quently ordered Captain Dayman, an old friend and 

 shipmate of mine, "to ascertain the depth over the 

 whole line of the cable, and to bring back specimens 

 of the bottom. In former days, such a command as 

 this might have sounded very much like one of the 

 impossible things which the young Prince in the 

 Fairy Tales is ordered to do before he can obtain 

 the hand of the Princess. However, in the months 

 of June and July, 1857, my friend performed the task 

 assigned to him with great expedition and precision, 

 vrithout, so far as I know, having met with any 

 reward of that kind. The specimens of Atlantic mud 

 which he procured were sent to me to be examined 

 and reported upon. 



