497 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



Obliterate 

 Ocean 



Red Sea, and which is separated by a nar- 

 row isthmus from the Delta of the Nile and 

 the southeastern coasts of the Mediterra- 

 nean. By means of all these geographical 

 relations the influence of the sea as a con- 

 necting element was speedily manifested 

 in the growing power of the Phenicians, and 

 subsequently in that of the Hellenic nations, 

 and in the rapid extension of the sphere 

 of general ideas. Civilization, in its early 

 seats in Egypt, on the Euphrates, and the 

 Tigris, in Indian Pentapotamia and China, 

 had been limited to lands rich in navigable 

 rivers; the case was different, however, in 

 Phenicia and Hellas. The active life of the 

 Greeks, especially of the Ionian race, and 

 their early predilection for maritime expe- 

 ditions, found a rich field for its develop- 

 ment in the remarkable configuration of the 

 Mediterranean, and in its relative position 

 to the oceans situated to the south and 

 west. HUMBOLDT Cosmos, vol. ii, p. 122. 

 (H., 1897.) 



2443. OCEAN BLOCKADED BY 

 FLOATING ROCK A Raft of Pumice. 

 During the year 1878 masses of floating 

 pumice were reported as existing in the vi- 

 cinity of the Solomon Isles, and covering 

 the surface of the sea to such extent that it 

 took ships three days to force their way 

 through them. Sometimes these masses of 

 pumice accumulate in such quantities along 

 coasts that it is difficult to determine the 

 position of the shore within a mile or two, 

 as we may land and walk about on the 

 great floating raft of pumice. JUDD Vol- 

 canoes, ch. 4, p. 73. (A., 1899.) 



2444. OCEAN, FREEDOM OF COM- 

 MUNICATION IN Fauna of the Sea More 

 Difficult to Divide than That of the Land. 

 On the dry land we find mountain ranges, 

 forests, deserts, and other barriers that to 

 a very considerable extent prevent the mix- 

 ing of one fauna with another, but in the 

 sea there are no barriers of anything like 

 the same importance, but one fauna gradu- 

 ally merges into the neighboring fauna ac- 

 cording to the temperature, the pressure, the 

 amount of light, the salinity of the water, 

 or the food-supply. This, then, is one of 

 the difficulties met with in the study of the 

 geographical distribution of the marine 

 fauna. HICKSON Fauna of the Deep Sea, 

 ch. 3, p. 46. (A., 1894.) 



2445. OCEAN, PHOSPHORESCENCE 



OF Manifold Light and Life of the Deep. 

 As the moon passes behind a cloud, and 

 the night grows darker for the obscuring 

 of the Queen of the Night, this strange light 

 on the waves literally glows with its fiery 

 sheen. . . . Look how every fleck of 

 spray seems tinged with a radiance as of 

 jeweled kind. Flashes of lambent fire play 

 among the foam, and now and then a long 

 ripple of flame shoots along the whole 

 course of the wave that rushes aft from the 

 bow. 



Suppose you could lift a bucket of water 

 from the sea to-night, and that in your 

 deck-cabin you had your microscope in full 

 array, let us endeavor to see what such a 

 scrutiny of the waves would tell us about 

 the cause of the phosphorescence of the deep. 

 The water would be seen to be alive with 

 animalcules, each the mere fraction of an 

 inch in length. . . . 



Swarming in myriads i- the waters of the 

 ocean, these animalcules, under favorable 

 conditions of heat and other phases relating 

 to their vital activity, give forth the strange, 

 weird gleam you see shooting along the 

 crest of the waves. You can recall Cole- 

 ridge's lines with apt force when on this 

 quiet night you sit and watch the play of 

 phosphorescence on the sea: 



Beyond the shadow of the ship I watched the water- 

 snakes ; 



They moved in tracks of shining white, 

 And when they neared the elfish light 



Veil off in hoary flakes. 



Beyond the shadow of the ship I watched their rich 



attire ; 



Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, 

 They coiled and swam, and every track 



Was a flash of golden fire. 



How and why these and other animals 

 exhibit a phosphorescent light is a prob- 

 lem towards the solution of which science 

 has, at least, advanced within reasonable 

 distance. The noctiluca is undoubtedly the 

 cause of the diffused phosphorescence of the 

 sea. The myriads of animalcules give to 

 the ocean the appearance of a universal 

 effulgence. ANDREW WILSON Glimpses of 

 Nature, ch. 2, p. 11. (Hum., 1892.) 



2446. 



Night Made Glori- 



ous Luxuriance of Beauty. The phos- 

 phorescence of the ocean is one of those 

 splendid phenomena of Nature which ex- 

 cite our admiration, even when we be- 

 hold its recurrence every night for months 

 together. The ocean is phosphorescent in 

 all zones of the earth, but he who has 

 not witnessed the phenomenon in the trop- 

 ics, and especially in the Pacific, can form 

 but a very imperfect idea of the maj- 

 esty of this brilliant spectacle. The trav- 

 eler on board a man-of-war, when plowing 

 the foaming waves before a fresh breeze, 

 feels that he can scarcely satisfy himself 

 with gazing on the spectacle presented by 

 the circling waves. Wherever the ship's 

 side rises above the waves, bluish or red- 

 dish flames seem to flash lightning-like up- 

 wards from the keel. The appearance pre- 

 sented in the tropical seas on a dark night 

 is indescribably glorious, when shoals of dol- 

 phins are seen sporting around, and cutting 

 the foaming waves in long and circling lines, 

 gleaming with bright and sparkling light. 

 HUMBOLDT Views of Nature, p. 245. (Bell, 

 1896.) 



2447. OCEAN, POSSIBLE IRRUP- 

 TION OF The second case [of a possible 

 deluge] is where there are large tracts 

 of dry land beneath the mean level of 



