5 o METHOD OF SOUNDING. PART in. 



that such, delicate creatures could live on that dark 

 sea bed, under the pressure of a column of water 

 more than 2,000 fathoms high, a weight equal to rather 

 more than that of 340 atmospheres or 5,100 Ibs. on every 

 square inch of sea-bed ; wherefore he concluded that the 

 tropical ocean and the Gulf Stream, which absolutely 

 swarm with animal life, must have been the birth-place 

 and home of these minute creatures, and that this 

 mighty c ocean river,' which divides at the Great Banks 

 of Newfoundland, and spreads its warm waters like a 

 fan over the north Atlantic, deposits their remains over 

 its bed, which has thus been their grave-yard for un- 

 known periods, and which, in the lapse of geological 

 time, may be raised above the waves as dry land. 



Professor Ehrenberg on the contrary concluded that 

 residentiary life exists at the bottom of the ocean, both 

 from the freshness of the animal matter found in the 

 shells, and from the number of unknown forms which 

 are discovered from time to time at various and often 

 great depths along the coasts. This opinion has been 

 confirmed beyond a doubt on several occasions, especially 

 by Dr. Wallich, who accompanied an expedition sent 

 under the command of Sir Leopold M'CKntock, to sound 

 the North Atlantic for laying a telegraphic line. 



In doing that two operations are requisite. The first 

 is to ascertain the depth : when that is known, the 

 nature of the sea-bed must be determined, and on that 

 account a sample of it is then sounded for ; but owing to 

 the difficulty of ascertaining the exact time at which 

 the ground is struck, a quantity of rope in excess of the 

 depth is given out, which lies on the bottom of the sea 

 while the machine is being drawn up, which occupies a 

 considerable time when the depth is great. About 

 midway between Greenland and the north of Ireland, 

 when the machine was hauled up from a depth of a 

 mile and a half, several starfish were clinging with 



