The Ocean World 



CHAPTER I. 



THE OCEAN. 

 ApiffTov fifv iiSwp — "The best of all things is water." — Pindar. 



It is estimated that the sea covers nearly two-thirds of the surface of 

 the earth. The calculation, as given by astronomers, is as follows : 

 The surface of the earth is 31,625,625^ square miles, that portion 

 occupied by the waters being about 23,814,121 square miles, and 

 that consisting of continents, peninsulas, and islands, being 7,811,504 

 miles ; whence it follows that the surface covered with water is to 

 dry land as 3'8 is to t"2. The waters thus cover a little more than 

 seven-tenths of the whole surface. " On the surface of the globe," 

 Michelet remarks, " water is the rule, dry land the exception." 



Nevertheless, the immensity and depth of the seas are aids rather 

 than obstacles to the intercourse and commerce of nations ; the 

 maritime routes are now traversed by ships and steamers conveying 

 cargoes and passengers equal in extent and in point of numbers to 

 the land routes. One of the features most characteristic of the ocean 

 is its continuity ; for, with the exception of inland seas, such as the 

 Caspian, the Dead Sea, and some others, the ocean is one and 

 indivisible — "it embraces the whole earth with an uninterrupted 



wave." 



Tlepl irarrav 6' elKiiraoix^vovs 

 ■)(d6i/' aKOi/xiiTcp pevjjLaTi. 



.iEsCHYLUS in Prometheus Vinctus. 



The mean depth ot the sea is not very exactly ascertained, but 

 certain phenomena observed in the movement of tides are supposed 

 to be incapable of explanation without admitting a mean depth ot 



B 



