taking an unjustified risk: but the depth was only 550 fathoms and the 

 unballasting of a single tank would be enough to assure the return of 

 the bathyscaphe to the surface. In case of necessity we should still 

 be able to jettison the entire tank with its contents. Instead of fourfold 

 security — two solenoids and two electro-magnets — we should have it 

 threefold ; that was enough. 



The morning had been lost, but in the afternoon we were ready 

 again. The usual operations were gone through once again ; this time 

 everything went forward without a hitch. At last the telephone was 

 disconnected from its socket and the bathyscaphe went down ; slowly 

 the light grew less. 



I have often been asked what were my thoughts at these moments. 

 There was nothing to cause us anxiety. Neither my son nor I could 

 believe in the possibility of any fatal accident. However, it must be 

 admitted, seeing the light decrease while the gauge indicated increasing 

 pressures has something impressive in it. We knew, of course, that 

 in the course of nature day must always follow night ; it is a spectacle 

 which men have seen hundreds of millions of times. But, until now, 

 those who have come back from the kingdom of shadows can be 

 counted on the fingers of one hand. And yet we had confidence in the 

 laws of nature : we had only to turn such and such a switch to cut the 

 supply of electricity to the solenoids and start the unballasting. Less 

 heavy than water, we should necessarily rise: Archimedes knew it 

 centuries ago ! 



My preoccupations were of another order and I feared only one thing : 

 to have to go up again to the surface too soon if ill-luck had it that 

 some circuit was broken. This time everything went well and the light 

 grew less : in the beginning the light which filtered in through the port- 

 holes was still sufficient for us to distinguish objects in the cabin ; then, 

 little by little, the shadows grew thicker; the portholes alone were 

 still visible: grey-blue discs 4 inches in diameter; slowly the colours 

 blurred. All became grey, then dark grey, then black. 



DAYLIGHT UNDER WATER 



To what depth is light visible and what is the colour of the last ray 

 one can see ? It is hard to say. Coming out of the full daylight, the eye is 

 considerably less sensitive than after it has been an hour in darkness. 

 It follows that, when going down, the frontier between day and night 

 seems to be closer to the surface than when rising. The perception of 



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