190 



THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. 



[chap. IV. 



confine myself at present almost exclusively to the 

 description of the phenomena of the deep water in the 

 Atlantic so far as these have been worked out, I 

 will not here repeat the narrative of the experiments 

 in the Strait. I will, however, give a brief sketch of 

 Dr. Carpenter's cruise in the Mediterranean, as the 

 remarkable phenomena connected with the distribu- 

 tion of temperature and of animal life which he 

 observed, illustrate while they contrast with the 

 singularly different conditions which have been 

 already described in the outer ocean. 



The first sounding in the basin of the Mediter- 

 ranean was taken on the 16th of August, lat. 36° 0' 

 N., long. 4° 40' W., at a depth of 586 fathoms, with a 

 bottom of dark grey mud. The surface temperature 

 was 23°'6 C, and the bottom temperature 12°'8 C, 

 about three degrees higher than at the same depth 

 in the ocean outside. A serial sounding was taken to 

 determine the rate of the diminution of temperature, 

 with the following curious result : — 



Thus the temperature fell rapidly for the first 30 

 fathoms, more slowly for the next 20, from 50 to 100 

 lost only 3° C, and before reaching the depth of a 

 hundred fathoms had attained its minimum tempera- 



