DEEP SEA CONDITIONS. 137 



The pressure on this bottle must have been something 

 like three tons, or 6,720 lbs, to the square inch. 



We ourselves, living at ordinary levels, are subjected 

 to a constant pressure of 14|lbs. upon every square inch 

 of our body. Need we say, that if we or any of our friends 

 were lowered to the same depth as Mr. Agassiz's cham- 

 pagne, we should never be able to be identified again. 



Take again the question of Hght. Fol and Sarasin, 

 by means of photographic plates let down beneath the 

 surface, conducted experiments on the Lake of Geneva, 

 which went to show that at a depth of five hundred and 

 ten feet, the effect on the plates was no more than that 

 which would be produced on a dark moonless night. 

 Similar experiments in the Mediterranean, whose waters 

 are ultra clear, gave a depth of 1,200 feet ; so that we 

 may conclude that in general, at any depth below this, a 

 profound darkness exists. This complete absence of 

 sun-light at once puts out of count the possibility of plant 

 life. And this all important factor in the economy of all 

 animal hfe, human or otherwise, at once raises in its turn 

 the question, how do deep sea animals ultimately live ? 



But such questions, fascinating as they are, are too 

 abstruse to enter into here. 



'l^ 



And so may be, full of thoughts such as these, we 

 should, before walking back to our palm-strewn island, 

 turn to gaze for a minute upon its emerald line of vegeta- 

 tion, set in the middle of our chalky-grey plateau — a 

 beautiful oasis, amidst all this grey desert, formed of the 

 dead and living organisms of a coral reef — a marvellous 

 manifestation of vegetating wonder, a crowning glory 

 to a deep laid scheme. 



And having regained the island, we might be tempted 

 to walk out once more ; this time for another two miles 

 in a southerly direction ; and again at the end of our walk 

 across the coral-strewn plateau, we should find the ground 

 sinking rapidly away beneath our feet and falling dizzily 

 to abysmal depths. Between us and the distant grey 



