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to reach the bottom. But that error was afterwards obviated by taking the 
soundings from a boat, so that the sailors rowed with the current ; and in 
that circumstance you have incidental proof of the existence of great currents 
in the ocean. I do not think much reliance is to be placed on what we have 
learnt as to what I may term the exceptional portion of the ocean bottom, 
where the Atlantic cable has been laid, because it is laid avowedly upon a 
plateau which has an average depth of only three and a half miles beneath 
the surface. If you were to go to either side of the plateau, you would come 
to deep precipices ; consequently the plateau presents exceptional phenomena 
as compared with the other portions of the ocean. But it has been said that 
because foraminifera have been brought up from that depth with their shells 
uninjured, that is, therefore, a proof that the bottom of the sea must be 
extremely quiet. I may explain as regards these soundings that they were 
originally made by means of cannon-balls attached to lines. But there was 
scarcely an instance in which the cannon-ball was brought up again, and the 
only way in which they first got a knowledge of what was at the bottom was 
by greasing a piece of metal at the end of the line, and so bringing up a small 
portion of the ooze adhering to it. An American officer afterwards suggested 
the use of a quill for this purpose, because of the difficulty that the grease 
caused in identifying the objects under the microscope ; and all that we 
know now of the bottom of the Atlantic has been made known to us 
through that source. "With regard to the food of these foraminifera, when 
we know the vast amount of ocean we have to deal with, and if we take it 
only at three and a half miles deep, — just conceive that more than three- 
quarters of the earth is covered with water, and I think Mr. Warington will 
find it will be a very nice problem for him to determine what is the 
amount of water covering the earth, and how much carbonate of lime 
it is capable of holding, and we do not know that that proportion 
may not be increased in the deeper portions of the sea. We know that 
water at an extreme pressure renders soluble what is insoluble under 
other circumstances, and we know that the most extraordinary materials 
and mineral combinations are thrown out by volcanoes ; I rather think 
carbonate of lime forms one portion of those things, and we know that there 
are volcanoes in the sea. We should remember also that chalk is composed 
of foraminifera, and also of diatomaceae, which are nearly all silicious in 
their formation. Mr. Pattison has suggested that extreme caution should be 
shown in carrying the war into the enemy’s camp. If he will carefully read 
my paper, he will see how I guarded myself. I simply stated the facts from 
the progress of geological science as set forth by Sir Charles Lyell and other 
men professing to be great geological authorities. I produced evidence to 
show that the tendency of all we knew, as we increased in a knowledge of 
the earth’s strata and their contents, was to prove that the supposed breaks 
between what were considered successive creations did not exist, and that 
animals of a high degree of development are being carried down into strata 
where they were never expected to be found. The tendency of modern geolo- 
gical science is to carry this further. I stated another thing which did not 
