43 
German Ocean, or North S^ea. 
the philosopher has not hitherto derived much light, to enable 
him to compare the theories which have been assigned by geo- 
logists, to account for the various and discordant appearances of 
the structure of the globe. It has also been with much diffi- 
culty, and at no small personal hazard, that the philosophical 
enquirer has ventured to climb the highest mountains, to exa- 
mine into the phenomena of the atmosphere. The balloon has 
indeed enabled us to attain still higher points of elevation; 
but as yet \ye do not seem to have made proportional pro- 
gress in knowledge. In all . such attempts to ascend the 
greatest heights, or penetrate the deepest excavations, we still 
breathe in our own element, though under different modifi- 
cations. If, however, we would explore the depths of the 
Ocean, we immediately encounter an element to which the or- 
ganization of our lungs is not at all adapted ; the density 
of air, compared with water on a level with the surface of 
the sea, being in the ratio of 1 to about 850 ; and our difficul- 
ties must consequently increase in a very rapid proportion. 
Here, therefore, we are unavoidably left to conjecture on many 
points of our enquiries regarding this highly interesting sub- 
ject. Even the ingenious contrivance of the Diving-Bell contri- 
butes but little towards our investigations for ascertaining the 
nature of the bottom of the sea, at least to any considerable depth, 
on account of the difficulty of its application in situations exposed 
to stormy weather, and also of the increasing ratio of the pressure 
of the fluid as we descend. This curious machine, it is believed, 
v/as invented and employed, about the year 17^0, by a Captain 
Rowe for raising the wreck of ships upon the coast of Scotland ; 
and in the year 1778, the active mind of Smeaton first applied it 
to the operations of the engineer. 
Our knowledge of the bottom of the ocean, therefore, remains 
still very imperfect, and, with little exception, the simple appa- 
ratus of the mariner, consisting of a plummet and line, continues 
to be chiefly in use for ascertaining the depth of the sea, and 
the nature of the ground. With these, and the addition of a 
little grease applied to the lower extremity of the plummet, 
which strikes against the bottom, we learn the quality of the 
soil, though imperfectly, by the particles which adhere to the 
