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THE INHABITANTS OF THE DEEP. 419
line brought to light 116 different species of these animalculae, taken from
a depth of 3660 fathoms between the Philippine and Ladrone islands.
Lastly, in the voyage of exploration undertaken by M'Clintock, in
1860, across the North Atlantic, Dr. Wallich definitely solved the question by indisputable proofs. At the south-east of Iceland the dredge detached a fragment of a serpula, the flesh of which was still fresh, and
some small living shell-fish, from a rock at a depth of 671 fathoms. In
addition even to this, another sounding, made at a depth of 1240 fathoms
—that is, at a point where the weight ofthe body of water exceeded 200
atmospheres—brought up several small shell-fish and thirteen star-fish,
one of which was not less than four and a half inches in breadth: these
animals reached the surface of the water alive, and for a quarter of an
hour they incessantly worked about their long spike-covered arms ;* besides, the remains of the foraminiferae which were found in the digestive
organs of the echinoderms allow no doubt as to the fact that these inferior organisms likewise exist at a depth of more than 1200 fathoms in the
ocean. Since Dr. Wallich's discovery, Torrell brought up from a depth
of 1430 fathoms, in the sea of Spitzbergen, a crustacean of brilliant colors.
The same fact applies to the Mediterranean; for when the telegraphic
cable which joins the island of Sardinia to the coast of Genoa was broken,
its fragments were found to be covered with polyps and shell-fish, bringing the wire in some places to the size of a hogshead. Subsequently, the
submarine telegraph between Sardinia and Algeria was also broken, and
Mr. A. Milne Edwards recognized on a fragment of the*cable, fished up
from a depth of 1000 to 1500 fathoms, a large number of animals, which
must all have existed in the bed of the sea on this wire laid down by human agency; for their forms were molded round the iron on which they
rested, and their soft parts were still in a state of preservation. Among
these creatures there were found serpulae, a species of oyster, a highly-colored pecten shell, and, lastly, some polyps which hitherto had not been
met with in any part of the Mediterranean, and were thought to exist
only in a fossil state.f This is not all: Ehrenberg has shown that luminous animalculae exist at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico; and this unexpected fact admits ofthe supposition that the depths of other seas and of
the vast ocean are not lost in unfathomable darkness. It may therefore
be concluded that at a depth of even thousands of fathoms light is not
altogether wanting, and that it shows itself periodically, or even constantly—thus explaining why the eyes of species taken from deep waterAare
not atrophied like those offish and insects found in dark caverns.^
Thus the depths of the ocean are not a vast desert where the movement
of hidden counter-currents is the only evidence of terrestrial life; even in
the midst of these regions, where a ray of light never penetrates, there are
beings which are born there, which live there, and which there find their
* Wallich, Atlantic Sea-bed, p. 69.
f Annates des Sciences Naturelles, 4th series, 1861.
X Mittheilungen von Petermann, vol. vi., 1867.
| Title | The ocean, atmosphere, and life |
| Creator | Reclus, Elisée |
| Publisher | Harper |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | 1873 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000462 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | THE INHABITANTS OF THE DEEP. 419 line brought to light 116 different species of these animalculae, taken from a depth of 3660 fathoms between the Philippine and Ladrone islands. Lastly, in the voyage of exploration undertaken by M'Clintock, in 1860, across the North Atlantic, Dr. Wallich definitely solved the question by indisputable proofs. At the south-east of Iceland the dredge detached a fragment of a serpula, the flesh of which was still fresh, and some small living shell-fish, from a rock at a depth of 671 fathoms. In addition even to this, another sounding, made at a depth of 1240 fathoms —that is, at a point where the weight ofthe body of water exceeded 200 atmospheres—brought up several small shell-fish and thirteen star-fish, one of which was not less than four and a half inches in breadth: these animals reached the surface of the water alive, and for a quarter of an hour they incessantly worked about their long spike-covered arms ;* besides, the remains of the foraminiferae which were found in the digestive organs of the echinoderms allow no doubt as to the fact that these inferior organisms likewise exist at a depth of more than 1200 fathoms in the ocean. Since Dr. Wallich's discovery, Torrell brought up from a depth of 1430 fathoms, in the sea of Spitzbergen, a crustacean of brilliant colors. The same fact applies to the Mediterranean; for when the telegraphic cable which joins the island of Sardinia to the coast of Genoa was broken, its fragments were found to be covered with polyps and shell-fish, bringing the wire in some places to the size of a hogshead. Subsequently, the submarine telegraph between Sardinia and Algeria was also broken, and Mr. A. Milne Edwards recognized on a fragment of the*cable, fished up from a depth of 1000 to 1500 fathoms, a large number of animals, which must all have existed in the bed of the sea on this wire laid down by human agency; for their forms were molded round the iron on which they rested, and their soft parts were still in a state of preservation. Among these creatures there were found serpulae, a species of oyster, a highly-colored pecten shell, and, lastly, some polyps which hitherto had not been met with in any part of the Mediterranean, and were thought to exist only in a fossil state.f This is not all: Ehrenberg has shown that luminous animalculae exist at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico; and this unexpected fact admits ofthe supposition that the depths of other seas and of the vast ocean are not lost in unfathomable darkness. It may therefore be concluded that at a depth of even thousands of fathoms light is not altogether wanting, and that it shows itself periodically, or even constantly—thus explaining why the eyes of species taken from deep waterAare not atrophied like those offish and insects found in dark caverns.^ Thus the depths of the ocean are not a vast desert where the movement of hidden counter-currents is the only evidence of terrestrial life; even in the midst of these regions, where a ray of light never penetrates, there are beings which are born there, which live there, and which there find their * Wallich, Atlantic Sea-bed, p. 69. f Annates des Sciences Naturelles, 4th series, 1861. X Mittheilungen von Petermann, vol. vi., 1867. |
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