WONDERS OF THE SEA.

Northern Advocate, 31 March 1888, Page 3

WONDERS OF THE SEA.

The sea occupies three-fifths of the surface of the earth. At the depth of about 3,500 ft. waves are not felt. The temperature is the same, varying only a trifle from the ice of the pole to the burning sun of the equator. A mile down the water has a pressure of over a ton to the square inch. If a box 6ft deep were filled with sea water and allowed to evaporate under the sun, there would be 2in of salt left on the bottom. Taking the average depth of the ocean to be three miles, there would be a layer of pure salt 230 ft thick on the bed of the Atlantic. The water is colder at the bottom than at the surface. In the many bays on the coast of Norway the water often freezes at the bottom before it does above. Waves are very deceptive. To look at them in a storm one would think the water travelled. The water stays in the same place, but the motion goes on. Sometimes in storms these waves are 40ft high, and travel 50 miles an hour— more than twice as fast as the swiftest steamer. The distance from valley to valley is generally 15 times the height, hence v wave oft high will extend over 75ft of water. The force of the sea dashing on Bell Rock is said to be 17 tons for each square yard. Evaporation is a wonderful power in drawing the water from the sea. Every year a layer of the entire sea. 14ft thick, is taken up into the clouds! The winds bear their burden into the land, and the water comes down ir rain upon the fields, to flow back at lasi through rivers. The depth of the sea presents an interesting problem. If the Atlantic were lowered 6564 ft, the distance from shore to shore would be half as great, or 150 C miles. If lowered a little more thai three miles, say, 19,680 ft, there would b< a road of dry land from Newfoundland tc Ireland. This is the place on which tht great Atlantic cables were laid. Th« Mediterranean is comparatively shallow. A drying up of 660 ft would leave thre( diffeaf.nt seas, and Africa would be joinec with Italy. The British Channel is mor< like a pond, which accounts for its choppj waves. It has been found difficult to ge correct soundines of the Atlantic. 1 midshipman of "the navy overcame th< difficulty, and shot weighing 301 b carrie; down the line. A hole is bored througl the sinker, through which arod of iron i passed, moving easily back and forth. Ii the end of the bar a cup is dug out, am the inside coated with lard. The bar ii made fast to the line, and a sling hold; the shot on. When the bar, which ex tends below the ball, touches the earth the slug unhooks and the shot slides off The lard in the end of the bar holds sora< of the sand, or whatever may be on th< bottom, and a drop shuts over the cup tc keep the water from washing the sand oul When the ground is reached, a shock is felt as if an electric current hid passec through the line.