BENEATH THE SEA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23117, 16 August 1938, Page 6

BENEATH THE SEA

DESCENT IN A GLOBE PROFESSOR PICARD'S SCHEME [from a special correspondent] LONDON, July 23 Professor Picard, who lias voyaged successfully in the stratosphere, is planning a new sbientific adienture, this time in the depths of the sea. Early next year, he is to attempt ft 30,000 feet descent beneath the sea in a "loose diving globe." . The object of the dive is to study flora and fauna that live at great depths beneath the sea. The present record descent is about 3000 feet made by Professor Beebe. "My own job will only be as the pilot of the diving globe," Professor Picard said this week, "and I will be accompanied by a zoologist and other experts, who will be able to study the submarine fauna and report on their observations. That, of course, is the main object of the descent.- - "The diving globe we will use will be a sphere some six or seven feet in diameter. It will work very much on the submarine principle. One of the greatest problems I am facing at the moment is with regard to the glass for the portholes. "This glass will have to be strong enough to bear a pressure of 60001b. to the square inch, but it will also haie to be very transparent, so that the submarine life can be studied with pre- • • i» cision. <•« *