Wonders of the Sea.

Otago Witness, Issue 1866, 26 August 1887, Page 36

Wonders of the Sea.

The sea occupies three-fifths of the surface of the earth. At the depth of about 3500 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 limes the height, hence a waye sft high will extend over 75ft of water. The force of the sea dashing on Bell Rock is Baid 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, l'4ft thick, is'taken'up into the clouds. The winds Dear their burden into the land, and the water comes down in.

tain upon the fields, to now back at last 'through fivers. , , r £he depth of the sea presents an interest- , ing problem. If the .Atlantic W6re Jowered 6564 ft, the distance from shdre to .Shore" would be half as great} or i.oo'0 1 milks, if lowered A little more than three miles, say, 19,680ft v there would be a road .of dry. land ffom Newfoundland, to Ireland. This is the place on which the great Atlantic cables were laid. The Mediterranean is comparatively shallow. A drying up of 660 ft would leave three different seas, and Africa would be joined with Italy. The British .Channel is more like a pond, which accounts for its choppy waves. It has been found difficult to get correct soundings of the Atlantic. A midshipman of the navy overcame the* difficulty, and shot weighing 301b Carries down the line. A hole is bored .thrdiighl the sinker, through which a rbd of iiron is passed, moving easily back and forth; in the end of tb& bar a Ciip is ..dug , otit, and the inside Coated with lard. The bar is made fast to the line, and ■ a sling holds the shot on. When the bar, which extends below the ball, touches the earth, the sling unhooks and the shot slides off. The lard in the . end of the bar holds some of the simd, or whatever may be on the bottom, and a drop shuts over the cup to keep the water from washing the sand out. When the ground is reached, a shock is felt as if an electric current had passed through the line.

tate.fche shaving of the head enhances the' value of the discovery, because the wound or ' Scar can be concealed. , I

Puduc naNltfACTKE.ss.— Mrs 8. A.' AJl^n bns , j'lsfclv (•.".rtiivl this MHt>. (im) 'housnniU ftiv (hisdfay. rejoicing ovijr a fini* head <<t lih r jinuliwd hv herim- , ••Miullei pieparntiim fo- n'-ftoriiig, invigorating, and bPantifvlnß the hair- Her V.'oilri'n 'llair Kestorer ■ iquicldy cieanses (lie scalp, it-moving tfauflruff. and 1 arresla the fall ; tlie hail- if pruy is changed to its ' nntural colour, giving it -the same vitality and 1 luxuriant quantity as in youth. Sold everywhere.— 'Apw i . — Stumps^ the farmer, has married a town , girl who is trying to leain country ways. ■ She heard her husband say that he must ,buy a dog, and, responded, «s Oh, yes ! do, Charles, buy a setter dog. He can be a ,watch-dog at night and sit on the eggs all day } for I can't make the hens sit, though I've held 'em down for an hour at a time.",