THE SECRET OF THE SEA.

Otago Witness, Issue 3512, 5 July 1921, Page 55

THE SECRET OF THE SEA.

By F. C. M. Some readers may remember a picture which was hung in "the British Alt section of the New Zealand International Exhibition in 1906, entitled “The Silent Sea. ’ Nine out of ten probably passed it without comment. But for numbers, this gem of art possessed such a fascination that they could return to it time after time to be enthalled by its magic spell. Across the centre of the picture ran the line of the horizon; the upper portion being the sky, showing some brilliant cloud effects; the lower half showed the wide sea —and nothing else; no land, not a ship, not even a seabird was visible. It was the Silent Sea; boundless, sublime, the image of eternity, roiling ever on. I need not describe the fine colour eilects, one noticed more the daring of the master artist, conveying as no word picture can convey, the glory, the might, the majesty of “the sea that bares her bosom to the sky,” recalling those lines:— And mute tho Moorish horn, that rang O’er stream and mountain free, And the hymn the learned Crusaders sang Hath died in Galilee. But thou art swelling on the deep Through many an olden clime, The billowy anthem, ne’er to sleep Until the close of time. Have you caught the spirit ? then walk with me for a while and let us explore some of the secrets of this vast ocean. Oceanography, the science which deals with the ocean in all its aspects, is really not a single or pure science, since it fanes toll of many others, such as physics, chemistry, botany and zoology, but it has a distinct function in uniting the isolated items of information into a compact science of the sea. Until recent years the science did not make much headway owing to the difficulty of observing directly any but the surface layers of the ocean. Y» ith the perfecting of im truments for making records in unseen depths, cur knowledge has greatly increased within the past few years. Of course sporadic observations have been made from the earliest times, but it was in 1699 that Edmund and Halley (the astronomer) fitted out a purely oceanographical expedition. Since - then many expeditions stand out pre-eminently, such as those of Captain Cock, Sir James Clark Boss, Sir Wyvillc Thompson, the Prince of Monaco, besides numerous national undertakings. The greatest of these and overshadowing all others in the comprehensiveness and scientific value of its work was the great expedition of the HALS. Challenger, which for four years circumnavigated the world, crossing and recrossing the great oceans, observing and collecting everywhere. The results were afterwards published in no less than 50 quarto volumes and these form the bedrock upon which modern oceanography has been founded. Briefly, the ocean covers about fiveeights of the earth’s surface and averages two miles in depth Innumerable sounding observations show that the bottom of the ocean more or less resembles the surface of the land, being in places marked by deep depressions. The deepest of these known, the Aldrich Deep and the Challenger Deep in the South and North Pacific ocean respectively, may reach a depth of over 5200 fathoms (roughly 5| miles). Here and there great elevations rise from the ocean floor, corresponding with hills or mountains on land. Such is the midAtlantic ridge which runs down the centre of the Atlantic Ocean from the Arctic to the latitude of Cape Horn. Vegetation, as we know it on the seashore almost ceases at a depth of 10 to 15 fathoms. Round the continental areas and exten ling from the shore to varying distances, down sometimes to a 1000 or even 2C03 fathoms below sea-level, are deposits formed mainly from the neighbouring land, coral sands and various coloured muds and volcanic sands. In deeper waters the deposits are more uniform, extending sometimes over many thousands of sqare miles. These deposits are formed of the skeletons of minute organisms which have sunk to the bottom. In the shallower waters far from land, the sea-floor is covered with Pteropod ooze, formed of the empty shells of the pelagic molluscs, while in greater depths tile ooze is formed from microscopical plant or shell skeletons with rather formidable names. In the abysses there occurs a red clay derived mainly from volcanic products. The inhabitants of coastal waters are mainly brightly and variously coloured. In the open oea, blue colours are prevalent while the bodies i f many pelagic creatures delicate, transparent and almost invisible. For instance, the Globe Bcroe (Cydcppc piling) resembles a little sphere of the purest ice, about the size of a nutmeg. li i furnished with two long slender. curving tentacles, each of which bears a number of filaments also a number of bands, to which are aitached little nlates to serve the purpose of paddles. The little creature ran thus propel itself through the waters. With increasing depth, colours become more uniform, dark browns, blue, violet and black, being commonest among fishes at and beyond 300 fathoms. The sun's rays penetrate to 55 fathoms and light is still strong al 275 fathoms and can he detected even at 550 fathoms ; but no trac e of sunlight affects photographic plates at 930 fathoms. In these depths, many invertebrates and fishes are furnished with luminous organs : eves become larger or disappear altogether in the darkness and feelers take their place. Pressure at the depths is very great, increasing as it does at. the rate of one atmosphere for every 5j fathoms, which represents a pressure of 23 tons per square inch at a depth of 2000 fathoms. To withstand this, the hones and flesh of deepsea. animals and fish are soft and porous. Many bottom animals too are furnished with long legs to raise them above the suffocating ooze on the sen floor. * * * * #

What hi best thou in thy treasure caves and cells Thou hollow-sounding ahd mysterious main? Pale, glistening pearls and rainbow-coloured shells, Bright things, which beam unreck’d of and in vain. As the student of Nature walks on the sea-shore, each rippling wave lays tribute at his feet, telling of indescribable wonders, bringing corallines and shells and thousands of grotesque beings, all perfect in their construction. A collection of shells is indeed a beautiful and surprising sight, since “more exquisite samples of form and brilliancy of colour cannot be found through the wide range of natural objects. And consider that these durable relics were constructed by soft and fragile animals among the most perishable of living creatures. An almost endless variety of pattern and sculpture is displayed since naturalists have classified many thousand perfectly distinct kinds of .shells, rivalling, nay excelling, in complexity, order of detail and perfection of elaborate finish, the finest palaces ever constructed by man. Everywhere the naturalist discovers the hand-prints of an Omniscient Designer, an Architect beyond the power of human science to comprehend, before Whose work we must be' very, very humble. I remember once seeing a huge bank of slue's on one of the Pacific Islands. It extended for miles, completely covering the shore and rocks to a depth of several feet. Countless thousands of shaped shells, all empty, turned their iridescent interiors to the sun, making a sight not easily forgotten. * ** " * * * Hie ocean is of course the parent of all waters: rivers, lakes or springs, ice and snow, and indeed all moisture could have no existence without it. ,A:id as in Nature nothing is lost, so every drop of water in time returns to the mighty reservoir from whence it came. By the process of evaporation, the moisture from the ocean “tosses and foams to find its way up to the clouds and wind,'’ and is carried over the land to fall as rain, later to find its way by devious and varied courses back to the j sea again. Which thing is a parable of human life. The rebirth of moisture in the form of snow on some mountain side, may be likened to a newly born infant, pure, spotless, without sin or blot. Presently it melts and starts on its long journey back to the sea. One stream may take a rocky course, gaining power as it goes, retaining its purity in full throated harmony with all things, buffeted but unconquered, overcoming opposition, not much soiled by its contact with Mother Earth. Finally it reaches the ocean, placid, big, strong in character, to find rest for a time before starting out once more on its great work of irrigation and helpfulness. Another stream may travel over a very different course, to become soiled and wasted by frequent contact with the soft and easy but oftentimes filthy places, at last to fall exhausted by tire way in some swamp or other noisome morass: whence it must go through many a. regeneration before reaching its final goal. Do we all emanate from one Great Central Power, to be sent .out on the sea of Time for a little while and at the end j to be reabsorbed again by our great Parent ? I wonder ! I wonder ! ! ! Thus man, the sport of bless and care, Rises on time’s eventful sea. Ami having swell’cl a, moment there, Then melts into eternity.