Matthew Fontaine Maury, Lieutenant, U.S.N.

“ Man can never see — he can only touch the bottom of the deep sea, and then only with the plummet. Whatever it brings up thence is to the philosopher matter of powerful interest; for by such information alone as he may gather from a most careful examination of such matter, the amount of human knowledge concerning nearly all that portion of our planet which is covered by the sea must depend. Every specimen of bottom from the deep sea is, therefore, to be regarded as probably containing something precious in the way of contribution to the sources of human knowledge. ”

“ Until we get hold of a group of physical facts, we do not know what practical bearings they may have, though right-minded men know that they contain many precious jewels, which science or the expert hand of philosophy will not fail to bring out, polished, and bright, and beautifully adapted to man’s purposes. Already we are obtaining practical answers to this question as to the use of deep-sea soundings; for as soon as they were announced to the public, they forthwith assumed a practical bearing in the minds of men with regard to the question of a submarine telegraph across the Atlantic. ”

“ It is now suggested that, henceforward, we should view the surface of the sea as a nursery teeming with nascent organisms, its depths as the cemetery for families of living creatures that outnumber the sands on the seashore for multitude. ”

“ To measure the elevation of the mountain-top above the sea, and to lay down upon our maps the mountain ranges of the earth, is regarded in geography as an important thing, and rightly so. Equally important is it, in bringing the physical geography of the sea regularly within the domains of science, to present its orography, by mapping out the bottom of the ocean so as to show the depressions of the solid parts of the earth’s crust there below the sea-level. ”

“ Doubtless it is only a re-adaptation, though it may be in an improved form, of old, and, perhaps, effete matter, to the uses and well-being of man. These are speculations merely; they may be fancies without foundation, but idle they are not, I am sure; for when we come to consider the agents by which the physical economy of this our earth is regulated, by which this or that result is brought about and accomplished in this beautiful system of terrestrial arrangements, we are utterly amazed at the offices which have been performed, the work which has been done, by the animalcule of the water. ”

“ When considering the bottom of the ocean, we have, in the imagination, been disposed to regard the waters of the sea as a great cushion, placed between the air and the bottom of the ocean to protect and defend it from these abrading agencies of the atmosphere. ”

“ Every physical fact, every expression of nature, every feature of the earth, the work of any and all of those agents which make the face of the world what it is, and as we see it, is interesting and instructive. ”

“ In the deep sea there are no abrading processes at work; neither frosts nor rains are felt there, and the force of gravitation is so paralyzed down there that it can not use half its power, as on the dry land, in tearing the overhanging rock from the precipice and casting it down into the valley below. ”

“ The space occupied on the surface of our planet by the different families of animals and their remains is inversely as the size of the individual. The smaller the animal, the greater the space occupied by his remains. ”

“ They discharge annually into the sea an amount of this soluble matter which, if precipitated and collected into one solid mass, would no doubt surprise and astonish the boldest speculator with its magnitude. ”

“ But whence come the little calcareous shells which Brooke’s lead has brought up, in proof of its sounding, from the depth of two miles and a quarter? Did they live in the surface waters immediately above? or is their habitat in some remote part of the sea, whence, at their death, the currents were sent forth as pall-bearers, with the command to deposit their remains where the plummet found them?
460. In this view, these little organisms become doubly interesting. When dead, the descent of the shell to its final resting place would not, it may be supposed, be very rapid. ”

“ It is not probable that these animals lived at the depths where these shells are found, but I rather think that they inhabit the waters near the surface; and when they die, their shells settle to the bottom. ”