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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
62
By
the
ingenious
contrivance
of
Lieutenant
Brooke,
the
problem
was
solved,
for
we
got
hold
of
fragments
of
the
under-coating
of
the
sea;
and
to
our
amazement,
instead
of
finding
the
ocean
bound
round
with
thick
ribs
of
granite,
its
inner
lining
was
found
to
be
soft
as
a
silken
vest.
The
soil
brought
up
from
the
bottom
was
not
even
of
the
hardness
of
sand
or
gravel.
It
was
mere
ooze,
like
that
of
our
rivers,
and
was
as
soft
as
the
moss
that
clings
to
old,
damp
stones
on
the
river's
brink.
At
first
it
was
thought
by
Lieutenant
Berryman
to
be
common
clay,
but
being
carefully
preserved,
and
subjected
to
a
powerful
microscope,
it
was
found
to
be
composed
of
shells,
too
small
to
be
discovered
by
the
naked
eye!
This
was
a
revelation
of
the
myriad
forms
of
animated
existence
which
fill
the
sea:
a
plenitude
of
life
that
is
more
wonderful
by
contrast.
As
Maury
well
puts
it:
"The
ocean
teems
with
life,
we
know.
Of
the
four
elements
of
the
old
philosophers--fire,
earth,
air,
and
water--perhaps
the
sea
most
of
all
abounds
with
living
creatures.
The
space
occupied
on
the
surface
of
our
planet
by
the
different
families
of
animals
and
their
remains
are
inversely
as
the
size
of
the
individual.
The
smaller
the
animal,
the
greater
the
space
occupied
by
his
remains.
Take
the
elephant
and
his
remains,
or
a
microscopic
animal
and
his,
and
compare
them.
The
contrast,
as
to
space
occupied,
is
as
striking
as
that
of
the
coral
reef
or
island
with
the
dimensions
of
the
whale.
The
graveyard
that
would
hold
the
corallines
is
larger
than
the
graveyard
that
would
hold
the
elephants."[C]
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