The North-Atlantic Sea-bed: Comprising a Diary of the Voyage on Board H.M.S. Bulldog, in 1860; and Observations on the Presence of Animal Life, and the Formation and Nature of Organic Deposits, at Great Depths in the Ocean

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J. Van Voorst, 1862 - 160 pàgines
 

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Pàgina 12 - ... months, by simply strewing over the snow in the spring a layer of volcanic sand a few inches thick, which effectually prevents the sun from penetrating. When lava had once consolidated over a glacier at the height of...
Pàgina 77 - Moorish coast, the latter being merely an appendage to the fauna of Europe. But the sea effects the most complete limitation. The depths of the ocean are quite as impassable for marine species as high mountains are for terrestrial animals. It would be quite as difficult for a fish or a mollusk to cross from the coast of Europe to the coast of America, as it would be for a reindeer to pass from the arctic to the antarctic regions, across the torrid zone. Experiments of dredging in very deep water...
Pàgina 158 - ... having a more or less regular radiating arrangement, and not showing any constant circulation of granules in their substance, although a movement of particles adherent to their exterior is often to be distinguished.
Pàgina 155 - The discovery of even a single species living normally at great depths warrants the inference that the deep sea has its own special fauna, and that it has always had it in ages past ; and hence that many fossiliferous strata, heretofore regarded as having been deposited in comparatively shallow water, have heen deposited at great depth" *. In 1861 the very important fact was made public hy M.
Pàgina 81 - It was interesting amongst these creatures to recognize several that I had been in the habit of taking in equally high northern latitudes ; and, although contrary to the general belief of naturalists, I have no doubt that from however great a depth we may be enabled to bring up the mud and stones of the bed of the ocean, we shall find them teeming with animal life...
Pàgina 138 - The ocean, especially within and near the tropics, swarms with life. The remains of its myriads of moving things are conveyed by currents, and scattered and lodged in the course of time all over its bottom. This process, continued for ages, has covered the depths of the ocean as with a mantle, consisting of organisms as delicate as the macled frost, and as light as the undrifted snowflake on the mountain.
Pàgina 12 - We may suppose, that, at the commencement of the eruption, a deep mass of drift snow had been covered by volcanic sand showered down upon it before the descent of the lava. A dense stratum of this fine dust mixed with scoriae is well known to be an excellent non-conductor of heat, and may thus have preserved the snow from complete fusion when the burning flood poured over it.
Pàgina 69 - On the return voyage, about midway between Cape Farewell and Rockall, thirteen star-fishes came up from a sounding of 1,260 fathoms, " convulsively embracing a portion of the sounding-line which had been payed out in excess of the already ascertained depth, and rested for a sufficient period at the bottom to permit of their attaching themselves to it.
Pàgina 155 - ... originally, or through acclimatization, adapted to live under them should become capable of living in shallow water, provided the transitions be sufficiently gradual, and hence it is possible that species now inhabiting shallow water may at more anterior periods have been inhabitants of great depths. 4. " On the one hand, the conditions prevailing near the surface of the ocean render it possible for organisms to subside after death to the greatest depths, provided every portion of their structure...
Pàgina 75 - As we descend deeper and deeper in this region its inhabitants become more and more modified, and fewer and fewer, indicating our approach towards an abyss where life is either extinguished, or exhibits but a few sparks to mark its lingering presence.

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