Washing with perfectly
pure bisulphide carbon will save the sounding, but of course any
living organism is destroyed. As we have plenty of contrivances for
bringing up loose "bottoms" without arming, we have nothing to fear on
this score.
There is a great difficulty to explain the vast accumulations of clay
deposits on the ocean bed, and it has been suggested that some minute
organisms may produce these deposits, as others give us carbonate of
lime. Is there not a very great probability of some of the apparently
insoluble rocky formations being answerable for these accumulations?
We must not forget the peculiar changes which such an apparently
stable substance as feldspar undergoes when disintegrated and exposed
to the chemical action of sea water. As these deposits contain both
sodium and potassium, our chemical operations must provide for the
analytical results; in other respects the analysis can be proceeded
with according to the operator's analytical knowledge.
Few operators are aware of the usefulness of an ordinary deep sea
grapnel rope, as used for cable work, in recovering specimens of the
fauna of any locality. The grapnel rope should be left down for a few
months, so that the denizens of the deep may get used to it and make
it their place of residence and _attachment_.
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