By his
observations Franklin may be said to have converted the thermometer into a
sounding line. Mists are frequently found to rest over these depths, owing
to the condensation of the vapor of the atmosphere by the cooled waters. I
have seen such mists in the south of Jamaica, and also in the Pacific,
defining with sharpness and clearness the form of the shoals below them,
appearing to the eye as the aerial reflection of the bottom of the sea. A
still more striking effect of the cooling produced by shoals is manifested
in the higher strata of air, in a somewhat analogous manner to that observed
in the case of flat coral reefs, or sand islands. In the open sea, far from
the land, and when the air is calm, clouds are often observed to rest over
the spots where shoals are situated, and their bearing may then be taken by
the compass in the same manner as that of a high mountain or isolated peak.
Although the surface of the ocean is less rich in living forms than that of
continents, it is not improbable that, on a further investigation of its
depths, its interior may be found to possess a greater richness of organic
life than any other portion of our planet. Charles Darwin, in the agreeable
narrative of his extensive voyages, justly remarks that our forests do not
conceal so many animals as the low woody regions of the ocean, where the
sea-weed rooted to the bottom of the shoals, and the severed branches of
fuci, loosened by the force of the waves and currents, and swimming free,
unfold their delicate foliage, upborne by air-cells.
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