Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/352

LEFT DEEP-SEA EXPLORATION 300 DEEP-SEA EXPLORATION may be a matter of circumstance. A deed takes effect from the date of actual delivery, or the date of record. Every- where in the United States it is the lavsr that deeds of conveyance must be re- corded either in the proper office of the county in which the land lies — or if the conveyance be by grant or letters patent from the State or United States, the rec- ord must be made in the land office of the State or United States. The record- ing of a deed has the force of seisin and possession under the English law. Any estate less than a fee may be conveyed by deed with single acknowledgment, but if the estate sought to be conveyed is a fee, the husband and wife must join in the deed and acknowledge it sepa- rately. Deeds of conveyance of lands sold at judicial sale, or for taxes for several successive years and unredeemed made by the sheriff of the county, and deeds made in pursuance of a decree of court by the officer appointed for that purpose, are as effectual as if made by the grantor and his heirs, and must be executed with the same formalities and recorded within 15 days; neither is it necessary to set forth in the deed as a part of the title the proceedings which culminate in the decree of sale. Federal decisions as to the formalities necessary to the execution of a deed are appa- rently conflicting. This arises from the application of the principle that land or property must be governed by the law of the place in which it is situated, and the lack of uniformity of State laws upon this subject. The United States laws are applicable only to lands belong- ing to the United States and those lo- cated within the territories. DEEP-SEA EXPLORATION, that branch of thalassography which investi- gates the depths of oceans, seas or lakes, determines the nature and distribution of the organic life there to be found, the temperature, constitution and specific gravity of the water at varying distances from the surface, the causes and char- acteristics of ocean currents, the geologi- cal changes in the way of gradual or rapid upheaval or subsidence caused by volcanic action and the formation of atolls and other islands. Measurements by means of a weighted line were used by the earliest navigators. It is said that in the Middle Ages depths of 8,000 meters were attained, but the accuracy of such soundings must be questioned. Sir John Ross in 1818 brought up a considerable amount of ice- cold slime from a depth of 978 fathoms. On the strength of these measurements it was believed that the greatest depth of the ocean was to be reckoned as about 1,000 fathoms; but shortly after, Capt. Sir James Clark Ross, during a voyage to the South Seas claimed to have found between Brazil and St. Helena, on June 3, 1843, a depth of more that 4,- 800 fathoms. In 1S47 Captain Stanley, of the British Navy, reported soundings at 15,000 feet between the coasts of Africa and South America. Copper wire was used instead of rope for soundings as early as 1838, but it proved to be too weak. In 1854 J. M. Brooke, of the United States Navy, in- vented a detaching apparatus which worked a revolution in deep-sea opera- tions. Since then systematic attempts have been made with improved sound- ing apparatus and especially in connec- tion with the laying of cables to dis- cover the exact lay of the submarine bottom. After the "Challenger" expedition of 1872-1876, two systems of apparatus were invented, one by W. E. Hoyle, as- sistant editor of the "Challenger" re- ports; the other by the Prince of Monaco. The latter machine goes down closed. It opens automatically at the bottom by means of a spring shutter and is again closed by a "messenger" before it be- gins its ascent. No previous ship had been so well equipped for natural history research as the "Challenger" which added thousands of new specimens to zoQlogy. About the same time with the "Chal- lenger," the German ship "Gazelle," under Baron von Schleinitz, and the United States steamship "Tuscarora" accomplished a great deal toward the ex- ploration of the deep-sea. Other expedi- tions were made between 1878 and 1882 by the .ship "Faraday," and by the war- ship "Gettysburg" in 1876, by the "Alaska" in 1878, by the "Essex" in 1877-1878, by the "Saratoga" in 1879, and by the "Wachusett" in 1879., Still more important results were obtained by the scientific men in charge of the three cruises of the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey steamer " Blake" in the Gulf of Mexico, in the Caribbean Sea, and along the Atlantic coast of the United States in 1877-1880. Besides these specific explorations the South Atlantic Ocean was explored by the steamship "Seine" in 1889. In the Indian Ocean the United States warships "Enterprise" and "Essex" in 1886 made explorations. The English ship "Egeria" in 1887-1889, made extensive measure- ments of the S. W. part of the Indian Ocean. In August, 1899, the United States ship "Albatross" left San Francisco fully equipped with a staff of scientists, for the purpose of deep-sea exploration, examination of coral reefs, etc., in