Page:The National geographic magazine, volume 1.djvu/189

 While sounding in Ponds Inlet, Baffin Bay, in 1819, by means of an ingeniously constructed contrivance called a deep sea clam, he succeeded in detaching and bringing up portions of the bottom from depths as great as 1,000 fathoms. The fact that this mud contained living organisms was the first proof of life at depths where it was thought impossible for it to exist. The truth of this discovery, however, was not generally accepted, many eminent men of science on both sides of the Atlantic contending for and against it, and the question was not finally settled until long afterward, in 1860, when, by the raising of a broken telegraph cable in the Mediterranean, unimpeachable evidence of the existence of life at the greatest depths in that sea was obtained. The science, however, remained in its infancy until about 1850, when Maury originated his system of collecting observations from all parts of the globe, and by his indomitable energy aroused the interest of the whole civilized world in the investigation of the physical phenomena of the sea.

Through Maury's efforts the United States Government issued an invitation for a maritime conference, which was held in Brussels in 1853 and attended by representatives of the governments of Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and the United States. The main object of the conference, to devise a uniform system of meteorological observations and records, was accomplished. According to the agreement, ships' logs were to have columns for recording observations of the following subjects: latitude, longitude, magnetic variation, direction and velocity of currents, direction and force of wind, serenity of the sky, fog, rain, snow and hail, state of the sea, specific gravity and temperature of the water at the surface and at different depths. It was also proposed that deep-sea soundings should be taken on all favorable occasions, and that all other phenomena, such as hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, waterspouts, whirlwinds, tide-rips, red fog, showers of dust, shooting stars, halos, rainbows, aurora borealis, meteors, etc., should be carefully described, and tidal observations made when practicable.

The practical results of this conference were great. The systematic and uniform collection of data by men of all nations is going on uninterruptedly to-day, and is furnishing the means for the solution of many of the problems relating to the Geography of the Sea.