us restore immortality to man.
But the shark family having threatened to revolt, I left off my
investigations for some months, and organized a military force, with
which I massacred the malcontents till my subjects swam in blood.
Returning victoriously at the head of my legions, a sad incident
occurred. A ship was crossing our line of march, and I had an
unaccountable curiosity to hear something of terrestrial affairs. Five
sawfish, at my bidding, staved in the ship's bottom, and she sank
almost instantly. The corpses of the drowned drifted slowly down, and
as I passed among them, turning up the faces, I recognized in one the
features of my mother!

"After a season of remorse I continued my investigations, but a novel
and unexpected discovery deranged my plans, and wrought a change in my
destiny.

"The subtlest forms of matter, as commonly known, are the
imponderables--light, heat, magnetism, and electricity. I had
concluded that these were manifestations of some still subtler form,
and that this was _life_, beyond which lay the ethereal elements
(called _principles_) of mind and soul--soul being ultimate and
eternal. To demonstrate this I resolved to descend as far as possible
into the depths of the sea, and examine the beings which dwelt in the
remotest darkness. The conical shape of my island allowed me to
descend within its shelving interior, and yet sustain no great
atmospheric pressure. I selected a sturgeon, whose body was so
powerfully plated that he could not be crushed, and his long-pointed
shape gave him great facility for penetrating dense waters. I attached
a phosphorescent light to his caudal, that I might not lose him in the
gloom, and he preceded me along the sloping interior. We passed the
foundations of my court, bade adieu to the deep-swimming hydras, left
the profoundest polypi behind, and came at length to uninhabited
regions, three thousand fathoms below the surface. My pioneer here
suffered great inconvenience, and only by the most vigorous efforts
was able to progress at all. The blackness was literally tangible, and
our lantern, at most, only 'darkness visible.' By threat and
persuasion I forced him forward, hardly able to make headway myself.
He swept the almost solid element with his powerful tail, depressed
his sharp snout, sucked a long breath, and we darted forward
simultaneously. There was a cracking as of bones forced together, and
my cranium seemed to split. We shot out of the density