elsewhere
showed that somewhat similar plateaus existed in other parts of the
Atlantic, and now the whole of Western Europe is being bound more
firmly, by additional cables, to the eastern seaboard of America.

This great and glorious achievement has been the result of the discovery
of two truths,--of a truth in science on the one hand, and a truth in
regard to the structure of the bed of the sea on the other. The study
of electricity and of deep-sea soundings was begun and carried on for
the sake of the discovery of _truth_ alone, and without the most distant
reference to the Atlantic Telegraph,--yet that telegraph has been one of
the results of that study. Who can tell how many more shall follow?
And even were no other result ever to follow, this one may prove to be
of the most stupendous importance to the human race.

Another discovery that has been made by deep-sea sounding is, that the
lowest depths of the ocean are always in a state of profound calm.
Oceanic storms do not extend to the bottom. When the tempest is lashing
the surface of the sea into a state of the most violent and tremendous
agitation, the caverns of the deep are wrapped in perfect repose. This
has been ascertained from the fact that in many places the bottom of the
sea, as shown by the specimens brought up by Brooke's apparatus, and
more recently by Professor Thompson's deep-sea dredge, is composed of
exceedingly minute shells of marine insects. These shells, when
examined by the microscope, are found to be unbroken and perfect, though
so fragile that they must certainly have been broken to pieces had they
ever been subjected to the influence of currents, or to the pulverising
violence of waves. Hence the conclusion that the bottom of the sea is
in a state of perpetual rest and placidity.

Indeed, when we think of it, we are led to conclude that this must
necessarily be the case. There are, as we shall presently show,
currents of vast size and enormous power constantly flowing through the
ocean; and when we think of the tremendous power of running water to cut
through the solid rock, as exemplified in the case of Niagara, and many
other rivers, what would be the result of the action of currents in the
sea, compared with which Niagara is but a tiny rivulet? Ocean currents,
then, flow on a bed of still water, that protects the bottom of the sea
from forces which, by calculation, we know would long ago have torn up
the foundations of the d