The Scientific Results of the " Challeno^er " 



Expedition. 



INTRODUCTION. 



IT is nearly twenty-three years since I went down to Portsmouth to 

 bid " good-bye " to ray dear old college friend, Moseley, when the 

 " Challenger " steamed out of Portsmouth Harbour on her expedition 

 for the investigation of the biological, chemical, and physical con- 

 ditions of the great oceans of the world. The final volume recording 

 the results of that memorable expedition has now been issued, and 

 we may attempt to answer the question as to whether it was " well 

 done"; whether the results have been worth the expenditure of public 

 money ; and whether the record of those results has been satisfactorily 

 set forth without undue delay, and yet with necessary accuracy and 

 fulness. There is unanimous testimony in the affirmative. Never 

 did an expedition cost so little and produce such momentous results 

 for human knowledge.' Over and above the normal expenditure 

 involved in putting the ship in commission — an expenditure which is 

 not to be reckoned to the special purpose of the expedition, since it 

 would have been incurred in the usual course of activity of her 

 Majesty's navy — there was the cost of some special fittings, and of 

 apparatus for dredging and sounding, and of the means for preserving 

 and transporting specimens. Besides this, there were the salaries 

 of Wyville Thomson and his assistants — Moseley, John Murray, 

 Buchanan and Willemoes-Suhm. The expenditure on the preparation 

 and publication of the Report has been relatively greater ; but the 

 authorities of the Treasury may rest assured that the whole scientific 



1 The estimated cost of the " Challenger " Expedition while afloat was ;^30,ooo 

 per annum, but there is no means of knowing how much was actually spent on the 

 expedition. Probably ;^9o,ooo is above the mark for the total naval expenditure. 

 The "Challenger" was a man-of-war, in which nearly all the usual drill was 

 carried on throughout the voyage, and the pay of the officers and blue-jackets, the 

 most costly part of the expedition, cannot be regarded as an extra cost to the 

 nation. The salaries of the civilian scientific staff while afloat amounted to ;^2,200 

 per annum. The total extra charge to the country for carrying out the scientific 

 work on board the "Challenger" during the whole cruise may be put down at 

 about ;^2o,ooo. 



The expenditure in connection with the care, examination, distribution, and 

 description of the collections after the return of the expedition, together with the 

 necessary researches and investigations and the preparation of the fifty volumes of the 

 Report for the Press, was about ^■48,000 — that is to say, the expenditure from public 

 moneys ; but many of the contributors have spent some of their own funds as well as 

 their time in connection with their contributions to the publications. 



