230 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 



of science to which the speaker's colleague, Mr. Earland, and himself 

 devoted their attention. 



Not least important amongst the vast contributions to science, both 

 pure and economic, that he made was that of the discovery and annexa- 

 tion to the British Crown of Christmas Island. It was to experience 

 gained upon the voyage of the ' Challenger ' that he owed the discovery 

 of the phosphate deposits on that island. 



The fifty volumes of the reports of the voyage took from 1870 

 to 1895 to complete, and it is a matter of common knowledge that 

 many thousands of pounds were contributed by him out of his own 

 pocket towards the expenses of printing and publishing that great 

 work, the grants made him by the Treasury proving altogether in- 

 adequate for the purpose ; and it was always his proud boast that he had 

 paid in taxes and royalties to the Government more than twice as 

 much as the whole of the ' Challenger ' Expedition hacl-cost them. He 

 (the speaker) could not refrain from quoting the following pregnant 

 sentence from the introduction to the great and important " Summary 

 of Results " (1895) : — " It has been my earnest endeavour to complete 

 the publications in a manner worthy of the naval position and scientific 

 reputation of this great empire." That spoke the man in the most 

 illuminating manner. He was devoted, absolutely devoted, to the last 

 days of his life, to the science of the sea. Anyone who had been to 

 Edinburgh and been in the ' Challenger ' Office, maintained at Sir John 

 Murray's expense, must realize what a priceless treasure the nation 

 possessed in the collections which were there stored. Sir John possessed 

 in the 'Challenger' Office the deep-sea deposits from every known 

 corner of the world. The results of every Oceanographical Survey 

 undertaken by any nation were sent to Sir John Murray, and these 

 were all classified and stored to form an index and reference museum 

 of the oceanographical spoils of the whole world. Only last week, 

 when the speaker was staying with him in Edinburgh, he had stated his 

 ambition was to send these collections to London, to become a depart- 

 ment of the new Science Museum, a permanent source of reference, 

 under conditions which were then discussed, for students of marine 

 biology. He founded the marine laboratories at Granton and at Millport, 

 and he was honoured not only by his Queen and by the Royal Society, 

 who awarded him their Royal Medal, but among other distinctions con- 

 ferred upon him he was one of the very few foreign Members of the 

 Prussian Order of Merit. To the day of his death he was ever keenly 

 enthusiastic, and was seriously contemplating another ' Challenger ' 

 expedition, to start within the next few years ; and only half an hour 

 before he departed on the journey which ended in his death, he sent a 

 letter to him (the speaker) enclosing to Mr. Earland and himself a 

 pinch of sand which he had just picked out of some dredgings from the 

 West Coast of Africa, containing a Textularian which he was unable to 

 identify, and asking them to help him in its classiti cation. 



That he should have been cut off in so tragic a manner was terrible. 

 Only that afternoon he (the speaker) was sitting looking at the wonder- 

 fully interesting photographs and listening to the accounts of Scott's 

 expedition to the Antarctic, and he could not help comparing these two 



