DEEP-SEA DEPOSITS.* 



By A. Daubree. 



Tlie expedition of the Challenger will rank as among the most famous 

 ever undertaken in the interests of science. The new and weiglity facts 

 which the expedition disclosed, as well as their thorougli investigation, 

 are admirably set forth in the published reports. 



For a long time naturalists believed that the existence of any life in 

 the great sea depths was rendered imjDossible by the enormous pressure 

 and the total absence of light. 



Althougli Capt. John lioss and Lieut, (since General) Sabine declared, 

 in 1829, that in exploring Baftin Bay living animals had been drawn 

 from a depth of more than 1,800 meters, this assertion as well as similar 

 ones which came from no less reliable sources, did not meet the credit 

 which they deserved. Not until 18(30, when Dr. Wallich returned from 

 an expedition to Greenland and Newfoundland, was justice done to 

 these assertions which ran counter to current theory. 



About the same time, as early as 1858, the laying of a sub-marine tel- 

 egraphic cable between Europe and America led numerous and syste- 

 matic soundings to be taken. These brought new ideas into biology 

 and geology, and the importance of a thorough exploration of the great 

 ocean basins began to be better understood. 



An observation made by Mr. Alphonse Milne-Edwards upon the 

 fragments of a sub-marine cable intended to unite Algeria and Sardinia, 

 which had remained at a depth of 2,000 to 2,200 meters, should be men- 

 tioned here as of substantive value on the question in point. He noted 

 coral and shells which had evidently attached themselves to this cable 

 at their first growth, as several of them had taken its exact shape and 

 were still alive when taken from the water. 



The impulse thus given, scientists of various nationalities, from Nor- 

 way, England, and the United States began to organize expeditions for 

 the special purpose of exploring the deeper regions of the sea. Michael 

 Sars on the coast of Norway, Louis Agassiz and Count Ponrtales in 

 the Atlantic (18(57 to 18()9 and again in 1872), published results of very 



*A review of work of the Challenger Expedition. (Translated from Journal dea 

 Sai-ants, December, 1892, pp. 733-743, January, 1893, pp. 37-54.) 



545 

 SM 93 35 



