1903,] on Some Problems and Methods of Oceanic Besearch. 361 



stances ; and not the chalk only, }3ut most probably all the great 

 limestone formations." 



Further on (p. 495) he says, " I have said at the beginning of 

 this chapter that I believe the doctrine of the continuity of the chalk, 

 as understood by those who first suggested it, now meets with very 

 general acceptance ; and in evidence of this I will quote two passages 

 in two consecutive anniversary addresses by presidents of the Geo- 

 logical Society, and we may have every confidence that the statements 

 of men of so great weight, made under such circumstances, indicate 

 the tendency of sound and judicious thought. Professor Huxley, in 

 the address for the year 1870, says, " Many years ago (Saturday 

 Beview, 1858) I ventured to speak of the Atlantic mud as 'modern 

 chalk,' and I know of no fact inconsistent with the view which 

 Professor Wyville Thomson has advocated, that the modern chalk is 

 not only the lineal descendant of the ancient chalk, but that it 

 remains, so to speak, in possession of the ancestral estate ; and that 

 from the cretaceous period (if not much earlier) to the present day, 

 the deep sea has covered a large part of what is now the area of the 

 Atlantic. But if Globigerina and Terebratula, Caput serpentis, and 

 Beryx, not to mention other forms of animals and of plants, thus 

 bridge over the interval between the present and the Mesozoic 

 periods, is it possible that the majority of other living things under- 

 went a sea change into something new and strange all at once ? " 



The other quotation is from Mr. Prestwich, in 1871, but that 

 from the late Professor Huxley will suffice to show the tendency of 

 opinion at the time. 



This was undoubtedly the prevalent view when the Challenger 

 sailed from England. In connection with this it must be noted that 

 the only really oceanic bottom samples that had been examined were 

 those of the Bulldog, and were obtained in the moderate depths 

 which are now known to usually cover deposits of globigerina ooze. 

 That this is by no means the universal deposit on the bottom of the 

 ocean was proved at the very outset of the cruise. 



Having left Portsmouth on December 21, 1872, the Challenger 

 called at Lisbon, Gibraltar, Madeira and arrived at Santa Cruz de 

 Tenerife in the Canaries on February 7. Shortly after the ship 

 dropped anchor a salute was fired on shore. As the Challenger had 

 no guns for saluting purposes an officer was sent ashore to ask the 

 reason of the salute, and he was informed that the mail from Europe 

 which had just arrived had brought news of the birth of a Prince. 

 It is remarkable that while the salute was being fired King Amadeo 

 had already resigned the throne and had left Spain. The Prince 

 W'hose birth was thus celebrated was the Duke of the Abruzzi who has 

 made so distinguished a name for himself as an Arctic explorer. 

 Oddly enough, about two years later it was the Challenger which 

 brought the news to Manila of the restoration of King Alfonso. 

 Neither of these groups of islands were then, or till long afterwards, 

 on the submarine telegraph system. On the way to the Canaries the 



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