366 Mr. J. Y. Buchanan [May 29, 



case of protoplasm coming continuously into being by creation ? 

 We stand here face to face with a series of dark enigmas, the answer 

 to which we must hope to receive from future investigations." 



It must be remembered that the material for the study of Baihy- 

 hiu8 was rare and valuable. Specimens of the mud from the bottom 

 of the open ocean were then very scarce and were jealously guarded. 

 It was quite legitimate for Haeckel to look forward for more light 

 when material would be more plentiful. 



In the early part of the cruise all the naturalists sought for 

 Bathyhius, but they found nothing answering to it which showed 

 motion. Apart, however, from the motion, the white gelatinous 

 matter like coagulated albumen seemed to be present. 



It was obvious that, if an organic body like albumen were present 

 all over the bottom of the sea, the water taken from the bottom must 

 necessarily contain enough of it to show clear evidence of organic 

 matter when evaporated to dryness. Experiments which I made 

 repeatedly in this direction gave a negative result. 



As chemist of the expedition I looked at the matter from a dil- 

 ferent point of view from that of the naturalists. The nature of the 

 experiments which I made and their result are best given by quoting 

 from my report to Professor Wyville Thomson, which was published 

 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.* 



" If the jelly-like organism which had been seen by some eminent 

 naturalists in specimens of ocean bottoms and called Bathyhius really 

 formed, as was believed, an all-pervading organic covering of the 

 sea-bottom, it could hardly fail to show itself when the bottom water 

 was evaporated to dryness and the residue heated. In the numerous 

 samples of bottom water which I have so examined, there never was 

 sufficient organic matter to give more than a just perceptible greyish 

 tinge to the residue, without any other signs of carbonisation or burning. 

 Meantime, my colleague, Mr. Murray, who had been working accord- 

 ing to the directions given by the discoverers of Bathyhius, had 

 actually observed a substance like ' coagulated mucus,' which 

 answered in every particular except the want of motion to the descrip- 

 tion of the organism, and he found it in such quantity that, if it were 

 really of the supposed organic nature, it must necessarily render the 

 bottom water so rich in organic matter that its presence would be 

 abundantly evident when the water was treated as above described. 



" There remained then but one conclusion, namely that the body 

 which Mr. Murray had observed was not an organic body at all ; and 

 on examining it and its mode of preparation, I determined it to be 

 sulphate of lime, which had been eliminated from the sea-water, 

 always present in the mud, as an amorphous precipitate on the 



* 'Keport on chemical work done on board H.M.S. Challenger,' by J. Y. 

 Buchanan, Proceedings of Koyal Society (1876), vol. xxiv., p. 005. 



