1903.] on Some Problems and Methods of Oceanic Besearch. 367 



addition of spirits of wine. The substance when analysed consisted 

 of sulphuric acid and lime ; and when dissolved in water and the 

 solution allowed to evaporate, it crystallised in the well known form 

 of gypsum, the crystals being all alike, and there being no amorphous 

 matter amongst them.*' 



Haeckel relied chiefly on its faculty of being stained by carmine 

 as evidence that the body which he was examining was organic. 

 Sulphate of lime as prepared by the precipitation of an aqueous 

 solution of a calcium salt by alcohol is a perfectly amorphous 

 flocculent precipitate which is coloured intensely by carmine, and the 

 colour is fast as against treatment with spirit. The naturalists on 

 board had great difficulty at first in believing that this reaction was 

 not, as Haeckel thought it was, absolutely decisive of the organic 

 character of the body. 



To remove this view, however, it was only necessary to point out 

 that the production of pigments by the staining of amorphous mineral 

 ])recipitates with organic colouring matters was a very old chemical 

 industry. The pigments so produced are called by the generic name 

 of Lakes ; and the mineral precipitate most commonly used is hydrate 

 of alumina ; but many other substances can be used for the purpose, 

 and it appeared that sulphate of lime when freshly precipitated by 

 alcohol was to be added to the list. 



I have dwelt at considerable length on these two doctrines relating 

 to the conditions at the bottom of the ocean, namely that of the con- 

 tinuity in time of the chalk and that of the continuity in space of 

 organic plasma, not only because they characterise the views held by 

 leading naturalists between the years 1868 and 1873, but also because 

 the proving of these doctrines was the immediate motive of much of 

 the early work done on board the Challenger. That the result 

 showed that it was impossible to uphold either doctrine, diminishes 

 in nothing the usefulness of their having been put forward as 

 hypotheses, nor does it afford any reason for their being allowed to 

 pass into oblivion. 



The Ship and her Equipment. — Before concluding I should like to 

 say a word or two about the Challenger as a ship and her equipment. 

 She was a spar-decked corvette, and, when serving an ordinary com- 

 mission, she carried twenty-one guns. These had been removed and 

 the large ports enabled the ship to eujoy the most perfect ventilation. 

 She was ship-rigged and her engines were able to drive her 11 knots 

 at full speed. Her displacement was about 2300 tons. Like all 

 the men-of-war of her time she was built of wood, with very solid 

 timbers. Her screw propeller could be hoisted up out of the water. 

 This was a great convenience because all the passage was made 

 under sail. The whole amount of coal which she could carry was 

 very little more than that required for manoeuvring the ship at the 

 sounding and dredging stations. The work at a station generally 

 took the whole day from sunrise to sunset, and every one familiar 



