48 PBOCEEDINGS OF THE 



Thirtv-two years elapsed before a dredge was sunk again to 

 the bottom of an Antarctic sea. In 1874 the 'Challenger' 

 entered this area south of Kerguelen, but not being constructed 

 for polar woi'k, she penetrated only a little beyond Lat. 65° 42', 

 where the southernmost of her dredgings was made. The trawl 

 was used at six stations only, but revealed an extraordinary 

 abundance of animal life on all the different kinds of deposits, 

 in all depths, and at great distances from continental land : the 

 variety was equal to, if it did not exceed, that of the same 

 northern latitudes. In one of the hauls, one of the most 

 remarkable of the expedition, 79 different species were captured, 

 of which 29 were not obtained at any other station. 



Thus, as a matter of fact, our knowledge of the abyssal life of 

 tbis large ocean, which covers the area from the 50th parallel to 

 the Southern ice-barrier, rests on those six trawlings of the 

 ' Challenger.' More than this : if you look northwards over each 

 of the three great oceanic divisions, you have to go to, or even a 

 good way beyond, the Equator before you meet again with the 

 work of the dredge, except that on the track of the ' Challenger ' ; 

 and this, after all, is only like the scratch or the prick of a 

 needle on a sheet of paper. 



Therefore, every effort to obtain from Government or other 

 sources the means of penetrating the hidden recesses of un- 

 explored oceans will meet with the hearty support of all 

 Biologists. Local interests or utilitarian objects are often 

 urged, and justly so, to reopen the door for science to pursue its 

 way. But with the history of oceanic research before us, we are 

 entitled to place our claims on higher grounds. The beneficial 

 influence which every purely scientific undertaking exercises 

 upon mankind reaches far beyond its immediate aim. When 

 once the objects of deep-sea exploration had become clear, it was 

 successively taken up by all the civilized nations. Britain, where 

 marine zoology and botany had been cultivated for years, gave 

 the first impulse ; in Scandinavia, Eorbes had contemporaries and 

 successors imbued with the same scientific spirit ; North America, 

 with a keen eye for detecting practical advantages and using 

 them as a lever for broader objects, organized an exhaustive 

 enquiry over all the seas surrounding or bordering upon her 

 immense territory ; Erance, Germany, Italy, Austria, continued 

 the work so far as their means allowed them. A rivalry had 

 grown up among the nations, but it was a rivalry in which each 

 gathered experience for the benefit of all : they worked har- 

 moniously between them. And when the glorious proceeds of 

 the ' Challenger ' had to be worked out, we saw that that nation 

 which had collected them shared with the others the harvest of 

 honour to be gathered from them : engendering and strengthening 

 the bonds of international goodwill. Such is the working of 

 science : she is the mother as well as the daughter of peace. 



