THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SEA. 381 



of its history the original MS. came into the hands of Sir 

 Joseph Hooker's grandfather, Dawson Turner, the cele- 

 brated phycologist, who had a copy made for him. While 

 on a visit to his grandfather in 1833, Sir Joseph saw it 

 being copied, and, in assisting to verify the transcript, 

 naturally became fascinated with the story. After other 

 adventures it reached the Manuscripts Department of the 

 British Museum with some ev^entual condition of its be- 

 coming the property of the Trustees. Mr. Carruthers, 

 then Keeper of the Department of Botany, succeeded in 

 obtaining the Dawson Turner transcript for that De- 

 partment, and in faithfully clinging to it. The original 

 Banksian MS. and correspondence, however, were claimed 

 from the Manuscripts Department in 1885 or 1886, on what 

 appear to be slender grounds, by the late Lord Brabourne, 

 who carried them off, and after some correspondence he 

 declined the sum offered by the Museum for purchase of 

 the Banksian MS., broke up the whole into lots and sold 

 them at Sotheby's, the original MS. of the J^oin^Jial going 

 to an autograph dealer for ^7 2s. 6d., whereupon it soon 

 disappeared. This barely credible and discreditable story 

 is told here, and no one can envy Lord Brabourne his 

 reflections on receipt of this paltry sum for a document of 

 national interest. The Dawson Turner copy in the De- 

 partment of Botany has therefore been the means of saving 

 the JotLi'iial from oblivion, and it has been used in Sir 

 Joseph Hooker's edition. Besides giving us a fascinating 

 account of Cook's momentous voyage, of such imperial 

 im[)ortance to Britain, the y^/^rw^/ presents us with a pic- 

 ture of a naturalist's occupation on such an expedition, and 

 of his work at sea. Banks' interest in marine life begins 

 with his leaving Plymouth, and he faithfully records his 

 observations, many of them at that time novel, as he pro- 

 ceeds. He gives, among other noteworthy entries, a good 

 description of the banks of pelagic OscillatoriecE, the "sea- 

 sawdust," seen by him on the coast of Brazil, Torres Straits, 

 and other places. " It was formed," he says, " by innumer- 

 able small atoms, each scarcely half a line in length, yet, 

 when looked at under a microscope, consisting of thirty or 



