PLANKTONIC STUDIES. 629 



daj"" (23, p. 51(5). Meamvlijlo Biaiidt, expliiininii' tlie "liighly original 

 piocednre" of Heuseii (''tuviiiiig attention to attackinii' a problem, tlie 

 solution of wliicli no <»ne had ever tlion^lit of-'), remarlvs, witli refer- 

 ence to the foregoing quantitative analysis of the Athuitic ])lankton 

 exi)edition of the National {1HS9), "tluirt/the very much more manifold 

 ocean catches will consume ])resumal)ly twice as nuich time, aud since 

 on the jdankton voyage af least 120 such catches were made, then the 

 Avorking out of these (quite apart from the prelimiuarj^ l)rei)arations) 

 will fully occupy an investigator for 120 x 1-1 days, or about C years" 



(23, p. sir.).* 



Ol)inions respecting the significance and^ the value of the oceanic 

 po]»ulation statistics of Hensen are very different. E. du Bois-Rey- 

 mond, in his paper before the Berlin Academy (21, p. 83), t attributes 

 to it extraordinary importance, "wherefore the uncommon sacrifice 

 made for it Avas justified." According to his oxiinion, the plankton 

 expedition of the KationaJ, arranged for this purpose, within its defi- 

 .nite limits, from the novelty and beauty of its well-described task, 

 assumes a unique place, and the Humboldt fund ought to be proud at 

 having been among the first to contribute to its execution" (21, p. 87). 

 On the ground of this honorable recognition, as Avell as of the great 

 hoi)es which the naturalist of Kiel himself based upon the results of 

 the National expedition, numerous notices have api)eared in German 

 newspapers, disseminating the view that an entirely new field of 

 scientific investigation had been thereby actually entered upon, and 

 that a further extension of it was of great importance. . I am sorry to 

 say that I can not agree with this very favorable conception. 



DISTRIBUTION OF THE PLANKTON. 



The foundation upon which the entire planktonic conception and 

 computation of Hensen rests is the view "that in the ocean the plank- 

 ton must be regularly distributed; that from a few catches very safe 

 estimates can be made upon the condition of very great areas of the 

 sea" (22, p. 243). As Hensen himself says, he started with this '-'■purely 

 theoretical vieic,^^ aud he believes that a completely successful result is 

 to be had, because these theoretical premises have been more fully 



^Acooruiiif^ to tbis, the nnfortniiiit(^ plniilvton counter would in these 120 catches 

 have to count for over 17,000 hours. How such an arithmetical Danaidte work cau 

 be curried tbroiii;h without ruin of uiind aud body I cau not conceive. 



tin the introduction to this notcwortliy i)ai)er Du J?(>is-Reymond says that since 

 18S2 Hensen "had been mindful that, especially on the surface of the sea, there was 

 found a more unequally ujxmerous population of minutest living forms than had 

 previously been supposed" (21, p. 83). This remark needs correction, because many 

 times in* the celebratefl log book of tin; National plankton oxi»edition this has been 

 overlooked, aud therefore it lias wrongly been inferred that Hen.sen eight years ago 

 was the lirst to discover the exisitncc ami ahttiiditiice of the pelagic fauna and flora. In 

 fact, for forty-five years they have been the object of wonder and study for numerous 

 naturalists. 



