ii 
DEEP SEA EXPLORATIONS AND THEIR 
RESULTS. 
By Rev. Dr. KLEIN, D.Se., F.L.8. January 14th, 1890. 
The Lecturer remarked that greatly as our knowledge of the 
earth has increased in the course of this century, yet until 
recently nothing, or next to nothing, was known of the depths 
of the sea, which forms nearly three-quarters of the surface of 
our globe. Fora long time a belief prevailed, chiefly owing to 
the great influence exercised by Edward Forbes, that all life 
ceased below a few hundred fathoms, as a cold temperature and 
a complete obscurity were added to the increased pressure of 
the liquid elements. This view, however, could not be 
maintained in the face of a number of facts which obviously 
proved that animal life existed at considerable depths. Various 
scientific expeditions had been undertaken in Norway, in England, 
in France, and in America, which all confirmed the views of 
those who distrusted Edward Forbes’ hasty assertions, and 
irresistible confirmation was obtained from the great cruise of 
H.M.S. Challenger, which will remain for ever memorable 
in the annals of science. This voyage was promoted by 
the same distinguished naturalists who had already added 
so much to our knowledge of the deep. The Challenger 
came back to Portsmouth on May 26th, 1876, after a voyage 
of 42 months, during which 492 soundings were taken, 
and 234 dredgings made. Subsequently France, which so 
far had done little in the matter of deep sea explorations, 
sent out two important expeditions—one that of the T’ravailleur, 
in 1880, in the Bay of Biscay, which the celebrated 
English conchologist, Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, joined by special 
invitation of the French Government, and the other, that 
of the Talisman whose work extended as far as the Azores, 
and along the coast, of Africa. Hydrography has, of course, 
been considerably advanced by the results of all those expedi- 
tions ; the nature of the sea bed, the temperature of the 
sea at various levels, the direction of currents, and many sound- 
ings surpassing in accuracy any that had been previously made 
by mariners, have enabled physicists, hydrographers, geologists, 
and meteorologists to arrive at conclusions hitherto altogether 
unsuspected by science. But it is perhaps in the departments 
of botany and geology that the most striking results have been 
obtained. First, it has been shown that the greatest depths known 
to us, surpassing five miles in certain places, are still capable 
of affording a place of habitation to many animals belonging to 
most of the groups already known to inhabit moderate depths. 
Then, it has been found that, contrary to the expectations of 
