56 THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. [CHAP. II. 
case the scientific appliances required would be provided for 
from funds at the disposal of the Royal Society. 
Tam, &e., 
W. SHARPEY, Sec. R.S. 
Lord H. Lennox, M.P., Secretary of the Adiniralty. 
From the Minutes of the Council of the Royal Society, 
for Oct. 20, 1868. 
ADMIRALTY, 14th July, 1868. 
Sir,—In reply to your letter of the 22nd ultimo, submitting 
a proposition from Dr. Carpenter and Professor Thomson to 
investigate, by means of dredging, the bottom of the sea in 
certain localities, with a view to ascertain the existence and 
zoological relations of marine animals at great depths,—a re- 
search which you and the Council of the Royal Society strongly 
recommend in the interests of science to the favourable con- 
sideration of her Majesty's Government, for aid in furtherance 
of the undertaking—I am commanded by my Lords Com- 
missioners of the Admiralty to acquaint you that they are 
pleased to meet your wishes so far as the Service will admit, and 
have given orders for her Majesty’s steam-vessel ‘ Lightning’ to 
be prepared immediately, at Pembroke, for the purpose of carry- 
ing out such dredging operations. 
Tam, Sir; 
Your obedient Servant, 
W. G. ROMAINE. 
To the President of the Royal Society. 
It will be seen by the letters from my colleague 
and myself what our ideas were at that time, and what 
our anticipations as to the result of our labours. We 
both more than doubted the ‘ anti-biotic’ view which 
was then very generally received, and we expected to 
be able to trace a relationship between the living 
inhabitants of the deep sea and the fossils of some of 
the later geological formations which we looked upon 
as their direct and not very remote ancestors. We 
