CRB5W) [Jan. 
OCEANIC TELEGRAPHY. 
I. Tue Derp-Sra Bev or THE ATLANTIC AND ITS INHABITANTS. 
By Dr. G. C. Watticu, F.L.S. 
THE sounding-machine has already conducted us to the confines of an 
unexplored world. It has enabled us to penetrate the secret so long 
and so steadfastly concealed by nature beneath the waters of the 
ocean, by placing within our grasp the still living forms of creatures 
differing in no material respect from some of those inhabiting moderate 
depths, yet capable of sustaining existence under the extraordinary 
conditions known to prevail amidst the more profound abysses of the 
sea-bed. In short, it has taught us that our preconceived views con- 
cerning the incompatibility of these conditions with the performance 
of functions which are essential to life, are erroneous and demand most 
careful revision. 
The fact, as thus stated, appears simple enough, and may, by many 
persons, be regarded as involving purely scientific issues. It will be 
our aim, however, to show that this is by no means the case; and that, 
whilst the interest attaching to the discovery of animal life under 
such circumstances is undoubtedly great, and likely to lead to valuable 
results in every department of Natural History, the practical bearing 
of this discovery on the question of Oceanic 'Telegraphy is of no less 
important a character. But in order to render ourselves intelligible, 
we must briefly direct attention to what was known on the subject 
prior to the time when it assumed its present aspect through the dis- 
covery of living star-fish procured from a depth of nearly a mile-and- 
a-half below the surface. 
Without stopping to notice the various conjectures regarding the 
nature of the deep-sea bed, which had previously been hazarded, it 
may suffice to mention that specimens of the material of which it is 
composed were, for the first time, systematically obtained about ten 
years ago. ‘These consisted, for the most part, of an extremely fine 
mud, with a large proportion of microscopic shells belonging to one 
of the simplest forms of animal life with which we are acquainted. 
Some of the shells retained a considerable portion of the gelatinous 
substance of which the bodies of this class of organisms is com- 
posed. But at this point the evidence failed. For whilst the fact 
of these organisms having been raised from vast depths was too 
clearly established to admit of the slightest doubt, it is manifest that 
they might have been drifted from shallow water by oceanic currents, 
or have lived near the surface of the sea, and gradually subsided to the 
bottom after death. Accordingly, the mere presence of the gelatinous 
substance of which their bodies are formed, when taken in connection 
with the well-known preservative power of sea-water highly charged 
with saline matter, affords no proof whatever of the creatures having 
lived in the localities from which they had been conveyed by the 
sounding-machine. But although the determination of the question 
as to whether animal life can be sustained at such depths was reserved 
