8 



FOUNDERS OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



of geographical discovery at the end of the fifteenth and 

 beginning of the sixteenth century, and finally the modern 

 expeditions beginning with Cook's voyages of 150 years ago 

 and extending up to the present time. 



Taking the century that elapsed between Cook's last 

 voyage and the " Challenger " expedition of 1872, it is 

 interesting to notice the names of the great men of science 

 who went as naturalists on some of the more notable 

 expeditions, and who all contributed in their turn to our 

 knowledge of the sea and its contents. 



Cook and his immediate successors bring us to about the 

 end of the eighteenth century, and we may conveniently 

 group the advances in knowledge of the science of the sea 

 during the nineteenth century in three periods — the period 

 of Edward Forbes, the great Manx naturahst ; the period of 

 Wyville Thomson, ending with its cHmax, the " Challenger " 

 expedition; and the post-" Challenger" period of Sir John 

 Murray and modern oceanography, which brings us prac- 

 tically to the methods and knowledge of to-day. 



The first of these three periods, the earher half of the 

 nineteenth century, was the time of the field-naturahsts 

 and collectors, and of the beginnings of marine biology and 



