54 FOUNDERS OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



out, some of them perfectly free, and others anastomosing 

 with one another or joining the sarcodic sheaths of the spines, 

 but all showing the characteristic flowing movement of living 

 protoplasm. The woodcut [in loc. cit.] , excellent though it is, 

 gives only a most imperfect idea of the complexity and the 

 beauty of the organism with aU its swimming or floating 

 machinery in this expanded condition." 



The conclusion at which Wyville Thomson arrived from 

 a consideration of deep-sea and shallow-water faunas was 

 (p. 331) : — " It would seem that the enormous pressure, the 

 utter darkness, and the differences in the chemical and 

 physical conditions of the water and in the proportions of its 

 contained gases depending upon such extreme conditions, do 

 not influence animal life to any great extent," 



During these few years after the return of the " Challenger" 

 a number of lithographic plates illustrating the new Stalked 

 Crinoids and the new Hexactinellid Sponges of the expedition 

 were drawn on stone under Sir Wyville's direction, and were 

 afterwards made use of in the completed reports on the 

 former group by Dr. P. H. Carpenter, and on the latter by 

 Professor F. E. Schulze. 



Even after his health began to give way, he arranged for 

 and directed, even if he did not actually conduct, a very 

 important subsidiary expedition for the purpose of investi- 

 gating further the very remarkable conditions of temperature 

 and fauna which had been noticed in the Faroe Channel 

 during the earlier cruises in the North Atlantic. 



Carpenter and Wyville Thomson, during their preliminary 

 investigations in the " Lightning " and " Porcupine," had 

 found that the Faroe Channel between Cape Wrath and the 

 Faroe Isles was abruptly divided into two regions under 

 very different conditions — a " cold " and a " warm " area. 

 The temperature of the water to a depth of 200 fathoms is 

 much the same in the two areas ; but in the cold area to the 

 N.E. the temperature is about 34° F. at 250 fathoms and 

 about 30" at the bottom in 640 fathoms, while in the warm 



