80 FOUNDERS OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



authoritative work on the subject ; and finally, at the 

 conclusion of the series, he produced two volumes entitled 

 Summary of Results (1895), which give an elaborate historical 

 account of our knowledge of the sea and the development of 

 the science of oceanography from the earliest times to the 

 present day, and also, in addition to complete lists of aU 

 the organisms at all the " Challenger " stations, includes a 

 discussion of many important matters, geological as well as 

 biological, relating to the origin of the present configuration 

 of land and water and of the distribution of the marine fauna 

 and flora of the globe. 



It was characteristic of him to put forward, especially in 

 these Summary volumes, views which were novel and even 

 daring, which he believed he had evidence to support, but 

 which a less courageous man might have kept back or ex- 

 pressed more cautiously. He always had the courage of his 

 convictions. He admitted that he sometimes made mistakes, 

 but held that the man who never made a mistake never made 

 anything else. That was one of his obiter dicta which were 

 flying about the " Challenger " Office, and stuck in my 

 impressionable youth. Let me quote here a passage from 

 one of his many letters that I have, and which refers to the 

 kind of views he afterwards published in his Summary. It is 

 dated September 13, 1894, and is evidently in answer to 

 some question I had asked as to his views on the past history 

 of life in the sea. 



"... I gave two papers to the R.S.E. and also said some- 

 thing about distribution at the British Association, but I 

 have not yet published anything. I am now considering 

 whether or not I will add a chapter to the last ' Challenger ' 

 volume, giving my views. 



" I believe the continental areas are very permanent, and 

 for instance Africa has separated marine faunas and floras 

 longer than the time when there was a very nearly similar 

 fauna at both poles. However, the faunas of the sea are now 

 arranged more according to zones of temperature than by 



