328 FOUNDERS OF OCEANOGRAPHY 



basal principles that underlie a rational regulation and 

 exploitation of these important industries. National effi- 

 ciency depends to a very great extent upon the degree in 

 which scientific results and methods are appreciated by 

 the people and scientific investigation is promoted by the 

 Government and other administrative authorities. The 

 principles and discoveries of science apply to aquiculture 

 no less than to agriculture. To increase the harvest of 

 the sea the fisheries must be continuously investigated, and 

 such cultivation as is possible must be applied, and all this 

 is clearly a natural application of the biological and hydro- 

 graphical work now united under the science of oceanography. 



May I hope that the foregoing chapters have given the 

 reader an impression of a young science-in-the-making, 

 where there are curious facts to verify, interesting theories 

 to discuss and plenty of unsolved problems ? 



Mr. J. Y. Buchanan has claimed that the science of oceano- 

 graphy was born at sea on February 15, 1873, at the first 

 official dredging station of the " Challenger " expedition, 

 when everything that came up in the dredge was new and 

 led to fundamental discoveries as to the deposits forming 

 on the floor of the ocean. That was exactly half a century 

 ago, and although much has been done in the interval by 

 Government expeditions and by individual explorers, nothing 

 so comprehensive as the voyage of the " Challenger," or 

 yielding such a body of scientific results, has yet been 

 achieved. 



In the Presidential Address to the British Association at 

 Cardiff, in 1920, the question was asked, " Has not the time 

 come for anew ' Challenger ' expedition ? " — and during the 

 succeeding days of the meeting the question was answered 

 over and over again in the affirmative. The suggestion 

 was taken up with such enthusiasm by the various scientific 

 sections of the Association that the Council appointed a 



