INTRODUCTION. IX 



to tlio same subject, was a great point gained : it was a giant 

 stride in the advancement of knowledge, and a great step towards 

 its spread upon the waters. 



Important results soon followed, and valuable discoveries were 

 made. These attracted the attention of the commercial world, 

 and did not escape the notice of philosophers generally. 



The field was immense, the harvest was plenteous, and there 

 was both need and room for more labourers. AVhatever the 

 reapers should gather, or the merest gleaner collect, was to 

 insure to the benefit of commerce and navigation — the increase 

 of human knowledge — the good of all. 



Therefore, all who use the sea were equally interested in the 

 undertaking. The government of the United States, so consider- 

 ing the matter, proposed a uniform system of observations at sea, 

 and invited all the maritime states of Christendom to a conference 

 upon the subject. 



This conference, consisting of representatives from France, 

 England, and Eussia, from Sweden and Norway, Holland, Den- 

 mark, Belgium, Portugal, and the United States, met in Brussels, 

 August 23, 1853, and recommended a plan of observations which 

 should be followed on board the vessels of all friendly nations, 

 and especially of those there present in the persons of their re- 

 presentatives. 



Prussia, Spain, Sardinia, Oldenberg and Hanover, the Holy 

 See, the free city of Hamburg, the republics of Bremen and Chili, 

 and the empires of Austria and Brazil, have since ofiered their 

 co-operation also in the same plan. 



Thus the sea has been brought regularly mthin the domains of 

 philosophical research, and crowded with observers. 



In peace and in war these observations are to be carried on, 

 and, in case any of the vessels on board of which they are con- 

 ducted may be captured, the abstract log — as the journal which 

 contains these observations is called — is to be held sacred. 



The illustrious Humboldt, several years before his death, 

 expressed the opinion that the results already obtained from this 

 system of research had given rise to a new department of science, 

 which he called the physical geography of the sea. 



Barely before has there been such a sublime spectacle presented 

 to the scientific world : all nations agreeing to unite and co- 

 operate in carrying out according to the same plan, one system 

 of philosophical research with regard to the sea. Though they 



