38 THE PROBLEMS OF THE DEEP SEA n 



The crew of the Challenger match her fittings. 

 Captain Nares, his officers and men, are ready to 

 look after the interests of hydrography, work the 

 ship, and, if need be, fight her as seamen should ; 

 while there is a staff of scientific civilians, under 

 the general direction of Dr. Wyville Thomson, 

 F.R.S. (Professor of Natural History in Edinburgh 

 University by rights, but at present detached for 

 duty in partibus), whose business it is to turn all 

 the wonderfully packed stores of appliances to 

 account, and to accumulate, before the ship returns 

 to England, such additions to natural knowledge 

 as shall justify the labour and cost involved in the 

 fitting out and maintenance of the expedition. 



Under the able and zealous superintendence of 

 the Hydrographer, Admiral Richards, every pre- 

 caution which experience and forethought could 

 devise has been taken to provide the expedition 

 with the material conditions of success; and it 

 would seem as if nothing short of wreck or pesti- 

 lence, both most improbable contingencies, could 

 prevent the Challenger from doing splendid work, 

 and opening up a new era in the history of scien- 

 tific voyages. 



The dispatch of this expedition is the culmina- 

 tion of a series of such enterprises, gradually in- 

 creasing in magnitude and importance, which the 

 Admiralty, greatly to its credit, has carried out for 

 some years past ; and the history of which is given 

 by Dr. Wyville Thomson in the beautifully illus- 



