xxxvin THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



bringing it up safely. 1 He attached this to the line on a number of occasions, and 

 succeeded in bringing up as much as 6 lbs. of mud from the great depth of 1050 fathoms 

 in Baffin Bay; and on September 1st, 1819, in Possession Bay, "soundings were 

 obtained correctly in 1000 fathoms, consisting of soft mud, in which there were worms, 

 and entangled on the sounding-line, at the depth of 800 fathoms, a beautiful Caput- 

 Medusa," 2 thus proving that there was animal life on the bed of the ocean notwith- 

 standing the darkness, stillness, silence, and enormous pressure produced by more than a 

 mile of superincumbent water. Starfishes were frequently found attached to the line at 

 depths of over 800 fathoms from the surface, but these discoveries were strangely lost 

 sight of for many years. The zoological collections made on this voyage must have been 

 of great scientific value, and it is much to be regretted that, on their arrival in this 

 country, a large number of the specimens were in a state unfit for identification. The 

 scientific work of the cruise had been entrusted to Sir Edward Sabine, who, while anxious 

 to do justice to the whole circle of the sciences, naturally devoted himself most to his 

 own department of physical and magnetic observations. Sir John Ross keenly felt the 

 want of a naturalist. He writes : — 



" An endless variety of the class Acalephse were brought home, and sent to the 

 Museum, but in a state so much contracted by the spirit as to render it impossible for 

 Dr. Leach to make out their genera. Observations on these animals whilst living- 

 accompanied by accurate drawings, are quite necessary to render the preserved specimens 

 of any degree of use ; and it is to be regretted that no Naturalist capable of performing 

 these indispensable parts of his duties accompanied the Expedition." 3 



Considerable attention was also paid to meteorology and ocean physics, and the record 

 of the voyage includes a number of tables of continuous meteorological observations. 

 the density of the surface water was observed daily, and occasionally that at a depth of 

 80 fathoms. 4 Deep-sea temperatures were taken at short intervals of time and of depth 

 by means of a self-registering thermometer with a protected bulb, resembling that devised 

 by Sir William Thomson 5 and Professor W. A. Miller half a century later. 6 



In his second Arctic voyage, from 1829 to 1833, Sir John Ross continued his scientific 

 observatious, and frequently dredged in shallow water, his limit of depth being 70 

 fathoms. 7 The large zoological collections were unfortunately lost to science, as they had 

 to be abandoned with the " Victory," and since there was no naturalist on the expedition 

 the loss was complete. 



The researches of Mr. Darwin during the voyage of H.M.S. "Beagle" (1831-36), 

 remarkable in so many respects, are to be noted in this connection chiefly for his obser- 



1 Voyage of Discovery in His Majesty's Ships "Isabella" and "Alexander," Appendix, p. exxxv, London, 1819. 



2 Ibid., p. 178. • Ibid., Appendix, pp. lxiii, lxiv. 

 4 Ibid., Appendix, three large plates. 



'• Depths of the Sea, p. 293, 1874 ; Proc. Roy. Hoc. Edin., vol. ii. pp. 267-271, 1851. > Depths of the Sea, p. 290. 



7 Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a Northwest Passage, Appendix, p. lxxxi, London, 1835. 



