NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. xlv 



In the preserved samples of the ooze it was believed that there was evidence of the 

 existence of sheets of living protoplasm — a shell-less Rhizopod named Bathybius 1 — 

 covering the bottom of the ocean everywhere. The Naturalists of the Challenger failed 

 to detect Bathybius in freshly procured samples of the ooze, and have shown that the 

 protoplasmic appearance arose from the great excess of alcohol used in the preservation of 

 the samples of the ooze, producing a gelatinous-like precipitate of calcium sulphate. 



The voyage of the "Bulldog" in 1860, under Sir Leopold M'Clintock, is especially 

 noteworthy amongst the cruises of surveying ships. The " Bulldog," which was sent to 

 examine a proposed northern cable route, took soundings from Fseroe to Iceland and 

 thence to Greenland and Labrador. Though bad weather prevailed for a great part of 

 the cruise, a large number of soundings and many samples of mud were taken ; as 

 the expedition had the good fortune to be accompanied by Dr. G. C. Wallich as 

 naturalist, these were carefully examined as they were brought up. The invention of 

 the " Bulldog" sounding machine — a combination of Ross's deep-sea clamm with Brooke's 

 detaching weight — made it possible to obtain larger samples of the bottom than had been 

 usual before. 



On one occasion a depth of 1260 fathoms was indicated. "That single sounding," 

 says Dr. Wallich, " I may be permitted to say compensated for every disappointment 

 that weather and accident may have previously engendered. At the eleventh hour, and 

 under circumstances the most unfavourable for searching out its secrets, the deep has 

 sent forth the long-coveted message." 2 That message was conveyed by thirteen 

 Starfishes which had attached themselves to a portion of the sounding line that had 

 been allowed to lie on the bottom for some time. This haul raised a storm of 

 controversy. Dr. Wallich was firmly convinced that it was proof beyond question of the 

 existence of highly organised animal life at great depths, but many eminent zoologists 

 argued that it was quite probable that the Starfishes had " convulsively embraced " the 

 line somewhere on its way up. The idea of a life-zero was far too firmly fixed in the 

 zoological mind of that period to be readily displaced. . 



In the same year, 1860, a telegraph cable which was being raised for repair in the 

 Mediterranean under the direction of Mr. Fleeming Jenkin, now Professor of Engineering 

 in the University of Edinburgh, was the means of definitely deciding the fact of highly 

 organised creatures living at great depths. 3 Parts of the cable which had been lying 

 under 1200 fathoms of water for many years were found covered with animals that had 

 fixed themselves at a very early stage of development and had grown to maturity there. 

 Some of these were examined and described by Professor Allman of Edinburgh, others 

 by M. Milne-Edwards of Paris. 



1 Huxley, Quart. Jovm. Mia: Sci., N. S., vol. viii. p. 210, 1868 ; Haeckel, Studien fiber Moneren uml andere 

 Protisten, p. 86, Leipzig, 1870. 



2 North-Atlantic 8ea-bed, p. 68, London, 1862. 3 Depths of the Sea, p. 26, 1874. 



