NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. li 



of Scientific Enquiry, so that they might he able to report to the Council, and enable it to lay that Scheme (if 

 approved) before the Government by the end of November. 



" ' Relievo me, dear Prof. Stokes, 



"' Yours faithfully, 



" ' William IS. Carpenter.' 

 "'Prof. Stokes.' 



" Resolved, — That the subject of Dr. Carpenter's Letter be taken into consideration at an early Meeting 

 of the Council after the Recess. 



" October 26th, 1871. 



" In reference to the subject of Dr. Carpenter's Letter of the 15th June, read at the last Meeting of Council, 

 the Secretary stated that he had received a subsequent Letter from him, dated Malta, 29th Sept, which was 

 now read. In this Letter Dr. Carpenter urges the expediency of making arrangements for the proposed 

 circumnavigating Expedition without delay, and communicates a correspondence with the First Lord of the 

 Admiralty, from which it appears that H.M. Government will be prepared to give the requisite aid in further- 

 ance of such an Expedition on receipt of a formal Application from the Royal Society ; and in consequence 

 of this information, Dr. Carpenter now suggests a modification in the composition of the Committee to which, 

 in his former Letter, he had proposed that the matter should be referred. 



" Resolved, — That a Committee be appointed to consider the plan of operations it would be advisable to 

 follow in the proposed Expedition, the staff of scientific superintendents and assistants to be employed, 

 and the different provisions and arrangements to be made, with an estimate of the probable expense, 

 and to submit to the Council for approval a scheme which might be laid before H.M. Government, 

 if the Council see fit, at as early a period as may be convenient. The Committee to consist of the 

 President and Officers of the Royal Society, Dr. Carpenter, Dr. Frankland, Dr. Hooker, Professor 

 Huxley, the Hydrographer of the Admiralty, Mr. Gvvyn Jeffreys, Mr. Siemens, Sir William Thomson, 

 Dr. Wyville Thomson, and Dr. Williamson, with power to add to their number. 



" November 30th, 1871. 

 " The following Report of the Committee on the proposed voyage of circumnavigation was read: — 



" 'Report of the Committee appointed at the Meeting of the Council held October 26//;, to consider the 



Scheme of a Circumnavigation Expedition. 



" ' The Committee having before them the correspondence which has already taken place betweeu the First 

 Lord of the Admiralty and Dr. Carpenter, are of opinion that it is advisable that the Council should make 

 immediate Application to Her Majesty's Government for the means of carrying out the objects therein referred 

 ti) ; but that it would not be expedient that such Application should include more than a, general specif cation 

 of those objects, — which may he stated as follows :- — 



" ' 1. To investigate the Physical Conditions of the Deep Sea, in the groat Ocean-basins, — the North and 

 South Atlantic, the North and South Pacific, and the Southern Ocean (as far as the neighbourhood of the great 

 ice-barrier); in regard to Depth, Temperature, Circulation, Specific Gravity, and Penetration of Light; 

 the observations and experiments upon all these points being made at various ranges of depth from the surface 

 to the bottom. 



" ' 2. To determine the Chemical Composition of Sea Water, not merely at the surface and bottom, but at 



