8 INTRODUCTION 



inhabitants at various depths, for testing the 

 temperature of the ocean, and for preserving 

 specimens for subsequent observation and exami- 

 nation. This expedition accumulated a vast quantity 

 of facts, statistics, and specimens, and its scientific 

 results proved to be of incalculable value. A 

 great many sciences were enriched by this 

 accumulation of new facts. The success of the 

 expedition was altogether beyond the expectations 

 of its promoters. In fact, as an outcome of this 

 cruise a new science, which we call " oceanography," 

 had its birth. 



Glimpses were now obtained of the fascinat- 

 ing world below the level of the ocean, the 

 countless and diverse forms exhibited by animal 

 life and plant life; the numerous battles fought 

 with the greatest courage and desperation between 

 the different inhabitants of the ocean, sometimes 

 between members of the same species ; the beauties 

 of the flora or plant world ; the innumerable low 

 forms of life, invisible to the naked eye ; the 

 nature and composition of the floor of the ocean, 

 and many other things. We began to learn some- 

 thing of the deep and almost unfathomable secrets 

 of the mighty and mysterious ocean. 



The trawlings and dredgings carried out by the 

 " Challenger " disclosed the fact that animal life 

 exists at all depths, and that the ocean bed itself 

 consists of different kinds of mud, or slime, called 

 ooze, which is in some places blue, in others red, 

 and in others green. Much of this ooze, it was 



