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301 



the ocean in general ; but Dr. Carpenter, in his Report to the 

 Royisi Society on liis biological researches in the Mediterranean 

 during the i/iWTiW/t;- cruise, expresses his belief that "in the 

 Mediterranean basin the existence of auim.tl life in any abun- 

 dance at a depth greater than 200 fathoms will lie found quite 

 exceptional"; and he infers " that Edaard Forbes was quite 

 justified in the conclusion he drew as regards the particular 

 locality he had investigated, and that his only mistake lay in 

 supposing that the same conditions would prevail in the open 

 oceaa." But this eminent naturalist and physiologist. Dr. Car- 

 penter, to whose opinions on such subjects all respect is due, 

 admits that "the history of science is full of instances in which 

 erroneous doctrines have been more productive, because more 

 sugg^estive, than well-determined facts that open no access to the 

 unknown beyond." With the greatest deference to Dr. Car- 

 penter's opinion that animal life is scanty in the depths of the 

 Mediterranean, 1 venture to point out that very little had pre- 

 viously been done to investigate the fauna of that sea beyond 

 the shores and shallow water to the extent which Forbes reached, 

 viz. 230 fathoms. 



Admiral Spratt in 1S46 dredged, at a depth of 310 fathoms, 

 40 miles east of Malta, a number of living Mollusca, which I 

 examined and found to be identical with species which I dredged 

 at con iderable depths in the North Atlantic during the Porcu- 

 pine expeditions. Again, durijig the Mediterranean cruise of 

 1870 in the Porcupine, no fewer than 14 species of Mollusca 

 (abo Atlantic), besides a pelagic or surface-water species and a 

 small freshwater shell, which must have been carried out to sea 

 by some river or stream, occurred at a depth of 1415 fathoms, 

 between the coasts of North Africa and Spain. All these spe- 

 cies were recent, and some were living, although most of them 

 were known to me as also belonging to the Pliocene formation 

 in Sicily. However, we shall in all proiability know a great 

 deal more of this matter if our good neighbours the French are 

 able to carry out their idea of extending their investigation of 

 the deep sea near their own coasts by another dredging and 

 sounding cruise off Marseilles or Toulon. 



During the early part of the summer in the present year (iSSo) 

 our Admiralty placed at the disposal of Sir Wyville Thomsjii 

 H.M. surveying- vessel A'h4'/(< £r/««/ for a cruise off the Butt 

 of Lewis, in prosecution of his researches in the Lightning 

 Expedition as to the "warm" and "col I "areas which were 

 noticed in the Report of that expedition. Mr. Murray took the 

 scientific charge of the cruise ; but the weather was boisterous, 

 anl unfavourable for dredging an I trawling. There were, how- 

 ever, some zoological re-nlts of an interesting kind, especially 

 as regards the Mollusca ; and it is hoped that the application 

 which has now been made by the Royal Society for another 

 Government vessel will be successful, and will enable Sir 

 Wyville to continua the work and make further discoveries. 



Although we have of late years done a great deal to promote 

 submnrine researches, as shown by the expeditio.is of H.M.SS. 

 Bulldog, Lightntjig, Porcupine, Shearwater, Valorous, and 

 A'night Errant, our comparatively poor neighbours in Scandi- 

 navia have been earlier in the field and not les energetic. From 

 the "Notices sar la Suede," published on the occasion of the 

 International Congress of Geographical Sciences in 1875 at 

 Faris, it appears that between the years 1837 and 1S75 seventeen 

 scientific expeditions were mide from Sweden, fifteen of which 

 explored the Arctic regions. Professors Loven, Torell, and 

 Nurdenskjbld, with other distinguished naturalists, took an 

 active part in these expeditions. The sister kingdom of Norway 

 has since engaged in the same course of discovery; and a well- 

 equipped Government vessel, the Viiringcn, of th; tame size as 

 the Porcupine (about 400 tons), left Bergen in the beginning of 

 June, 1S76. Dr. Danielssen, Profess >ri Mohn and G. O. Sars, 

 Herr Friele, and other scientific men accompanied the ve-sel, 

 and were engaged in the zoalogical and phys'cal work. Through 

 the kiadness of my friend Prof. Sars I am enabled to give the 

 following particulars of these Norwegian expeditions: — They 

 occupied nearly three months in each of the years 1S76, 1S77, 

 and 1S78. The first expedition was divided into three cruises, 

 and extended along the western coast of Norway to the Faroe 

 lsle» and Iceland. There were 24 dredging-stations, at depths 

 of from 90 to 1862 fathoms, besides 5 .shore stations in Norway, 

 Faiue, and Iceland. The second expedition was divided into 

 four cruises, and cx'ended from Bergen to outside the Loffoden 

 Isles, and from Tromsb to Jan Mayen ; there were 28 stations, 

 with depths of from 70 to 1760 fath Jiiis, besides 6 shore sta- 

 tions in Norway and Jan Mayen. The third expedition was 



divided into three cruises, and extended to Vardo, and thence 

 westward to Beeren Island, and afterwards to Spitzbergen in 

 So° N. lat. The la.t expedition had 36 stations, with depths of 

 from 21 to 16S6 fathoms, besides 7 shore stations on the Arctic 

 coasts of Norway, and in Beeren Island and Spitzbergen. 



The United States have prosecuted this kind of research with 

 their well-known activity and ]ierseverance. From 1867 to the 

 autumn of 18S0 four Government steamers have been continu- 

 ously employed in surveying the seas which border the coasts of 

 Central and South America. Several hundred stations were 

 investigated, at depths ranging from 6 to 2412 fathoms. Count 

 Pourtales, Prof. Agassiz, and his no less eminent son, have been 

 successively in charge of the scientific department. The results 

 are both extensive and invaluable. In 187 1 I was invited by 

 the late Prof. Aga siz to pay him a visit and examine the 

 MoUu ca which had been procured during the previous years. 

 The collection was in the custody of the late Prof. Stimpson at 

 Chicago. It was extremely interesting to me, in connection 

 with the expeditions of the Lightning and Porcupine. I exa- 

 mined the collection in the Museum at Chicago ; and, at the 

 request of Pr>jf. Agassiz, I took home with me several of the 

 shells for compari on with my own. On my re'urn to England, 

 after enjoying the kind ho-pitality of my scientific friends in the 

 United States and Canada, I learnt that Chicago had been 

 utterly burnt down ; and I was fortunately enabled to restore 

 the shells, which were the only specimens of natural history that 

 had been saved from the fire. Through the kindness of Prof. 

 Spencer Baird, I had, during this visit to America, anoj portunity 

 of joining in a dredgingexcursion on the coast nf New England, 

 which was conducted under the auspices of the Fishery Com- 

 mission. 



like a giant refreshed, France has awakened from a rather 

 long sleep, and, with its accustomed spirit, has now rivalled 

 all other nations in deep-sea work. East summer a scientific 

 commission was appointed, with the venerable Prof. Milne- 

 Edwards as its president ; and a large and v< ell-equipped 

 Government steamer, the Travailleur, explored the Bay of 

 Biscay with most favourable results. I was obligingly asked to 

 take part in this expedition ; and I gave an account of it at the 

 last meeting of the British Association at Swansea, which is 

 published in the Report of that meetmg. 



Austria, Germany, and Holland have also not been last in the 

 race of maritime voyages, although they have not contributed 

 much to our know'led^e of deep-sea life. 



The harvest reaped in all the above-mentioned expeditions 

 was most abundant and valuable. 



But after all it must be b .rne in mind that if every civilised 

 nation in the world were every year, during the next century, to 

 send out similar expeditions, with improved appliances, for 

 exploring the sea-bed, the field wonld be far from being 

 exhausted, livery such expedition must be m >re or less 

 tentative, and can only form the basis for a mure complete 

 investigation of " the deep bosom of the ocean." The area of 

 investigation must he measured by many millions of square 

 leagues ; « hereas all that has hitherto been effected has been to 

 scrape in an imperfect manner the surface of a few scores of 

 acres. 



I here exhibit charts to shiw the tracks of the expeditions in 

 which I have been per-onally engaged, as well as those of the 

 Challejiger and Norwegian expeditions. 



2. Apparatus. — The sounding-line, ropes, dredge, trawl, 

 tangles, towing-net, sieves, accumulators, steam-engines, anl 

 other contrivances for deep-sea exploration have been so fully 

 described and illustrated in the " Depths of the Sea " and Capt. 

 Sigsbee's "Deep-sea Sounding and Dredgin.'," that it is 

 unneces ary for me to do more than mention those books. 

 The latest improvements consist in the substitution of steel-wire 

 for line in s junding, and of galvanised wire-rope for hempen 

 rope in dredging and trawling. Capt. Sigsbee's new towing-net 

 for ascertaining whether floating or swimming animals are found 

 in any zone or belt of water lying between the surface and the 

 bottom will be hereafter noticed. It is still a desideratum to 

 invent a dredge for deep-sea work which shall scrape the surface 

 instead of sinking into the 03ze or mud. 



3. Fauna.— T\\\% word is used by naturalists to denote animal 

 life in contradistinction to "Flora" or vegetable life. A 11 _ the 

 recent exploring expeditions have established the fact that animal 

 life of variaus kinds abounds everywhere in the deepest parts of 

 the ocean. Nor is such life microscopic or minute only. In 

 the Challenger voyage was procured by the trawl, at the depth 



