THREE CRUISES OF THE “ BLAKE.” 
44 
all the question of the existence of animal life at the bottom of 
the sea at all depths, — a varied fauna having been discovered 
by the many casts in deep water at which the expedition dredged, 
the greatest depth being 2,400 fathoms, then considered an 
enormous one for the dredges. 
But the crowning work of the English in this direction was 
the “ Challenger” expedition. A man-of-war of 2,300 tons was 
dispatched in 1873, commanded by Sir George Nares, with Sir 
Wyville Thomson as scientific chief. The “Challenger”! was 
gone three and a half years. She sailed or steamed over 69,000 
miles, and crossed and recrossed the great oceanic basins, 
dredging and sounding, and making physical observations at 
no less than 360 stations. Indeed, the work of the “ Chal- 
lenger ” extended over the whole globe. Previous investigations 
had been undertaken on a more limited scale along the coast of 
North America, and in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions, 
by the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, American, and English 
nations. 
Any account of the work of the English would be incom- 
plete without a mention of the important results, published in 
1862, obtained by Dr. Wallich on the * Bulldog" in 1860. 
These results, however, received from naturalists but little at- 
tention. Dr. Wallich advocated the view that the condition of 
the bottom of the sea was favorable to the existence of animal 
life at the greatest depths ; unfortunately, the animals collected 
by him, as well as by Sir James C. Ross, belonged to groups 
which might live (and do, as we now know) at the surface, or to 
the starfishes, which we could suppose might have floated out 
far from the sea-shore, and finally have sunk. An Astrophyton 
can swim to a certain extent, and starfishes can float for a long 
time on the surface of the water, with their suckers uppermost. 
Had, however, naturalists paid sufficient attention to the Re- 
ports of Alph. Milne-Edwards, and Professor Fleeming Jenkin, 
concerning the animals found growing attached to the cable laid 
at a depth of 2,000 fathoms between Sardinia and Africa, the 
1 Additional deep-sea work was also 2 Voringen expeditions, 1876 - 1878 
undertaken by the “ Triton” and “ Knight (Mohn, Danielssen, and G. O. Sars). 
Errant ” (Murray and Tizard). 
