HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DEEP-SEA WORK. 51 



its former activity ; and since 1866, the use of the dredge, the 

 trawl, the tangles, and all the apparatus necessary for a thorough 

 exploration of the fauna of the depths of the sea, has become as 

 familiar to some of the navy officers attached to the Coast Sur- 

 vey as the use of the sextant or the lead, and the Coast Survey 

 steamers, " Bibb, " Hassler," and " Blake " have acquired a 

 unique reputation as deep-sea dredgers. Not only naturalists, 

 but also hydrographers must be interested in Sigsbee's volume 

 on deep-sea work, published by the Coast Survey, with its de- 

 tailed account of the equipment of the " Blake," — a small 

 steamer of only three hundred and fifty tons burden, which, 

 under the skilful command of Lieutenant-Commander Sigfsbee 

 and Commander Bartlett, has done not only more rapid, but 

 also far more accurate work than has been accomplished with 

 the old methods and appliances by the large men-of-war usually 

 detailed for similar work by European governments. The work 

 of the " Bibb " and " Hassler " is known to naturalists mainly 

 from the memoirs of Pourtales. Only a part of the results of 

 the work done on the " Blake " under my direction has as yet 

 been published in the Bulletins and Memoirs of the Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology. 



But we are only at the beginning of these investigations, and 

 we have much to learn as yet of the physiology of the ocean. 

 We have merely skimmed the surface thus far, and have only 

 traced a few thin lines with the dredge and trawl over the bot- 

 tom of the oceans. 



The work of the Scandinavians has been supplemented by 

 that of the Americans, and the general agreement of the results 

 is most satisfactory. These results have, in their turn, been 

 greatly extended by the English, and subsequently by the Amer- 

 icans. Italians and French as^ain have added to the stock of 

 common knowledge which formed the basis for the great 

 " Challenger " expedition. 



