TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION EB, 789 
Section E.—GEOGRAPHY. 
PRESIDENT OF THE SEcTIoN—Sir JoHN Murray, K.C.B., F.R.S., D.Sc, LL.D. 
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. 
The President delivered the following Address :— 
In his opening Address to the members of the British Association at the Ipswich 
meeting, the President cast a retrospective glance at the progress that had taken 
place in the several branches of scientific inquiry from the time of the formation of 
the Association in 1831 down to 1895, the year in which were published the last 
two of the fifty volumes of Reports containing the scientific results of the voyage 
of H.M.S. Challenger. In that very able and detailed review there is no reference 
whatever to the work of the numerous expeditions which had been fitted out by 
this and other countries for the exploration of the depths of the sea, nor is there 
any mention of the great advance in our knowledge of the ocean during the period 
of sixty-five years then under consideration. This omission may be accounted for 
by the fact that, at the time of the formation of the British Association, knowledge 
concerning the ocean was, literally speaking, superficial. The study of marine 
phenomena had hitherto been almost entirely limited to the surface and shallow 
waters of the ocean, to the survey of coasts and of oceanic routes directly useful 
for commercial purposes. Down to that time there had been no systematic 
attempts to ascertain the physical and biological conditions of those regions of the 
earth’s surface covered by the deeper waters of the ocean; indeed, most of the 
apparatus necessary for such investigations had not yet been invented. 
The difficulties connected with the exploration of the greater depths of the 
sea arise principally from the fact that, in the majority of cases, the observations 
are necessarily indirect. At the surface of the ocean direct observation is possible, 
but our knowledge of the conditions prevailing in deep water, and of all that is 
there taking place, is almost wholly dependent on the correct working of instru- 
ments, the action of which at the critical moment is hidden from sight. 
It was the desire to establish telegraphic communication between Europe and 
America that gave the first direct impulse to the scientific exploration of the great 
ocean-basins, and at the present day the survey of new cable routes still yields 
each year a large amount of accurate knowledge regarding the floor of the ocean. 
Immediately before the Challenger Expedition there was a marked improvement 
in all the apparatus used in marine investigations, and thus during the Challenger 
Expedition the great ocean-basins were for the first time systematically and 
successfully explored. This expedition, which lasted for nearly four years, was 
successful beyond the expectations of its promoters, and opened out a new era in 
the study of oceanography. A great many sciences were enriched by a grand 
accumulation of new facts. Large collections were sent and brought home, 
and were subsequently described by specialists helonging to almost every-civilised 
nation. Since the Challenger Expedition there has been almost a revolution in the 
