108 THE PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 
of formation out of the minute calcareous shells of some of the most 
simply organised families of the animal kingdom, was a fact already 
established, in full accordance with all the phenomena of geological 
history already revealed to us. The main subject disclosed in those 
wonderful lithological chronicles of the preadamite world which pal- 
wontology reveals, is the history of the beds of former seas. But in 
addition to this we now learn of organic life abundantly present under 
conditions hitherto deemed incompatible with any forms of vitality ; 
and of contemporaneous zones of life immensely extending its assigned 
range. Science has long since revealed to us the fact that we our- 
selves live—and require such a condition as an element essential to 
life—in the depths of a great atmospheric ocean, which subjects us 
to a pressure of fourteen pounds on the square inch, or to a mean 
weight of 21,240 pounds. But from those latest disclosures of sub- 
marine life it is proved that in deep zones of the ocean, upwards of 
two miles from its surface, where the feeblest refraction of sunlight 
can scarcely be supposed to shed a glimmering ray, and the pressure 
must amount to more than a ton and a half on the square inch, not 
only the minute Foraminifera, but highly organized species of radiata, 
revel in the enjoyment of life, and sport their strange forms and 
brilliant colours, in ocean’s dark unfathomed caves. To the lamented 
Edward Forbes we owe some adequate appreciation of the comprehen- 
sive truths which the intelligent use of the dredge places within reach 
of the naturalist, and we may now regard those results of deep ocean 
soundings, carried on under such peculiar disadvantages, as a mere 
glimpse and fortaste of the disclosures which await us relative to a 
new submarine fauna. There strange and beautiful forms reveal 
glimpses to us of the infinite variety of characters in which God is 
still writing the revelations of his creative power to shame the petty 
cavils of the sceptic, and invite our study of new zones of life at depths 
to which light itself can scarcely penetrate, but from which science 
thus recovers vital truths, calculated to illuminate many obscurities in 
that great geological past, built up out of the wrecks of still older life 
and organization. Whilst so many are watching with eager, though 
bated hope, the prospect of practical results to the political and com- 
mercial world from this new Atlantic Telegraph expedition, less tanta- 
lizing and evanescent than those which were celebrated with such 
joyous peeans, when the “ bridal clasp”? and the magnetic “ wedding 
ring’ were believed to have plighted perpetual troth between Britain 
