136 Naticmal Geographic Magazine. 



REPORT— GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA. 

 By George L. Dyer. 



In presenting to the National Geographic Society this first an- 

 nual summary of work accomplished in the domain of the Geog- 

 raphy of the Sea, I find it impossible satisfactorily to limit the 

 range of subjects that may be assigned to it. The great ocean 

 is so large a factor in the operations of Nature, that the attempt 

 to describe one of its features speedily involves the consideration 

 of others lying more or less in that shadowy region which may 

 be claimed with equal force by other sections of the Society. It 

 is to be understood, therefore, that the following account merely 

 touches upon several of the characteristics of the oceanic waters, 

 and is not in any sense an attempt to treat them all. 



This being the first report to the Society it has been thought 

 advisable to give a brief outline of the progress made in our 

 knowledge of the sea since 1749, when Ellis reported depths of 

 650 and 891 fathoms off the north-west coast of Africa. Even 

 at that time an apparatus was employed to lift water from differ- 

 ent depths in order to ascertain its temperature. It does not 

 appear that this achievement gave impetus to further efforts in 

 this direction, for, except some comparatively small depths and 

 a few temperatures recorded by Cook and Forster in their voyage 

 around the world in 1772-75, and in 1773 by Phipps in the Arctic, 

 at the close of the last century there was but little known of the 

 physical conditions of the sea. 



At the beginning of the present century, however, more activ- 

 ity was shown by several governments, and expeditions sent out 

 by France, England and Russia, in various directions, began to 

 lay the foundation of the science of Oceanography. 



Exploration of little known regions was the main purpose of 

 most of these expeditions, but attention was paid also to the ob- 

 servation and investigation of oceanic conditions, so that accounts 

 of soundings, temperatures of sea water at various depths, its sa- 

 linity and specific gravity, the drift of currents, etc., form part 

 of their records. 



The first to give us a glimpse of the character of the bottom at 

 great depths was Sir John Ross, the famous Arctic explorer. 



