AlfNIVEESAEY ADBRESS OF THE PEESIDENT. xlv 



speaking of the fourth or lowest, he observes, " A more difficult 

 task, and which can be hardly hoped for fulfilment without the 

 aid of a steam-vessel and continued calm weather, is the dredging 

 of the deeps off the Hebrides in the open ocean. Much of the deep 

 sea round the Zetlands is sure to reward the explorer .... And lastly, 

 though I fear the consummation, however devoutly to be wished 

 for, is not likely soon to be effected, a series of dredgings between 

 the Zetland and the Paroe Islands, where the greatest depth is under 

 700 fathoms, would throw more light on the natural history of the 

 North Atlantic and on marine zoology generally, than any investi- 

 gation that has yet been undertaken." 



All who knew Edward Porbes must feel satisfied that, had his 

 valuable life been spared, he would have been in the foremost rank 

 of the investigators^of those new fields to which he pointed, and the 

 •exploration of which has now been so successfully commenced. His 

 untimely death unfortunately left his investigations with aU the 

 weight of his authority, at a point that he doubtless would have 

 considered the first stage in the inquiry, instead of being accepted, 

 as it has occasionally been, as an approximate conclusion. 



In 1846, Capt. Spratt, R.N., the friend and companion of Forbes, 

 dredged at a depth of 1860 ft., forty miles east of Malta, eight 

 distinct species of Mollusca, among which was the Pleurotoma 

 carinata *, a supposed extinct species of the Coralline Crag ; and 

 he observes f that he believed animal life to " exist much lower, 

 although the general character of the -Sgean is to limit it to 300 

 fathoms." In his survey of the Mediterranean, between Malta and 

 Crete J, Capt. Spratt afterwards found at the depth of 9720 ft. " nu- 

 merous dead sheUs and fragments of shells." 



The preliminary observations necessary before laying the dif- 

 ferent lines of Atlantic telegraphs next came in aid of natural 

 science. In 1855 a United-States steamer made a series of deep- 

 sea soundings across the Atlantic. The fine calcareous mud brought 

 up from depths of from 6000 to 12,000 ft. was examined by Prof. 

 Bailey, who discovered in it numerous shells of Glohigerince and 

 Orhulince, with Diatoms and sponge-spicules. He doubted whe- 

 ther these Poraminifera could have lived on the sea-bottom, and 

 thought they might rather have fallen upon it from upper sea-zones- 



* ' Nature,' vol. i. p. 166, Dec. 1869. 



t Brit. Assoc. Eeports for 1848, p. 81. The depth given above is corrected on 

 Capt. Spratt's authority. « 



X ' Travels and Researches in Crete,' vol. ii. p. 329. 



