CHAP. 1.] INTRODUCTION. 21 



we shall find them teeming with animal life ; the ex- 

 treme pressure at the greatest depth does not appear 

 to aflfect these creatures ; hitherto we have not been 

 able to determine this point beyond a thousand 

 fathoms, but from that depth several shell-fish have 

 been brought up with the mud." 



On the 28th of June 1845, Mr. Henry Goodsir, 

 who was a member of Sir John Franklin's ill-fated 

 expedition, obtained in Davis' Strait from a depth of 

 300 fathoms, " a capital haul, — mollusca, Crustacea, 

 asterida, spatangi, corallines, &c." ^ The bottom was 

 composed of fine green mud like that mentioned by 

 Sir Edward Sabine. 



About the year 1854 Passed-midshipman Brooke, 

 U.S.N., invented his ingenious sounding instrument 

 for bringing up samples from the bottom. It only 

 brought up a small quantity in a quill. These trophies 

 from any depth over 1,000 fathoms were eagerly sought 

 for by naturalists and submitted to searching micro- 

 scopic examination ; and the result was very surpris- 

 ing. All over the Atlantic basin the sediment brought 

 up was nearly uniform in character, and consisted 

 almost entirely of the calcareous shells, whole or in 

 fragments, of one species of foraminifer, Olobigerina 

 bulloides (Fig. 2). Mixed with these were the shells 

 of some other foraminifera, and particularly a little 

 perforated sphere, Orbulina universa (Fig. 3), which 

 in some localities entirely replaces Glohigerina ; 

 with a few shields of diatoms, and spines and 

 trellised skeletons of Radiolaria. Some soundings 

 from the Pacific were of the same character, so 



1 Natural History of the British Seas. By Professor Edward 

 Forbes and E. God win- Austen. P. 51. 



