CHAP. VI.] DEEP-SEA DREDGING. 271 



I have referred likewise (p. 26) to Professor 

 Heeming Jenkin's notes on the living animals 

 attached to the Mediterranean cable at a depth of 

 1,200 fathoms, and to the results of Dr. Wallich's 

 special investigations on board H.M.S. ' Bull-dog.' 



In a general review of the progress of knowledge as 

 to the conditions of life at great depths, these investi- 

 gations deserve special notice, as, even if they must 

 still be regarded as somewhat unsatisfactory, they 

 distinctly mark a stage in advance. Although, from 

 the imperfection of the means at his disposal, Dr. 

 Wallich could not bring home evidence sufficient 

 absolutely to satisfy others, he was convinced in his 

 own mind from what he saw, that living beings high 

 in the scale of organization might exist at any depth 

 in the ocean; he expounded clearly and forcibly 

 the train of reasoning which led him to this belief, 

 and subsequent events have amply justified his con- 

 clusion. The space at my disposal will not allow 

 me to quote and discuss Dr. Wallich's arguments, in 

 some of which I thoroughly concur, while from 

 others I am compelled to dissent. The facts were 

 most important, and their significance increases now 

 that they are fully confirmed and illustrated by ope- 

 rations on a large scale. In lat. 59° 27' N., long. 

 26° 41' W., a depth of 1,260 fathoms having been 

 previously ascertained, " a new kind of deep-sea dredge 

 was lowered ; but in consequence of its partial failure, 

 a second apparatus (namely, the conical cup) was em- 

 ployed, fifty fathoms of line in excess of the recorded 

 depth being paid out in order to ensure the unchecked 

 descent and impact of the instrument at the bottom. 

 The dredge had already brought up a small quantity 



