Life in the Deep Sea. 285 



this influence in the earlier portions of their career, they often 

 suffer a psychological ossification as age creeps over them, and 

 they become as great opponents of novelty as if the powers of 

 knowledge were exhausted and nothing new could possibly be 

 true. Of course, as our store of facts grows larger, and sound 

 induction establishes a larger number of principles from, which 

 accurate deductions can be made, many of the discoveries of 

 science will simply realize anticipations previously formed ; but 

 we must still expect that Nature will be for ever a region of 

 wonder and surprise, in which many things that were undreamt 

 of, or which were even inconceivable before their discovery, 

 will come to us with all the unquestionable credentials of belief. 

 Every department of science can offer illustrations of these 

 views; but in none have old conceptions been more completely 

 revolutionized than in marine zoology, so far as relates to the 

 inhabitants of the profound depths of the sea. It was assumed 

 that life rapidly diminished with increasing profundity, and 

 that our plummets soon arrived at a region where no " dim 

 beams," " amid the streams," " wove their network of coloured 

 light," but where the world of waters rested for ages in unbroken 

 silence and lifeless gloom. There was, however, little excuse 

 for the extent to which these opinions were carried ; for, as Dr. 

 Wallich reminds us, the late Sir John Ross published in 1819 

 an account of his having obtained in Baffin's Bay various 

 " sea-worms/' " shrimps,''' and other creatures from c - depths 

 greatly exceeding those at which animal life was supposed to 

 exist; and nearly thirty years subsequently Sir James Ross also 

 reported having dredged up living creatures from great depths 

 in the Antarctic seas ;" but these important discoveries met 

 with no attention, and it may be fairly said that the capture 

 of the deep sea starfishes by the " Bulldog" was the first 

 incident that materially modified pre-existing and erroneous 

 views. To show the process of reasoning adopted by distin- 

 guished men in reference to this subject, Dr. Wallich quotes 

 Mr. Page's Advanced Text Booh of Geology, that, " according to 

 experiment, water at the depth of 1000 feet is compressed one 

 three hundred and fortieth of its own bulk, and at this rate of 

 compression we know that at great depths animal and vegetable . 

 life, as known to us, cannot possibly exist." If Mr. Page had 

 written " we guess," instead of " we know," he would have 

 more accurately described the groundwork of a decision which 

 naturalists had arrived at by common consent, without either 

 examining the deep sea bed to ascertain what it really con- 

 tained, or without acquainting themselves with some of the 

 principal conditions that would determine whether or not it 

 could offer the means of existence to any living thing. In the 

 same spirit which dictated Mr. Page's remarks, Professor Philips, 



