556 



On Microscopic Life in the Ocean at the South Pole, and at con- 

 siderable depths. By Prof. Ehrenberg.* 



The following is the substance of a paper laid by Professor Ehren- 

 berg, May 23rd, 1844, before the Berlin Academy, and containing 

 some of the results derived from his recent investigations upon 

 materials furnished from the South Polar expedition of Captain Ross, 

 and the voyages of Messrs. Darwin and Schayer ; their object being 

 to determine the relation of minute organic life in the ocean, and at 

 the greatest depths hitherto accessible. 



Last year the author submitted to the Academy a survey of the 

 geographical distribution of such organisms over the entire crust 

 of the earth ; but the field of these inquiries being one of such vast 

 extent and importance, it became evident to him, that to arrive at 

 any positive general results, it was necessary to examine the subject 

 under a more special point of view, and under this conviction, two 

 different courses of investigation suggested themselves as best adapt- 

 ed to fulfil that purpose ; viz. first, to ascertain both the constant 

 and periodical proportion which minute organisms bear to the surface 

 of the ocean in different latitudes ; and secondly, to examine sub- 

 marine soil or sea-bottom raised from the greatest possible depths. 

 It is an easy matter, generally, to collect materials of this kind ; but 

 before applying to them the test of philosophic criticism and re- 

 search, the author feels that it is essentially requisite to retrace the 

 contributions of other writers upon the same subject ; premising, 

 however, that their value will always be enhanced in so far as the 

 materials collected have been obtained with due care and reference to 

 their several localities. 



Very essential progress was made in our knowledge of the minute 

 and invisible forms of organic life during the years devoted to this 

 expedition by Captain Ross. In the year 1840, the Royal Society of 

 London appointed a committee to prepare a series of physical 

 and meteorological questions to be solved by the proposed expedi- 

 tion ; and it was at the express desire of the author that Alex. v. 

 Humboldt undertook to suggest to that body the importance of 



* The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. 90, September, 1844. 



