56 



SCIENCE 



[Vol. IY., No. 76. 



explorations were resumed, and they were con- 

 tinued through 1869. 



It may be thought that we have departed 

 too widely from our subject in discussing with 

 so much detail the progress of American re- 

 search during a period in which no great im- 

 provements were made in methods of work on 

 this side of the Atlantic ; but how could we 

 have better furnished proof of the rapid growth 

 of interest in such matters, and of the maturing 

 of ideas which prepared the way for the im- 

 portant changes marking the next decade? 



There is, however, one noteworthy addition 

 to the collector's outfit made in this period, 

 which deserves special mention. On one of 

 the dredging cruises of the English exploring 

 steamer Porcupine, between 1868 and 1870, 

 Capt. Calver, the naval officer in charge, at- 

 tached several of the common deck-swabs to 

 the end of the dredge-net, with the expectation, 

 that, in sweeping the ocean-bottom, they would 

 securely entangle all the rough and spin}' 

 objects lying loose within their path. His fond- 

 est hopes were realized ; and the novel experi- 

 ment, suggested by often finding such objects 

 as sea-urchins, corals, and sponges, adhering 

 to the exterior of the dredge-net, and even to 

 the lower part of the drag-rope, gave origin 

 to one of the most efficient implements of 

 modern deep-sea research. 



When the beam-trawl, a well-known English 

 appliance for the capture of bottom-fish, was 

 first adopted into the outfit of the marine zool- 

 ogist, we are unable to state ; but it does not 

 appear to have ever been extensively and sys- 

 tematically employed in scientific research until 

 so used by the U.S. fish-commission, beginning 

 in 1872. It was afterwards used by the Chal- 

 lenger from 1873 to 1878, and now greatly ex- 

 cels the dredge in the extent and value of its 

 results, wherever the ground is suited to its use. 



The year 1871 was signalized by the organ- 

 ization of the U. S. fish-commission, one of 

 the most important scientific establishments of 

 modern times for marine zoological work. Al- 

 though instituted primarily for the investiga- 

 tion of fishery matters, it has, through the wise 

 and liberal policy of its director, Professor 

 Baird, accomplished most valuable results for 

 marine biology. The latter department has 

 been sedulously fostered, in the belief that its 

 results would have an important bearing upon 

 the practical questions at issue. No pains 

 have been spared to perfect the methods of re- 

 search, and many valuable contributions have 

 already been made to the marine collector's 

 outfit. These are briefly described below ; and, 

 as the history of the commission is already well 



known to most readers, we need refer here to 

 only a few points which have marked its prog- 

 ress. 



The earlier explorations were carried on 

 mainly by means of sail-boats, and were con- 

 fined to comparative^ shallow water. From 

 1873 to 1879 a naval tug was placed at the 

 disposal of the commission every year ; but in 

 1880 the steamer Fish Hawk, a twin-screw 

 propeller of two hundred and five tons (w.ra.), 

 was built expressly for the combined purposes 

 offish hatching and dredging. Its small size 

 and light draught prevented long trips at sea ; 

 but it was well adapted for deep-sea work, and 

 was supplied with all the improved appliances, 

 as well as those which had originated with the 

 commission, including wire rope, then recently 

 introduced by the coast-survey. In 1883 the 

 steamer Albatross, described in vol. ii. of 

 Science (pp. 6, 66), was completed, and made 

 her first successful cruise in the spring of that 

 year. Her log for the summer of 1883 records 

 the deepest trawling yet made in the Atlantic 

 Ocean; the depth having been 2,949 fathoms, 

 and the results successful. Brief accounts of 

 her dredging cruises under Lieut. -Commander 

 Tanner, U.S.N. , have appeared from time to 

 time in late numbers of Science. 



While the fish-commission claims priority for 

 many improvements in apparatus primarily 

 intended for depths under a thousand fathoms, 

 it willingly yields the palm for deep-sea im- 

 provements to the U. S. coast- survey, espe- 

 cially in the persons of Commander Sigsbee, 

 U.S.N. , and Mr. Agassiz. The explorations 

 of the steamer Blake from 1877 to 1880, in 

 which the methods of deep-sea dredging and 

 sounding were completely revolutionized, mark 

 one of the most important stages in the prog- 

 ress of marine research. Wire rope was sub- 

 stituted for hemp, the dredge was altered to 

 adapt it to the soft bottoms of deep water, on 

 which dredging results had always been uncer- 

 tain, and the beam- trawl was made reversible. 

 The methods of handling and reeling the rope 

 were also perfected. These changes and addi- 

 tions were briefly described and figured from 

 time to time, as work progressed, in the Bulle- 

 tin of the Museum of comparative zoology, at 

 Cambridge, by Mr. Agassiz and Mr. Sigsbee, 

 and were afterwards fully discussed by the latter 

 in one of the most elaborate and instructive 

 reports ever dedicated to the methods of deep- 

 sea research. 1 It is a quarto volume of two 



1 Deep-sea sounding and dredging : a description and discus- 

 sion of the methods and appliances used on hoard the coast and 

 geodetic survey steamer Blake. By Charles D. Sigsbee, lieu- 

 tenant-commander U. S. navy, assistant on the coast and geo- 

 detic survey. Washington, 1880. 



