The Cruise of the ''Bibb!' 151 



Cathedral of Cologne or the Basilica of St. Peter's. 

 The time is passed when men expressed their deep- 

 est convictions by these wonderful and beautiful 

 religious edifices ; but it is my hope to see, with the 

 progress of intellectual culture, a structure arise 

 among us which may be a temple of the revelations 

 written in the material universe. If this be so, our 

 buildings for such an object can never be too com- 

 prehensive, for they are to embrace the infinite work 

 of Infinite Wisdom. They can never be too costly, 

 so far as cost secures permanence and solidity, for 

 they are to contain the most instructive documents 

 of Omnipotence.'' 



In 1869 Agassiz was invited to take a cruise on the 

 Bibby the Coast Survey steamer, along the coast of 

 Cuba, his old friend of the Aar glacier days. Count 

 Pourtales being the naturalist in charge. This trip 

 proved a most important one, being far-reaching in 

 its discoveries and the deductions which were made. 

 Agassiz thus refers to the dredgings in the Bulletin 

 of the Museum of 1869 : 



'' From what I have seen of the deep-sea bottom, 

 I am already led to infer that among the rocks 

 forming the bulk of the stratified crust of our globe, 

 from the oldest to the youngest formation, there 

 are probably none which have been formed in very 

 deep waters. If this be so, we shall have to admit 

 that the areas now respectively occupied by our 

 continents, as circumscribed by the two-hundred- 

 fathom curve or thereabout, and the oceans at 

 greater depth, have from the beginning retained 

 their relative outline and position ; the continents 



