NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE. 
947 
of the collections, and the observations illustrating the physical and biological conditions 
of the ocean basins, it was arranged, should be worked out on a uniform and well 
considered plan, with a constant reference to the bearing of the facts upon the objects of 
the Expedition. The work was to be carried out under the guidance of the Director 
of the Scientific Staff, whose residence in Edinburgh rendered it necessary that the 
collections should remain temporarily in that city. Mr. John Murray was at this time 
appointed chief assistant on the staff to be employed in the preparation for publication 
of the Scientific Results of the Expedition. 
In 1881 Sir C. Wyville Thomson's health had become very much impaired, and in 
January 1882 the Lords Commissioners of Pier Majesty’s Treasury, in order to give 
him relief from the pressure of work, and to enable him to give his undivided attention 
to the completion of the Narrative of the Cruise, desired Mr. Murray to undertake the 
editorial work connected with the Special Reports. On the death of Sir C. Wyville 
Thomson in March of the same year, Mr. Murray was charged with the direction of the 
whole of the work connected with the official publications. 
The collections have now been for some time in the hands of specialists, and where 
Reports have not already been published, the work is well advanced towards completion. 
A list of the Reports now published, as well as of those in progress, with the names of 
the authors, is given in Appendix VII. at the end of this volume. The type specimens 
referred to in the published Memoirs have nearly all been placed in the British Museum, 
and ultimately all types will be deposited there. It is estimated that the whole of the 
Reports will be issued before the end of the year 1887. 
