306 
CRUISE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER . 
mud. Very little of interest occurred from day to 
day, and the results of the trawling and additions 
to the natural history collection were very scanty. 
The principal occurrence of the voyage that 
made an impression was the passage of the meridian 
of 180°, which took place at noon on the 3rd July; 
and we now entered on west longitude. Accord- 
ingly, a day had to he “dropped” out of our reckon- 
ing, and Sunday, 4th July, was continued for two 
days, so as to prevent our returning to England with 
our log and journal one day ahead of the calendar. 
It requires but little explanation as to the neces- 
sity of this alteration. However, while on this topic, 
I may refer to the dismay of the early Catholic 
navigators when they found that they had been 
keeping irregular fast-days. Thus, when Magalhaens 
made his first voyage round the world (September 
1519 to July 1522), he found, on his return, that he 
was a day behind his countrymen, having sailed from 
east to west round Cape Horn. The idea of having 
lost a day of their lives puzzled them very much, 
but what disquieted the minds of these pious navi- 
gators still more was the fact that they had been 
observing their saints’ days erroneously, and had 
actually eaten meat when they ought to have fasted. 
The proof of the sphericity of the earth is thus 
clearly shown, and the improvements in navigation 
have pointed out that a day must necessarily be 
lost in a course steered from east to west ; while, on 
