Art. VIII. On Microscopic Life in the Ocean at the Sotith Pole, 
and at considerable depths. By Prof. Ehrenberg.* 
(From the Annals qf Natural History, Sept., 1844.) 
The following is the substance of a paper laid by Prof. Ehrenberg, 
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. Danvin and Scliayer ; 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 enquiries 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 adapted 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 submarine 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 research, the author 
feels that it is essentially requisite to retrace the contributions of 
pther 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. 
1. The South Polar Voyage from 1841 to 1843. 
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 pro- 
• From the Proceedings of the Berlin Academy for May, and communicated by the Author. 
