The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-12-20

Found IN the South Atlantic.
The day before the Hassler started
ON her voyage of discovery, Prof.
Agassiz addressed to Prof. PIERCE,
Superintendent of the Coast Survey,
the following letter, of which a copy
was furnished to the New York
Tribune in advance of its publication
BY the Museum of Natural History al
Cambridge.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS, Dec. 2, 1871.
Mr. DEAR FRIEND: On the point
of starting for the Deep-Sea Dredging
Expedition, for which you have SO
fully provided, and which trust may
prove to be one of the best rewards for
your devotion to the interests of the
Coast Survey am DESTROYS to leave
In your hands a document which may
be very compromising for me, but
which ] nevertheless am determined to
write IN the hope of showing within
what limits Natural History has ad-
vanced toward that point of maturity
when science may anticipate the dis
covery of facts.
If there is, as 1 believe to be the
case, . plan according to which the at
fnities among animals and the order
of their succession in time were deter
mined from the beginning, and if that
plan is reflected in the mode OF growth,
and in the geographical distribution
ofall living beings; or in other words,
If this world of ours Is the work OF in
t~elligence, and not merely the product
of force and matter, the human mind,
as q part of the whole, should so chime
with It that, from what is known, itmay
reach the unknown; and if this be so
the amount of information thus far
gathered should, within the limits of
errors which the imperfection of our
knowledge renders unavoidable, be
sufficient to foretell what we are like
ly to find in the deepest abysses of the
sea, from which thus far nothing has
been secured.
I viii not undertake to lay down
the line of argument upon which 1
base my statement, beyond what is
suggested in the few words preceding,
namely, that there is a correlation be-
tween the graduation of animals in the
complication of their structure, their
order of succession IN geological times,
their mode of development from the
egg, and their geographical distribu-
ton upon the surface of the globe.
If that be SO, and if the animal world
designed from the beginning has been
the motive for the physical changes
which our globe has undergone, and
If. as I also believe to be the case,
these changes have not been the cause
of the diversity now observed among
organized beings, then we may expect
from the greater depth of the ocean
Representatives resembling those types
of animals which were prominent in
earlier geological periods, or bear a
closer resemblance to younger stages
of the higher members of the same
types, or to the lower forms which take
their place now a-days. And to leave
NO doubt that have a distinct Percep-
ton of what 1 may anticipate, Imake
the following specific statement:
1t lies in the very nature of these
animals that, among v~ertebrates,
neither mammalia nor birds can exist
in deep waters; and if any reptiles
exist there, il could only be such as
are related to the extinct types of the
JHrassic periods-the Ichtyosauri,
Pleiosauri, and Pterodactyles; but
even of these there is very little pro-
liability that any of their representa-
tives are still alive. Among the fishes,
however, I expect to discover some
marine representatives of the order
of Ganoids Of both the principal types
known from the secondary geological
period, suchas Lepidoids, Pyenodonts,
Calacantehs, Amiods, and Glytolepis-
like species may even be looked for.
Among Selachians some new represen-
tatiyes OF Cestraciontes or Hybodontes
may be forthcoming, connecting the
latter more closely to Odontaspis. l
also look forward to find species allied
to. Corax, or connecting this genus
with Notidanus, perhaps, also, Juras-
sic like forms. Among Chimaroids
We may expect some new genera more
related to the extinct types of
family than those now living.
Among ordinary fishes I take it for
granted that Beryx genera may be ad-
ded to u list, approaching, perhaps,
Acanus, or rather Sphenocephalus ;
also, types allied to Istieus, to Anen-1
and to Osmeroides, Elops and
Dercetis and Blochius
may also come up. Species of all
of the animal kingdom which
have been very rarely met with by
and natu-alists are likely to
be found in the deepest waters, in
neither hooks nor nets are gen
orally lowered. Nothing is known
concerning the greatest depth at which
fishes may live. Upon this point 1
hope to obtain positive data.
But there is a subject of great inter
est likely to be elueidated by our in
vestigation, the contrast Of the deep
faunse of the Northern with those
Of the Southern hemisphere. Judg
from what Australia has already
brought us, we may expect 10 find that
the animal world of the Southern
hemisphere has a more antique charac-
ter, in the same way as North Ameri-
ca may he contrasted with Europe on
the ground of the occurrence IN the
United Statesof animals andplants now
here the types of which are only
fossil in Europe.
A few more words upon another.
During the first three de
eades of this century, the scientific
world believed that the cratic bowl
ders, which form so prominenta feature
Of the surface geology of Europe, had
been transported by currents arising
from the rupture of the barriers Of