New-York tribune., 1878-05-10
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
THE VOYAGE OF THE CHALLENGER.

The primary object of the Expedition OF whch
an account is presented IN these Volumes was W
continue the investigations in regard 10 the eoiiu'
tions of the deep sea which were successfully COM
menced in the cruises of the British Government
vessels the Lightning 1s6S) aud the P0rcu-
pine 1850 and 1870, under the direction oil Dr.
w II. CARPENTER Mr. Gwynn Jeffreys. and the writer
of the work In the Autumn of 1872, the Chal-
lenger spar-decked corvette of 2,3O6 tons, with
auxiliary steam to 1924 horsepower, and usually
mounting eighteen 6S-pounders, was placed by the
Admiralty at the service Of the Expedl-
tion, and Professor Wyville Thomson, of the
University of Edinburgh. was appointed chiei
Of the Civilian Scientific staff. Between
the departure of the Challenger from SheerneSs'
December T. 1872, and her return to Splthead'
MAY "a. 1876, the expedition traversed distance
of 6S 900 nautical miles, and at nearly UNIFORM
intervals established 800 stations for observation.
The work TO be accomplished, as rule, was at
tackled in the following order After ascertaining
the position of the station, the exact depth was
determined sample of the bottom was brought up
by means of the sounding instrument portion OF
the bottom water was procured for physical and
chemical examination; the bottom temperature was
determined by a registering thermometer; speci-
mems of the bottom fauna were procured by means
of the dredge or raw and the fauna of the surface
and of intermediate depths were examined by the
use of the tow-net. At most stations series OF
temperature observations were made at different
depths from the surface to the bottom; atmospheric
and other meteorological conditions were carefully
obseryed and the direction and rate of the surface
current were ascertained.
The course of the Challenger as related in the
present volumes was from Portsmouth to Teneriffe,
thence to the island of SOmbrerO ST. Thomas, and
Bermudas, thence to Halifax and back to Ber-
L. OF nt
Brazil thence TO the Cape of Good Hope and return
ing by the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland
Islands to England. At present the complete results
of the voyage not yet reduced to order; the
chemical analyses are only commenced and there
has not been time even to unpack the specimens OF
natural history This must be reserved for the work
of subsequent volumes: meanwhile, brief state
ment of some of the conclusions arrived at by the
Expedition are given by the author, and challenge
the interest of the curOus reader As to the contour
of the bed of the Atlantic the first few days of the
cruise confirmed the data of previous observations.
After passing narrow, shallow belt, the water
deepened rather suddenly along the coasts of Europe
and North Africa, to between 1000 and $500 faith
Oms. From Tenerife westward, except at one spot
about 16O miles southwest of the island of FerrO,
the water gradually deepeDed to the westward to
the depth of $3.50 fathoms at the bottom of wide
valley which extends more than halfway across
the Atlantic On the section from st. Thomas to
Bermudas little TO the north of the Virgin Islands,
the depth was found to be 9,S75 fathOms, the
greatest depth known IN the Atlantic, and the
whole course lay through depression upward of
$500 fathoms deep, showing that the Western
trough extends considerably TO the nOrthward. An
eastern depression, with an average depth of $500
fathoms extends for the greater part of the dis
tance between Tristan RAcunha and the Cape of
~
found TO be a little over 1000 fathoms
(about 2li statute miles,. The bed of the
ocean, except in the neighborhood of coasts,
at depths between 400 and 1000 fathCms.
is covered with the glObigerna OOze consisting to
great extent of the shells, more less broken and
deeOm posed, of pelagic foraminifera. Everywhere
in the globigerna oOze, in addition to the fOramn-
fera which make up the great part of its bulk there
detected fragments of pumice, minute particles
of feldspar and particles and crystals of other min
erals due TO the dsinteTatiOn of volcanic rocks.
An intermediate band of gray occurs at depths
averaging perhaps from 2, 100 to $500 fathoms.
Throughout the whole of the Atlantic the water is
warmest at the surface. From the surface it cOOls
rapidly for the first hundred fathOms it then cOols
more slowly down to five or six hundred fathoms !;
and then extremely slowly, either to the bottom or
TO a certain point, from which it maintains uni
form or nearly uniform temperature to the
bottom. In regard to the deep-sea fauna,
the results are of peculiar interest. The
distribution of living beings has no limit in
point Of depth. Animals of all the marine inverte-
brate classes, and probably fishes aso exist over the
whole of the floor of the ocean. In the opinion of
the author, although the fact is not vet fully set
tled the number of species and of individuals
dminishes at a certain depth, and their size also
usually decreases. This last suggestion, however,
does not hold for all groups. A peculiar family of
the HolOthuridia, very widely distributed in deep
water, maintain the full dimensions of the largest
of their class, and even exhibit some forms of un-
usual size. But only an iDfnitesmally small part
of the floor of the ocean at the depth of over $500
fathOms has yet been explored The distribution of
life evidently depends in great degree upon the
nature OF the bottom or upon the condi-
tions which modify the nature of the bottom.
Over the vast where the calcareOus matter of
the peagic forminifera has been removed, and
the bottom consists of red or gray clay, animal life
is scarce and is represented chiefly by orders with
out shells. This comparative sterility depends, no
doubt, to a great degree, upon the absence of car
Donate of lime, but not entirely so; for the most
sterile regions of the whole the lime deposits
which form the slopes of coral reefs and islands.
The geographical extension of any animal species,
whether on land or in the sea, appears to depend
mainly upon the maintenance of tolerably uni
form temperature, aud on adequate supply of
suitable food and the conditions both of tempera-
ture and fOOd-supply are very uniform at extreme
depths where the nature of the bottom is the
The next element in Importance may possibly be the
length of time during which migration has
taken place; and it may be that the great
ocean depressions of the present time have
persisted through all the later geological
periods. If this be so, the length of time during
which the vast area occupied by the abyssal fauna
has maintained its continuity and probably great