Scientific.

Otago Witness, Issue 1342, 18 August 1877, Page 18

Scientific.

LOG LITTERS FROM THE CHAL-

LENGER.

From (he Otago Daily Times.

■ It U one of the privileges, as it is certainly oae of the duties, of a paternal Government tp aid in the development of all knowledge, whether social, -political, or scientific, and thus to increase the resources and stimulate tjb.o energies of ite people; for if "Knowledge, is power," then the nation which pos-; sesses the highest and fullest knowledge should ultimately become the most powerful. , The inßular position of England ha 3 always especially favoured nautical pursuits. English men and' boys take to the sea as ducks ' take to water ; and it would seem that this love of boating, swimming, yachting, sailing, is bo innate in the race that no inland career, agricultural or mercantile, can entirely overcome it ; • and few are the fcrueb'orn Britons who, at some period or, other of their lives, have nob longed to be sailors. And well indeed that it should be BOj for •tn'e^ English Navy, is tho, bulwark of our nation, and we would not say one wotd to disparage the pluck and bravery which have made it so,, and which have been so often tried, and so often proved triumphant. l But as the duck seems happy in the pond and does not trouble itself to find a raison d'etre to account for the duck- weed and tadpoles, so the English sailor, as & rule, eyres nothing for the submarine world over which he floats in bright summer days, or wrestles for bis life in the raging tempest. The very laws of winds, and waves, and currents have never been so well and clearly described; as , by the American sailor Maury, whose ? Physical Geography of the Sea," while moat valuable as a text-book,' is as fascinating as a romance. And ib was partly in the hope of combating this indifference, as well as tcTobtain accurate information' concerning the habitat of divers oceanic creatures, orgame and inorganic/ respecting which only the vaguest and most unreliable details had hitherto been obtained, that the .Challenger expedition was planned and carried out by the' British Government. The expedition had. many objects, all more or leap scientific ; chiefly it was designed to investigate, by dredging and hauling, the ocean be,d, its depth and formation, to obtain specimens and drawings of the strange creatures inhabiting its waters, trusting by ijhese means to solve disputed points, and to establish a connecting-link between- the animal life of past geological periods and that of the .present time ; to visit countries remote from the beaten track of "globe trotters," and observe their flora and fauna ; to verify and correct nautical charts; and to fix - on, suitable whence the expected transit., of Venus could be favourably observed. . ' ' It is curious and instructive to note the change which a few centuries have wrought in public opinion. In the year 1577, in the reign of "Good Queen Bess," the first British naval expedition which ever circumnavigated the globe set sail from Plymouth. Drake, who commanded it, hid the Queen's consent and approbation ; probably her assistance in money, or its equivalent. But the objects, of this royally-approved adventurer were by no means the advancement of the human race,- the increase of ' knowledge and science. His design was to plunder the 1. rich Spanish ships, and the richer Spanish cities; to "burn, waste, and -destroy ; to obtain wealth and fame for himself and for his mistress. Drake, Dampier, and a thousand others made the sea the highway of fortune, and obtained by its means whatever they coveted — lands, gold, or fair women. Later still, in our. history, the national love of th.3 sea -and of all- things nautical took a more civilised form. Cook, King, and others' circumnavigated the world as explorerß,. sought and, found, new lands, and planted tine, " Union Jack " ia, the unknown islands of the south ; but their success was, in. a great measure, due to a continuation of happy chances, and to the possession of that Anglo- Saxon pluck that will never confess itaelf beaten. It was reserved for the nineteenth' century to inaugurate marine expedi tions of a purely peaceable character, with no .design of territorial acquisition, no wish. - to possess the good things of our neighbours, but with the single-eyed intention of aiding the cause of . science . and true knowledge. And whether the goal of such modern explorers be the sparkling islands of the southern seas, ■ or' the icy regions of the Magnetic Pole, the adventurers deserve our admiration and respect. '< Oh the strictly scientific aspect of the Crukes of the' Challenger, it is not our intention to dwell at this time. Lord George Campbell maintains a modest, silence on the subject,. only broken in the last, chapter, in which he gives us a useful epitome of the Challenger's work, as obtained from hia scientifio comparisons. Here we learn that forms of life, hitherto supposed to be rare, have flo#;i>een found throughout the ocean ; that certain ; fish' cast up at iong intervals on' the coasts of Italy and Madeira are among the commonest inhabitants of deep waters ; that the same beautiful sea anemones which flourish in the nh'allow tropical waters of ths Philippines are to be found in the icy depths of the ocean, three miles below the surface, the same brilliant colouring existing in specimens obtained from spots exposed to a vertical sun, and, in others, where no ray of light can ever penetrate., J.t would also appear., that two favourite scientific theories have been utterly upset by this expedition, "for the deposits ' found in the deep sea would' seem to show that the present great ocean basins have ever been great ocean basins, and probably that the great continental areas have always been the areas on which continents have existed. In other words we haye found f no evidence that the sea now* rests on ; wh»t were oacecontinenta : ia the!

tertiary or any. other geological period, which, if ,irue, would do away (in the ocean nearest Home) with the submerged 'Atlantis' — that Attractive bone of contention." Also that, mysterious' something obtained from the soundings for the Atlantic cable, and described w "a protoplasm, a structure-* less mass of jelly," "a shapeless coat of living slime," "the physical basis of' life." This fcreat discovery, supposed' to be the origin of all organic life and named Bothybins, ha 3 been proved, by the naturalists of the Challenger, to be a snare and a delusion, " nothing , more , th,aii sulphuric, acid and lime, which, when dissolved in water . and the solution allowed to eyaporate/cryatalised into ,'the. well-known ' form of gypsum. ' J So much for the scientific mare's ' nest oh ! which, Strauss, Haekel, and others have pinned ! ttisir faith! as presenting the origin' of all 'things.'- ' • . ' , ■ 1 The eyes of all -.the scientific world were fixed upon - the ship,; and followed her pro- - ceedings with the . , deepest t interest -7- an, interest which must have been intensified in, the minds sof the naturalists; on board, .but •Which found a very feeble echo in the hearts of the naval officers, for we.aire ,told that— . 1 "Tae romance of, deep-water' dredging or trawling in the Challenger,' when repeated several hundred, times, was regarded from two points of view.' The one" was the - naval 1 officer's, 1 who had to stand for ten or twelve hours on a stretch carrying on the work, and' who, always excepting that he did not liket his day's work to have been done in rain, did' not know 'much, iabput, ".or, scientifically appreciate, the minute differences between one star-fish, one shrimp, one sea-cucumber, one; sea-urchin, ,and another^ The other point of view was the naturalist's, to whom the whole cruise was .a yachting expedition, who, had not to cafry on the' practical working' of ttie' dredge; to some new worm, coral; or' echinoderm; is a joy for ever ; who retires to a' comfortable' cabin to describe with enthusiasm this new- animal, which, we, with- ' out much . enthusiasm, and with much, weariness of spirit, to the rumbling tune of. the donkey-engine only, had dragged up for him. from the bottom of the sea." • ' The veriest cynic could not fail to enjoy this book, or to appreciate the frank and jpleasant .style . in which, it' is written— a ' style almost ' as picturesque as Kingsley's '^ At Last," as graphic and humorous as that most charming of books;' " The' Earl and the 1 Doctor." - How delightful to the recipients niust have been the first reading; of "these log letters, -full, of detail, yet never* wearisome; enthusiastic, yet never stilted. : ;Tho perfection, of letters, we call them,; and, only wish,, the style of correspondence were a little move general; r If. the language,, be in. some, places .a ' little ' slipshod * and, colloquial, we , would pardon more' serious faults^ for the, j sake of the sprightly 'diption-^-th^'au^bi' 'morning freshness; which' pervades the whole' book. It is' impossible to ' read it without being impressed with the author's possession' iof the merts Sana in.cdrporc sano ; he is not in the least egotistical,, yetr his personality is well defined, and every.paga; reveals the typical young,- Englishman, healthy, iappy,,wjta'ai true love, of sport and adventure, , a digestion which can appreciate the , dishes of ; all nations, and an appetite which, is not spoiled by cooking his own dinner j an' artisfseye for the beautiful, a sailor's adaptability to all climes add all people,' and those delightful roaatinte'd- spectacles' provided by good health and" temper, which, enable their fortunate posaeesor-to see the best side of everything and everybody; liord George Campbell has always something pleasant to say concerning the country that he visits, and its inhabitants. The former is picturesque, if- not beautiful ;r; r the latter amusing, if no more. - Among the women, black, brown), or yellow, he can always find some young. and pretty faces to admire, though we must confess he is a little hard upon the old and ugly i''Bavagea," Wh<> seem< to us, in their overworked and degraded state, objeotsof.the deepe3t.pity^,.. The, Challenge]; left England on. December 21, 1872, and in 1875, while , the veßserwaa' at.Hpn^ j^ong/Cjaptein Nares 'and "his first" lieutenant were 'summoned home by telegraph, ifo' join^tlie Arctic expfedition; '' ' n Capt. ' Thomson waa appointed' to the command- 'of ' this scientific • vessel, ' and - under l -his - chargo ' she returned to England in May, 1876. Her' course was somewhat {erratic. She visited Teaeriffe, where -Lord George - was 1 disappointed to find, that the Peak" was not -.a, smooth* sugar-loaf, mountain, banded with., t sucoessiv;e^ones <>f .vegetation, fromVthejtro-, .pical to the alpine, according to the- pretty pictures in theTatlases. ' Thence she visited the Wept Indies, and' proceeded to Bermuda,.' • wh'ere'ouY author' made, acquaintance witbl" grouper — fishes which' he describes as "large' ugly beasts,' some coloured light 1 red, some brown, sonic every shade between the two; which, 'as approach^ rush forward, re« maining there , motionless j watching, you fixedly with, wide open mouth and. goggling eyes, as if only waiting for.you to jump among them and, be. devoured." Next we find i;he Challenger at the Azores, and the desqription of these .islands is very captivating ;' for we are f1;oldf 1;old that the gardens' of St. ' Michael's are almost unrivalled iii the world, for that everything in the way of .vegetation ; — tropical, temperate, polar— grows therein" jluxuriarice, which " defies any deacription-of mine," arid where we will hope that -Lord George recovered from his disappointment concerning the Peak of Teaeriffe. - The Cape ■Verde,. lslands are less beautiful than the -Azores, ,the prettiest spots being the v most lunhealthy, and the '" Challenger*" were not unwilling to put to sea again. .., While crossing the Atlantic .at thi3 time, .they saw a 'wonderful display of phospprescence, which lis beautifully described, and the cause explained/in another part of the book. Afc the ' lonily Sfc' Paul's Kocks — a cluster of- five rocky pointß lying close together in horseshoe' shape, 'and expcsed to the foaming, rushing torrent > of . the Equatorial current, which flashes past them at the rate of- three knots an hour— the . Challenger was made fast, by a hawser to one of the rocky/needles. jHere all hands landed— the scientific men to jtake magnetic t aad sani observations ; the |non-scientific to amuse themselves as ' liest .they "could-, chienV by fishing, which yielded excellent sport ; but one angler seems chiefly 'to have entertained' himself by. obeerving the habits and manners' of certain crustaceans, of •which he gives us the following . delightful 'account :-^~- •- .j <••' ;■',-,! „ ,„ , I The crabs; those cheeky, exasperating, but iinfcenael7:.amusiDg ;: cr«bß,J they /swarm all

over the rocks, every where^one instant invisible, hiding in and crannies, the next appearing ancL scaling up behind you and elawing.a,piece ooff f biiit pr r fish much larger than themselves/ aid' quietly^ irfakicg off. Catch a fishf throw, it, behind you, and presently a score of crabs are .seen advancing warily, 1 thongti. not. J a crab'lmay ha\e been visible the moment before. ••■ ; And I solemnly declare that I saw 11 an ancient trusty -edaieVt w crab' come, in the course of his peregrinations, Up a crack, some 2ffc wide !af least; whftjL'fj after; guiding .up \ his' Joins, 1 he. deliberately^ jumped. Frighten an old noddy from iher-^rf neßt:;(pnder which circumstances -s^'w^r'^ ,als> disgorge; the contents;; of tier", stbna^Ji^i and bill), and a crab will: at once sneak, upiK sjdeways, looking s at' y>i fixedly the whileL I '^ with" its long stalked .eyes; tihew ' the ,&s. ']f gorged fish, and. make away, with ib "rapidly,; '■>[ chase it and it is off like '&l shot, dropping '• the Spoil. Some of us thought the orabs , ; ; •probably ate the '•young birds, but Fsaw'iioLji proof, of. this ; on the contrary,, I saw many»' .-. unattended balls of fluff, 7 and no crabs were--} 1 a'tthem: 1 Neither^rimaginfe, ianthfey^cjpac^J. the eggs.; perhaps they manage.it, howevervv.i somehow, for • their cunning exceeds beliefi 1""*1 ""* ,I, If 'they are thtown'iiitqtbTe sea; "their es6*r£af '£ are frantic to react the land, !evidentlyknftw«!'i ing where safety lies; but\ you'mußtafirik^ catch your crab, which is, however,- urijtoW^ Bible, unless you eanfirat maim; it by i'jbfojr,^ of. a stick or, .somehow. »How"hot iindv»x»i/j asperated I got chVsing them— but IdidnVf sweah Now,- sittirie r -down;'l'BoonßaW|oTid!Y' :eye, then one.claw.Vand then the othftr.,eye.'; appear over a.ledge of :rock— how itwatched*? me. "How I remaiifed'-brefathless and 'Still i' 1 ' Kow I then Blihvdrew. |my kick $%£ss&£ how,, finally,. I violently at. i6;ian,d*rt how,- after all, I only stung my arm, a'fld* v didn't touch the.crab.! ' ]jow, after •cut'taiiig'^ 'nice scrips off 'a, fish for baife, J, affcafi'a'fewjr minutes, turned round and -found 2ii'»all<W stolen ; how I saw the robbers; disappearing" into cracks; how I; threw, my. stick at one, and struck it by.a piece, of goodtfluck ; r witji what, joy, I threw it T into~'the I .Vsea^'iuid:i saw the fish . rush at. -it- , and' .devour ,'ifc.-, r Hal revenge is swe'etJ ■ ...'.»>.! .S .'1 ,iv „••.""'* , 1 Then our voyagers proceede'drto Brazil^ • s land of> marvellous fdreßts;bf hnmming'birasyi" s of gorgeous butterflies, of glowing' flow'erg Iwhich have beeloTsb 6ffcen"descfibed to us, and yet are always new,* an<tf stfange,Cluid . wonderful, and enticing, ;until we remember the heat and the 1 'insects', and-dicide that it i| perhaps'asjrell to visifctropidal scenery by proxy.. r - -j: ,; ~.u - j. '-, viV '•),; -„ -;.'.. »K< 1 sJT i \ Agauvthe Challenger crosaed the Atlariti^"''" visited the Cape and the islands to the S.E> of ie,; whMre^'the' na%tira)istj? some *$•% tUable knQwledge>:andLord. George CamVb^eii!-s .qbseiyed - the. manners 1 and T customa oi l tin"'! rienguins, which Kal found evenr more^&DJ&U' H taqnable tnanthpse/of ':the, crabs;,for it c%ai4"| be said of them mostlemphatically,. "thai;Vi 'their habits were beastly,' and manners ; ;the 1 y ay h^ad none." Here"tneißailorrtaißed, and did not enjoyv'wJhe "fam&ua-'lbaSbafelH^CKer. guelen^ . 4 . ,:,,., ,«, j A%;ttf tti>-SouiK'saa?d t^rcHaTfebg^r;, and t was/^ew,arded:,.witlL l the r r sighWf "sdW'° splendid iqeli'ergg. Tnen "fbllgwW c'ivTiiiia f i jl * taorf and Clul? oninera at MeMumeifof whiea • l c|ty;;W author 'speaks Jin/terinsiQf^'higb:^ praisa' / Thenc'8 > ii after a .passing gJan&% >a WellutgiojQ,' tHey, 'proceeded! to" visit: tbji^ 3 Friendly and dther isr»nai f 6t.th'e r Pacific: <f! ' Sj<jJ , We wisfr'ttiatf Mea nd -.space 1 woultl^peK 1 , mit us tplollo/iii^detail thisportioh oi%i<'j voyage^to gUa^fro;m island f 'tdr island/ eacfii *V ryng'-like,, a j dreafi v bf ,>eatitf 'rrbm ß^,; ' •rpurplelkea-"^ouna^ Vha^e fi«mV ,witH ff the friendly r .aftd; bonfelyfs'avageß u of^Vh»p 5 .? tabu; 'with their •dre^eso*f !i tarjb'a"ind t nalP tt dy^d; I red' u 6fJgold;' T ana tl splen t did u phvß^ afid'appearance^t'o^ahoo^brimsott^loMesanlS 9^ brilh^nb'plrrqts 1 id the.Fili 'acHn^-WMdU^ Aaau tfie -parauise' 4 b'irdßf, wrth^their^fnaß.^ "sbribalily beautiful plumage? tti^scarfef ling'* 1 rjiroV the bird^fo luscious > .^mta^jof^jw^ic^we u jajbe^^ -aonesi" can form so idea— to see cocoa," anSF 5 ,palm, and bread-fruit #tß^es^|o g*ther the crimaon flowers of th'e^nibiscus^and the pals .jlellow blossoms of thehaw. r- But unfortu« Inat^lylwalcannxi^attemp) thjs^-yrHp&a @lyT 'refer our readers to tbe-book itself, being : Wellassured'tnat^ ew up" witKoufc 'pleasure and put'it'down%ithbut.regret;. ( u;.fT ! Qne.'of theiverybeßticha r pters t isjdeYo6ed.£ -to an, inland cruiae?in Japan:i:Thi3iiS!so goddj-.I thrppghout tha.t t nQi.shpr ) fefftxtra?jt woUald' dpjsld !Jußfcice;; it.muatibqfrea^through^.tQjbe; p^>7/ spureciated.,, f , Several. n tirnes,q^r f^ra.i'p seller puts .tb^e . question, "','" wbjiid^no^ joi like ,"tb, J pj[>nic wthVnje in.|Japap^ nandjsn and js f can most heartily answer 'in-the"'affirauitiv«i > . ' •mg'travelling^co'mpanion'tWu^Etira^eorgS"^ 'Campbell— perfect^ , I good-hdmburs, willing jI to make light of smilLtroubKs/'Beein'g iwifch-'i^ out effort; the best side- of eveVything; : and'JJ< 'everybody,' and' possessing' tKes keyjof reidy m nympathy. and 1 politeness which. Seems totaa-nt !lockiaU.heartß. )^ r We.,catf J only;hpn^ttuftt-if(» i: .> t will soon undertake further .travels iby r se^ r;^ or land, or both,. and aUow.us to read,hii ettera home.^ } ;-;, j'f.^;^