■J?
72 BASALTIC DRIFT. CLOSE OF CRUISE.
west side of Iceland. This ascending current, it may be observed, would operate
continuously along the whole of this shoal-water tract, irrespectively of the
ordinary tidal current, which can only affect the superficial stratum of water.
Under any other circumstances, inasmuch as it has already been shown that this
tract has been under the immediate infiuence of recent volcanic convulsions, the
belt of basaltic gravel, or, at any rate, that portion of it in the vicinity of the
Blinde Skier which has altogether escaped such volcanic action, must have been
buried under a similar obsidian-like deposit. Should a telegraphic cable ever be
carried along the North-Atlantic route, there is good ground for believing that
the surest method of avoiding the danger of submarine volcanic action, to which
the greater portion of the southern district of Iceland is liable, would be to
bring the wire across from Ireland, vid Rockall, to the Blinde Skier, and thence
direct to Labrador. I f injury from volcanic disturbance were to take place at
all in the case of a wire following this route, it would in all probability occur
between the Blinde Skier and the mainland, to which there might be a short
branch-line, and not between the Blinde Skier and Labrador, as no recent
volcanic action has been known to take place in that direction.
Uov. I I .—The few remaining soundings having been concluded in defiance of
a still further continuance of stormy weather, and the supply of coal being again
exhausted, the ‘ Bulldog ’ today put into Killibegs, County Donegal. At that
port I left the ship and bade adieu to my messmates, whose friendly companionship
I shall always recollect with feelings of sincere pleasure.
PART II.
THE BATHYMETRICAL LIMITS OE ANIMAL LIFE IN THE OCEAN.
O n no question connected with marine zoology does the information of naturalists
appear to have been so singularly defective as on the bathymetrical limit
of animal life in the ocean. When it is borne in mind that, until a very recent
period, but a few isolated attempts had been made to bring up “ specimens
of bottom ” from deep water, and that the “ antibiotic view ” rested exclusively
on the foregone conclusion that no organized creature “ of a kind analogous to
those with which we are acquainted ” could exist under the extraordinary
conditions of pressure, aération, temperature, and light which prevail on the
deep-sea bed, it can hardly be wondered at that the clearest proofs should have
been necessary in order to establish an opposite opinion. But it is nevertheless
surprising that the antibiotic riew, based as it was altogether on negative
evidence, should have remained unimpugned for nearly half a century after the
publication of statements which, although meagre to a degree when considered
with reference to the importance of the subject, were calculated to throw reasonable
doubt upon it and consequently deseri^ed most serious consideration.
In I8 I9 , the late Sir John Ross published an account of his having obtained
in Baffin’s Bay various “ sea-worms,” “ shrimps,” and other creatures, from
depths greatly exceeding those at which animal life was supposed to become
extinct ; and nearly thirty years subsequently, Sir James Ross also reported
having dredged up living creatures fi-om great depths in the Antarctic seas.
Hence, whatever weight may have attached to the testimony of these distinguished
Arctic narigators on other subjects, it is evident that some deep-rooted