Hydrographical Studies

Abstract

HYDROGRAPHY is a backward science, and the very ocean, scientifically speaking, is a neglected field. Mr. J. Y. Buchanan, an oceanographer himself, tells us so in his new book of “Accounts Rendered”: “It seems almost incredible that the men of all nations, burning with scientific and exploring zeal, should have entirely overlooked, and apparently despised, this large portion of the world.” Our Challenger Expedition had two faults: it cost a great deal of money, and it was done too well. It has led two generations of Englishmen to believe that the thing was done and need not be repeated, and must on no account be asked for again. Yet, in spite of this great old expedition of ours, and the various scientific exploring voyages of the Travailleur, the Gauss, the Siboga, the Albatross, the Thor, and all the rest which have followed it (in other hands than ours), we know perfectly well that our knowledge of the ocean, both physical and biological, is in its merest infancy. Its fauna we know as we knew that of the shore fifty years ago, a handful here, a handful there; of its physical and physico-chemical phenomena we know a great deal less.