Scientific Papers

Abstract

THE numerous expeditions which have explored the depths of the sea since the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873–76 have added much to our detailed knowledge of the conditions occurring in various seas and oceans, and in certain cases have given some idea of the periodic and irregular physical changes which taka place. But the great pioneer voyage remains the only one which has surveyed the whole world of waters, and it is remarkable how little the work of more recent years, with all its advan-1 tages of previous experience and more adequate resources, has modified the broad outlines of the Challenger results. It is of fundamental importance to the history of oceanography that the record of these early investigations should be made accessible once for all by the best authorities; those authorities, to wit, to whom the researches themselves were originally due. This has, of course, been done in great measure in the published narrative and reports of the Challenger Expedition; but, as in all other undertakings of the same order of magnitude, there is a sort of aftermath of result, the fruit of incidental inquiries into special methods or of special subsequent opportunities arising from the original main enterprise. These collateral results are necessary to complete the historic picture, both of the work and of the men who carried it out.

Scientific Papers.

By J. Y. Buchanan. Vol. i. Pp. xii + 15 papers. (Cambridge: university Press, 1913.) Price 10s. 6d. net.