Abstract
IT may perhaps not be at first apparent what is the connection between those tubes and masses of metal and other apparatus on the right and these fossil leaves in the cases on the left. Those are some of the sounding apparatus used on board the Challenger in her four years' voyage. They have been brought from the galleries of the Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus, where they are deposited by the Admiralty, into this theatre, in order to illustrate the method by which deep-sea soundings and temperatures are ascertained. It is the results obtained from soundings in the Atlantic Ocean alone that we shall consider this evening. While the working out of these results, as shown in the diagram, has been accomplished by the staff of the Challenger, there are some few other ships to which passing allusion will have to be made. These fossil leaves, deposited by Mr. J. Starkie Gardner, F.G.S., are also brought in from the Loan Collection. It is not these particular leaves we have to consider; these are all English: but we shall have to consider the teachings of collections of leaves similar as regards their manner of preservation, obtained from different parts of Europe and America. There are no specimens at present in the collection besides these, though until recently there was the small typical collection of the Baron von Ettingshausen. These English specimens will, however, serve our purpose very well as illustrations to convey an idea of what Tertiary fossil leaves look like.
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The “Lost Atlantis” and the “Challenger” Soundings 1 . Nature 15, 553–556 (1877). https://doi.org/10.1038/015553a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/015553a0