The fauna of the deep sea / Sydney J. Hickson.

  • Hickson, Sydney J. (Sydney John), 1859-1940.
Date:
1894
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The fauna of the deep sea / Sydney J. Hickson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    But tlie men of science fifty years ago were not disposed to take tliis view of the matter. Pushing their inquiries as to the character of the sea-fauna into deeper and deeper water, they at length de- manded information as to the existence of forms of animal life in the greatest depths. Unable them- selves to bear the heavy expenses involved in such an investigation, they sought for and obtained the assistance of the Government, in the form of national ships, for the work, and then our knowledge of the depths of the great ocean may be said to have com- menced. We know a good deal now, and in the course of time we may know a great deal more, about this interesting region; but it is not one which, in our generation at any rate, any human being will ever visit. We may be able to plant the Union Jack on the summit of Mount Everest, we may drag our sledges to the South Pole, and we may, some day, be able to travel with ease and safety in the Great Sahara; but we cannot conceive that it will ever be possible for us to invent a diving-bell that will take a party of explorers to a depth of three and a half miles of
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