which tends to spread warmth over the surface of the northern and southern seas and modify the ocean temperatures. These are the great currents which are running from east to west, driven by the trade winds blowing along the equatorial region and driving before them the equatorial water. They are met by the great continents. One is met by Cape San Roque in South America in the Atlantic, and against Cape San Roque it divides, one portion going northwards and another southwards. In the Pacific the current is met by the continent of Asia, and in the same way one portion runs northwards and another southwards. The warm water being driven to the north and south becomes mixed with colder water, and the temperature is modified and ameliorated by it. is likewise affected by other currents which are produced by various reflections against coasts and other obstacles. In this way we have water moving about on the surface, and conveying temperature from one place to another, and rendering the temperature of these upper 500 fathoms extremely irregular. In the Atlantic we find that from this point-about 500 fathoms to the bottom the temperature steadily decreases until it comes down to near the freezing point, no matter what the surface temperature or the latitude. We have come to the conclusion that this great mass of water is moving from the southern sea, and there seems to me to be very little doubt-although this matter will have to be gone into carefullythat the reason why this water is moving from the southern sea in a body in this way is, that there is a greater amount of evaporation in the North Atlantic, and over the Northern Hemisphere generally, than there is of precipitation; whereas it seems almost obvious that in the Southern Hemisphere-in the huge band of low barometrical pressure round the South Pole, the precipitation is in excess of the evaporation. This is an extremely simple way of accounting for this mass of cold water, which it has been hitherto found impossible to account for on any reasonable theory." We do not enter upon any description of the new forms of animal life which have been made known to us by the Challenger Expedition. A mere catalogue of the new species would more than fill our space, and no written words could convey any idea of the various interesting and often most beautiful denizens of the deep which have been brought home to enrich our national collections of zoology. It is enough to say that the fauna of the sea was found to be rich, and varied, and universally distributed even at the greatest depths. "It was our impression," Sir Wyville Thomson says on this subject, "that when we examined this fauna we should find it very analogous to that of the ancient chalk, for we believed, and we believe still, that the deposition of chalk has been going on continuously in various parts of the ocean from the chalk period to the present time. In this expectation we were to a certain extent disappointed, for the species found in the modern beds are certainly in very few instances identical with those of the chalk or even with those of the older tertiaries. But although the species, as we usually regard species, are not identical; the general character of the assemblage of animals is much more nearly allied to the cretaceous than to any recent fauna." As was to be expected from the ascertained uniformity of the bottom temperature of the ocean, and of its bed, the fauna of the deepest parts is wonderfully uniform throughout. Such are a few of the most striking results of the Challenger Expedition. After an absence of nearly three years and a half the vessel cast anchor at Sheerness on the morning of the 27th of May, 1876, bringing with her the richest cargo that ever ship brought to our shores. It will be many years before the vast mass of information collected by Sir Wyville Thomson and his fellow-workmen brings forth all its fruit. Many cherished scientific dogmas have already been disproved by ascertained facts discovered during the voyage. Many new truths will yet be reached. Men of science will remember the Challenger as long as British sailors remember the Victory. We must retrace our steps to resume our biographical account of Professor Wyville Thomson. His life at Belfast is thus described, evidently by one who knows him well:-"By interesting himself not only in what concerned the working of the College but even in the welfare of the town in which it was located, he soon gathered round him a host of intelligent and warm-hearted friends. In social life it was but an accident that would reveal the biologist, and one witnessed only the general culture and artistic taste of a well-bred man." In 1866, Professor Wyville Thomson took a leading part in the opposition to the Supplemental Charter by which power was sought to be given to the Queen's University in Ireland to grant degrees to Students coming up for examination from any College which the Senate of the University might recognize. His efforts were successful. A committee was formed to try the legality of the Charter, and after protracted litigation the Master of the Rolls granted an injunction which rendered it inoperative and saved the University from being reduced to a mere Examining Board. In 1870 the Regius Professorship of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh became vacant by the resignation of Professor Allmann. Wyville Thomson became a candidate for the chair and was elected, and he has occupied it till the present time. His long absence with the Challenger Expedition was a loss to which the University submitted patiently for the cause of science, but it will be a profit in the end to Edinburgh as well as to the world at large. Professor Wyville Thomson was Vice-President of the Jury on Raw Products at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. He is an LL.D. of Aberdeen University, a Fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, of the Linnean Society, the Geological Society, and many other learned associations. On the successful completion of the Challenger Expedition he received the honour of Knighthood in acknowledgment of his distinguished services. Under the title "Depths of the Sea" Professor Wyville Thomson published in 1872 a handsome and most interesting volume containing an account of the cruises made in the Lightning and the Porcupine; and we understand that he is now busily engaged in the preparation of a history of the Challenger Expedition. We may venture to predict that none of our existing Romances of the Sea will equal in interest the story he will have to tell us. LAYS OF THE SAINTLY. BY THE LONDON HERMIT. AUTHOR OF "SONGS OF SINGULARITY,” “PEEPS AT LIFE," &c. No. 16.-ST. GREGORY THE GREAT. Prelude. I WHO have sung, in verse not too sublime, As bards can borrow from the land of shades; An extra inspiration now I need, A prancing Pegasus of purest breed, For he whose life now comes within my scope, Was not Saint only, he was also Pope. His Early Life. The story I'll relate Of Gregory the Great, Who every saintly quality possessed; And very soon, I ween, You'll own he must have been The best of the most blessed of the blest. In Rome he drew his birth From a family of worth, And Gordian of his father was the name; Who to a noble bride By a Gordian knot was tied, And Sylvia, it is stated, was the dame. Both rich in Mammon's store, In latter years these good patricians shrunk And from senator and wife They changed into a humble nun and monk. "Tis always thought a boon To be born with silver spoon In mouth-and rather better if it's gold- Ensured promotion swift Chief magistrate at thirty-four years old. He lived in pomp and state In silk and gold and precious stones attired; But then his soul was set On higher treasures yet, To saintly reputation he aspired. His Religious “Call.” No, Gregory cared not for loaves or for fishes, Nor pleasures and honours that money could buy, The good of mankind was the aim of his wishes, And heaven the goal that attracted his eye; And so, when of parents the Reaper bereft him, He carried this Ruskin-like self-abnegation So far, all his titles and posts to resign, To mortify pride and forego ostentation, Wear serge 'stead of silk, and drink water for wine. |