OCEANOGRAPHY.[1]
By M. J. Thoulet.
A new science has lately made its appearance and is beginning to be recognized. To be exact, it is not absolutely new; it is nearly two centuries old in its well defined aim, its methods of investigation, its known laws, the indication of possible discoveries which remain to be accomplished; in a word, in its individuality as a didactic science, but until very lately it was the object of individual research only, and as it was studied but by a few specialists it remained almost unknown to the public.
This science is oceanography. Its purpose is to ascertain the phenomena which are going on in the depths of that immense mass of water which covers more than three fourths of our globe, to consider them, explain them, discover and formulate the laws that govern them on the surface and at the bottom of those abysses which were once supposed to be unfathomable at the time when people believed in the unfathomable. To-day oceanography is progressing with giant strides. All maritime nations contribute to its development, no less from the theoretical point of view,, for its great benefit to the human mind, whose right and duty it is to seek to know all things, than from the practical point of view of the material advantages to be derived from it; for the contest between man and nature, growing always more severe, makes it imperative that no force be left unproductive. France established oceanography. She made important discoveries and then stopping, left the care of continuing the work to others, forgetting even those of her children whose attainments, unnoticed by her, were elsewhere seized upon and utilized. Now that foreigners have made an advance which it is impossible to ignore, she seems to be aroused to a regret for the time and territory lost. She is certainly in a position to promptly regain both if she desires it.
We intend to explain of what oceanography consists, to show its direct relation with other sciences, its theoretical and practical utility; we shall give a short history of its progress from its beginning until the time when it became a complete whole; a clear and systematic exposition
- ↑ Translated from the Revue des Deux Mondes, Vol. CXLVI, pp. 897–921.
