Page:A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions Vol 1.djvu/439



At the Berlin Academy of Science, May, 1844:—

23rd May. M. Ehrenberg communicates to the Academy some of the results of his examination of Materials received by him from Captain Ross's Antarctic Voyage.

Captain Ross's Antarctic Voyage in 1841–1843 has materially advanced our knowledge of those minute forms of organic life which are invisible to the naked eye, and the author of this communication feels it incumbent upon him to lay some of the general results at once before the Academy, although the complete scientific examination of the materials cannot be concluded for a long time.

The Royal Society of London having in 1840 appointed a Committee to prepare a list of physical and meteorological queries and desiderata of special scientific interest, for the intended Antarctic Voyage and Magnetic Observatories, M. de Humboldt, in a communication to the Committee printed by them in their report (p. 96.), called attention to the important bearing of those minute forms of organic life on the great questions of modern geology, and described the easy methods of collection and preservation recommended by myself.