The letter which Dr. Wyville Thomson wrote to Dr. Carpenter in May, 1868, out of which all these expeditions have grown, shows that this query had become a practical problem in Dr. Thomson's mind at that time; and the desirableness of solving the problem is put in the foreground of his reasons for urging the Government to undertake the work of exploration: [Footnote 7: See above, "On a Piece of Chalk," p. 13.]

There was indeed no reason for my follyno beauty, no desirableness in you.