AT the public meeting of the five Academies on October 29, 1882, I had the honour of reporting on the explorations of theTravailleur, and I announced that this year a new scientific campaign would be undertaken in the Atlantic. The Minister of Marine, responding to the desire expressed by his colleague, the Minister of Public Instruction, and by the Academy, had, in fact, issued the necessary orders to have theTalisman equipped for this purpose. TheTalisman is an excellent screw steamer, provided with a good spread of canvas, sufficient to make good way without the aid of its engines. For several months it was placed in dock at the Rochefort Arsenal, where the naval engineers undertook to refit it for the service to which it had been appointed. The old hempen ropes intended for raising the dredges were replaced by a steel cable of great strength and flexibility, capable of a strain of about 4500 kilogrammes, and worked by two steam-engines. One of these set in motion the enormous bobbin on which the cable was wound. The other, a still more powerful engine, was intended for raising the dredges.