GOO ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



that sonic definite system of action may be determined upon 

 and presented to their respective constituencies for adoption. 



PISHING STEAMER. 



A form of steamer has lately been devised in England for 

 the special purpose of employment in. sea fishing, the advan- 

 tages claimed being absolute safety ; capacity for carrying 

 considerable quantities of stores, with no splash of water from 

 paddles or screws to disturb the fish ; the power of steaming 

 at a very slow speed while fishing ; a low and perfectly clear 

 free-board, so that nets and ropes can be passed all around 

 the vessel, there being no shrouds, spars, rudder, or other ex- 

 ternal obstruction whatever; the vessel being double-ended, 

 so as to avoid having to turn in port. The hull possesses 

 great stability and steadiness, and can be made to contain 

 suitable provision for wells for keeping fish alive till they 

 can be sent to market. 2 A, January 7, 1871, 5. 



SCIENTIFIC INACTIVITY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



Dr. Frankland, in a late number of Nature, makes an unfa- 

 vorable comparison between the scientific activity of Great 

 Britain and Germany as far as chemistry is concerned.* He 

 remarks that in 1866 there were published 1273 papers on 

 new discoveries by 805 chemists an average of 1.58 to each 

 investigator. Of these, Germany contributed 445 authors 

 and 777 papers, being considerably more than one half, or 

 1.75 to each author. France furnished 170 authors and 245 

 papers, or 1.44 to each author; while the United Kingdom 

 supplied only 97 authors and 127 papers, or 1.31 papers to 

 each author, the proportion from all other countries consist- 

 ing of 93 authors and 124 papers, or 1.33 to each author. It 

 is not stated what number of these were American. He fur- 

 thermore remarks that the showing is still worse when we 

 bear in mind the fact that a large number of papers credited 

 to the United Kingdom are really the work of chemists born 

 and educated in Germany. The causes of this low condition 

 of chemical activity, shared also by other branches of science, 

 he finds to be in the want of suitable buildings and apparatus 

 for the prosecution of chemical investigations, and in the non- 

 recognition of experimental research by any of the Engluli 

 universities. 12 A, April 6, 1871, 445. 



