8 



for specific occupations essential to the welfare of a rapidly 

 developing economy. 



Research in Universities in South Africa has occupied a sub- 

 ordinate, and in some ways uneasy, position. University staffs 

 are normally appointed and paid for teaching, and while research 

 is officially encouraged, anyone who devotes more than normal 

 time to such work runs the risk of being regarded as not giving 

 proper attention to the teaching for which he is paid. It is cer- 

 tainly looked on as peculiar and possibly even as reprehensible to 

 teach in one subject and to do research work in another. At the 

 time of the first Coelacanth I was told that it is competent for the 

 head of a University to order a member of the staff to desist from 

 doing research work, even in his spare time, if in the opinion of 

 the head it may be prejudicing the efficiency of his teaching work. 

 All this is fundamentally sound. In general, no man can serve two 

 masters ; at least, not for long. 



For many years the aftermath of the East African campaign 

 led to continued ill-health, the precise origin of which baffled 

 those I consulted. In succession they took away my teeth, my 

 tonsils, and my appendix; but I have no harsh feelings towards 

 those who assisted at my partial dismemberment, and am rather 

 grateful that they did not focus their attention on any other organs 

 as well. In desperation, my wife and I came to seek health in our 

 food, and in a few years I achieved a new lease of life, which made 

 possible the strenuous expeditions in tropical waters that ulti- 

 mately led to the second Coelacanth. 



The most important collection of South African fishes up to 

 1930 was in the South African Museum at Cape Town, collected 

 and partly worked on by the late J. D. F. Gilchrist.* They had 

 been the basis of a large monograph by K. H. Barnard,f Assistant 

 Director of the South African Museum, at that time the leading 

 authority on South African fishes. In the Eastern Cape there were 

 provincial museums at Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, East 

 London, and Kingwilliamstown, each with a staff of only a 



* Professor J. D. F. Gilchrist, a scientific pioneer, a small man of great 

 heart and great mind, whose ability, energy, and endurance laid the foundations 

 of South African ichthyology and of the gr-^at fisheries industry of today. 



f One of the most able, versatile, and industrious biologists ever to settle in 

 South Africa. His researches in several widely divergent fields are most valuable 

 contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge in South Africa. 



