CEYLON PEARL BANKS, 221 



hatching of marine organisms is fraught with so many difficulties, 

 which would be intensified in a tropical climate, and the ultimate 

 advantage of successful hatching is so problematic that one would 

 hesitate at this stage in the operations to advocate such a course. 

 It would seem that the small experimental tanks which the Company 

 erected at Marie he hukkaddi have been taken too seriously. For 

 the purpose for which they were built they are of little value , but it 

 is hoped that in future they will prove useful in following out the 

 problems of the life -history of the pearl oyster. 



In addition to the inherent difficulties of this problem — admittedly 

 one of the most formidable within the whole range of Marine 

 Biological Science — two additional factors were introduced, which 

 placed those concerned in a most unenviable position. First, the 

 pearl bank became exhausted when the scientific work had only 

 been in operation five years. It is not difficult to realize the irony 

 of the position thus created, both for the scientist, to whom the 

 presence of oysters was necessary for the prosecution of the investiga- 

 tions, and for the shareholder, whose visions of yearly fisheries were 

 so soon falsified. Mr. Southwell's position was an unfortunate 

 one, as his tenure of office represented a succession of barren years. 

 Thus it follows, that though it is undoubtedly true that there has 

 been a relatively small advance in our knowledge of the pearl oyster 

 during the last five years, this is due, not so much to " an insuffi- 

 ciency of ' directive ' business control of the scientific side of the 

 enterprise," as Dr. Jameson would have it, but to a much simpler 

 reason, namely, that there have been no pearl oysters on the 

 banks. 



There was a second factor which, in the writer's opinion, 

 has probably added to the difficulties of the situation, and has 

 certainly rendered the position of the scientific expert a somewhat 

 anomalous one. 



This was the exploitation of the pearl banks by a commercial 

 syndicate in the early days of the scientific investigation. This state- 

 ment of an opinion may be liable to misconception. The Directors 

 of the Ceylon Company of Pearl. Fishers took a very liberaJL. view 

 of the scientific investigations, the prosecution of which they were 

 bound to continue according to the terms of their agreement, and 

 their attitude towards their scientific staff was distinctly sympathetic 

 and deserving of the highest praise. The fault did not lie here, but 

 in the fact that the shareholders, who apparently knew little or 

 nothing of the problems at issue, put extraordinary faith in the 

 scientific work and expected that science with the wave of the 

 magician's wand would be able to produce a plentiful supply of 

 oysters Avhere hitherto there had been barrenness. It is regrettable 

 that the scientific work, and the results which were expected from it, 

 were given such undue prominence in the affairs of the Syndicate, 

 and were open to so much misinterpretation. 



