84 NATURAL SCIENCE. August. 



that the balance should be used in the lean years of the Association 

 to supplement the grants-fund. The present position of affairs is 

 unbusinesslike and deserves another description than " cautious," for 

 which quality some praise it. Every penny, beyond the reserve 

 fund to secure liability to life-members, should be spent. The Associa- 

 tion has no authority to treasure it up for posterity ; the money 

 belongs to the contemporary members, who wish to see it put to 

 useful work. 



Among those to whom we have previously alluded as perplexing 

 Science with their unwelcome attentions, a foremost place must be 

 assigned to the British Association " crank," that peculiar type which 

 appears annually for one crowded week of glorious activity and 

 hibernates — no man knows where. The delicate question of dealing 

 with these dear people has always an importance at a great meeting, 

 such as the Oxford one will be. Many things have been tried, 

 closure, etc., etc. ; but the most successful is an enterprising, courteous, 

 spirited, and ingenious secretary attached to a Section for this special 

 duty. The system has its drawbacks, since, in one instance of marked 

 success, the zealous official in question had actually to flee from the 

 vengeance that awaited him when his wiles were discovered, and he 

 has not dared to show his face again at a British Association meeting. 

 But the cranks come back. 



The Marine Biological Association. 



Among scientific institutions that justly seek for the aid which, 

 as we have said, the public can so well bestow, must be mentioned 

 the above Association, which has just distributed a letter signed by 

 the President, Professor Lankester, and the Hon. Secretary, Mr. G. H. 

 Fowler, accompanied by a brief biography of the Society. As is the 

 case with most of our scientific societies, the Marine Biological As- 

 sociation has not, by any means, too large an income for its needs. 

 Considering that the Government recognises the importance of the 

 investigations, carried out under the direction of the Council of the 

 Society, in economic questions affecting our fisheries, by an annual 

 grant of money, it is to be hoped that the public will individually 

 reply to the appeal of the Association. The cost of membership is 

 not large — one guinea per annum — and a considerable extension of 

 the list of members would remove many restrictions to the usefulness 

 of the laboratory. The researches carried out have resulted in a great 

 deal of information with regard to such important matters as the size 

 at which various food-fishes reach maturity, which should lead to 

 useful legislation on the artificial fertilisation of fish, the history of the 

 sardine, which has been shown to be simply a pilchard one year of 

 age, and so forth. The more purely scientific work cannot be sup- 

 posed to appeal to the public at large, important though it is. But 

 those persons who appreciate the morning sole and the midnight lobster 



