18 
environment in Liverpool be correct ? The observed 
association of students with a professor, and of both with 
a college, would be justifiable. It would be correct to 
conclude that sailors, dock labourers and_ stevedores 
frequent the docks, and that Aldermen have some con- 
nection with a Town Hall; but the fact that electric cars 
are also abundant in front of the Town Hall is non- 
essential, and any conclusion such as that Aldermen and 
electric cars are usually associated with the same habitat, 
and are in any way inter-dependent, would be erroneous. 
We can imagine many other cases of this kind where 
appearances might at first be deceptive, and false 
inferences might be drawn from observed facts. On the 
other hand, some true conclusions would be clearly indi- 
cated; and I do not doubt that it 1s much the same in 
our investigations as to the condition and population of 
the sea-bottom. It is probable, moreover, that the false 
inferences would be corrected by the accumulation of a 
greater number of statistics. It might be made out from 
further observations that electric cars are liable to become 
massed in various parts of the town, and have no necessary 
connection with Aldermen, and that policemen are widely 
but sporadically distributed. The more numerous our 
observations, the more our statistics accumulate, the less 
chance is there of erroneous conclusions. 
My contention, then, is that such an investigation of 
our seas must be made, that it is urgent and should be 
made now, and that the Irish Sea is favourably situated 
and circumstanced at present to be made a test case before 
undertaking the much wider and still more difficult 
expanse of the North Sea, complicated by international 
questions. The Irish Sea is of moderate and manageable 
dimensions (see fig. p. 19). It is all bounded by British 
territory and by sea fisheries authorities who might agree 
