i8o 



NATURE 



[Dec. 26, 1889 



The accounts of the menhaden and mackerel fishing 

 show that the Americans are as prone to complain of 

 particular modes of fishing as English fishermen : the 

 purse-seine is as obnoxious to some of them as the beam- 

 trawl is in England, and the use of steam is at least 

 equally unpopular. Steam is used chiefly in the men- 

 haden fishery, and this,. in combination with the purse- 

 seine, a net practically unknown in England, has, it is 

 alleged, utterly destroyed the menhaden fishing in certain 

 districts. This led to petitions to Congress for the pro- 

 tection of the menhaden fishery, and in 1882 and 1883 

 the matter was inquired into, and protective legislation 

 recommended. The evidence of actual decrease in the 

 fishery does not appear in the Report on the fishery, but 

 as the Commissioner of Fisheries was a member of the 

 Committee which drew up the Report recommending 

 legislative interference, it is to be presumed that he was 

 satisfied that the fact of a diminution of the menhaden, 

 due to over-fishing, was established. 



Mackerel-fishing is conducted entirely by sailing-boats, 

 most of them schooners of sixty tons register and up- 

 wards, and in these days it is carried on almost entirely 

 by means of the purse-seine. In England, the summer 

 fishing for mackerel is carried on by means of hand lines, 

 and small boats may be seen " railing " or " whiffing " 

 amongst the schools of mackerel. This method was 

 formerly followed in America, but is now, to all intents 

 and purposes, a thing of the past, the figures of small 

 boats "jigging" and "drailing," as it is called in America, 

 being given only in illustration of an obsolete industry. 



The purse-seine first came into general use in 1850, 

 but its greatest development dates only from 1870, and 

 since the latter date there has been great opposition to 

 its use, on the score of its destructiveness. The statistics 

 of the mackerel-fishery do not, however, warrant this 

 opposition. Mackerel-fishing has always been uncertain, 

 and, as early as 1660, prohibitory laws of various kinds 

 were passed to prevent, as it was supposed, the destruc- 

 tion of this industry. In 1838, twelve years before the 

 introduction of purse-seines, the catch of mackerel was 

 very small, and then the blame was laid on " the bar- 

 barous method of taking mackerel called gigging." The 

 largest take of mackerel in a single year was in 1831, 

 when 449,950 barrels of pickled mackerel were officially 

 inspected ; the second largest catch was in 1881, when 

 391,657 barrels were inspected. The worst catch was in 

 1877, when 127,898 barrels were inspected. A glance at 

 the official tables shows that the fluctuations in the mack- 

 erel-fishery are quite independent of the usual method of 

 fishing. The use of purse-seines might advantageously 

 be tried in England, though it was found a failure by 

 American schooners fishing off" the Norwegian coasts, 

 because, as it was alleged, the mackerel moved there in 

 smaller schools than on the opposite side of the Atlantic. 



In the second volume, on history and methods, Eng- 

 lish readers will find especial interest in the account of 

 the great fur-seal industry of Alaska, which is regulated, 

 as is well known, by a wise law prohibiting the destruc- 

 tion of more than a fixed number of seals every year. 



No one who reads these volumes can fail to be struck 

 with the practical national benefit of the United States 

 Fish Commission. The production of this great work is 

 only a small part of their active usefulness, but if it be 

 judged by its utility alone, it is an exceedingly important 

 part. When finished, this monograph of the fishing in- 

 dustry of the United States will form a complete text- 

 book of American fisheries in all their branches, and will 

 serve not only to interest the American public in a great 

 national industry, but as a reliable guide to all those who 

 are engaged in the fishing trade itself. In many cases it 

 will be eminently serviceable as a book of reference to 

 the practical fisherman, informing him of the localities 

 and characteristics of fishing-grounds with which he is 

 unacquainted, of the kinds and abundance of fish that 



he may expect there at different seasons, and of the best 

 methods of prosecuting fisheries to which he is unaccus- 

 tomed. Capitalists and manufacturers will learn from it 

 how they may most profitably embark in a new industry, 

 and the consumer will know from it how to judge of the 

 quality of the article he consumes, and where to obtain 

 it to the best advantage. It is impossible to refrain from 

 drawing a comparison between this enlightened support 

 given to an industry which from its very nature is in- 

 capable of being benefited by private effort, and the 

 comparatively small support given by the English Go- 

 vernment to our own fisheries, which, when the whale 

 and seal fisheries are discounted, are at least of equal 

 value with those of the United States. There are, in- 

 deed, signs that it is being generally recognized that the 

 laissez faire policy as applied to national fisheries is a 

 mistake. It is to be hoped that, when our Government 

 takes another step forward, the example of the United 

 States may not be lost sight of, and that, in addition to a 

 central office with its necessary clerks and official ad- 

 ministrators, a staff of skilled scientific investigators and 

 practical men may be appointed, such as will be able to 

 produce as exhaustive a work as that under review. 



NOTES. 

 On Friday evening last, Sir Lyon Playfair, having distributed 

 the prizes and certificates gained by the students of the City of 

 London College, delivered an interesting address, taking as his 

 chief subject the need for vital improvements in English methods 

 of education. There had been, he said, a marked change going 

 on over the world in regard to work. Machinery had been 

 taking the place of muscular labour. Less human labour was 

 employed, but it was much better paid than formerly. The 

 workman must adapt himself by trained intelligence to these 

 changes, otherwise he would go to swell the ranks of unskilled 

 labour. Foreign countries had been quicker awake to the changes 

 that were going on than we had been. We were proposing 

 technical education, while France, Germany, Belgium, and 

 Switzerland had been adapting themselves to the altered state of 

 things by improved schools, secondary schools, commercial, 

 building, and other special schools, which they had been pro- 

 moting for many years. Germans and Frenchmen were taking 

 places in English counting-houses, because the youth of London 

 had not been educated in those languages which were necessary 

 to commerce. We were now beginning to awake to the necessity 

 of doing what was being done in other countries. Until com- 

 paratively lately we had nothing but classical schools. The 

 learned classes had been entirely separated from the people ; but 

 the people's knowledge of trade improved science, and science 

 improved trade. The learned classes were ignorant of this. This 

 was not the way that the magnificent science and literature of 

 Greece and Rome arose. Their great philosophers were busy in 

 commerce, and were acquiring experience and knowledge among 

 the masses of their own countrymen. This, he was rejoiced to see, 

 was what we were now trying to bring about in this country. 



The formation of two new Microscopical Societies has recently 

 been announced. One of these is the Scottish Microscopical 

 Society, meeting in Edinburgh, with the following ofiice-bearers : 

 President, Prof. Sir W. Turner ; Vice-Presidents, Prof. Hamil- 

 ton and Mr. Ad. Schulze ; Secretaries, Dr. A. Edington and 

 Mr. Geo. Brook. This Society has already held two successful 

 meetings. The other Society is the Italian Microscopical Society, 

 intended to bring together microscopists from the whole of Italy. 

 The subjects for research, specially mentioned in the prospectus, 

 are animal and vegetable histology, petrology, bacteriology, and 

 the structure of the microscope and its appliances. 



At Leyden there is a fine ethnographical collection, which is 

 especially valuable so far as it relates to the Dutch East Indian 



