January 13, 1921J 



NATURE 



629 



posts of the proposed single Scientific Fisheries Divi- 

 sion, and it can be recruited to full strength as men 

 of the requisite ability become available. 



As a professor in a great university I cannot recom- 

 mend my tirst-class man — I do not refer merely to a 

 first-class degree — to apply for a post in research in 

 the service of the State which is inferior to that of 

 the higher grade of the Civil Service. The mental 



?|ualifications for research posts are far rarer than 

 or the ordinary work of administration. The holders 

 of such posts cannot be transferred from department 

 to department, so that proper recognition must be 

 guaranteed them from the start. AH of us must 

 cordially endorse the resolution unanimously passed 

 by the council of the British .'\ssociation : "That the 

 council considers that no scheme of payment of pro- 

 fessional scientific men in the service of the State is 

 satisfactory which places them on a lower level than 

 that of the higher grade of the Civil Service." If 

 science is to work for and with the State the Treasury 

 must cease treating its scientific as inferior to its 

 administrative services. There are difficulties, of 

 course, in blending the two services, for science will 

 be killed if it becomes bureaucratic ; at the same time 

 it must not be allowed to become an underling to the 

 prfsent bureaucracy. 



In conclusion, it is interesting to note that while 

 the administrative staffs of the fishery departments of 

 most civilised countries are recruited almost solely 

 from men who have been trained in science, that is 

 not so in this country. The tremendous development 

 of Norwegian fisheries is obviously due to one man, 

 who was first and foremost always a scientific man. 

 The great development in Germany before the war 

 was due to scientific men. The employment of fishery 

 officers who have some knowledge of the conditions 

 of life of the livinjf fish is obviously of primary im- 

 portance. The users of trawlers and the herring 

 drifters are increasingly taking more and more interest 

 in the lives of their prey, and the Fisheries Depart- 

 ments should not merely follow their lead, as they will 

 ultimately have to do, but should also, as in other 

 countries, seek for inspectors who. at any rate, have 

 the fundamental scientific knowledge upon which 

 alone deductions as to the fish with which thev have 

 to deal can be made profitablv. Everv inspector 

 should surely be able to answer from his own know- 

 ledge the ordinary points raised in respect to the lives 

 of commercial fish and in respect to the possibilities 

 of deterioration and pollution on their way to market. 

 The training for such is that broad training in science 

 which is provided in all the greater universities of 

 the kinsrdom, and the Departments need feel no fear 

 as to the lack of competition for their posts if thev 

 adopt the right scheme. 



J. Stanley Gardinbr. 

 Zoological Laboratory, Cambridge, 

 Januarv 8. 



The Central Meteorological and Geodynamic Institute, 

 Vinma. 



Thb Central Meteorological and Geodynamic Insti- 

 tute in Vienna is the oldest meteorological institute in 

 the world. It was founded by the Austrian State in 

 18.51, at the request of the Vienna Academv of 

 Science, with the object of developing the study of 

 meteorology and terrestrial magnetism, and for the 

 past seventy vears has served both science and prac- 

 tirnl life. 



In ronspquenre of the war and the subsequent pence 

 the future activities of the institute are in jeopardy. 

 The impoverished little Republic of .Austria has not 

 the necessary means for carrying on the work of the 

 Central Institute. 



NO. 2672. VOL. 106] 



The undersigned feel it their duty, as former and 

 present directors of this old institute, to inform the 

 meteorological institutes, societies, and men of science 

 all over the world who have any scientific or practical 

 connection with the Central Institute in Vienna and 

 exchange publications with it, of the pressing need of 

 the Central Institute. 



In acting thus they take the point of view that a 

 scientific institute like the Central Institute is, to a 

 certain degree, the public propecty of all the cultured 

 nations of the earth, and as such these are all in- 

 terested in its existence. The undersigned therefore 

 plead for financial aid for the Central Institute. 



The low value of the Austrian kroner (less than 

 two Swiss centimes) makes it, on the one hand, easy 

 for foreign States to help, but, on the other, the 

 Austrian State endowment, in spite of repeated in- 

 creases, is ever insufficient. 



The Central Institute can now no longer publish 

 its year-books, even for diminished Austria, although 

 the yearly printing expenses would only be 1000 Swiss 

 francs. The year-books, however, as they contain 

 the results of observations — that is, definite facts — 

 represent the basis of the development of our science. 



It is, moreover, impossible for the Central Institute 

 to carry on its work. It has become impossible to 

 procure instruments ; hydrogen for pilot-balloon ascents 

 is too expensive ; and the same applies to rubber bal- 

 loons for recording ascents. It is impossible to keep 

 the library up to date, as the smallest foreign books 

 or journals cost hundreds of kroner. Consequently, 

 meteorologists cannot follow the trend of work abroad 

 and so keep up with the times. 



_ It will be possible to issue the weather charts for 

 six months more, until the stock of paper is exhausted, 

 then this issue must cease. It will be possible with 

 difficulty to keep up the seismic observatory in 

 Vienna ; the stations at Gratz and Innsbruck rnust. 

 on the other hand, be given up. as the expenses of 

 running them are too heavy. There can be no ques- 

 tion of recommencing the registration of terrestrial 

 magnetism which was carried out at the high-altitude 

 station at Obir before the war. 



No matter where we turn we firKl the same cheer- 

 less decay. 



We refrain from enlarging on the r6\e which the 

 Austrian school has played in meteorology during the 

 last fifty years. We venture, however, to name a 

 few books which have emanated from the Central 

 Institute of Vienna : — Metcorologischc Zeitschrift 

 -since 1866; J. Hann, "Handbook of Climatology"; 

 I. Hann, "Text-book of Meteorology"; J. M. 

 Pernter, " Meteorological Optics " ; VV. Trabert, 

 "Text-book of Cosmical Physics"; and F. M. Exner, 

 "Dynamical Meteorology." We beg that foreign 

 States will remember the Central Meteorological 

 Institute in Vienna from the titles of these books, 

 and that help may be forthcoming. 



F. M. ExNBR, 



Present Director. 

 J. Hann, 



Former Director. 



Vienna XIX, Hohe Warte 38, December a. 



Tidal Power. 



EsTiMATBS of the power to be obtained from the rice 

 and fall of the tide arc often greatly in excess of prac- 

 tical possibilities. If it is assumed that an estuary 

 or reservoir of area A is enclosed by a dam at the 

 outer face of which the difference of level between 

 high and low water is H, then (w being the weight 

 of the unit cube of water) the work which might con- 

 ceivably be extracted from tidal action is a/.A^'. To 



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