424 Bibliographical Notice. 



troubles, worse than the present condition of things, and this 

 without increasing the fish or alleviating the liner and trawlers' 

 grievances. Sureh', then, Prof. M'Intosh's " fast cruisers and 

 search-lights " are not altogether a phantom of his imagination. 



The practical outcome of the extraordinary changes in vessels, 

 gear, &c. alone means intense competition. If our sea-fi'^hermen 

 are hampered neither they nor the nation will benefit. However 

 plausible theoretical measures as a panacea may appear to be, they 

 cannot control human nature nor " the resources of the sea." Un- 

 fortunately a large majority of individuals are unable to follow tho 

 intricacies of a highly complex problem, hinged on natural causes 

 with many unforeseen contingencies ; yet the public demand a cate- 

 gorical answer in reply, and judge alone by immediate results : nor 

 can their notions be prudently thrust aside. From the biologist's 

 point of view it is to be hoped that the Board will rescind their 

 bye-law, while they continue to pursue the collateral researches 

 incident to the debated question. 



We have no desire whatever to be one-sided in this controversy, 

 but the verdict of the scientist is at stake. Whether the Scotch 

 Fishery Board's experiments have been faultlessly carried out or 

 otherwise, to the public generally they have not in these trial- 

 instances served to prove that the biologist's views and tests are in- 

 fallible. The graceful, indeed ordinary, mode of procedure would be to 

 consent to alter the present vexatious restrictions, while, as already 

 hinted, further scientific researches proceed apace. Much stress is 

 laid on the extirpation or diminution of larger animals by man's 

 agency ; but palaeontology emphasizes the fact that without his 

 influence throughout ages the natural law has been change or 

 disappearance of whole tribes of animals, the biggest going first. 

 The law of supply and demand goes on unceasingly in commercial 

 matters, and this country supports free trade versus protection. Our 

 markets are already flooded with continental products, and are we 

 to fetter the energies of our fishers and capitalists ? 



Fishermen are free men in every sense, and, though wedded to 

 old methods, are keenly alive, nay forced, to progress through 

 the rapid changes marking tho last half-century. He will be a 

 Solomon indeed who can adjudicate and pacify groups of fishermen. 

 Why every fishery-station thinks its methods better than those of 

 its neighbours. No two of the English Sea-Fisheries Committees 

 legislate and act practically alike, and, as a climax, Scotland, with 

 her abolition of trawling within the 3-mile limit, has powers not 

 vouchsafed England. 



John Stuart Mill truly says : " In every department of common 

 affairs Practice long precedes Science ; systematic enquiry into the 

 modes of action of the powers of nature is the tardy product of a 

 long course of efforts to use those powers for practical ends." 

 Biologists themselves must be agreed and their proofs undeniable 

 before they insist on forced measures. Prof. M'Intosh's ' Resources 

 of the Sea' therefore comes opportunely, and much of his evidence 

 of the balance of nature and the constant recuperation of overfished 



