July 25, 1918] 



NATURE 



411 



now come for the establishment of a separate Ministry 

 or Board of Fisheries. The National Sea Fisheries' 

 Protection Association carried a motion, at its annual 

 meeting at Fishmongers' Hall last week, pressing for 

 such reconstruction and appointing a deputation to 

 wait upon the President of the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries. In other quarters the same attitude 

 is now being generally taken up. The needs of the 

 immediate future — that is, unification of control, better 

 local administration, scientific research in relation to 

 fish as food, the better training and education of boys 

 passing into the deep-sea fishing industry, and in- 

 creased facility of distribution — do not seem iikely to 

 be satisfactorily dealt with under the present system 

 of local and imperfect central control. The question 

 oP reconstruction of the present depleted fishing marine 

 is also regarded as one of great importance," and it is 

 felt that postponement of this until after the war may 

 be prejudicial to the future of the industry, and that 

 it can be adequately considered only by a strongly 

 organised Department of Fisheries. 



The establishment of a Ministry of Health has 

 attracted considerable public attention, and a widely 

 signed national memorial in support of this has been 

 forwarded to the Prime Ministei- by Sir Kingsley Wood. 

 In the House of Lords on July 17 Lord Willoughby de 

 Broke directed attention to the desirability of estab- 

 lishing a Ministry of Health without undue delay, and 

 moved a resolution to that effect, which was carried. 

 He pointed out that we are faced with the lowest birth- 

 rate on record, and that the Registrar-General had 

 estimated that but for the war there probably would 

 have been 650,000 more babies born in England and 

 Wales since 1914 than there had been. The motion 

 was supported by Viscount Haldane, who said that 

 far the greatest' loss of population was ante-natal 

 rather than post-natal, and urged that the matter 

 required careful scientific investigation. There 

 ought to be an authority like the Board of Education 

 working through borough and county councils, the 

 effect of which would be that the Local Government 

 Board would become what it primarily ought to be — a 

 ministry of public health, and only secondarily a 

 ministry of local government. Viscount Peel, who 

 replied sympathetically on behalf of the Government, 

 said that there was no suggestion that the Maternity 

 Bill was to be substituted for a measure co-ordinating 

 all the powers of the central authorities. There were 

 considerable difficulties to be overcome, and the ma^r 

 could not be dealt with in a Bill of a few clauses. T'o 

 attempt to separate the administration of local govern- 

 ment from health questions would be deplorable, and 

 there would be great difficulty in separating the health 

 functions of the administration of the Poor Law from 

 functions connected with public assistance. 



The death is announced, on July 18, of Dr. F. 

 Hodson, for several years science master at Bedales 

 School, Petersfield, and the author of " Broad Lines 

 in Science Teaching." 



We regret to note that the death of Mr. John 

 Frederick Robinson is announced in Engineering for 

 July 19. Mr. Robinson was born in May, 1853, and 

 was a director of the North British Locomotive Co., 

 Ltd. He was educated at Owens College, Man- 

 chester, and served an apprenticeship with Messrs. 

 Sharp, Stewart, and Co., Ltd. He was a member 

 of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and served on 

 the council of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers 

 during the period 1902-9. 



Dr. W. J. M. Ettles, whose death on July 19, at 

 fifty vears of age, as the result of an operation, we 

 record with much regret, was distinguished not only 

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by his work as. a consulting oculist and ophthalmic 

 surgeon, but also by his knowledge of the principles 

 of physical optics, as evidenced by the fact that he 

 had been president of the Optical Society, as well as 

 of the Hunterian Society. Dr. Ettles qualified as 

 M.B.,C.M.,at Aberdeen in 1890, and after a few years' 

 practice in London he returned and graduated with 

 highest honours as M.D. in 1896. He gave the Hun- 

 terian oration in 1908 upon the subject of "The Re- 

 naissance of Ophthalmology during the Hunterian 

 Era," and he contributed to the Transactions of the 

 Optical Convention in 1905 a paper on " Optical Prin- 

 ciples of the Ophthalmometer, with Descriptions of 

 New Instruments." Dr. Ettlts was particularly in- 

 terested in colour-vision tests, and played an important 

 part in the " Trattles " case of about ten vears ago, 

 which led to a revision of the methods adopted by the 

 Board of Trade in examining in colour-vision candi- 

 dates for certificates as master or mate in the mer- 

 cantile marine. His death while in the prime of life 

 will be deplored by many friends, as well as by 

 numerous patients who have had the advantage of 

 his professional knowledge and skill. 



Attention having been directed in Kentish papers 

 to the desirability of establishing the new marine 

 grass, Spartina iownsendii, in the extensive mud- 

 banks of the Medway between Chatham and Sheer- 

 ness, the owner of some " saltings " has decided to 

 act on the suggestion, and, having through Mr. W. H. 

 Shrubsole secured the co-operation of South Coast 

 naturalists, arrangements are now in progress for 

 collecting and transferring plants to the Medway. 

 On the Essex coast there are large marshy areas 

 suitable for the growth of Spartina ; and if it were 

 planted there and in similar districts around our 

 shores it is highly probable that before many years 

 our supply of home-grown material for paper-making 

 would be considerably increased. 



At the invitation of the council of the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers, a conference of representatives of 

 the Associated Municipal Electrical Engineers of Greater 

 London, the Chief Technical Assistants' Association, 

 and the Electrical Power Engineers' Association was 

 held at the temporary offices of the institution on 

 July 9. The chair was taken by Mr. C. H. Wording- 

 ham, C.B.E., president of the institution. At the 

 close of the proceedings it was resolved that one single 

 combined protective association be formed for the whole 

 electric supply industry. Chief engineers will be in- 

 cluded in the membership provided they are not em- 

 ployers or employers' representatives on an industrial 

 council or similar bodv dealing with technical staffs. 

 The qualifications for membership of the association 

 will be those of the Electrical Power Engineers' Asso- 

 ciation, but all new members elected after December 31, 

 1921, shall be required to have passed the A.M.I.E.E. 

 examination or an equivalent examination. 



Dr. R. R. Marett, who has held the office of 

 president of the Folklore Society for the unusually 

 long period of five years, devoted his final presidential 

 address to a discussion of the transvaluation of cul- 

 ture. He protested against the description of the 

 science of folklore as the study of survivals. It would 

 be better, he believes, to reject the fossil metaphor 

 altogether. Inasmuch as survivals survive, they are 

 not quite dead after all, but in some humble and 

 surreptitious way of their own help to constitute and 

 condition the living present, whether it be for worse 

 or better. It is of chief importance to inquire what 

 survival is as a process, and how this particular pro- 

 cess is related to the other processes that go with it to 

 make up the general movement of history. In short, 



