April 8, 1920] 



NATURE 



167 



spectrum without much change of intensity, and it is 

 undoubtedly due, on all grounds, to a different atomic 

 or molecular mechanism from that producing the 

 bands. This superposed spectrum exhibits very pro- 

 nounced "constant frequency difference" effects, and 

 there is good reason to believe that sets of series 

 spectra of the ordinary Rydberg type may be included 

 in it and form the basis of the constant differences of 

 wave-number. The series spectra of hydrogen would 

 then be no longer confined to the Balmer series. 



On the photographs the behaviour of the "band" 

 lines is peculiar. The "head" — a word not used in 

 the ordinary sense, but as denoting the strongest line 

 of the band and the one most remote from the red 

 end — is preserved in intensity in helium, or even 

 enhanced, while all the other members disappear. A 

 line in pure hydrogen may be weak, but if it is really 

 a band-head in this sense, it is prominent in the 

 presence of helium — the head is not always the 

 strongest line in a band in pure hydrogen. This con- 

 sideration is the real clue to the interpretation of the 

 photographs, and it has been found possible to isolate 

 the entire Fulcher band, which is of a remarkable 

 structure and accounts for the great majority of lines 

 between Ha and H^, in part of which region the 

 previous measures have been very incomplete and 

 misleading. Other strong bands of similar character 

 occur in other regions, and it is already clear that 

 the complete analysis involves only a few such indi- 

 vidual bands showing no Zeeman effect, together with 

 a line spectrum showing Zeeman effect, and ap- 

 parently capable of arrangement in constant frequency 

 differences. 



These investigations will shortly be published, but 

 in view of the importance this spectrum has now 

 assumed in relation to atomic structure a preliminary 

 statement of its nature appears to be desirable. 



T. W. Nicholson. 



University of London, King's College, 

 March 21. 



International Council for Fishery Investigations. 



A PERUSAL of the programme of the International 

 Council for Fishery Investigations, as outlined in 

 Nature of March 18, substantiates the criticisms pub- 

 lished in 1902 and 1903, as well as later. In the 

 interests of the fisheries and of the public in these 

 critical times it is imperative to direct attention once 

 more to the position. In the original programme of 

 about twenty years ago the Council were to discover 

 whether the yield of the sea-fisheries was increasing 

 or diminishing-, and especially to demonstrate the 

 impKjverishment of the sea (as if the myriads of ova 

 on the fishmongers' slabs every year afforded no 

 lesson) ; to show to what extent fishing-grounus could 

 be depleted without danger; to point out what fishing 

 apparatus was destructive ; to investigate the small 

 fish grounds; to make discoveries of practical import- 

 ance to the fisheries ; to publish annual results ; and 

 finally to produce data (even within two years) on 

 which British and foreign legislation could be based. 



Now, after sixteen to twenty years' labour and a 

 great expenditure of public money (for salaries went 

 on during the war), it is found that the impoverish- 

 ment plea is dropf>ed, along with most of the heads 

 just mentioned as requiring solution. The new 

 scheme, to take the heads in the order in which 

 they appear (see Nature, March 18, p. 84), 

 includes an inquirv into the result of " the most 

 gigantic scientific experiment ever made in respect to 

 the closure of areas." It is unlikely that the fisheries 

 of the North Sea will be to any extent altered by the 

 partial closure caused through the operations of the 



NO. 2632, VOL. 105] 



Grand Fleet. The ways of Nature are not so simple. 

 Then comes the old phantom of the diminishing plaice 

 and the protection of the race by a size-limit, an 

 impracticable idea so far as the security of the younger 

 plaice goes. The larval, post-larval, and smaller forms 

 are in prodigious numbers, and are safe. Nor is con- 

 fidence in the Council increased when the ten years' 

 work of the Scottish Fishery Board's ship, Garland, 

 in the closed areas is now regarded as ineffective, and 

 the subject not sufficiently studied! In other words, 

 the deliberate conclusions of the Scottish Board, so 

 resolutely upheld, and on which the closure of the 

 Moray Firth and other areas was based, are null and 

 void. That is one way of escaping from an untenable 

 position. The Council may well spare the "intensive 

 study " of the plaice so far as the prosperity of the 

 British fisheries is concerned, and so with further 

 experiments on plaice-marking and drift-bottles, as 

 well as on the food of the young. Nothing important 

 on these heads can result from continued expenditure. 

 The lemon-dab requires little attention, for, like other 

 doomed fishes of the kind, it has re-asserted itself. 

 There is no urgent need for studies on the herring, 

 though this was supposed to be one of the diminishing 

 fishes not long ago. Yet a word must be said in 

 favour of the Danish exploration of the North Atlantic, 

 where, and in the Mediterranean, Dr. Jobs. Schmidt 

 carried out such excellent work on the life-history of 

 the eel. 



The hydrographical and plankton work of the 

 Council has hitherto borne little fruit in the matter 

 of the fisheries, and it is unlikely that, after twenty 

 vears' probation, more will be accomplished. 



The revival of the bathybius-myth in the form of 

 the supposed " vitamines " in sea-water may give 

 point to a sentence, thus : " The searcher for economic 

 results in fisheries must have the basal theory and 

 knowledge ... as the foundation on which he has to 

 build," but that is vox et praeterea nihil unless a prac- 

 tical acquaintance with the whole details of the life- 

 historv of the sea-fishes is possessed by him. Mere 

 collation of statistics without such a check is of little 

 avail in the complex problem of the sea-fisheries, which, 

 however, now as heretofore, hold their own against the 

 combined attacks of their own kind, as well as of 

 man, seals, whales, birds, and invertebrates. Marine 

 animals have been kept in pure sea water without 

 food for years, vet the suggested application of the 

 " vitamine " theory to the oystei' and mussel' does not 

 offer much scope. The best pares for fattening 

 the oysters have much more than " vitamines," and 

 even the ejectamenta, etc., of the mussels in the 

 estuaries will by and by raise mounds several feet 

 above sea-level. 



Four French names are given as members of the 

 Council, but they are less familiar than those of 

 Fabre-Domergue, Canu, Cligny, Raveret-Wattel, and 

 Pellegrin. Again, one British name is conspicuous by 

 its absence, viz. that of Dr. A. T. Masterman, a 

 highlv trained and talented fisheries expert. It is to 

 be hoped that no interference by officialdom, as dealt 

 with in the leading article in Nature of March 25, is 

 connected with his retirement. Those who remember 

 the case of Sir Joseph Hooker and Mr. Ayrton have 

 reason to be jealous of the oflRcial status of experienced 

 men of science in carrying out their researches for the 

 benefit of the country. ^ ^ 



Finally, there can be little doubt that Britain would 

 be better and more economically served by competent 

 workers in its marine laboratories, where, moreover, 

 young zoologists could acquire a competent know- 

 ledge of the marine fisheries. 



W. C. McIntosh. 



