March 13, 1919] 



NATURE 



31 



»n all 38h. At Kew Observatorv the sunshine in 

 February was little more than one-half of the average 

 and at Cambridge it was less than one-half of the 

 normal. 



Dr. S. F. Harmer, keeper of the Department of 

 Zoology, Natural History Museum, has sent us a 

 letter m which he points cut that the remarks upon 

 the directorship of the museum published in our issue 

 of March 6 may be read as an undeserved reflection 

 upon the value of the scientific services rendered to 

 the museum by the assistant secretary, Mr. C. E. 

 pagan. For ourselves, we gladly accept Dr. Harmer 's 

 testimony of high appreciation of Mr. Pagan's services 

 to science during the long period he has held oflice. 

 We are, however, concerned solely with the principle, 

 common in Government Departments, of appointing 

 lay ofiicials to direct scientific institutions. It is of 

 the utmost importance at the present time not to 

 concede this principle even wl en personal considera- 

 tions may all be in favour of the appointment pro- 

 posed. Dr. Harmer- says that Mr. Pagan's work "has 

 been essentially scientific, and ihat his services in 

 rendering the national museum a scientific institution 

 have been exceptionally great." These are, of course, 

 claims to consideration, and no doubt the Trustees 

 will give full attention to them. Our point is that, 

 whatever candidates are forthcoming, scientific know- 

 ledge and experience should determine the appoint- 

 ment, and not purely administrative ability. 



The Department of Scientific and Industrial Re- 

 search has just issued two revised Circulars, Research 

 Association i and 3, the first giving an outline of the 

 Government scheme for industrial research, the second 

 the conditions as to the payment to research associations 

 by the committee of council. As will be remembered, 

 the Government has placed a fund of a million sterling 

 at the disposal of the Research Department to enable 

 it to encourage the industries to undertake research. 

 This new fund is being expended on a co-operative 

 basis in the form of liberal contributions by the 

 Department towards the income raised by voluntary 

 associations of manufacturers established for the pur- 

 pose of research, and the joint fund for each industry 

 is under the sole control of the councils or boards 

 of the respective research associations so formed, 

 subject to the conditions outlined in the second Cir- 

 cular referred to above. The results obtained from 

 research will be available for the benefit of the con- 

 tributing firms, but no firms outside the organisation 

 will have any such rights. The associations are to 

 be companies limited by guarantee of a nominal sum 

 and working without profit, i.e. without division of 

 profits among the members in the form of dividends. 

 Moreover, the subscriptions of the contributing firms 

 will not be subject to income or excess profits taxes, 

 and the income of the association will similarly be 

 free from income tax. The Government grant will 

 be given for a period of years to be agreed upon, 

 not exceeding five, except in special cases. The 

 general practice, we believe, is to grant pound for 

 pound raised by subscriptions within certain minimum 

 and maximum limits, specified in each case, for the 

 stipulated period, although, where the special cir- 

 cumstances of the industry may need it, this ratio 

 may be increased. There is, moreover, provision for 

 a possible increase of the grant where the associa- 

 tion raises additional sums, and for reduction where 

 it fails to reach the specified minimum. 



The Times of March i, 3, and 4 contained long 

 articles dealing with the necessity for the unification 

 of the administration and the further development of 

 the fishing industry. Two rather different points of 

 view were taken by the writers; a special correspon- 



NO. 2576, VOL. 103] 



dent stated what may be regarded as the expressed 

 opinions of the fishing industries— that is, the great 

 trawling companies, the wholesale and retail traders 

 and the conservation industries ; while Lord Dunraven 

 stated the views of the Sub-Committee on Fisheries 

 of the Empire Resources Development Committee. 

 On one hand, the trade interests press for a great 

 simplification in the existing machinerv of central 

 and local regulation and administration, consolida- 

 tion of the law with regard to fishing, and the forma- 

 tion of a strong and adequate Imperial Ministrv with 

 the developnient of the industry as its single task. 

 1 his would be directed to securing the means of speedy 

 and economical transport and distribution of the fish 

 landed, processes which are at present inadequate and 

 wasteful. It would be closely and integrallv linked up 

 with— would actually include—the means o'f scientific, 

 statistical, and industrial research carried out in the 

 closest possible association with the industrv itself and 

 the machinery of administration. It would see that 

 the present neglect of the inshore fisheries— shell-fish 

 in particular— should cease, and it would greatly 

 develop the fresh-water fisheries, particularlv those for 

 salmon and eels. On the other hand, Lord' Dunraven 

 emphasises the points of view of the State and the 

 consumer rather than those of the trades voiced by 

 the National Sea Fisheries Protection Association, 

 namely, State control, co-operative enterprise, and 

 development of the fisheries of the Dominions. To 

 the trade, fish that is scarce and dear is easier to 

 handle than, and at least as profitable as, fish that 

 is cheap and plentiful. Prom the point of view of the 

 consumer and of the State, cheap food, a large and 

 prosperous fishing population, and, if possible, some 

 revenue, ought to be the objects of reconstruction of 

 the industries concerned. 



Next Tuesday, March 18, Prof. A. Keith will deliver 

 the first of a course of four lectures at the Roval 

 Institution on British Ethnology : The People ' of 

 Scotland. On Thursday, March 20, Prof. C. H. Lees 

 will give the first of two lectures on Fire Cracks and 

 the Forces Producing Them. The Friday discourse 

 on March 21 will be delivered by Prof. W. W. Watts 

 on Fossil Landscapes; and on March 28 by the Right 

 Hon. Sir J. H. A. Mac^onald on The Air Road. 



The death is announced of Major H. G. Gibson, 

 who fell a victim to influenza probably contracted in 

 the course of investigations on this disease. Major 

 Gibson, with Major Bowman and Capt. Connor, pub- 

 lished a paper in the British Medical Journal for 

 December 18, 19 18, in which they brought forward 

 evidence that the influenza virus is of a "filterable" 

 nature, i.e. is so minute that it will pass through a 

 fine porcelain filter. Sputum from influenza cases 

 was diluted and filtered through a Pasteur-Cham- 

 berland filter, and the filtrate was then inoculated 

 subconjunctivally and intranasally into monkeys. ITie 

 animals suffered from a condition" resembling influenza, 

 and the post-mortem condition found* was in manv 

 respects comparable with that obtaining in humati 

 cases. 



An article by Dr. C. Davison in the Observer for 

 March g deals with Prof, de Quervain's suggestion 

 that a portion of the high explosives left in this 

 country should be used for experimental explosions 

 (Nature, vol. cii., p. 371). After describing the prin- 

 cipal results that might be expected from such 

 experiments, the author points out that the firing of 

 large amounts of explosive (Prof, de Quervain sug- 

 gests fifty tons) is unnecessary. The sound from the 

 explosion of 24^ tons of dynamite on the Jungfrau 

 railway in 1908 was heard for 112 miles, and that of 



