Life of the Waters 351 



dangerous construction of his craft. In order to minimize 

 so far as possible this danger the Commission constructed a 

 model fishing- schooner, the "Grampus," designed to overcome 

 some of the defects in the okler type of boat hitherto in use. 

 The construction of this vessel has largely revolutionized 

 that of the New England fishing boats and some idea of its 

 influence in the saving of wealth and life may be gained by 

 comparing the loss of 82 vessels from Gloucester alone during 

 the decade previous to 1883, at a cost of $400,000 and 895 

 lives, with that of the period from 1898-1907, in which only 

 one-fourth as many vessels and lives were sacrificed. Besides 

 serving as a model fishing boat, the ''Grampus" has also been 

 used in scientific investigations along the Atlantic coast. 



In addition to tlie more extended researches of the "Alba- 

 tross" in the Pacific considerable local work has been done by 

 the boats of the marine station of the University of California, 

 now known as the Scripps Institution, and some desultory 

 observations have been made by occasional workers elsewhere. 

 There has been however no systematic or concerted program 

 by American workers in the great field of oceanography 

 similar to that undertaken by the European countries already 

 mentioned prior to the war, a neglect which is scarcely 

 pardonable in view of the richness and extent of our oceanic 

 domain, the ever-growing cry for food, and the financial 

 resources of our nation both public and private.^ 



The biology of inland waters has also been largely depend- 

 ent upon economic interests, in part those furthered by the 

 Bureau of Fisheries, and in part by various state surveys. 



The work of the oceanographer' as related to biology is 

 concerned with investigating the physical and chemical con- 

 ditions of life in the sea, and in determining how marine life 

 is related to these conditions. The economic phase of the 

 science deals with those forms useful to man for food_ or 

 otherwise, in their relation to their environment both physical 

 and biological, and endeavors to discover the best meansof 

 obtaining, protecting and increasing them. A consideration 

 of this latter phase may best be left to another chapter. 



In a review like the present we must needs pass over much 

 that is interesting and important in this great field, touching 

 briefly however on some of its most salient features. 



If one were to construct a model of the earth with a 

 diameter of six feet, a scratch on the surface of the globe, 

 about one-tenth of an inch deep would represent the greatest 

 irregularity of the earth's surface, from the summit of Mt. 

 Everest, rearing its yet unconquered front nearly six miles 

 into the clouds, to the abysmal depth of 31,614 feet or 2,600 

 » Plans are at present on foot, looking toward such an end. 



