September 26, rcjii 



NATURE 



65 



are trained, and even the offii 1 1 - led b) thi 



mil useless destruction, combined with ever) on- 

 ceivable atrocit) on man, woman, and child. It is 

 lamentable to think of the geological and natural, 

 histor) collections which have been destroyed in Bi 

 giunn alone a country famous for its scientific men, 

 the work of their lives gone for ever. I trust all 

 thi- will not be forgotten when the war is fought out 

 to a proper issue, and that all Lord Walsingham su^. 

 :_;. sis will conic about and just punishment be thus 



I mi n el "til. 



I hi < ierman scientific man has been spoilt by suc- 

 cess in the past; he was first in the field in man) 

 tries, particularly our own. I knew him in days 

 gone by in India, when he filled tin- best appoint- 

 ments in the Geological Survey, the Forestry Depart- 

 ment, etc. Mam were friends of my own. In thus. 

 days the) were quite different men in everv way from 

 those of to-day so complete a change lias come ovet 

 th. wholi German population. It is sincerely to 

 be hoped they will never l» employed again in am 

 icity. II. n. Godwin-Austen. 



More, Godalming, September 17. 



The South Georgia Whale Fishery. 

 A note on p. 470 of NATURE for August 15 ton- 

 tains the statement that scientific experts have, until 

 now, not been consulted in the matter of the South 

 Georgia whale fishery, which has been administered 

 entirel) by the Colonial Office. There is at present 

 .1 considerable tendency to criticise Government 

 Departments for failing to make use of scientific 

 opinion, but I feel sure that you will allow me to 

 point out that this particular criticism is not justi- 

 fiable. The Colonial Office has for some years been 

 fully alive to the fact that the regulation of sub- 

 Antarctic whaling is a scientific problem, and since 

 lot" it has been in constant communication on the 

 subjei ' with the Natural History Museum. Under 

 arrangements thus made the museum receives detailed 

 statistics from the companies operating at South 

 Georgia, each individual whale caught being separated 

 Orded. Similar statistics are beginning to come in 

 from the South Shetlands (a district almost as im- 

 portant as South Georgia) and from some of the 

 African companies; while promises of returns from 

 other whaling centres have also been received. In 

 addition to this, the Colonial Office furnishes half- 

 yearly and other reports cm tin whaling operations at 

 tin districts under its jurisdiction, and it has received 

 many reports from the museum commenting on ilic 

 la. is thus recorded, and offering advice on the various 

 questions raised. 



In the course of 1913 the Colonial Office proposed 

 that a biologist should be sent to South Georgia to 

 make investigations which might contribute towards 

 th- solution of the whaling problem. In consultation 

 with the museum, the work was offered to Major 

 1, E. 11. Barrett-Hamilton, who accepted the task, 

 and reached South Georgia in November, 1913. News 

 of his untimely death, on January 17, 1914, while 

 strenuously occupied with his observations on whales, 

 was shortly afterwards received in London. The 

 manuscript notes which be left behind show thai tin 

 investigation bad been placed in most competent 

 hands, and they have formed the basis of an important 

 report, which is at present undei consideration at the 



-li.tl Office. The appointment of Major Barrett- 

 Hamilton bad been mad.- as an initial step in a much 



1 scheme for the investigation of the problems 

 connected with whaling bv means of a scientific 



on to 1» established for si rs on the Ant- 



arctii continent. The preparations for carrying out 

 this idea were interrupted by the war. 

 2552, VOL. I02] 



That the urgi n< tion was recognised bv 



Governmenl Dep; 1 id that the need for obtain- 



ng s, ientilic opinion w . further shown b\ 



the appointment of an Inter-Departmental Committee 

 en Whaling and tin- Protection of Whales. In August, 

 mii ;, the Colonial Office Natural History 



Museum asking for information with regard to the 

 sci.ntiti, aspects of whaling fo of this Com- 



mittee, and a memorandum on thi was sub- 



mitted by the museum in due course. The Committee 

 was engaged in hearing evidence during 1 1 half 



of 1014, but its labours were discontini n the out- 



break of war. 



Early in the present year a new Committee was 

 ippointed to facilitate prompt action a! the cc e.sion 

 erf the war in regard to the preservation of the , 

 industry in the Dependencies of the Falkland I 

 This Committee, on which the Natural Historv 

 Museum is represented, is actively engaged in colli 

 ing information, under the auspices of the Colonial 



I li'lice. 



It is sometimes assumed that expert scientific advice 

 is capable of settling any difficult question which may 

 arise within its own province. The solution of the 

 problem of protecting whales is, however, no easy 

 matter ; and I doubt whether there is at present 

 unanimity on the subject among scientific experts. 

 The trustees of the British Museum have for some 

 x.ars been convinced of its importance and urgency, 

 and they have welcomed the opportunities afforded 

 them by the Colonial Office of expressing their views 

 and tendering their advice, based on the study which 

 has been given to the subject in the museum. Assist- 

 ance from those competent to give it would be cordially 

 received, and I am glad to have this opportunity of 

 inviting scientific experts to communicate their views 

 on the protection of whales to the Natural History 

 Museum, and thus to assist in a matter which is not 

 only of great zoological interest, but also one which may 

 b» described without exaggeration as of supreme 

 national importance. Sidney F. Harmer. 



British Museum (Natural History), 

 Cromwell Road, S.W.7. 



Vitality of Gorse-seed. 



Assertions reeardins* the length of vitality of cer- 

 tain seeds are frequently made, but these, when in- 

 vestigated, often lack proof. Hence it may be worth 

 while to put on record a clear case of the seeds of the 

 gorse (U'lex europaeus) retaining their germinating 

 power for twentv-five years. 



Some fortv acres of gorse- and heather-covered land 

 situated near my home in the plain of Cumberland 

 were drained, cleaned, and ploughed out in 1893. This 

 area was kept in arable rotation for a number of 

 years; then part of it w-as laid down in grass in 1904, 

 anil the remainder in 1906. It soon became evident 

 that this new pasture would rapidly revert to a gorse- 

 covered common unless drastic measures were taken 

 te. rid the ground of the* numerous gorse seedlings, 

 which had sprung up from the seeds brought to the 

 surface bv I he last ploughing. These w-ere stubbed 

 out, and in two or three years' time the ground was 

 entirely free of gorse plants, and has continued so for 

 the ten or more years it has been allowed to remain 

 in permanent pasture. 



. nit. 1- this land was again brought un 

 plough by order of the local War Agricultural Com- 

 mittee', and was sown with oats. The crop has now 

 be n reaped, and gorse seedlings, 6 in. or more in 

 height, are to be seen scattered over the stubble, 

 specially abundant where originally the gorse 

 ..ingest. Evidently, then, the last ploughing has 



