August 2i, 1884] 



NA TURE 



387 



— in just those cases, in fact, in which calculation is labor- 

 ious. It has the defect of logarithmic calculation in a 

 very exaggerated degree, inasmuch as it is not accurate, 

 but in very many cases this is of no great importance, 

 since the degree of accuracy attainable is abundantly 

 sufficient for all practical requirements. Scales possess 

 one great advantage over methods of calculation, in that 

 it is not possible to make the mistakes which so easily 

 enter into arithmetical calculations. If they be accurately 

 constructed, the modes of using them are so simple that 

 there is scarcely a possibility of making a mistake, and 

 we can predict beforehand the degree of accuracy which 

 may be relied on. For engineering and other simple cal- 

 culations we believe that these scales, and others like 

 them, will be more and more used as they become more 

 widely known. 



THE FISHERY BOARD FOR SCOTLAND 

 T'HE second Annual Report of the Fishery Board for 

 *■ Scotland has just been issued, and contains much 

 of scientific as well as economic interest. 



The first Royal Commission on British Fisheries was 

 founded in 1630. Immediately after the Union the 

 fishing industry almost ceased to exist, owing apparently 

 to the enactment of salt duties. In 1727 an Act was 

 passed, by which the Board of Trustees for Manufactures 

 and Fisheries was created, which, besides encouraging 

 and superintending the fisheries, was empowered to pay 

 certain "bounties" to the herring "busses," and offer 

 premiums to the fishermen who first discovered herrings 

 during each season at the different parts of the coast. In 

 1808 "An Act for the further encouragement and better 

 regulation of the British White Herring Fishery " was 

 passed. The Commission appointed to carry it into effect 

 had charge of the whole fisheries of the British coasts, 

 and later of the Isle of Man, and, in addition to granting 

 bounties, had 3000/. placed at their disposal for en- 

 couraging the fishermen to use larger boats, so that they 

 might go further out to sea. The Commissioners sta- 

 tioned officers at the chief coast fishing centres both in 

 England and Scotland, and later two officers to the port 

 ■of London, from whence large consignments of herring 

 were sent abroad. The Admiralty provided a ship of war 

 to assist in the work of superintending, and in 1S15 a 

 cutter was obtained for use in the Firth of Forth, and 

 afterwards at other parts of the coast. Whatever influ- 

 ence the Commissioners had in improving the supply of 

 fish and in developing the fisheries cannot now be esti- 

 mated, but there can be no doubt that they rendered im- 

 mense service in collecting statistics, which were till 

 recently the only reliable fishery statistics extant, and of 

 sufficient value to have justified the existence of the Board 

 of Fisheries, even though all other work done were left 

 ■out of consideration. From the statistics so collected, a 

 valuable chart (Appendix A, Table VIII.) has been pre- 

 pared by Mr. Robertson, one of the clerks of the Board, 

 which shows at 'once the take of herring from 1809 

 to 1882 ; while Appendix C gives fresh statistics of the 

 quantities and values of white fish and shell-fish. In 1820 

 the officers were instructed to take the cod and ling fishery 

 under their charge ; in 1821 the bounty for encouraging 

 deep-sea fishing was withdrawn : in 1S30 all bounties 

 were repealed, and part of the money set aside for 

 the erection of piers and harbours. In 1839 the Secre- 

 tary of the Board of Manufactures was appointed 

 Secretary of the Fishery Commissioners, and soon after 

 this the Commissioners began to direct their attention to 

 some of the hitherto neglected problems connected with 

 the fisheries. In 1836 the question arose whether or not 

 sprats were young herring, which Dr. Knox, who was 

 appealed to, decided in the negative. This question 

 having led the Commissioners to take an interest in the 

 young herring, and to see the necessity of gaining some 



definite information as to the growth, food, and habits of 

 the fish, Mr. Henry Goodsir carried on investigations 

 in the Firth of Forth during 1843-44, from which it was 

 ascertained that the food of the herring consists chiefly 

 of young Crustacea. From the Report of 1846 it is evident 

 that the Commissioners were acquainted with the fact 

 that the herring ova sink and adhere to whatever they come 

 in contact with. In 1850 the Eng'.ish stations were dis- 

 continued, and in 1856 another step in the right direction 

 was taken, at the request of Dr. Buys Ballot, who invited 

 those engaged in the great herring fishery to make ob- 

 servations in order to ascertain the circumstances likely 

 to lead to the most profitable fishing and to enable them 

 to make a herring chart. According to instructions 

 issued by the Board of Trade, samples of herring col- 

 lected on various parts of the coast of Scotland were for- 

 warded to it, but no record is made of their examination. 

 In 1 860 complaints of the effects of trawling for white 

 fish in the spawning grounds having led to another in- 

 quiry, Prof. Allmann decided that there was no evidence 

 to show that trawling was likely to do injury to the 

 spawning ground. No continuous investigations were, 

 however, carried on by the Board, a new complaint being 

 merely followed by a new inquiry or new Commission. 

 Had the Board been provided with funds necessary to 

 carry on continuous investigations as to growth, food, 

 and habits of the herring and other useful fishes, much 

 valuable information might have been obtained and great 

 expense of Commissions of Inquiry avoided. It is there- 

 fore a matter of surprise and regret that, notwithstanding 

 the example of other States, the influence of the Fisheries 

 Exhibitions, and the demand for more information, the 

 Treasury has not yet provided the new Board with 

 sufficient funds. Another agitation arose in i860, which 

 led to the appointment of Prof. Allmann and Dr. Lyon 

 Playfair, C.B., to inquire into the effects of trawling 

 at the Fluke Hole, Pittenweem, and about the same time 

 Dr. Playfair and Vice-Admiral Henry Dundas were 

 requested to inquire into the claims of the sprat fisher- 

 men of the Firth of Forth. The agitation continuing, a 

 Royal Commission, consisting of Dr. Lyon Playfair, C.B., 

 Prof. Huxley, F.R.S., and Lieut-Col. Francis Maxwell, 

 was appointed in 1862 to inquire as to " the operation of the 

 Acts relating to trawling for Herring on the Coasts of 

 Scotland." The Report of this Commission is especially 

 interesting, because it contains the results of the inquiries 

 made by Prof. Allmann during the winter and spring of 

 1862 as to the nature of herring ova. The investigations 

 made by him proved that the spawn of the herring " was 

 deposited on the surface of stones, shingle, and gravel, on 

 old shells and coarse sea-sand, and even on the shells 

 of small living crabs and other Crustacea," and that it 

 " adhered tenaciously to whatever matter it happened to 

 be deposited on." The Report also contained a valuable 

 chapter on the natural history of the herring, in which it 

 is pointed out for the first time that there are two prin- 

 cipal spawning periods, an autumn period with August and 

 September as the two principal months, and a spring 

 period with February and March as the principal months. 

 In 1873 tne Scottish Meteorological Society began a 

 series of inquiries with a view of determining how far the 

 temperature of the sea and other meteorological condi- 

 tions affect the migration of the herrings. From infor- 

 mation obtained it was conclu J ed (1) that the catch of 

 herrings is less during any season with a high tempera- 

 ture than during a corresponding season with a low tem- 

 perature ; (2) that if the catch of herrings is higher in one 

 district than in the other, the catch is greatest in the 

 district with the lowest temperature ; (3) that when the 

 surface temperature is higher than the temperature lower 

 down, the herrings seek the deeper water. It will be 

 seen from the foregoing statement that the officers of the 

 old Board were not utilised for making investigations. 

 Important facts were however established as to (1) the 



