36 



NATURE 



\^Nov. 8. 18S3 



pated, and its advance must be sought in the application 

 of steam power. It will be frenerally admitted that our 

 existing home-difficulties are in no way due to defective 

 apparatus. 



Capt. Temple, in writing on " Seal Fisheries," adopts 

 the wise course of holding himself responsible only for 

 those of which he has had actual experience, leaving a 

 hiatus, filled in during discussion by Mr. Martin and 

 others. Devoting but little attention to the legal aspect 

 of the industry, which we venture to say stands, with us, 

 sorely in need of reform, the author seems more hopeful 

 than the world at large of the chances of the chase. The 

 body of the paper sets forth the modus operandi of the 

 unenviable life of the sealer, whose lot entails great hard- 

 ship, often rendered none the less buoyant for an excess of 

 oil, nor the less happy under a " truck system." More 

 might have been said with regard to this industry. 



Turning now to other countries, we have most pro- 

 minent a highly important paper on "The Fishery In- 

 dustries of the United States," by Prof. Brown Goode. 

 Some idea of its contents will be formed when we say 

 that it fully bears out the impression made by the magni- 

 ficent exhibits of that country, to study which delegates 

 have even been sent over from other lands. The paper 

 is a mine of useful information, and the refreshing 

 speeches which have fallen from its author during the 

 Conference meetings have shown how much remains un- 

 tapped. The accounts given of refrigerator-cars, special 

 oyster-trains, of the utilisation of waste, and the well- 

 known potting system on the economic side ; of floating 

 hatcheries, of the artificial propagation of fish (twenty- 

 seven species), and other practical topics ; and on the 

 administrative side, of the amount of liberty allowed in 

 matters where a more jealous State might interfere, surely 

 point to a common moral. The history of the Menhaden 

 fishery cannot fail to strike all readers as an example of 

 what can be done by persevering in a " new departure," 

 and it is important to note that the system of manage- 

 ment and insurance of the boats composing the American 

 fishing fleets is such as to give every impetus to the work 

 by arousing the best interests of the men, at the same 

 time insuring those of the capitalist. The statements 

 advanced in both this and a paper on the Canadian 

 fisheries, by Mr. L. Z. Joneas, are based upon deductions 

 from a most perfect system of registration. The status 

 of the latter country — jealous of its reputation — in fishing 

 matters is everywhere recognised, but even it has to re- 

 cord the failure of attempts to artificially cure the cod — 

 the staple fish of its trade — and the writer deplores, for 

 good reasons, the want of export traders in this the lead- 

 ing enterprise of its fishing population. The herring and 

 mackerel fisheries are also dealt with, and it is reassuring 

 to us to read that for the regulation of its lobster fisheries, 

 of ten years' standing, Government measures are still 

 being taken. The written account of the seal fishery 

 conveys a good notion of its importance and a far better 

 one of its technique than do certain sanguinary models 

 exhibited in the Newfoundland section. The method of 

 working a steam service on a wage system (in connection 

 with their Great Lake fisheries) is worthy of attention. 



Coming nearer home. Prof Hubrecht, on behalf of the 

 Dutch Government, tenders some very valuable observa- 

 tions upon the " Uyster Culture and Fisheries in the 

 Netherlands." Upon the present state of our oyster- 

 beds no comment is needed, any more than upon the 

 fruitless efforts on the part of private individuals to esta- 

 blish new fisheries in our own waters. The experimental 

 evidence — the result of observations still going on — 

 brought forward by the author is of the highest import- 

 ance ; statistics favourable to artificial culture are given, 

 the period of sexual maturation has been determined, and 

 these and other similar facts ascertained all point to the 

 conclusion drawn, viz. that "a close time may be of 

 service, but that the great thing appears to be to leave a 



fair portion of the oysters on or around a natural bed 

 wholly undisturbed for a series of consecutive years." 

 This fact, discovered by chance in the Netherlands, em- 

 bodies the sense of a statement made by Prof. Huxley in 

 the matter in his opening address. It is noteworthy that 

 the purely scientific biological and physico-chemical 

 aspects of this question have received their full share of 

 attention. 



The main question bearing upon Mr. C. Harding'., 

 paper on " MoUusks " is that of bait. As the matter 

 stands, action would be premature, until it can be shown 

 that other forms of bait than those now in use are of no 

 avail. It is well known that, on the one hand, fishermen 

 are often compelled to stay on shore for want of bait, and 

 on the other, it must be remembered that they are as 

 conservative in this matter as in any which concerns 

 them ; but the fact that under like circitinstanees the 

 Lofoden Islanders carry on a brisk catch by aid of the 

 "gill-net," must not be overlooked. 

 {To be continued.) 



THE PARIS OBSER VA TOR V EQUA TORIAL » 

 'T^HE accompanying illustration represents the re- 

 -'■ markable apparatus recently set up in the Obser- 

 vatory of Paris, to which we have before called 

 attention, the ingenious construction of which is due to 

 M. Loewy, sub-director of that establishment. Begun 

 under the administration of M. Delaunay, interrupted 

 during the war, thanks to a new act of munificence on 

 the part of M. Bischoffsheim, it has now been finished. 



To answer the requirements of modern astronomy 

 cquatorials are necessarily gigantic. Like the guns of 

 modern warfare, each new apparatus is constructed on a 

 larger scale than that of its predecessors, though it is not 

 for purposes of destruction that they are aimed at the 

 celestial bodies. 



The advantages of the new equatorial are (i) that it 

 measures great angular distances ; (2) that it enables 

 observations to be made with comparative ease and 

 rapidity. Seated on a fixed chair apart from the support 

 of the instrument, the astronomer is as if placed before 

 his writing-table. The instrument obeys him, not he the 

 instrument. 



TTie new telescope is bent at right angles, one part 

 directed in a line with the axis of the earth, and capable 

 of turning round itself ; the other perpendicular to it, and 

 therefore moving in the plane of the equator. At the 

 extremity of the latter is a mirror, and at the elbow of the 

 telescope, in the interior, another mirror, both forming 

 with the axis an angle of 45°. These mirrors are in- 

 tended to reflect to each other, and finally to the observer 

 seated with his eye at the eyepiece, the image of the star 

 which is the object of observation. 



The loss of light from successive reflections is har llj- 

 perceptible. The deformation w-hich the images might 

 suffer from the use of mirrors of insufficient thickness has 

 been guarded against. In its optical qualities, too, the 

 new equatorial is not surpassed by any telescope in the 

 Observatory. Two advantages have thus been secured— 

 the power of measuring great angular distances, and that 

 of exploring the entire heavens, the observer regulating 

 the apparatus himself, and not needing to shift his 

 position. 



Another benefit resulting from these happy arrange- 

 ments must also be mentioned — the abolition of the 

 Obseri-atory with a heavy, ungainly, and expensive 

 dome, and the substitution of one of much smaller 

 compass and of much simpler construction. It con- 

 si^ts of a movable part covering the object-glass 

 end, and of a fixed part appropriated to the ob- 

 server. When pro:eeding to make observations the 



' From L.i Xature. 



