NA TURE 



86 5 



SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1922. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Development Commission 865 



The Petroleum Industry 866 



Unified Human History. By F. S. Marvin 867 

 Naturalisation of Animals and Plants. By Dr. James 



Ritchie S6S 



Boscovich and Modern Science 870 



Our Bookshelf 871 



Letters to the Editor : — 



A Type of Ideal Electric Atoms. — J. L. . . . 873 



Cambridge and the Royal Commission. — Sir William 



Ridgeway ; The Writer of the Article . -873 

 Gravity Variations. — Sir G. P. Lenox Conyng- 



ham, F.R.S. ; C. S. Wright . .874 



Action of Cutting Tools. ( With diagrams.') — Prof. 



Alan Pollard ; Prof. E. N. da C. Andrade . 875 

 The Secondary Spectrum of Hydrogen. — A. C. 



Menzies . . . . . . . S76 



Science and the Empire. — Maj. A. G. Church S76 

 The Hermit-crab (E. bemhardus) and the Anemone 



(C. (Sagartia) parasitica). — Dr. J. H. Orton . 877 



Winter Thunderstorms.— Capt. C. J. P. Cave . 877 

 The Corrosion of Ferrous Metals. {Illustrated.) By 



J. N. F S7S 



The American Museum of Natural History. 



{Illustrated) SSo 



Presentation to Sir Edward Sharpey Schafer, F.R.S. 



(Illustrated) 882 



Obituary : — 



F. B. Bryant SS2 



Current Topics and Events SS3 



Our Astronomical Column 886 



Research Items 887 



Weather Cycles in Relation to Agriculture and 



Industrial Fluctuations 889 



Geology of the North Sea Basin .... 890 



New Japanese Botanical Serials . . . . S91 



Colloid Chemistry. By Prof. W. C. McC. Lewis . S92 



Early History of the Sussex Iron Industry '. . 893 



University and Educational Intelligence . . 893 



Societies and Academies S94 



Official Publications Received S96 



Diary of Societies 896 



Editorial and Publishing Offices ; 



MACMILLAN &- CO., LTD., 



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addressed to the Publishers. 



Editorial communications to the Editor. 



Telegraphic Address: PHUSIS, LONDON. 

 Telephone Number : GERRARD 8830. 



no. 2774, VOL. no] 



The Development Commission. 1 



THE Development Commissioners have just issued a 

 report on their operations during the year ended 

 in March last. For a Blue-book it is an unusually 

 interesting document, containing as it does many 

 verbatim reports from Directors of Research who do 

 not disdain, on occasion, the aid of the poets in de- 

 scribing their labours. We may instance Mr. W. B. 

 Hardy on fishery research : 



" The frontal attack," he says, " usually called, 

 ' taking a practical view ' of the problem, often fails, 

 and rarely gives more than a partial and incomplete 

 solution. 



" Scientific history shows that the solution of a 

 problem more often than not comes from a direction 

 totally unexpected — 



" 'For while the tired waves, vainly breaking, 

 Seem here no painful inch to gain, 

 Far back, through creeks and inlets making, 

 Comes, silent, flooding in, the main.' " 



And the corollary is well expressed : 



" The search for the fundamentals of knowledge 

 must remain the business of specialists trained to the 

 use of the test tube and microscope. But it is one of 

 the gravest fallacies responsible for the suspicion with 

 which the ' practical ' man often views science, which 

 represents the work of the specialist as something 

 different from that of the man engaged in the day-to- 

 day employment of industry." 



No man has a wider contact with research in its 

 practical outcomes than has Mr. Hardy, and no one 

 is entitled to speak with greater authority on the State 

 organisation of research. 



In the year under report the Development Com- 

 missioners recommended the expenditure of 368,450/., of 

 which 41,372/. was by way of loan. The grants to 

 agriculture amounted to 226.253/. Under the head of 

 fisheries the grants recommended totalled 7i,2i8Z. 

 Fishery research workers appear to be in the happy 

 position of explorers of a new and rich country, and 

 the Commissioners were well advised in devoting a 

 large section of their report to a detailed review of 

 the progress made in the solution of fishery problems. 

 As the British sea fisheries alone provide about 13 

 million tons of fish annually, it is clear that even the 

 wide seas about our coasts cannot continue to furnish 

 such a quantity unless the increased control which 

 increased knowledge alone will bring comes to the 

 rescue. Of this knowledge and the need for its ex- 

 tension, here is an example : 



" The study of the edible crab," says Mr. Hardy, 

 " now in progress at Aberdeen, has revealed the fact 

 that there is a steady migration from the East Coast 

 to the Moray Firth. One marked crab was found to 



1 Twelfth Report of the Development Commissioners for the year ended 

 March 31, 1922. H.M. Stationery Office. 3s. 6d. 



