December 30, 1922] 



NA TURE 



877 



asgis of the National Union of Scientific Workers is 

 1 iverlooked. 



Of this body you say " it is a Trade Union affiliated, 

 we believe, to the Labour Party, and it exists to 

 secure suitable conditions of work and payment for 

 its members rather than for the extension of natural 

 knowledge." In that statement truth and error are 

 intermingled. The National Union of Scientific 

 Workers is a registered Trade Union ; it registered 

 as such when industrial and Civil Service joint councils 

 on the Whitley plan were being set up and when it 

 was announced that none but members of Trade 

 Unions would be given representation on those bodies. 

 The Employers' Federations registered as Trade 

 Unions also and for the same reasons. But the 

 National Union of Scientific Workers is not affiliated 

 to the Labour Party or to any political party ; it has 

 no political funds, and it imposes no restraints upon 

 the political activities of its members, three of whom 

 stood for Parliament at the recent election, one in 

 the Conservative interest and the other two as Labour 

 candidates. 



Again, while it is true that the National Union of 

 Scientific Workers exists to secure suitable conditions 

 of work and payment for its members — and all other 

 scientific workers incidentally — it considers that the 

 best way to do this is by raising the professional 

 standard of scientific workers by improved training 

 and education, and making them aware of their 

 importance as citizens on one hand, and on the other, 

 by pointing out to employers and captains of industry 

 that it is an economy to employ the best scientific 

 workers, to encourage research, and to assist the 

 universities. In order to persuade private employers, 

 corporations and governing bodies to deal justly with 

 scientific staffs, it is true that the Union would be 

 prepared to follow the methods employed by such 

 bodies as the British Medical Association ; but it 

 believes with the British Science Guild that the 

 attitude of the general public towards science is due 

 to ignorance or apathy. Accordingly, it puts pro- 

 paganda efforts, designed to cure these diseases, in 

 the forefront of its programme, hoping thereby to 

 increase the demand from industry and the State for 

 the best scientific knowledge. It is ready to co- 

 operate with any other body for this purpose, and to 

 assist any political party with its advice on matters 

 appertaining to science and scientific workers. It 

 believes, however, that scientific workers themselves 

 must be their own propagandists, and that the first 

 step towards really effective action is unity in the 

 profession of science. A. G. Church, 



General Secretary. 

 National Union of Scientific Workers, 

 25 Victoria Street, 

 Westminster, London, S.W.i, 

 December iS. 



[The National Union of Scientific Workers is an 

 occupational organisation ; therefore its propaganda 

 efforts, useful as they are, are naturally regarded by 

 the public as arising from self-interest. The British 

 Science Guild, on the other hand, requires no technical 

 or other qualification for membership ; and, as was 

 pointed out in our article, it bears the same relation 

 to scientific workers that the Navy League does to 

 the Royal Navy. It seems to us that a body of this 

 type, in which citizens engaged in many and diverse 

 departments of national life are concerned, can afford 

 much more effective and disinterested support of 

 science than is possible by any group consisting of 

 members of the profession alone. That was the 

 main point of the article to which Major Church 

 refers, and we see no reason to depart from it. — 

 Editor, Nature.] 



NO. 2774, VOL. I IO] 



The Hermit-crab (E. bernhardus) and the 

 Anemone (C. (Sagartia) parasitica). 



Ix Nature of December 2, p. 735, I described 

 observations and experiments on the common hermit- 

 crab (E. bernhardus) with its messmates, the anemone 

 (C. (Sagartia) parasitica) and the polychaete worm 

 Nereis fucaia. By the kindness of Mr. Hugh Main, 

 it has been pointed out that the observations men- 

 tioned above with regard to the natural position 

 of the anemone confirm those of J. Sinel (p. 39, 

 " An Outline of the Natural History of our Shores," 

 1906). Sinel states that " the woodcuts that appear 

 in many text-books — even our high-class ones — 

 which represent this anemone and its congener, are 

 in one respect incorrect. The anemone is always 

 represented as upright — palm-tree like — on the top 

 of its equipage, as if its chief object were display — 

 or a ride. ... I have invariably found the anemone 

 affixed to the rear of the shell and in such a position 

 that when the hermit is at a meal or even moving 

 about, the margin of the tentacles just touch the 

 ground, like some patent sweeping-machine. It, no 

 doubt, finds this position a paying one." 



Sinel's unique and fascinating book contains a fund 

 of information hidden away in a popular description 

 of natural history on the shore. It is plain that, owing 

 probably to the popular character of the book, many 

 naturalists have passed over important original obser- 

 vations described therein by Sinel, whose knowledge 

 of the biology of the shore has probably never been 

 equalled. 



Sinel's observations were previously unknown to 

 me, but the agreement in the two sets of independent 

 observations is valuable in opposing a traditional 

 error, and will be sufficient to establish the correct- 

 ness of the interpretations ; the natural position of 

 the anemone on the hermit-crab was clearly first 

 shown by Sinel. J. H. Orton. 



Marine Biological Laboratory, 

 Plymouth, December 13. 



Winter Thunderstorms. 



May I through your columns again ask for reports 

 of thunderstorms occurring in the British Islands 

 between January 1 and March 31 ? With the help 

 of your readers and of observers of the British 

 Rainfall Organization I was able to collect a mass 

 of information on winter thunderstorms for 1916, 

 1917, 1918, and 1920, from which it appears that on 

 more than 40 per cent, of the days in question, 

 thunderstorms occurred somewhere in the British 

 Islands. In collaboration with the Meteorological 

 Office I propose to collect information again. The 

 chief points to be noticed are the times at which 

 the storms occur, and especially the times of passage 

 of such storms as pass overhead ; whether a severe 

 storm or whether there are only one or two flashes 

 of lightning or only one or two claps of thunder ; 

 whether there is a change of wind or a drop of 

 temperature \vith the storm ; whether there is rain, 

 hail, or snow ; in the case of lightning seen at night 

 the direction in which it occurs ; and any other 

 information the observer thinks of interest. Reports 

 are wanted especially from the west and north of 

 Scotland, and from the south-west, west, and north- 

 west of Ireland, but any information however slight 

 from any district in the British Islands will be of 

 great use to the investigation. Reports should be 

 sent by postcard or letter to my address (not to 

 the Meteorological Office). C. J. P. Cave. 



Stoner Hill, Petersfield, December 20. 



2 D 2 



