August 



1907J 



NA TURE 



4^5 



advantage of federation or of separation, the greatest peril 

 to university education in South Africa lies in the excessive 

 multiplication of institiilions with poor endowment and 

 small, underpaid and overwcrl;ed staffs. The discussion 

 was well sustained ; and, in summing up, the chairman, 

 Mr. S. J. Jennings, pointed out that in Germany and 

 England a population of a million could support a uni- 

 versity. Roughly speaking, a population of a million in 

 South -Africa would correspond in fee-paying capacity with 

 a population of two millions in Germany or England. 

 It therefore seemed within ihe range of possibility that 

 .South .Africa could support two universities. 



I.\TERXATIONAL MARINE INVESTIGATIONS.' 

 'PHl.S summary of the results so far obtained by the 

 ■*■ international investigation of the North and adjacent 

 seas is drawn up by the executive committee of the Swedish 

 Hydrographic-biological Commission, and is the second of 

 its kind. Being well written, illustrated by good charts 

 and plates, and demanding no great previous knowledge 

 from the reader, it is one of those accurate yet popular 

 accounts which, by educating public opinion in the utility 

 of research, possess a real public value. Its slight uneven- 

 ness is probably inevitable in the rapid survey of so wide 

 a field, and it is to be regretted that the language in which 

 it appears will restrict so narrowly the number of its 

 readers. 



The introduction puiriotically reminds us that Sweden 

 took the initiative in cooperation in marine research when 

 King Oscar issued invitations to the conferences of Stock- 

 holm (1899) and Christiania (1900), and states the aim of 

 the work to be, in the terms of a resolution of the latter 

 meeting, ** to prepare for the rational exploitation of the 

 sea on a scientific ba^is." The aim is thus practical; the 

 writers proceed at once to discuss the urgent practical 

 c|uestion which played a considerable part in securing 

 British participation in the international scheme, namely, 

 iiie over-fishing question. 



The belief that the catcli of fish (mainly trawl-caught 

 fish) w-as greater than nature replaced had arisen, declined, 

 and revived when the inU rnational work began. Remedies 

 had been proposed, and, being based on insufficient know- 

 ledge of the sea, had failed. The authors unreservedly 

 include among the failures the closure of areas to trawling 

 and the replenishment of the sea by fish-hatcheries ; they 

 speak hopefully of the value of market statistics, recognise 

 the recent improvements in English methods of collection, 

 and pass to the biological attack on the problem. This 

 ^.ection is a little disappointing. Much has been ascer- 

 tained concerning intensity of fishing, migration, S:c., the 

 bearing of which on over-fishing is not clearly brought out 

 in the text. Since, for instance, over-fishing is stated to 

 affect plaice mainly by reducing the average size at which 

 they are caught, any experimental evidence of a possibility 

 of increasing the rate of growth deserves close consider- 

 ation ; yet the promising results of transplanting plaice 

 from crowded " nurseries " to good feeding-grounds where 

 growth is more rapid are very briefly dealt with. 



To make any proposal for restrictive legislation before 

 the International Council has fully sifted the evidence 

 collected on over-fishing seems premature, and, from the 

 representatives of a country not greatly interested in trawl- 

 ing, even a little out of place. The writers, however, 

 advise that each country fix an inshore size limit in- 

 dependently, while no plaice should be landed from off- 

 shore grounds of less length than 28 cm., that limit to be 

 gradually increased 10 33 cm. As to the practicability of 

 enforcing this rather complicated scheme they are silent ; 

 possibly wisely. 



Numerous biological researches are described, but by far 

 the greatest detail is accorded to hydrography. Even Prof. 

 Petterssen's theory of the effect of ice melting is included, 

 although, as Nansen's " Northern Waters " has shown, it 

 is still controversial. The Baltic hydrography is perhaps 

 Ihe freshest section for English readers. Hydrograohy 

 gained much from cooperation ; the standardising of instru- 



1 " Resultali-n .-ir Hen Inle-nniinrella H^fsfoikriinetps arb»ie unr'eraren 

 1902-1936, och Sveriees antel diruii. Ry G. Ekman, O. Petlerseii, F. 

 TrybDin. Pp.164. (■>tocliholm : Isaac Marcus, 1907.) 



mcnts and reagents removed one frequent source of wasted 

 opportunity in earlier voyages, by making all observations 

 more strictly comparable, while the periodic cruises of the 

 numerous vessels employed ensured regular observations 

 over the whole great area involved. The main result has 

 been the discovery that European seas are flooded every 

 autumn by Atlantic water (of 35 per miUe salinity or more) 

 which withdraws in spring, and that many fisheries depend 

 on these movements. Such a fishery is that of the Swedish 

 " winter herring"; the fish is abundant, and the fishery 

 prosperous when southern bank-water, of characteristic 

 salinity, temperature and plankton, forms a thicic layer 

 in the Baltic entrances, while in years of exceptional 

 abundance of Atlantic water this displaces the overlying 

 bank-water, and a " bad herring year " results. These 

 years occasion considerable distress. 



The summary closes with appendices, some of which, 

 semi-diplomatic documents now apparently published for 

 the first time, are worth careful perusal by all interested 

 in fisherv legislation and research. One, written by Prof. 

 Peltcrssen in reply to a question from the English Board of 

 .Agriculture and Fisheries, as to the probability of prac- 

 tical results shortly appearing, is especially interesting. 

 Prof. Petterssen mentions the confusion of ideas and 

 opinions that, owing to lack of knowledge of the sea, pre- 

 vailed before the international work began, describes thf 

 results attained and the value set on cooperation by the 

 investigators, and, speaking of the protection of -.mmature 

 fish, he makes the noteworthy remark, " International 

 measures of this kind must be founded on strong and in- 

 disputable evidence. . . . Such evidence can only be the 

 outcome of a joint investigation of the total area in ques- 

 tion, executed by the best specialists of every nation con- 

 cerned." These words constitute now, as they did three 

 years ago, a weighty defence of international cooperation 

 in fisherv research. 



NO IQ73, VOL. 76] 



T//E TRANSVAAL DEPARTMENT OF 

 AGRICULTURE. 

 \^7E have received from the director a copy of the annua! 

 report of the Transvaal Department of Agriculture 

 for the year 1905-6. The department was formed soon 

 after the close of the war, and was placed under the charge 

 of Mr. F. B. .Smith, who had been trained at Cambridge 

 and had gained experience as an agriculturist at Wye 

 College, of which he was for some years the vice-principal. 

 On his arrival in the Transvaal, Mr. Smith gathered round 

 him a band of zealous and competent workers, and 

 organised the new department on American lines, assigning 

 the work to a number of " divisions." Each of these, 

 while independent and under the charge of separate heads, 

 was kept in close touch with the work of the other 

 divisions through the director of the department and his 

 oflice staff. 



The report for the past year gives a resume of the wcrk 

 on which the new department is now engaged, which should 

 prove of interest not only to those directly concerned, but 

 to many in our own country who mav wish to know what 

 the trained agriculturist can do to assist the development of 

 the colonies. The most obviously beneficial work of thf 

 department is that of the veterinary division, which was 

 formed partly to investigate the numerous diseases which 

 threatened the live stock of the colony at the close of the 

 war, but chiefly to check the spread of disease by treating 

 diseased animals and by administering acts regulating 

 their movements. The need for this type of work may be 

 inferred from the fact that during the year 726 outbreaks 

 of contagious disease were dealt with, 140,000 animals in- 

 spected, and 660,000 examined for soundness at the ports 

 cr on the borders of the Transvaal before being admitted 

 into the country. 



The acts regulating the movement of diseased animals 

 have caused stock-owners some inconvenience and have been 

 the subject of occasional complaints, but they have succeeded 

 in a remarkable way in improving the health of the live- 

 stock. For example, the disease known as East Coast 

 fever, which at the close of the war was a serious menace 

 to the cattle of the colony, has been overcome, and large 

 areas have been altogether freed from it. In 1904-5 about 

 8000 cattle died of this disease; in 1905-6 the number wa» 



