202 BRITISH FISHERIES 



The earliest important application of these 

 methods was made in Germany, The first large 

 piece of work carried out by the Kiel Kommission 

 was the cruise of S.M.S. Pommerania in the 

 North Sea and Baltic. This was in 1872—3. 

 This enterprise, described as a " physikalische, 

 chemische und biologische " expedition, led to 

 results of great importance,^ and until the be- 

 ginning of the eighties the results of the 

 Pommerania expedition represented our know- 

 ledge of the hydrography of North European 

 waters. When the Scottish Fishery Board began 

 work, close attention was directed to physical 

 investigation, and a beginning was made by a 

 cruise by H.M.S. Jackal in the Moray Firth 

 in 1883.^ The resources of the Board were, 

 however, inadequate for sustained hydrographical 

 research, since they possessed no vessel equipped 

 for the purpose. A number of other expeditions 

 were, however, made, and when in 1887 they 

 obtained a steamer to be exclusively employed in 

 scientific work, physical observations were made 

 almost continuously as part of the routine scientific 

 investigation. 



Scandinavia, however, more than any other 

 country, has been the centre of this kind of 

 investigation, and Professors Otto Pettersson (of 



^ For the full accounts of these voyages, see the Kiel Kommission's 

 Jahresberkhten for 1872-74. 



2 Scottish Fishery Board Report for 1886, p. 189. 



