May 14, 1886.J 



SCIENCE. 



431 



at one time commander at West Point, opened 

 the morning session with an interesting account 

 of the attack on Washington in 1814. He was 

 followed by two of the lecturers in the course re- 

 cently given at the Lowell institute in Boston, 

 under the auspices of the Military historical so- 

 ciety of Massachusetts, — Col. William Allan of 

 Maryland, formerly on < Stonewall ' Jackson's 

 staff ; and Major Jedidiah Hotchkiss of Staunton, 

 who served through the war on Jackson's, Lee's, 

 Ewell's, and Early's staffs. Colonel Allan gave an 

 exposition of the confederate and federal strategy 

 in the 'Pope campaign' before Washington in 

 1862. His remarks were illustrated by two large 

 plans of the scene of those operations, and were 

 listened to with the greatest interest, even by 

 those to whom the subject was not familiar. 

 Major Hotchkiss followed with an illustration of 

 the value of topographical knowledge in battles 

 and campaigns. He drew on the board with 

 colored crayons a map of Virginia to illustrate 

 his remarks. His dexterity was viewed with 

 wonderment by those in the audience who have 

 tried — though unsuccessfully — to accomplish the 

 . same results. In the evening the attendance was 

 even larger than at any previous meeting. Mr. 

 Bancroft presided, and was the recipient of an 

 ovation which was as unexpected as it was genu- 

 ine and merited. ..Mr. Justin Winsor was elected 

 president for the coming year, with President 

 Adams of Cornell and William F. Poole of Chicago 

 as vice-presidents, while William Wirt Henry of 

 Richmond took Mr. Weeden's place on the council. 

 At this session Dr. J. F. Jameson of the Johns 

 Hopkins read an abstract of a very valuable paper 

 on Usselinx, founder of the Dutch and Swedish 

 West India companies. The venerable president 

 of the Massachusetts historical society, Dr. George 

 E. Ellis, spoke of the necessity of an occasional 

 reconstruction of history. He gave as an ex- 

 ample the work now being edited by Mr. Winsor, 

 — ' The narrative and critical history of America.' 



Altogether the meeting was a most enjoyable 

 one. The papers were for the most part creditable 

 to the association, and especially to its secretary, 

 to whom the making-up of the programme was 

 in great measure left. The one regrettable feature 

 was the continued absence of papers on other 

 than American history. Why is it that the teach- 

 ers of other periods do not come forward ? Surely 

 there must be good work done in other fields ; and 

 the hearty reception accorded Professor Emerton 

 last year showed that the members are interested 

 in what many regard as really more historical 

 subjects than the comparatively recent history of 

 America. The absence of papers on economic 

 subjects, and on matters of present discussion, 



was marked. Excursions to Arlington, Mount 

 Vernon, and points nearer headquarters, filled up 

 the spare hours, and the experiment of holding 

 meetings in some place other than Saratoga may 

 be regarded as highly successful. 



PROPOSED ENGLISH FISHERY BOARD. 1 



I have read with considerable interest Professor 

 Huxley's memorandum on the proposed fishery 

 board, and with much of what he says I agree. 

 It seems to me, however, that attention is likely 

 to be diverted from the real question demanding 

 consideration, by Professor Huxley's attack upon 

 certain persons unknown, who appear to have 

 demanded in some newspaper which Professor 

 Huxley has seen, that men of science should 

 ' manage the fisheries.' That men of science 

 should interfere with commercial speculation, 

 and manage the fisheries in that sense, is a prop- 

 osition so preposterous, that it is difficult to 

 understand why Professor Huxley should have 

 thought it worthy of notice. 



The question which really demands considera- 

 tion is another one altogether, and is simply this : 

 Is it desirable that mien of science should be defi- 

 nitely and permanently employed to manage the 

 inquiries which are necessary in order that a 

 satisfactory basis may be obtained for legislation 

 in regard to a variety of fishery questions ? And, 

 further, is it desirable that such persons should be 

 employed by the state in order to ascertain 

 whether certain steps in the way of protection 

 and cultivation of fishes can be usefully carried 

 out by the state for the benefit of the com- 

 munity? Professor Huxley does not, in my 

 judgment, attach sufficient importance to such 

 inquiries, and the necessity for a permanent or- 

 ganization of officials to deal with them, when 

 he says, "Let the department obtain such scien- 

 tific help as is needful from persons of recognized 

 competency, who are not under the control of the 

 administrative department." This proposal seems 

 to be somewhat inconsistent with another state- 

 ment in the memorandum, where Professor Hux- 

 ley says, ' ' I should say that any amount of money 

 bestowed upon the scientific investigation of the 

 effect of some modes of fishing might be well 

 spent. " If ' any amount of money ' is to be spent, 

 and so large a question as ' the effect of some 

 modes of fishing ' is to be investigated scientifi- 

 cally, then it would seem well thai; the depart- 

 ment should have a trained and permanent staff 

 of expert naturalists, and a scientific authority to 

 direct their inquiries. 



The fact is, that enough time and money have 



1 From the Journal of the society of arts, April 30. 



