43 6 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



CHAPTER IV. 



CORAL AND THE CORAL FISHERIES. 



Scientific description of coral — Varieties of — Commercial classifications of coral 

 — Statistics of trade in France and England — Seats of manufacture in 

 Italy — Various coral fisheries in the Mediterranean — Statistics of boats 

 employed — British imports of coral — Indian trade in coral. 



Science and commerce frequently work hand in hand, and 

 materially aid each other ; but in some instances commerce 

 has been in advance of science, and this may be said of 

 the search for coral and its application for ornament, which 

 have been prosecuted for ages by the uninformed, whilst 

 learned naturalists have been debating many moot points 

 as to the growth, formation, and special localities of the 

 coral varieties. 



Our scientific men are busy dredging and exploring the 

 great depths of the ocean, but they have as yet thrown 

 little light on those questions which are of paramount 

 importance to the fishers for and workers in coral — as, for 

 instance, why the important banks of good coral are limited 

 to the Mediterranean Sea, and what are the requirements of 

 these polypes for the aggregation and formation of this now 

 much sought for article of commerce. As I remarked in a 

 lecture delivered before the Society of Arts a few years 

 ago, we are still ignorant on many points of the highest 



