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BRITISH ASSOCIATION 


FOR THE ADVANCEMENT 
OF SCIENCE 


REPORT 


OF THE 


ANNUAL MEETING, 1936 
(106ra YEAR) 


BLACK POOL 
SEPTEMBER 9-16 


LONDON 


OFFICE OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 
BURLINGTON HOUSE, LONDON, W.1 


1936 


ill 


CONTENTS. 


‘ 


PAGE 
BCRAMEARS OREEROSPECT y, 1931-35) s,ei-dsve asin ese :evnatote le cuatoltha ache Te Vv 
MIEKIGHRS SAN DIAC OUNCGIL, 13 0=37) a0) care 2 dress ousyaicl sax eher he «fer oe xvii 
SECTIONAL OFFICERS, BLACKPOOL MEETING, 1936 .........-.-e0200+ Xxi 
ANNUAL MEETINGS: PLACES AND DaTEs, PRESIDENTS, ATTENDANCES, 
RECEIPTS, SUMS PAID ON ACCOUNT OF GRANTS FOR SCIENTIFIC 
ETRE OSESN(TSSI—1930)\s cis aleve o's w rave cel shaw eae ote, she cepouske ae ee Re XXIV 
INARRATIVE OF THE BLACKPOOL, MEETING .. ).)3!0. 224s aildle de olden XXVill 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL TO THE GENERAL COMMITTEE (1935-36) .... XXXi 


GENERAL 'TREASURER’S ACCOUNT (1935-36) .......-- (ccd tale eter Pete xiii 
SESHORCH! CONGVITETEES, (1930-37) sis c.s 5 cise Co2 oenn1e cune oie claiele Seteiee lvi 
RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS (BLACKPOOL MEETING) ...... lxi 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS : 
The Impact of Science upon Society. By Sir JostaH STamp, 


GiC BU GiBi EB. 2 etait sso. 3 5. Sumer asia altar eee] teeta I 
SECTIONAL PRESIDENTS’ ADDRESSES : 
Trends in Modern Physics. By Prof. ALLAN FERGUSON ....... 27 
The Training of the Chemist for the Service of the Community. 
Byeroty |. C. PHIM RO. BE: (FPuRCS ele cass ens bee oben 43 
Palzontology and Humanity. By Prof. H. L. Hawkxins....... 57 
Natural Selection and Evolutionary Progress. By Dr. J. S. 
MRR YE S200: |. ba tetars atte sore eete wos eis aie oe OO eae acre 81 
Mapping of the Colonial Empire. By Brig. H. S. L. WInTER- 
BOMMANE ACoB = CAN GS DIS Oars stan tina « oe eine cc eaie IOI 
Plantation eeonomy. | Byer. C.. Ro BAM... ssi cpsioesiste iets 117 
The Engineer and the Nation. By Prof. W. Cramp ........ 141 
The Upper Palzolithic in the Light of Recent Discovery. By 
IMGssHD SAE. GARROD) icc csccatdtevola ait. “babe belts eeeeee 155 
The Control of the Circulation of the Blood. By Prof. R. J. S, 
IWC D YON 7 eerie aes Pee Occ orien Fo On. fe Cae Cave Poms & 173 
The Patterns of Experience. By A. W. WOLTERS ............ 181 
The Uses of Fungi. By J. Ramspotrom, O.B.E. ............ 189 
The Future in Education. By Sir RICHARD LIVINGSTONE ..... 219 


Soil Science in the Twentieth Century. By Prof. J. HENDRICK 233 


iv CONTENTS 


PAGE 

REPORTS ON- THE STATE. OF SCIENCE ETC. 9.42 es eee eee 249 

SECTIONAL  BRANSACTIONS) if icra or sake rise ein dlarsiel a Sha ee a ae tate ee 320 

CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES .........- 447 

Discussion’ ON: (GENEEICS) AND WRACE | 5.005 008 t DY one «slo cle Coen 
THE STRAIN OF MOopDERN CIVILISATION. By the Rt. Hon. Lorp 

HIORDER, KC Vii ieie pid oss erdin ins Jefe GR 2 sl Setee eee che 


REFERENCES TO PUBLICATION OF COMMUNICATIONS TO THE SECTIONS 471 


EVENING Nuscourse. By C.C. PATERSON <. 2... 020.225 09s + aden te Age 
APPENDIX. 
A SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT ............--- I 
FINDER. 2 APE Reet DE Le Ry Ee Sie ee Oe ee 153 
PUBLICATIONS OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION......+...++.0000005 (At end) 
CORRIGENDA. 


SECTION A. PRESIDENT’s ADDRESS. 


Page 37, line 18. For ‘ preceptual’ read ‘ perceptual.” 
Page 39, line 9 from foot. For ‘ correction’ read ‘ connection.’ 


Hritish Assocration 
fot the Adbancement of Science. 


FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT 
193171935 


(IssuED IN APRIL, 1936). 


Tus Summary Report is intended by the Council to be the first of a series 
dating from the beginning of the Association’s second century, in 1931. 
Its principal purpose is, not to review the transactions of the annual meetings, 
but to illustrate by examples the perennial activities of the Association 
which arise from or are supplementary to those transactions. 


I, ANNUAL MEETINGS. 

By way of introduction, however, a summary reference to the annual 
meetings themselves is desirable. The following table shows (x) the places 
of meeting, (2) the presidents of the Association, and (3) attendances of 
members. 


Year. (1) (2) (3) 

1931 London Gen. the Rt. Hon. J.C. Smuts, P.C.,C.H., 5,702 
F.R.S. 

1932 = York Sir Alfred Ewing, K.C.B., F.R.S. 2,024 

1933 Leicester Sir F, Gowland Hopkins, O.M., Pres. R.S. 2,268 

1934. Aberdeen Sir James H. Jeans, F.R.S. 2,938 

1935 Norwich Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S. 2321 


The following observations should be made concerning this table. 

It is common knowledge that the Association had never before 1931 held 
its annual meeting in London; it is not ordinarily its function to do so, 
and its statutes lay down that the Association ‘ contemplates no invasion 
of the ground occupied by other institutions,’ a disclaimer always under- 
stood as referring particularly to the other great learned societies whose 
headquarters are in London, Nevertheless, for the Centenary Meeting, 
in 1931, London was chosen by common consent, at the expressed wish of 
the Corporation of the City of London, and with the generous co-operation 
of the London County Council, the University of London, and many 
other bodies. Accommodation for meetings was provided mainly by 
the Imperial College of Science and Technology. York was the birth- 
place of the Association in 1831, but it was felt that so large a meeting as 
the Centenary was expected (and proved) to be could not be conveniently 
arranged there. The President and other officers and members made 
pilgrimage to York during the week-end of the Centenary, and the meeting 
in the following year was held there, 


vi FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT 


To the list of presidents of the Association it is necessary to add the name 
of Sir William Hardy, F.R.S., who was elected to office for the year 1934. 
He died on January 23 of that year, and was succeeded by Sir James Jeans, 
F.R.S. At the Aberdeen Meeting one of the Evening Discourses was made 
a memorial lecture for Hardy ; it was given by Sir Frank Smith, K.C.B.. 
Sec. R.S., and dealt with the Storage and Transport of Food, illustrating the 
far-reaching results of Hardy’s work. 

On the figures of attendances of members at the annual meetings it is to 
be remarked that there has never been previously a continuous succession 
of five years in each of which the numbers have exceeded 2,000. This is 
evidence of a widening of the appeal of the Association ; the fluctuation of 
numbers from year to year has little significance in this connection, since 
the attendance in any particular town is affected by various considerations, 
such as its size (which reacts upon the local membership for the meeting), 
the existence of a university or other strong scientific element, the scientific 
interests of the locality, etc. 

In 1932 an important change was made in the period of the presidential 
office. It now coincides with the calendar year, instead of beginning with 
the annual meeting. The principal argument in favour of this change was 
that the President is responsible administratively for the major part of the 
preparations for the annual meeting over which he is elected to preside 
and his influence can be more directly brought to bear upon them. The 
first official act of the new President is now to preside over the joint meeting 
of the Organising Sectional Committees when, in January of each year, they 
lay down the main lines of the programme for the ensuing annual meeting. 

In this connection it is appropriate to refer to the strong demand recently 
encountered in the press and elsewhere that in the programmes of the 
Association more systematic attention should be paid to the bearings of 
scientific progress upon the welfare of the community. Efforts have been 
and are being made to meet this demand, and not only in the transactions 
of the annual meetings themselves. For in 1935 the Council decided to 
initiate a series of quinquennial reviews of the progress of science (without 
particular reference to the proceedings of the Association): the first of 
these reviews, covering the period 1931-1935, is in preparation, and is 
intended to be published by Messrs. Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons in the autumn 
of 1936. 

In 1931-1932 the Council considered in detail those expenses connected 
with annual meetings which fall upon the locality in which the meetings 
are held, and are met each year by a local fund. It was felt that such 
expenses might tend, and indeed had tended, to increase unduly in sympathy 
with the general rise of prices in the past twenty years; but the Council 
were able to make certain arrangements and proposals for the guidance of 
local committees which have counteracted this'tendency. One result of 
this action has been the production of a systematic series of scientific surveys 
of each successive place of meeting and its neighbourhood, in place of the 
handbooks formerly produced by local committees on no fixed model and 
sometimes at very large cost. ‘The new series has made for economy of 
production, and for a definite increase of scientific value inasmuch as in 
course of time large areas of the whole country will be covered by orderly 
studies of their outstanding scientific interests. These, moreover, will in 


FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT vii 


future provide historical records of interest, when, in course of time, the 
Association revisits centres for which surveys have been previously compiled, 
as they will afford material for the study of changes during the periods 
intervening between visits. Out of the four surveys which have been pro- 
duced under this scheme (for the meetings at York, Leicester, Aberdeen, 
and Norwich), those for Leicester and Norwich were reprinted in sub- 
stantial quantity for educational use at the instance of the respective local 
authorities. 


II. RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 


Among the numerous duties of the Council of the Association (the execu- 
tive body which remains in session throughout the year and holds six ordinary 
meetings) is that of dealing with resolutions and recommendations formu- 
lated in the Sections or otherwise during the annual meeting. During the 
quinquennium twenty-nine such resolutions and recommendations were 
referred to the Council for consideration, and for action if desirable. ‘They 
dealt, among other topics, with such diverse questions as : 


An inland water survey for Britain (1934). 

Preservation of the countryside, and national parks (1934, 1935). 

Reduction of noise of motor vehicles (1932, 1935). 

Easement for the importation of technical scientific cinema films, 
apparatus, and specimens (1931, 1934). 

Establishment of a nature reserve in the Galapagos Islands (1935). 

The ill effects upon bird life caused by cutting hedgerows during 
nesting time (1935). 

Extermination of the muskrat in Britain (1933). 

Preservation of wild fauna in Africa (1931). 

Revision of Ordnance Survey Maps (1933). 

Extension of geodetic surveys in British colonies and dependencies 
(1933). 

Continuation of an atlas of geographical types (1934). 

Desirability of including maps showing relative density of population 
in census reports (1931, etc.). 

Aerial photography of topographical features (1932). 

Disposal of finds from caves in Derbyshire (the exploration of which 
had long been supported by the Association) and the preservation 
of certain of the caves (1931, 1935). 

Specification for the lower yield-point of mild and moderately high- 
tensile steel (1935). 

Diseases of the cricket-bat willow (1933). 

Provision and publication of agricultural statistics (1932). 

Interchange of museum specimens (1932). 


The manner in which each resolution or recommendation has been dealt 
with is stated by the Council in their yearly report to the General Committee, 
and may be found by reference to the appropriate Annual Report of the 
Association (i.e., usually, that for the year following the date given in the 
preceding paragraph). ‘The Council were able to deal with some of these 
questions by referring the resolutions forthwith to appropriate Government 


a2 


viii FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT 


departments, or to other institutions more directly concerned than the 
Association. Some, however, were matters to which the mechanism of the 
Association itself could be more closely applied, and by way of example 
the procedure followed in connection with the first six subjects in the pre- 
ceding list will now be briefly outlined. 

The interest of the Association in a survey of the inland water resources 
of the country was awakened (or rather reawakened, for in earlier years 
committees of the Association had done work on certain aspects of this 
question) by a discussion at the York Meeting in 1932, after which a com- 
mittee was appointed to inquire into the position of inland water survey in 
Britain, and the possible organisation and control of such a survey by central 
authority. Its reports will be found in the Annual Reports of the Associa- 
tion for 1933 (p. 358), 1934 (p- 239), and 1935 (p. 324). Following upon the 
issue of the first of these reports, the co-operation of the Institution of Civil 
Engineers was secured, and a letter and memorandum on the desirability 
of a complete and systematic survey of the water resources of the country 
were addressed by the Presidents of the Association and the Institution 
to the Prime Minister. A representative deputation subsequently waited 
upon the Minister of Health to discuss the matter, and in February, 1935, 
it was announced that the Government had appointed a committee to advise - 
on the inland water survey for Great Britain, on the progress of the measures 
undertaken, and on further measures required. The Council of the Associa- 
tion later appointed a watching committee in case occasion should arise for 
further intervention. Meanwhile (1934), in the same connection, a resolu- 
tion forwarded to H.M. Government had urged the compulsory registration 
of wells, borings and excavations exceeding 100 ft. in depth. 

Questions relating to the preservation of the countryside, national parks, 
and nature reserves have been brought before the Association more than 
once during the period under review, both in sectional meetings and in the 
appropriate setting of the annual conference of delegates from the corre- 
sponding societies (local scientific societies affiliated to or associated with 
the Association). As mentioned above, resolutions have been put forward 
urging, among other matters, more systematic instruction in schools con- 
cerning the preservation of natural vegetation, the protection of bird life 
by the avoidance of hedge-cutting during the nesting season, the more 
adequate provision of nature reserves, and the protection from building 
development of areas which might become national parks. In 1934 the 
Ministry of Health began to inform the Association of the progress of 
planning all over England and Wales under the Town and Country Planning 
Act, in order that the Council, if they thought fit, might call attention to the 
desirability of protecting any area or site of scientific interest. ‘The Council 
informed the corresponding societies of this, and also appointed a panel of 
persons from whom expert advice might be invited in case of necessity. 
The Association, at the invitation of the Council for the Preservation of 
Rural England, was represented on a deputation which urged upon the 
Air Ministry the protection of Chesil Beach and the Abbotsbury Swannery 
from the effects of aerial bombing practice. 

The subject of noise, principally of motor vehicles and aircraft, has 
engaged the attention of the Engineering Section (G) and that of Mathe- 
matical and Physical Sciences (A) at more than one meeting. Resolutions 


FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT ix 


have been addressed to H.M. Government (1932, 1935), and in 1933 a 
committee of the Engineering Section was appointed to review the know- 
ledge available for the reduction of noise. This committee informed 
itself by inquiry through the press as to public feeling against the various 
classes of noise emitted by motor vehicles and aircraft, Research upon 
the silencing of motor-cycle engines was carried out, and its results were 
effectively demonstrated at the Aberdeen Meeting in 1934. The Com- 
mittee’s statement in the Report for that year (p. 252) indicates the results 
both of its public enquiry and of the research referred to. Subsequently 
to the appointment of this committee, a committee was set up by the 
Ministry of Transport to investigate the whole question. 

As the result of a report received, not through any Section of the 
Association itself but from the Association of British Zoologists, the Council 
in 1931 appointed a committee to consider action with a view to the 
amelioration of customs regulations affecting the importation of scientific 
specimens and apparatus. The Custom House authorities supplied the 
Association with a memorandum on the reliefs from customs duties on 
scientific instruments and cinematograph films, in order that advice might 
be given as required to scientific workers, and also a note on the importa- 
tion of scientific specimens in spirit, which is published in the Report, 
1932, pp. xxi-xxii. In 1934 it was pointed out to the Council, by resolu- 
tion from Section D (Zoology), that although technical cinematograph 
films for the advancement of scientific knowledge may be imported duty 
free for exhibition before scientific institutions, there was no provision 
for the free importation of films for the teaching of science in universities 
and similar institutions. It was ascertained, however, from the British 
Film Institute 1 that an international convention was expected to be con- 
cluded to cover, inter alia, such cases as those reported to the Council. 

The Council were made aware in 1933 of measures in progress to 
establish a nature reserve in the Galapagos Islands. The interest of the 
Association is peculiarly engaged in this question, since Darwin’s house 
at Downe, Kent, is in its charge as a national memorial (Section IV, 
below), and Darwin’s investigations of the unique fauna of the Galapagos 
Islands helped fundamentally to influence the views which were given 
expression in The Origin of Species. The Council were subsequently 
informed of action by the Ecuadorean Government, which, by decree, 
made possible the reservation of certain of the islands and the protection 
of the fauna of scientific interest. The gratification of the General Com- 
mittee at this measure was conveyed from the Norwich Meeting (1935) to 
the Ecuadorean Government and was acknowledged, and the Council 
appointed representatives of the Association to act on any international 
or other joint committee which might be formed to expedite the establish- 
ment of the reserve. The centenary of Darwin’s landing in the islands 
(September, 1835) was pleasantly marked by the receipt of a cablegram 
from the present H.M.S. Beagle, recalling that ‘a hundred years ago 
our most distinguished passenger landed ’ there, and continuing: ‘ the 
present Beagle salutes the British Association, the trustees of Science.’ 


1 On the formation of this institute, see p. xii. 


x FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT 


III. RESEARCH. 


The average number of research committees appointed or reappointed 
by the General Committee at each annual meeting during the period, and 
carrying on their work during the ensuing year, was fifty-two. Of these, 
again on average each year, twenty-six received grants of money from the 
funds of the Association. ‘The total expenditure on grants to research 
committees, during the nearest period to the quinquennium for which 
completed accounts are available,? was £6,173 10s. 5d., which is the highest 
in any quinquennial period since 1831, excepting one.? The average 
quinquennial expenditure on grants since 1831 has been £4,900. Some 
further reference to this aspect of the Association’s activities will fall under 
the later heading of Finance (Section V). 

The Association has maintained its support of the researches carried 
on, under committees, by selected workers at the marine laboratory, 
Plymouth, the zoological station at Naples, and the freshwater biological 
station at Wray Castle, Windermere. Proposals for the establishment of 
a freshwater biological station originated at the meetings of the Associa- 
tion in 1927-28 ; the preliminary work of a committee formed thereafter 
was followed by the creation of the Freshwater Biological Association of 
the British Empire, and in 1931 the Wray Castle Station was opened, with 
financial assistance from H.M. Government, the Royal Society, the 
Fishmongers Company, the Manchester Waterworks Committee, the 
Metropolitan Water Board, and other learned societies, institutions, and 
individuals. 

The prolonged connection of the Association with seismological research, 
the calculation of mathematical tables, the publication of the Zoological 
Record, and the collection and registration of geological photographs has 
been continued. 

The Seismology Committee—and no less the Association as a whole— 
lost an outstanding supporter on the death of Prof. H. H. Turner, F.R.S., 
in 1930. The publication of the International Seismological Summary, 
which he initiated, was continued. In 1933 the University of Oxford 
agreed to house and to meet part of the operating expenses of the J.S.S. 
Reports on earthquakes both in this country and abroad have been 
regularly presented, together with notes on research embracing such 
questions as periodicity, travel and transmission times, long-wave phases 
and prediction of earthquakes. In 1935 the Association published a 
Catalogue of Earthquakes for 1925-1930 inclusive (Annual Report, 1935, 
p. 230), based on the International Seismological Summary, and com- 
piled by Miss E. F. Bellamy in continuation of the previous catalogue 
compiled by Prof. Turner (1928). 

During the quinquennium the following volumes have been published 


? Viz. July 1, 1930, to March 31, 1935. The period is three months short of a 
complete quinquennium because the dates of the financial year were changed in 
1932-33. 

® This was the period 1866-70, when about £8,600 was paid. A policy of 
accumulating funds had apparently been in force before that time but had been 
reversed ; moreover the Association was then devoting substantial sums to the 
committee charged with the maintenance of Kew Observatory, which was trans- 
ferred to the control of the Royal Society in 1872. 


FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT x1 


under the direction of the Mathematical Tables Committee : (1) Circular 
and Hyperbolic Functions, Exponential Sine and Cosine Integrals, Factorial 
(Gamma) and Derived Functions, Integrals of Probability Integrals (1931) ; 
(2) Emden Functions (1932); (3) Minimum Decompositions into Fifth 
Powers (1933); (4) Cycles of Reduced Ideals in Quadratic Fields (1934) ; 
(5) Factor Tables (1935). In preparation are Bessel Functions, which are 
expected to extend to three volumes, the first of which was in the press 
at the end of 1935. The Cambridge University Press are now the 
publishers of these volumes. 

The Committee on Geological Photographs is that of longest lineage 
among existing research committees of the Association: it was first 
established in 1873. The Committee published two additional lists in 
1931 and 1935, bringing the number of photographs in the collection to 
8,711. The collection is housed in the library of H.M. Geological Survey, 
South Kensington, and was recently overhauled. Prints and lantern 
slides of certain of the photographs are on sale to the public. 

Further illustration of the scope of the Association’s research work 
must be restricted here (with one exception) to examples of the work of 
committees which have completed their tasks. The work of the com- 
mittees on Inland Water Survey and on Noise has been mentioned in an 
earlier section (II). 

Provision for research in chemistry through other channels is so far 
adequate that this subject makes relatively little demand upon the Associa- 
tion (and the same applies to agricultural research). Nevertheless, in 
1932 a committee appointed to collect and tabulate all available data con- 
cerning the parachors of chemical compounds published a list giving in 
convenient form data for 638 substances (Annual Report, 1932, p. 264). 

In 193 a committee appointed to organise an expedition to investigate 
the biology, geology and geography of the Australian Great Barrier Reef 
presented its final report, which stated that the Trustees of the British 
Museum had undertaken the full publication of their work. A fitting 
sequel to the work of the expedition was the establishment, by the 
Queensland Government, of a Permanent Marine Biological Service, the 
huts, equipment, and scientific library of the committee forming the 
nucleus of the first marine laboratory to be established in Australia. 

In 1935 the Biological Measurements Committee published a booklet 
under the title Biological Measurements, being a revised edition of recom- 
mendations made previously (1927). ‘This is intended to assist in bringing 
the biological sciences into line with certain aspects of the more exact 
physical sciences. 

The committee appointed with a grant in 1929 to facilitate the inves- 
tigations of Dr. M. C. Rayner on tree mycorrhizas (associations of 
fungi with living roots) finally reported in 1932. Dr. Rayner’s further 
researches on this subject are now being assisted financially by the 
Forestry Commission. 

Among psychological researches, the committee on the Reliability of 
the Criteria used for assessing the Value of Vocational Tests presented 
in 1931 a survey of their work. As a result, the Industrial Health 
Research Board started an extensive investigation in which the after- 
careers of some 2,000 apprentices were compared with their performances 


xii FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT 


in scholastic and psychological tests at the time of beginning their 
apprenticeships. ‘The investigation was the direct outcome of interest 
stimulated by the work of this research committee. 

A committee on Vocational Tests made a survey of tests by collecting 
and analysing these with a view to assisting in the work of vocational 
guidance. In its final report in 1933 appeared a valuable analysis of the 
factors involved in mechanical ability. A further investigation into the 
factors involved in manual dexterity arose out of this. The results 
obtained are of very great practical importance. 

In 1931 the Committee on Educational Training for Overseas Life 
presented its final report, which was mainly concerned with overseas 
careers for pupils from secondary schools, and contains much information 
for boys and girls contemplating work in the Dominions. One thousand 
copies of this report were printed and distributed to all schools and institu- 
tions in the Empire which had contributed to its compilation. 

A report presented in 1933 reviewed the position which geography 
occupies in the curricula of the universities of the Empire, particulars 
being published for Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and 
Canada. It was shown that geography does not yet occupy the important 
position in Dominion universities that it does in the universities of the 
home country. The report was distributed to the universities concerned. 

A committee inquiring into the teaching of General Science in schools 
reported in 1933 (Annual Report, 1933, Pp. 312) that there was a general 
feeling that the traditional science curriculum comprising physics and 
chemistry had ceased to be adequate, and that biology was being widely 
introduced. The main difficulty was a shortage of competent teachers of 
biological subjects. This conclusion was endorsed by a separate com- 
mittee on the teaching of botany (1932). Research in educational subjects 
has been continued by committees appointed during the quinquennial 
period, e.g. one committee reported on Science Teaching in Adult Educa- 
tion (Annual Report, 1933, P- 330), and other enquiries have dealt with 
the teaching of anthropology and animal biology in schools and psychology 
in the universities. It should be added that in 1935 a committee was 
appointed to report on the teaching of geology in schools. 

The committee appointed in 1927 to enquire into various aspects of 
Documentary and Educational Films presented a first and very full report 
on technical questions relating to the use of films in schools which led to 
a general quickening of interest in this aspect of the use of films. Various 
members of the committee assisted in the enquiries, which culminated in 
the Report of the Commission on Educational and Cultural Films (June 
1932), in which report many abstracts from the committee’s first report 
were included. The Commission’s report The Film in National Life 
advocated the formation of a British Film Institute, a proposal which 
received effect in October 1933. 

Among other committees which completed their work during the 
quinquennium, reference is due to the Committee on the Distribution of 
Bronze Age Implements, whose work took the form of a catalogue now 
in the charge of the British Museum, where it is available for reference. 

Finally, the Committee on the Chronology of the World Crisis is one 
of those which remain in being, but its efforts have resulted in the issue 


FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT Xili 


in 1935 of an important work in economics under the title of Britain in 
Depression, published by Messrs. Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, with the 
authority of the Council. This is a record of British industries since 
1929 in which, in addition to chapters dealing with currency and banking 
and with industrial relations, there are twenty-one chapters dealing with 
separate industries by authoritative writers. 


IV. Down Howse. 


It was in 1929, and therefore outside the period of this review, that 
Mr. (now Sir) Buckston Browne, F.R.C.S., gave the Association Down 
House, Downe, Kent, the home of Charles Darwin from 1842 until his 
death in 1882, to be held in trust as a national memorial, freely open to 
the public. Appreciation of this most generous act of homage to the 
memory of one of the greatest names in the advancement of science has 
been so widely expressed as to need no repetition here. The memorial 
rooms and grounds have been visited, on an average, by over 7,000 persons 
each year during the period under review. During the Centenary Meet- 
ing of the Association (1931), nearly 700 members of the Association 
visited the house, and the President (General Smuts) and Sir Buckston 
Browne entertained there a large number of distinguished guests. The 
house and grounds are open daily from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. from April to 
September, and from 11 A.M. to 4 P.M. from October to March, including 
Sundays, but excepting Christmas Day. 

Sir Buckston Browne, with the aid of members of the Darwin family 
and others, had already in 1929 collected many articles of furniture, 
portraits and pictures, letters, and other objects, either Darwin’s own or 
appropriate to the collection of Darwiniana ; and during the quinquen- 
nium under notice a number of further gifts have been received. Darwin’s 
library has been restored to his own study, on loan from Dr. A. C, 
Seward, F.R.S., Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge, 
the library having been left by Sir Francis Darwin to the holder of that 
chair for the time being. In one of the rooms portraits of past presidents 
and others appropriate to the history of the Association are shown, together 
with some of the former series of presidential banners, and here also is a 
repository of early records of the Association, all too scanty, but including 
some dating from its foundation, and lately recovered by Prof. Sollas, 
F.R.S., in the Geological Department of Oxford University, where they 
had been preserved by John Phillips, the first secretary of the Association, 
afterwards Professor of Geology at Oxford. The garden at Down, long 
uncared for before the house was acquired, has been enriched by gifts of 
plants from Kew Gardens and the John Innes Horticultural Institution. 

Many societies make Down House an objective in the course of excur- 
sions, and the Genetics Society held one of its meetings there in 1934. 
No regular scientific work has as yet been established there, though 
Miss Saunders of Goldsmiths College, and others, have been able to 
make some use of accommodation at the house for parties of teachers in 
training and other students working on plant ecology in the neighbour- 
hood. A recent gift to the house afforded opportunity for an interesting 
investigation. In 1934 a box of seeds of flowering plants and vegetables 


xiv FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT 


which had been Darwin’s was found and presented to the house by Mr. 
Bernard Darwin, together with a letter from Alphonse de Candolle on his 
experiments. These are exhibited, but some of the seeds were with- 
drawn and tested for germination at Kew Gardens, and a few seeds of 
Trifolium germinated after a period of not less than fifty-three years and 
probably longer. 

Sir Buckston Browne settled a generous endowment upon the house, 
and the Pilgrim Trust made a grant of £150 per annum for five years, 
with a promise of review after the final payment, which will be made in 
1937. ‘The Association, out of its general funds, had expended upon 
requirements incidental to the acquisition of the property, restoration, and 
subsequent maintenance, the sum of £3,751 down to the close of the 
financial year 1934-1935. It was decided in 1934 that any subsequent 
balance on the side of receipts should be placed in a suspense or main- 
tenance fund for the house : at present no such fund exists, and the House 
Committee in 1935 expressed the hope ‘ that all those friends of Down 
House who may be in a position to aid in the maintenance of this unique 
charge will not fail to do so.’ 


V. FINANCE. 


During the period under review the financial position of the Association, 
has been in a measure strengthened, though not yet sufficiently to assure 
the future in respect of its work and commitments. 

On the side of accretion of its resources there have to be recorded : 

(x) The receipt of a legacy of £2,000, without conditions, under the 
will of the Hon. Sir Charles Parsons, K.C.B., F.R.S., ex-President and, 
during his lifetime, a generous benefactor of the Association. 

(2) The receipt of a legacy of £500, without conditions, under the will 
of Sir Alfred Ewing, K.C.B., F.R.S., ex-President. 

(3) The receipt of a legacy of £1,000 under the will of Mr. Bernard 
Hobson, to form a fund bearing his name, from which the income is 
applicable to the promotion of definite geological research. 

(4) A gift of £1,000 from the local committee for the Leicester Meeting, 
1933, being the unexpended balance of the local fund raised in connection 
with that meeting. ‘The income is applied to the assistance of a student 
or students working for the advancement of science with preference 
where possible in favour of a Leicester or Leicestershire worker, or other- 
wise by way of grants to appropriate research committees. This gift is 
named the Leicester and Leicestershire Fund, and in accepting it the 
Council recorded ‘ their appreciation of the action of the Leicester Com- 
mittee in thus confirming, in a manner without precedent in the history 
of the Association, their interest in the advancement of science.’ 

On the other hand, the Centenary Fund, raised in 1930-1931, failed, in 
spite of the generosity of over 500 subscribers, wholly to cover the extra- 
ordinary expenses of the Centenary Meeting, whereas it had been hoped 
that it would both do that and provide at least the nucleus of an endow- 
ment fund for the future. The reason for this ill-success was obvious : 
the general financial conditions which supervened about that time made 
it ‘ clearly inopportune,’ as the General Treasurer’s report showed, ‘ to 


FIVE YEARS’ RETROSPECT XV 


press the appeal as strongly as it might have been pressed in favourable 
circumstances.’ It is apparent from an earlier section of the present 
report that the Association has maintained, and even somewhat increased, 
its financial support of research ; moreover, it has initiated a contingency 
fund with a view to stabilising this support during any year when receipts 
from subscriptions may be unusually low or expenses unusually high— 
though it has not been possible to build up this fund at the intended rate 
of £500 per year for five years. Moreover, the Association is, and has been 
since 1926, dependent in respect of a substantial proportion of its annual 
liabilities upon the gift of £10,000 made in that year, for the general 
purposes of the Association, by the late Sir Alfred Yarrow, F.R.S., who 
made the condition that his gift should be completely expended, as to 
capital as well as interest, not later than 1947. The knowledge that it 
accorded with the donor’s wish that this should be done has been welcome 
to the Council, especially when dealing with the finances of the Centenary 
Meeting and of Down House (referred to elsewhere) ; but his own fore- 
sight the more strongly prescribes that those concerned with the finances 
of the Association should look to the future. It is, therefore, appropriate 
to conclude with these two quotations from recent reports of Sir Josiah 
Stamp as General Treasurer : 


‘The activities and liabilities of the Association have increased, and 
further endowment will be essential to consolidate the position it has 
attained at the close of its first century.’ (1931.) 


“The expansion of the Association’s membership and the strengthening 
of its financial foundations should be the object of all those who 
would further its interests.’ (1933.) 


Xvii 


BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 


OFFICERS & COUNCIL, 1936-37. 


PATRON. 
HIS MAJESTY THE KING. 


PRESIDENT, 1936. 
Sir Jostan Stamp, G.C.B., G.B.E., D.Sc., F.B.A. 


PRESIDENT, 1937. 
Sir Epwarp B. Poutton, D.Sc., LL.D., F.R.S. 


VICE-PRESIDENTS FOR THE BLACKPOOL MEETING. 


The Mayor or Bracxkpoor (Alderman | 


W. Newman, J.P.). 

The Ex-Mavyor or Bracxpoot (Alder- 
man G. WHITTAKER, J.P.). 

The Mayor or FLEETWOOD (Alderman 
Captain C. SAER, TD Asha): 

The Mayor or LancasTER (Councillor 
J. G. E. Crark, J.P.). 

The Mayor or LyTHAmM St. ANNES 
(Councillor C. W. Urwin, J.P.). 
The Mayor or MorEcAMBE (Councillor 

W. Towns.ey, J.P.). 
The Mayor oF Preston (Councillor 


BALE, |.P:): 

The Mayor or SoutuHport (Councillor 
im Barr, \j:P:). 

The VicE-CHANCELLOR, LIVERPOOL | 


University (Sir H. J. W. HETHER- 
INGTON, J.P.). 


The VicE-CHANCELLOR, MANCHESTER | 


University (Prof. J. S. B. StTop- 
FORD, F.R.S.). 

The Rt. Hon. the Eart or DERBY, 
BC.,. K.G.; G.C:B., G.C.N.0; 


The Rt. Hon. the EARL oF CRAWFORD 
AND BatcarRrEs, K.T., P.C., F.R.S. 

Sir J. Travis-CLeace, J.P. 

Sir GEORGE ETHERTON, O.B.E. 

Sir CUTHBERT GRUNDY, J.P. 

Sir Davip SHACKLETON, K.C.B., J.P. 

The Rt. Rev. the Lorp BisHoP OF 
BLACKBURN. 

The Rev. the REcToR OF STONYHURST 
COLLEGE. 

Rev. W. S. Mettor, M.A. 

Alderman R. Fenton, J.P. 

Councillor D. J. Battery, J.P. 

Councillor W. Rostron DuCcKWORTH, 
BS MEE: 

Councillor F. I. Nickson. 

Alderman H. AstLEy BELL, J.P. 

Mrs. PERcy BIRLEY. 

H. TaLsot DE VERE CLIFTON. 

AsHton Davies, O.B.E. 

J. RoranpD RoBINson, 1, FO Nee bo] Wd BY 
M.P. 


| T. B. Sttcocx, J.P. 
| Sir ALBERT C. SEWARD, F.R.S. 


XViil 


OFFICERS AND COUNCIL 


VICE-PRESIDENTS ELECT FOR THE NOTTINGHAM MEETING. 
(To be appointed.) 


GENERAL TREASURER. 
Prof. P. G. H. BosweEtt, O.B.E., D.Sc., F.R.S. 


GENERAL SECRETARIES. 


Prof. F. T. Brooxs, M.A., F.R.S. 


| Prof. ALLAN FERGusoN, D.Sc. 


SECRETARY. 
O. J. R. Howartu, O.B.E., Ph.D. 


ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 
DE WN LowE wii, Ay. BSc 


ORDINARY MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. 


Dr. F. W. Aston, F.R.S. 

Prof. F. AvVELING. 

Prof. F. BALFoUR-BROWNE. 

Sir T. HupDson BEARE. 

Rt. Hon. Viscount BLepIsLoz, P.C., 
G.C.M.G., G.B.E. 

Prof. R. N. RupMosEe Brown. 

Dr. W. T. Carman, C.B., F.R.S. 

Sir HENry Date, C.B.E., F.R.S. 

Prof. F. DEBENHAM. 

Prof. W. G. FEARNSIDES, F.R.S. 

Prof. R. B. Forrester. 

H. M. Harrtsworth, C.B.E. 

Dr. H. S. Harrison. 


Prof. A. V. HI, Sec.R.S. 

Prof. T. G. Hirt. 

Prof. G. W. O. Howe. 

Dr. JULIAN HUXLEY. 

Prof. R. Ropinson, F.R.S. 

W. CAMPBELL SMITH. 

Dr. C. TIERNEY. 

Dr. W. W. VauGcuHan, M.V.O. 

Dr. J. A. VENN. 

Prof. Sir GILBERT WALKER, C.S.I., 
F.R.S. 

Prof. F. E. Weiss, F.R.S. 

J. S. Witson. 


EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL. 


Past-Presidents of the Association, the President for the year, the President and 
Vice-Presidents for the ensuing Annual Meeting, past and present General 
Treasurers and General Secretaries, and the Local Treasurers and Local Secretaries 
for the Annual Meetings immediately past and ensuing. 


OFFICERS AND COUNCIL 


xix 


PAST-PRESIDENTS OF THE ASSOCIATION. 


Say. j- Leomson, O.M., F.R.S. 
(1909). 

Sir OLIVER LopGE, F.R.S. (1913). 

Sir ARTHUR Evans, F.R.S. (1916-18). 

Prof. Sir C. S. SHERRINGTON, O.M., 
GEE. ob RS. (1922). 

The Rt. Hon. Lorp RUTHERFORD OF 
NEtson, O.M., F.R.S. (1923). 

H.R.H. The PriNcE oF WALES, K.G., 
DIG Ls ERS. (r926). 

Prof. Sir ARTHUR KEITH, 


(1927). 


F.R.S. 


Prof. Sir Wirt1am H. Brace, O.M., 
K.B.E., F.R.S. (1928). 
Sir THomas H. HoLianp, 
KEG Sil; HRS: (£920): 

Prof. F. O. Bower, F.R.S. (1930). 

Gen. The Rt. Hon. J. C. Smuts, P.C., 
Corie EMRIS. | (ro3n)). 

Sir F. GowLaNnp HOoPkKINs, 
Pres.R.S: (5933): 

Sir JAMEs H. Jeans, F.R.S. (1934). 

ProPewe We. WALTS, LED? Scubs 
F.R.S. (1935). 


KC RE., 


O.M., 


PAST GENERAL OFFICERS OF THE ASSOCIATION. 


Erom J. lL. Myres, O:B-E., F.B.A. 


| Sir FRANK SMITH, 


K.C.B., C.B.E., 
Sec hes: 


Prof. E> J.-M. StRarron: DiS:O*, O-B EE: MEA. 


HON. AUDITORS. 


Dr. EzER GRIFFITHS, F.R.S. 


| Dr. R. S. WHIPPLE. 


HON. CURATOR OF DOWN HOUSE. 
Sir BucKsTON BROWNE, F.R.C.S. 


LOCAL OFFICERS 
FOR THE BLACKPOOL MEETING. 


CHAIRMAN OF LOCAL GENERAL COMMITTEE. 
His WorsHIP THE Mayor, ALDERMAN WALTER NEWMAN, J.P. 


VICE-CHAIRMAN. 
Councillor W. Rostron DuckwortTH, J.P., M.P. 


CHAIRMAN OF LOCAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 
Councillor F. I. Nickson. 


JOINT LOCAL HON. SECRETARIES. 


D. L. Harpottrie, LL.B., Town Clerk. 
F. E. Harrison, M.C., M.A., Director 
of Education. 


W. Foster, Director of Publicity. 
E. W. ReEEs Jones, M.D., Ch.B.., 
D.P.H., Medical Officer of Health. 


LOCAL HON. TREASURER. 
T. L. Poynton, Borough Treasurer. 


ASSISTANT LOCAL SECRETARY. 
EDWARD SMITH. 


XX OFFICERS AND COUNCIL 


LOCAL OFFICERS 
FOR THE NOTTINGHAM MEETING. 
JOINT LOCAL HON. SECRETARIES. 


J. E. Ricnarps (Town Clerk). 
H. A. S. WortLEyY (Principal, University College). 


ASSISTANT LOCAL SECRETARY. 
J. W. Harvine, M.B.E. 


OFFICERS OF SECTIONS, 1936 xxi 


SECTIONAL OFFICERS. 


A.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 


President.—Prof. ALLAN FERGUSON. 

Vice-Presidents—Dr. F. W. Aston, F.R.S., A. P. M. Fremine, C.B.E., Prof. 
H. Hitton, Rev. J. P. Rowranp, S.J., Prof. Sir GILBERT WALKER, C.S.I., 
I ARASE 

Recordey.—Dr. EzER GRIFFITHS, F.R.S. 

Secretaries —J. H. AwBEry, M. G. BENNETT, Dr. W. H. McCrea, Dr. D. M. 
WRINCH. 

Local Secretaries —J. F. Jupson, R. K. MELLUvISH. 


B.—CHEMISTRY. 


President.—Prof. J. C. Puirip, O.B.E., F.R.S. 

Vice-Presidents—Prof. E. C. C. Bary, C.B.E., F.R.S., C. J. T. Cronsuaw, Sir 
CuIHBERT GRUNDY, J.P., Prof. W. N. Hawortu, F.R.S., Prof. I. M. 
HEILBRON, F.R.S. 

Recordey.—Prof. J. M. GULLAND. 

Secretavies—Prof. J. E. Coates, T. W. J. TAYLor. 

Local Secretary —J. H. Bowman. 


C.—GEOLOGY. 


President.—Prof. H. L. Hawkins. 

Vice-Presidents —Prof. W. G. FEARNSIDES, F.R.S., Prof. G. Hicxi1ne, Prof. 
W. J. Puen, Prof. H. H. Reap, Prof. O. H. ScHINDEWOLF, Prof. W. W. 
Watts, F.R.S., Dr. W. B. WRIGHT. 

Recordey.—Dr. A. K. WELLS. 

Secretavies —B. H1LToN BaRRETT, W. H. WILCOCKSON. 

Local Secretavies —H. J. Husxtnson, D. T. SETTERINGTON. 


D.—ZOOLOGY. 


President.—Dr. JULIAN HUXLEY. 

Vice-Presidents —Prof. F. BALFOUR-BROWNE, Prof. E. G. ConK in, Prof. F. A. 
E. Crew, Prof. W. J. Daxin, Prof. H. J. MULLER. 

Recordey.—Prof. W. M. TaTTERSALL. 

Secretavy.—Dr. G. S. CARTER. 

Local Secretary —T. H. J. FIELb. 


E.—GEOGRAPHY. 


President.—Brig. H. S. L. WinTERBOTHAM, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. 

Vice-Presidents —Prof. R. N. RUDMOSE Brown, Prof. F. DEBENHAM, Councillor 
W. Rostron DuckwortH, M.P., Prof. C. B. Fawcett, Brig. M. N. MacLeEop, 
Prof. E. G. R. TAYLOR. 

Recordey.—H. Kine. 

Secretaries —J. N. L. Baxer, Dr. R. O. BUCHANAN. 

Local Secretavies—J. J]. BREEZE, Miss E. TARVER. 


XXii OFFICERS OF SECTIONS, 1936 


F.—ECONOMICS. 


President.—Dr. C. R. Fay. 

Vice-Presidents —J. N. Bett, Prof. A. M. Carr-SAUNDERS, Prof. G. W. DANIELS, 
Prof. E. R. DEwsnup, Councillor F. I. Nickson, Prof. J. G. Smiru, F. J. 
STAFFORD. 

Recordey.—Dr. K. G. FENELON. 

Secretaries —Dr. P. Forp, E. D. McCattum. - 

Local Secretary.—W. I. CurNow. 


G.—ENGINEERING. 


President.—Prof. W. Cramp. 

Vice-President.—J. S. WILSON. 

Recordey.—Wing-Commander T. R. CAVE-BROWNE-CAVE, C.B.E. 
Secretaries —H. M. CLarkE, C. W. J. TaFrs. 

Local Secretavies—J. H. PEEL, R. B. WaRBuURTON. 


H.—ANTHROPOLOGY. 


President.—Miss D. A. E. GARROD. 

Vice-Presidents —A. L. ARMSTRONG, Miss G. CATON-THOMPSON, F. H. CHEETHAM, 
Dr. G. M. Morant, Sir ARTHUR SMITH WOODWARD, F.R.S. 

Recordey.—R. U. SAYCE. 

Secretavies—Miss CLARE FELL, K. H. Jacxson. 

Local Secretary —S. G. HARRIES. 


I.— PHYSIOLOGY. 


President.—Prof. R. J. S. McDowa tt. 

Vice-Presidents.—Prof. D. Burns, Prof. P. T. Herrine, Dr. E. W. REES JONES. 
Recordey.—Prof. H. P. GILpINc. 

Secretaries —Dr. L. E. Baytiss, Prof. R. C. eee 

Local Secretary.—Dr. ELsiE B. ‘DIcKINsoN, 


J. PSYCHOLOGY. 


President.—A. W. WOLTERS. 

Vice-Presidents—R. J. BARTLETT, Prof. MapIsoN BENTLEY, Dr. LL. WYNN 
Jones, Prof. C. W. VALENTINE. 

Recovdey—Dr. Mary COoL_tins. 

Secretavy.—Dr. S. F. J. Puitpott, Dr. P. E. VERNON. 

Local Secretary —F. C. THomas. 


K.—BOTANY. 


President.—J. Ramssottom, O.B.E. 

Vice-Presidents—F. T. Brooxs, F.R.S., Prof. J. M. F. Drummonp, Dr. M 
Kyicut, Prof. J. McLean Tuompson, D. W. Youna. 

Recorvdey.—Dr. B. BARNES. 

Secretavies.—Dr. G. Taytor, T. THomson, Dr. S. WILLIAMS. 

Local Secretary.—Miss M. E. Lyon. 


L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE. 


President.—Sir RICHARD LIVINGSTONE. 
Vice-Presidents—Dr. A. W. PICKARD-CAMBRIDGE, Councillor W. Rostron 
DuckwortH, J.P., M.P., Prof. J. F. Durr, Alderman Sir W. Hopcson, 


OFFICERS OF SECTIONS, 1936 XXiil 


Recordey.—A. GRAy JONES. 
Secretavies—S. R. Humsy, N. F. SHEPPARD. 
Local Secretaries —Miss D. Battey, P. E. Mreapon, H. S. PERKINs. 


M.—AGRICULTURE. 


President.—Prof. J. HENDRICK. 

Vice-Presidents—W. E. Hatz, T. Norcort, T. B. Sttcocx, Dr. J. A. VENN, 
Prof. J. A. S. Watson. 

Recordey.—Dr. E. M. CROWTHER. 

Secretary.—W. GODDEN. 

Local Secretayvies.—J. J. GREEN, O. J. PaTTIson. 


CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 


President—Dr. A. B. RENDLE, F.R.S. 
Secretary —Dr. C. TIERNEY. 
Local Secretary —Dr. G. A. ARMSTRONG. 


XXiV ANNUAL MEETINGS 


TABLE OF 


Date of Meeting Where held Presidents ene ale ea 
183%, Sept. 27...0.2| YOLK .sccvecsenssnsnee- Viscount Milton, D.C.L., F.R.S. ...... _ _ 
1832, June 1g ...| Oxford ....| The, Rev, W. Buckland, F.R.S. ...... = _ 
1833, June 25 ...| Cambridge... ....| The Rev. A. Sedgwick, F.R.S. ......... _— —_— 
1834, Sept. 8 ...... Edinburgh ............) Sir T. M. Brisbane, D.C.L., F.R.S. ... = = 
1835, Aug. 10 Dublin...... ....| The Rev. Provost Lloyd, LL.D.,F. “eye —_ _— 
1836, Aug. 22 ..| The Marquis of Lansdowne, F.R.S. _ _— 
1837, Sept. 11 fe .| The Earl of Burlington, F.R.S.. — — 
1838, Aug. I0...... The Duke of Northumberland, F. Riss _ _ 
1839, Aug. 26 The Rev. W. Vernon Harcourt, F.R.S. _ _ 
1840, Sept. 17 ....| Glasgow ...... ....| Lhe Marquis of Breadalbane, F.R.S. _ —_ 
1841, July 20...... Plymouth ............| The Rev. W. Whewell, F.R.S. Aes 169 65 
1842, June 23...... Manchester... .| The Lord Francis Egerton, HGS 303 169 
1843, Aug. 17...+.. Cork......... ....| The Earl of Rosse, F.R.S. ........s00s00+ 109 28 
1844, Sept. 26...... York ...... ....| The Rev. G. Peacock, D.D., F.R.S.. 226 150 
1845, June 19 ...| Cambridge..... ..--| Sit John F, W. Herschel, Bart. ap deal &. 313 36 
1846, Sept. I0...... Southampton .......| Sir Roderick I. Murchison, Bart.,F.R.S. 241 10 
1847, June 23. ...| Oxford........... ....| Sir Robert H. Inglis, Bart., BRiSp ec 314 18 
1848, Aug. 9 ...... Swansea ...... ....| The Marquis of Northampton, Pres.R.S. 149 3 
1849, Sept. 12...... Birmingham .........| The Rev. T. R. Robinson, D.D., F.R.S. 227 12 
1850, July 21 Edinburgh ..... ....| Sir David Brewster, K.H., RG aae 235 9 
1851, July 2 ... i mI ....| G. B. Airy, Astronomer Royal, F.R.S. 172 8 
1852, Sept. I .| Lieut.-General Sabine, F.R.S. ......... 164 10 
1853, Sept. 3 ...... William Hopkins, F.R.S...... we 141 13 
1854, Sept. 20...... .| The Earl of Harrowby, F.R.S. 238 23 
1855, Sept. 12...... Glasgow ........ ....| The Duke of Argyll, F.R.S. 194 33 
1856, Aug. 6 ...... Cheltenham .........| Prof.C.G.B.Daubeney, M.D., Ss. 182 14 
1857, Aug. 26...... Dublin........... ....| The Rev. H. Lloyd, D.D., F.R. S. 236 15 
1858, Sept. 22...... Leeds ...... ....| Richard Owen, M.D., D. C. L., F.R.S. 222 42 > 
1859, Sept. 14...... Aberdeen ....| H.R.H. The Prince Consort ......... eee 184 27 
1860, June 27__...| Oxford ...... ....| Tbe Lord Wrottesley, M.A., F.R.S... 286 2I 
1861, Sept. 4 ..... Manchester... ....| William Fairbairn, LL.D., F.R.S.. 321 113 
TS62 (Oct rT eecees Cambridge ............ The Rev. Professor Willis, MLA. ore RS 239 15 
1863, Aug. 26...... Newcastle-on-Tyne | Sir William G. Armstrong, C. B.,F.R.S 203 36 
1864, Sept. 13......| Bath ............006 ...| Sir Charles Lyell, Bart., M.A., F.R.S. 287 40 
1865, Sept. 6 ......| Birmingham .........| Prof. J. Phillips, M.A., LLD., F.R.S. 292 44 
1866, Aug. 22 Nottingham .........| William R. Grove, Q. ton ng Eek (Sain as! 207 31 
1867, Sept. 4 .| Dundee ... .| The Duke of Buccleuch, K.C.B., F.R.S. 167 25 
1868, Aug. 19 .| Norwich . .| Dr. Joseph D. Hooker, F.R.S. ......... 196 18 
1869, Aug. 18......| Exeter .| Prof. G, G. Stokes, D.C.L., F.R.S. ... 204 21 
1870, Sept. 14...... Liverpool ..... .| Prof. T. H. Huxley, LL.D., Peisasee 314 39 
1871, Aug. 2 ...... Edinburgh ......... Prof. Sir W. Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S. . 246 28 
1872, Aug. 14...... Brighton -seasees| Dr. W.. B. Carpenter, RRS eee 245 36 
1873, Sept. 17)....- Bradford ....| Prof. A. W. Williamson, F.R.S... 212 27 
1874, Aug. 19...... Belfast ... .| Prof. J. Tyndall, LL.D., F.R.S... 162 13 
1875, Aug. 25...... Bristol ... Sir John Hawkshaw, F.R.S. ..... 239 36 
1876, Sept. 6 ...... Glasgow ... Prof. T. Andrews, M.D., F.R.S... 221 35 
1877, Aug. 15.....5 Plymouth Prof. A. Thomson, M.D., F.R.S. 173 19 
1878, Aug. I4...... Dublin...... W. Spottiswoode, M.A. Ken 201 18 
1879, Aug. 20...... Sheffield ....| Prof. G. J. Allman, 184 16 
1880, Aug. 25...... Swansea... ....| A. C. Ramsay, LEDS 144 ys 
1881, Aug. 31...... Work We iiccicsnos eee Sir John Lubbock, Ba 272 28 
1882, Aug. 23 Southampton ...... Dr. C. W. Siemens, TR 178 17 
1883, Sept. 19......| Southport ... .| Prof. A. Cayley, D.C.L. 203 60 
1884, Aug. 27 .| Montreal .| Prof. Lord pethieg! F, 235 20 
1885, Sept. 9g ......| Aberdeen Sir Lyon Playfair, K.C. 225 18 
1886, Sept. 1 ...... Birmingham .| Sir J. W. Dawson, C.M. 314 25 
EB7 AVE, an ween. Manchester ......... Sir H. E. Roscoe, ’D.C.L. 428 86 
1888, Sept. 5 ...... Bath? josie sakenascs Sir F. J. Bramwell, F. 266 36 
1889, Sept. 11...... Newcastle-on-Tyne | Prof. W. H. Flower, CB ¥ 277 20 
1890, Sept. 3 ...+.. Leeds Sir F. A. Abel, C.B., F.R. 259 21 
1891, Aug. 19...... Cardiff ....| Dr. W. Huggins, F. R. Ce ne oe 189 24 
1892, Aug. 3 ......| Edinburgh ......... Sir A. Geikie, LL.D., F.R.S. ..........++ 280 14 
1893, Sept. 13. ...| Nottingham Prof. J.S. Burdon Sanderson, F. R.S. 201 17 
1894, Aug. 8 ...... xfo; The Marquis of Salisbury, K.G., F.R.S. 327 21 
1895, Sept. I1...... Ipswich ... ....| Sir Douglas Galton, K.C.B., F.R.S... 214 13 
1896, Sept. 16...... Liverpool ....| Sir Joseph Lister, E sp Resi 330 31 
1897, Aug. 18...... Toronto ... ....| Sir John Evans, K.C.B., F.R.S. ...... 120 8 
1898, Sept. 7 ...... Bristol .| Sir W. Crookes, F.R. Sieuiet  atee 281 19 
1899, Sept. 13...... Dover Sir Michael Foster, K. C.B., Sec. R. Shy Sat 296 20 


* Ladies were not admitted by purchased tickets until 1843. + Tickets of Admission to Sections only. 
[Continued on p. xxvi. 


ANNUAL MEETINGS XXV 


ANNUAL MEETINGS. 


Sums paid 


Old New | Amount on account 
| Annual | Annual a Ladies | Foreigners Total as of Grants Year 
Members | Members | | Tickets | for Scientific 
| Purposes | 
7a = = = = 353 — = 1831 
_ _ — _ — — — — 1832 
— _ — _ —_ goo _ —_ 1833 
_ _ — - _ 1298 _ £20 0 0 1834 
_ _ _ _— —_— = —- 167 0 0 1835 
— _ == _ —_— 1350 — 435 0 0 1836 
4 = a = — 1840 — 922 12 6 1837 
_ _— _ r110* _— 2400 _ 932 2 2] 1838 
al = = 7a 34 1438 = 1595 Ir 0 | 1839 
_ _ _ _ 40 1353 — 1546 16 4 1840 
— 60* _ 891 —_— 1235 I0 II 1841 
33t 331* 28 1315 —_ 1449 17 8 1842 
— 160 —_— _ = 1565 10 2 | 1843 
ot 260 =| _— —_ —_ 981 12 8 1844 
407 172 | 35 1079 = 831 9 | 1845 
270 196 36 857 — 685 16 o 1846 
495 203 53 1320 | = 208 5 4| 1847 
376 197 15 819 £707 0 0 2350 15.5 1848 
447 237 22 1071 963 0 0 159 19 6 1849 
510 273 44 I241 1085 0 Oo 345 18 Oo 1850 
244 141 37 710 620 0 O 30X97 1851 
510 292 9 r108 1085 0 0 304 6 7 1852 
367 236 6 876 903 0 O 205 0 0 1853 
765 524 10 1802 1882 0 0} 38019 7 1854 
1094 543 26 2133 235% 0) 1D 480 16 4 1855 
412 346 9 III5 1098 oO oO 73413 9 | 1856 
goo 569 26 2022 2015 0 0 507 15 4 1857 
710 509 13 1698 I93I 0 O 618 18 2 1858 
1206 821 22 2564 2782 0 0 684 Ir 1 1859 
636 463 47 1689 1604 0 O 766 19 6 1860 
1589 791 15 3138 3944 © O| IIII 5 10 1861 
433 242 25 I161 1089 0 O| 1293 16 6 1862 
1704 1004. 25 3335 3640 oO o| 1608 Io =. 1863 
I1lI9g 1058 13 2802 2965 © o/| 1289 15 8 1864 
766 508 23 1997. | 2227 0 O|} I59I 7 IO 1865 
960 771 II 2303 2469 0 O| 175013 4 1866 
1163 77% 7 2444 2613 0 0| 1739 4 O 1867 
720 682 45t 2004 | 2042 0 0 | 1940 0 O 1868 
678 | 600 17 1856 | 1931 0 0 | 1622 0 0 1869 
rrog” | 9rO 14 2878 3096 0 0O| 1572 0 0 1870 
976 754 2r 2463 25750 10\| ma720'2 0 6 1871 
937 gi2 43 2533 2649 0 O| 1285 0 O 1872 
796 601 II 1983 2120 0 O| 1685 0 Oo 1873 
817 630 12 IQ5I 1979 0 O| II5I 16 O 1874 
884 672 17 2248 | 2397 0 O 960 0 oO 1875 
1265 712 25 | 2774 | 3023 0 0| 1092 4 2 1876 
446 283 II 1229 1268 oO oj} 1128 9 7 1877 
1285 674 17 2578 2615 0 0| 725 16 6 1878 
529 349 13 1404 1425 O 0} 1080 II II 1879 
389 | 147 12 Ouse SOOO Onn 73m rang, 1880 
1230 | 514 24 | 2557 | 2689 0 o| 476 Sit 1881 
516 189 2I | 1253 1286 (oO -0'| 1126) 7) 1% 1882 
952 841 5 | 2714 3369 © oO} 1083 3 3 1883 
826 74 |26&60H.§ 1777 1855 0 oO] 1173 4 0 1884 
1053 447 6 | 2203 2256 o o| 1385 0 O 1885 
1067 429 II | 2453 2532 0 0 995 0 6 1886 
1985 493 | 92 3838 4336 o o|} 1186 18 o 1887 
639 509 | 12 | 1984 2107.0) 0) Tate oO! 5 1888 
1024 579) || 21 2437 244I O O|} 1417 OIL 1889 
680 334 «| 12 bs xs 1776 0 0 789 16 8 1890 | 
672 107 35 1497 1664 0 0} 1029 10 0 1891 
733 439 50 | 2070 2007 0 0| 864 10 0 1892 
773 268 17 | 1661 1653 0 0 907 15 6 1893 
941 451 77 2321 2175 © ©} 583 15 6 1894 
493 261 22 1324 1236 0 oO 977 15 5 1895 
1384 | 873 41 3181 3228 o o| T1104 6 I 1896 | 
682 100 41 | 1362 1398 o ©} 1059 10 8 1897 | 
1051 639 33 2446 2399 © O| I212 0 0 1898 
548 120 27 | 1403 1328 0 ©O| 1430 14 2/ 1899 


§ Fellows of the American Association were admitted as Hon. Members for this Meeting. 
[Continued on p. xxvii. 


XXVi 


ANNUAL MEETINGS 


Table of 


Date of Meeting 


1900, Sept. 5 
Igot, Sept. II...... 
1902, Sept. I0...... 


1906, Aug. I ...... 
1907, July 31 .. 
1908, Sept. 2 
1909, Aug. 25.. 
Igo, Aug. 31 
Ig11, Aug. 30 
Ig12, Sept. 4 
1913, Sept. Io...... 
1914, July—Sept. 
IgI5, Sept. 7 
1916, Sept. 5 
1917 

1918 

1919, Sept. 9 


1920, Aug. 24 
TOSI OCD toss wens ae 
1922, Sept. 6 


1923, Sept. 12...... 
1924, Aug. 6 
1925, Aug. 26 
1926, Aug. 4 


1927, Aug. 31 ...... 
1928, Sept. 5 


1929, July 22 


1930, Sept. 3 
1931, Sept. 23...... 


1932, Aug. 31 
1933, Sept. 6 
1934, Sept. 5 
1935, Sept. 4 
1936, Sept. 9 ...... 


.| Leicester 


Where held 


Southport .. 
Cambridge 
South Africa .. 
York 


Sheffield 
Portsmouth 
Dundee 
Birmingham 
Australialccesscssceseas 
Manchester 
Newcastle-on-Tyne 
(No Meeting) 
(No Meeting) 


Bournemouth......... 


Liverpool 
Toronto 


Oxford 


London 


Aberdeen y, 
Norwich - 
Blackpool .........++ 


. Old Life | New Life 
Presidents Members | Members 
Sir William Turner, D.C.L., F.R.S. ... 267 13 
Prof. A. W. Riicker, D.Sc., "Sec. RS: 310 37 
Prof. J. Dewar, LL.D., ERGs 243 21 
Sir Norman Lockyer, K. C.B., F.R.S. 250 2i 
Rt. Hon, A. J. Balfour, M.P., "ERS... 419 32 
..| Prof. G. H. Darwin, DDS piesa ieee II5 40 
..| Prof. E. Ray Lankester, LL.D., F.R.S. 322 Io 
..| Sir David Gill, K.C.B., F.R.S. 276 19 
..| Dr. Francis Darwin, BORIS tees eae 294 24 
.| Prof. Sir J. J. Thomson, F.R.S. 117 13 
.| Rev. Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. 293 26 
Prof. Sir W. Ramsay, K.C.B., F. 284 2I 
Prof. E. A. Schafer, F.R.S. 288 14 
Sir Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S. 376 40 
Prof. W. Bateson, F.R.S. .... x 172 13 
Prof: “A. Schuster; FIRS. cs. cesccnccssoes 242 19 
) 164 12 
f Sir Arthur Evans, F.R.S. ............ — —_ 
Hon. Sir C. Parsons, K.C.B., F.R.S.... 235 47 
.| Prof. W. A. Herdman, & Be, Poo: 288 Po oe 
Sir T. E. Thorpe, C.B., F.R. s. 336 9 
Sir C.S. Sherrington, ci B.E., Pres. R. iS: 228 13 
Sir Ernest Rutherford, F.R.S. ......... 326 12 
.| Sir David Bruce, K.C.B., F.R.S. ...... 119 7 
Prof. Horace Lamb, F.R.S. ...........+ 280 8 
H.R.H. The Prince of Wales, K.G., 
RSESONS, cnecnepana dunaasbewennc sdcacspeider seen 358 9 
..| Sir Arthur Keith, F.R.S. . 249 9 
.| Sir William Bragg, K.B.E., F.R. Pa 260 10 
Sir Thomas’ Holland, K.C.S.1. 

RIC ISR UR RCSn eacteesasctscessaiescse 81 I 
Prof. F. O. "Bower, PRESS a caccuseane vente 221 5 
Gen. the Rt. Hon. J. C. Smuts, P.C., 

C.F BOR Sc). paieeacesp essere Benge sans 487 I4 
Sir Alfred Ewing, K.C.B., F.R.S. 206 I 

.| Sir F. Gowland Hopkins, Pres. R.S.. 185 37 
Sir James H. Jeans, F.R.S."4............ 199 2I 
Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S......... I9I Ir 
Sir Josiah Stamp, G.C.B., G.B.E. 188 10 


1 Including 848 Members of the South African Association. 

2 Including 137 Members of the American Association. 

3 Special arrangements were made for Members and Associates joining locally in Australia, see 
Report, 1914, p. 686. The numbers include 80 Members who joined in order to attend the Meeting of 
L’Association Francaise at Le Havre. 

“ Including Students’ Tickets, ros. 

§ Including Exhibitioners granted tickets without charge. 

* Including grants from the Caird Fund in this and subsequent years, 

? Including Foreign Guests, Exhibitioners, and others. 


ANNUAL MEETINGS XXVii 


Annual Meetings—(continued). 


| Sums paid 
Old New een acunt on account 
Annual Annual jat | Ladies Foreigners} Total ie of Grants | Year 
Members Members| “!2#€S Ti et | for Scientific 
| eS Purposes 
297 45 801 482 9 1915 |f180r 0 o |£1072 10 0 | 1900 
374 131 794 246 20 Igi2 2046 © O|} 920 g 11 | Igor 
314 86 647 305 6 1620 1644 0 0 947 O O|} Ig02 
319 go | 688 365 21 1754 1762 0 Oo 845 13 2 | 1903 
449 1m3. | = 1338 317 I2I 2789 2650 0 O 887 18 Ir | 1904 
937* 411 430 181 16 2130 2422 0) oO 928 2 2] 1905 
356 93 iy a 352 22 1972 r8tz° oD 882 0 9g | 1906 
; 339 61 659 251 | 42 1647 I56I 0 0 757 12 10 | 1907 
4 465 112 1166 222 I4 2297 2317 O O|} 1157 18 8] 1908 
. 290" 162 789 go 9 1468 1623 0 ©} I0I4 9 Q | I909 
379 57 563 123 8 1449 1439 © 0 | 96317 © | I910 
349 61 414 81 31 I241 1176 0 O 922 0 O| rQII 
368 95 1292, | = 359 88 2504 | 2349 0 0} 845 7 6| 1912 
480 ™49 =| wey | 291 20 2643 2756 0 O 978 17 I | 1913 
139 41608 539° = 2I 50445 | 4873 0 O| 1861 16 4°| 1914 
287 116 6284 | 141 8 I441 1406 0 0| 1569 2 8 | 1915 
250 76 251 73 —_ 826 82r 0 o| 985 18 10 | 1916 
ER = za aT = a = 677 17 2 | 1917 
= — = = — _— 326 13. 3 | 1918 
} 254 102 688 153 3 1482 1736 0 O| 410 0 o| 1919 
Annua] Members 
Old 
SOG) | a ace ay Students’ 
aaa Mebtine Meeting | Tickets Tickets 
Report only 
136 192 571 42 120 20 1380 1272 I0 O| 1251 13 0®| 1920 
133 410 1394 121 343 22 2768 2599 I5 Oo 518 I 10 | 1921 
go 294 757 89 235° 24 1730 1699 5 0O| 722 0 7 | 1922 
Compli- 
mentary? 
123 380 1434 163 550 308 3296 | 2735 15 ©0| 777 18 6°) 1923 
37 520 1866 41 89 139 2818 3165 19 of 1197 5 9g | 1924 
97 264 878 62 11g 74 1782 1630 5 O| 1231 0 O| 1925 
IOI 453 2338 169 225 69 3722 3542 0 0 917 I 6] 1926 
84 334 1487 82 264 161 2670 2414 5 0 76I 10 O/| 1927 
76 554 1835 64 201 74 3074 3072 10 O| 1259 10 0 | 1928 
24 177 122711 —_ 161 83 1754 1477; 15. -O)| 2193. 2° 2 | r920 
68 310 1617 97 267 54 2639 2481 15 0O| 631 I 9g | 1930 
78 656 2994 157 454 449 5702" | 4792 10 0/ 1319 9 61 1931 
226 1163 45 214 125 2024 1724 5 O| 1218 13 II | 1932 
236 1468 82 147 74 2268 2428 2 0| 562 19 1¥*| 1933 
273 1884 181 280 70 2938 2900 13 6] 1423 4 9 | 1934 
237 1444 142 197 70 2321 2218 14 6| 1649 2 4 | 1935 
257 1184 128 178 93 2067 2006 14 0 | 1098 x I | 1936 


* The Bournemouth Fund for Research, initiated by Sir C. Parsons, enabled grants on account of 
Scientific purposes to be maintained. 

* Including grants from the Caird Gift for research in radioactivity in this and subsequent years 
to 1926. 

20 as paid in Canada were $5 for Meeting only and others prorata; there was some gain 
on exchange. 

4 Including 450 Members of the South African Association. 


* Including 413 tickets for certain meetings, issued at 5s. to London County Council school-teachers. 
%* For nine months ending March 31, 1933 


44 Sir William B. Hardy, F.R.S., who became President on January 1, 1934, died on January 23. 


NARRATIVE OF THE BLACKPOOL 
MEETING | 


On Wednesday, September 9, at 8.30 P.M., the Inaugural General Meeting 
was held in the Empress Ballroom, Winter Gardens, when His Worship 
the Mayor of Blackpool (Alderman W. Newman, J.P.) welcomed the 
Association to Blackpool. ‘The President of the Association, Sir Josiah 
Stamp, G.C.B., G.B.E., delivered an address (for which see p. 1) entitled 
The Impact of Science upon Society. A vote of thanks to the President 
was proposed by Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., and seconded by Prof. E. G. 
Conklin, President of the American Association for the Advancement 
of Science. 


On Friday, September 11, in the Co-operative Hall, at 8.15 P.M., 
Mr. C. C. Paterson, O.B.E., delivered an Evening Discourse on Science 
and Electric Lighting, for which see p. 478. 

On Tuesday, September 15, in the same hall, at 8.15 p.m., Capt. F. 
Kingdon Ward delivered an Evening Discourse on Plant-hunting and 
Exploration in Tibet. 


A public lecture was given by Dr. W. F. Bewley on Science and the 
Glasshouse Industry, in Marton Parochial Hall, Blackpool, on Friday, 
September 11, at 7.30 P.M. 

Lectures to school children were given in Blackpool as follows : 

Brigadier H. S. L. Winterbotham, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.0.: How Maps 
are made, on Friday, September 11, at 3 P.M., in the New Technical 
College, Palatine Road. 

Mr. D. Seth Smith: Favourites of the London Zoo, on Tuesday, 
September 15, at 3 P.M., in the Co-operative Hall. 


External public lectures were given as follows : 

Lytham St. Annes, Lowther Pavilion, Thursday, September 10, at 
7.30 P.M. The Scope of Photography.—Dr. Olaf Bloch. 

Preston, Guild Hall, Friday, September 11, at 8.0 p.m. Who were the 
Greeks ?—Prof. J. L. Myres. 

Southport, Cambridge Hall, Lord Street, Friday, September 11, at 
8.0 P.M. Some Recent Advances in Astronomy.—Sir James Jeans, F.R.S. 

Poulton-le-Fylde, Church Hall, Vicarage Road, Monday, September 14, 
at 7.30 P.M. Applications of Science to Poultry Farming.—Mr. P. A. 
Francis. 

Fleetwood, Marine Hall, Tuesday, September 15, at 7.30 P.M. Common 
Shore Animals.—Prof. C. M. Yonge. 


NARRATIVE OF THE BLACKPOOL MEETING XxiX 


Thornton Cleveleys, St. Andrew’s Memorial Hall, ‘Tuesday, Sep- 
tember 15, at 7.30 P.M. Foy in Scientific Discovery—Prof. D. Fraser- 
Harris. 

Preston, Guild Hall, Wednesday, September 16, at 8.0 p.m. Splashes 
and what they teach.—Prof. Allan Ferguson. 

Rochdale. The above lecture by Prof. Allan Ferguson was repeated 
at Rochdale on ‘Thursday, September 17. 

A summary of Sectional Transactions on September Io, 11, 14, 15, 
and 16 will be found on pp. 320 and following. 


* * * * * * 


The Mayor and Mayoress of Blackpool (Alderman W. Newman, J.P., 
and Miss Newman) entertained members of the Association at a Reception 
and Dance in the Empress Ballroom, Winter Gardens, on Thursday 
evening, September ro. 

A Garden Party was given by the Headmaster of Rossall School 
(Mr. H. G. M. Clarke) at the School on ‘Tuesday, September 15. 


* * * * * * 


On Saturday, September 12, a general excursion was arranged to the 
Lake District, when a number of the members travelled as guests of the 
President, Sir Josiah Stamp, G.C.B., G.B.E., Chairman of the London, 
Midland and Scottish Railway. During the return journey the President 
broadcast from the train at Oxenholme station to Blackpool a speech 
inaugurating the autumn illuminations. Other excursions and visits 
devoted to the interests of special sections are mentioned among the 
Sectional Transactions in later pages. 


* * * * * * 


A special service was held at St. John’s Parish Church on Sunday 
morning, September 13, when officers and other members of the Associa- 
tion accompanied the Mayor and Corporation in state. The preacher 
was the Rt. Rev. P. M. Herbert, Lord Bishop of Blackburn. Special 
services were also held in other places of worship. 


* * * * * * 


At the final meeting of the General Committee, on Wednesday, 
September 16, it was resolved : 


That the British Association places on record its warm thanks for the 
reception afforded to it by the County Borough of Blackpool. The generous 
co-operation of the Mayor and Council, and the thorough preparations 
made by the local officers and committee, have been deeply appreciated. 
The Association also extends most cordial thanks to the commercial, 
industrial, and educational institutions in Blackpool and the neighbour- 
hood, which have so generously provided accommodation and facilities 
for meetings, excursions, and visits. The Association, having broken new 
ground in this, its one-hundred-and-sixth year, with a first meeting in 
Blackpool, records with special satisfaction the unqualified success of this 
meeting. 


KOK NARRATIVE OF THE BLACKPOOL MEETING 


VISIT TO THE ISLE OF MAN. 


After the meeting, a number of members took part in a visit to the 
Isle of Man (September 16-21), by invitation of the island authorities. 
Parties were conducted each day to sites of archeological, geological, 
biological, and botanical interest in various parts of the island. The 
visitors were received on successive evenings (Sept. 17, 18, 19) by His 
Honour the Deemster Farrant, Chairman of the Manx Museum and 
Ancient Monuments Trustees (when H.E. the Lieutenant-Governor, 
Sir Montagu Butler, K.C.S.I., and Lady Butler were present), by His 
Worship the Mayor and Corporation of Douglas, and by the Manx 
Museum and Ancient Monuments Trustees. 

The Council subsequently conveyed their thanks and those of the 
visitors to the island authorities concerned. 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36. 


DeaTH oF H.M. Kinc Georce V, PATRON OF THE ASSOCIATION. 


I—The following Address was forwarded to His Majesty King 
Edward VIII :— 


To the King’s Most Excellent Majesty. 
May it please Your Majesty, 


We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects, the President and 
Council of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 
humbly beg leave to offer to Your Majesty our deep and heartfelt sympathy 
in the grievous loss that has befallen Your Majesty, the Members of Your 
Royal Family and the British peoples. We of the British Association 
deplore the loss of a Sovereign who has ever encouraged us in the 
advancement of Science and the rightful application of scientific knowledge 
to the enlargement of the happiness of His peoples ; and has honoured 
the Association by becoming its Patron and by conferring upon the 
Association the high privilege of its Royal Charter. 

While thus expressing our grief, we most humbly beg leave to offer to 
Your Majesty our congratulations on Your Majesty’s accession to the 
Throne, and we earnestly pray that Your Majesty may long reign over 
Your peoples throughout the Empire. 


The following acknowledgment was received by the President :— 


Home OFFICE, 
WHITEHALL. 
17th March, 1936. 

Sir,—I have had the honour to lay before The King the Loyal and 
Dutiful Address of the President and Council of the British Association 
for the Advancement of Science on the occasion of the lamented death 
of His late Majesty King George the Fifth, and have received The King’s 
Command to convey to you His Majesty’s grateful Thanks for the 
assurances of sympathy and devotion to which it gives expression. 

I am, Sir, 
Your obedient Servant, 
JoHN SIMON. 


Tue RoyaL PATRONAGE. 


II.—The President, on behalf of the Council, forwarded the following 
letter :— 


To the Private Secretary 
to His Majesty The King 


S1r,—I have the honour to inform you that the Council of the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science have voted a humble address 
of condolence to His Majesty The King. 

b 


xxxii REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36 


The address refers gratefully to the honour which King George V 
conferred upon the Association by becoming its Patron. The Council, 
in voting the Address, directed me to express the respectful hope that 
His Majesty may be graciously pleased to follow his august Father in the 
Patronage of the Association. We are ever mindful of the signal honour 
which His Majesty conferred upon the Association by becoming its 
President for the year 1926. 

I have the honour to be, Sir, 
Your obedient Servant, 
J. C. Stamp, 
President. 


The following reply was received :— 


Privy Purse OFFICE, 
BUCKINGHAM Patace, S.W. 
23rd March, 1936. 


Dear Sir,—I am commanded by The King.to inform you that His 
Majesty has been graciously pleased to grant his Patronage to the British 
Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Yours truly, 
WIGRAM, 
Keeper of the Privy Purse. 


OBITUARY. 


III.—The Council have had to deplore the loss by death of the following 
office-bearers and supporters :— 


Prof. J. H. Ashworth, F.R.S. Prof. P. F. Kendall, F.R.S. 
Sir J. F. Beale, K.B.E. Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer 
Mr. F. A. Bellamy Sir J.C.McLennan,K.B.E.,F.R.S. 
Dr. H. Bolton Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, F.R.S. 
Prof. J. D. Cormack, C.M.G., Mr. R. D. Oldham, F.R.S. 
C.B.E. Prof. H. Fairfield Osborn, For. 
Mr. G. F. Daniell Mem. R:S. 
Sir A. Denny, Bt. Prof. Karl Pearson, F:R.S. 
Prof. A. C. Dixon, F.R.S. Sir J. E. Petavel, K.B.E., F.R.S. 
Prof. A. F. Dixon Miss I. M. Roper 
Dr. R. V. Favell Dr. F. C. Shrubsall 
Prof. H. S. Foxwell Mrs. Henry Sidgwick 
Miss Marion Frost Dr. Bernard Smith, F.R.S. 
Sir R. T. Glazebrook, K.C.B., Miss Grace Stebbing 
F.R.S. Prof. J. E. A. Steggall 
Prof. J. S. Haldane, F.R.S. 
REPRESENTATION. 
IV.—Representatives of the Association have been appointed as 
follows :— 
Centenary Celebration of the University of 
London, June 29-July3 : - Sir Josiah Stamp, 
G.C.B., G.B.E., 


President. 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36 XXXiii 


Quinquennial Congress of Universities of 


the Empire, Cambridge, July 13-17 . Mr. F. T. Brooks, 
F.R.S., General Sec- 
retary. 


RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS. 


V.—Resolutions and recommendations, referred by the General 
Committee to the Council for consideration, and, if desirable, for action, 
were dealt with as follows. The resolutions will be found in the Report 
for 1935, p. xlvii. 


(a) The Council, on learning that the late Prof. J. H. Ashworth, 
F.R.S., had presented a fuller version of his paper on the life of Charles 
Darwin as a student in Edinburgh to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
procured reprints for preservation at Down House and for distribution 
as requisite. (Resolution of the General Committee.) 

(6) The Council appointed a watching committee to co-operate, as 
occasion should arise, with the Ministry of Health Committee on 
Inland Water Survey. (Resolution of Sections A, Mathematical and 
Physical Sciences ; C, Geology; E, Geography ; G, Engineering.) 

(c) The Council communicated to the Ministry of Transport the 
resolution on the silencing of motor vehicles recommended by Sections 
A (Mathematical and Physical Sciences) and G (Engineering), excepting 
the concluding paragraph. 

(d) The Council appointed a committee, and invited representatives 
thereon from other institutions, to consider what steps could be taken, 
in co-operation with similar bodies in other countries, to assist in giving 
effect to the legislation of the Government of Ecuador relating to the 
preservation of the fauna of the Galapagos Islands. (Resolution of 
Section D, Zoology.) 

In connection with the above, Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S. (President, 
1935), communicated to the Council a cablegram received from the 
present H.M.S. Beagle on the day of the centenary of Darwin’s landing 
from the vessel of that name in the Galapagos Islands. ‘The cablegram 
was in the following terms :— 


To-day one hundred years ago our most distinguished passenger 
landed. The present Beagle salutes the British Association the 
Trustees of Science. 


The President stated that he had forwarded a reply as follows :— 


Deeply appreciate your message referring Darwin’s landing from 
Beagle. Good luck to present ship. 


(e) After consideration of the recommendation of Section F 
(Economics), supported by Section J (Psychology), that the Association 
might indicate the importance which it attaches to the development of 
the social sciences by appointing a third General Secretary, who would 
be specially associated with this group of studies, the Council resolved 
to appoint a committee to consider how the Association might indicate 


xxxiv REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36 


the importance which it attaches to the development of the social 
sciences, either by appointment of a third General Secretary or by 
other appropriate means. 

On the report of this committee, it was resolved that the appointment 
of a third General Secretary should not be recommended to the General 
Committee, but effect has been given to the following recommendations, 
with the collaboration of the Organising Sectional Committees :— 


That certain selected communications in the programme at the 
Annual Meeting should be distinguished, by inclusion in a separate 
group with a collective series-title or other appropriate means, as of 
special bearing upon the relations between Science and the interests of 
the community. Under this proposal : 


(a) An Organising Sectional Committee might request that any 
discussion or individual paper might be included in this series. 

(6b) A Sectional President might request that his address should 
be included in this series. 

(c) It is submitted that the Council should arrange at least one of 
the Evening Discourses with a view to inclusion in this series. 


The Committee believe that this procedure, without involving any 
violent reform of the programmes, would provide the evidence which 
public opinion demands that the Association does in fact discharge its 
function of ‘ obtaining a more general interest for the objects -of 
Science.’ 


A further proposal made in the Council itself was that at least one 
discussion in each annual programme should deal with the application 
of science to social problems. 

The above arrangements have been put into force in connection with 
the programme of the Blackpool Meeting. 


(f) The specification of the lower yield-point of mild and moderately 
high tensile steel, recommended by Section G (Engineering), was 
communicated to the British Standards Institution. 

(g) The recommendation of Section H (Anthropology) relating to 
the preservation of certain caves in Derbyshire was forwarded to 
H.M. Commissioner of Works, and it was understood that this question 
would be submitted to the Ancient Monuments Board. 

(h) The Council for the Preservation of Rural England kindly 
promised to take into consideration the desirability of preventing 
hedge-cutting, etc., at such season as to interfere with nesting birds. 
It was subsequently stated that the matter had been brought before the 
County Councils Association, which, while sympathising with the objects 
of the recommendation, did not consider it practicable to make any 
proposal to County Councils, especially in view of the provisions of the 
Corn Production Acts (Repeal) Act, 1921, regarding the destruction of 
injurious weeds. The matter, however, was further mentioned at a 
recent meeting of county surveyors in London. (Recommendation of 
the Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies.) 

(i) The Council requested the Corresponding Societies Committee 
and the appropriate Sectional Committees to specify, if possible, 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36 XXKV 


particular areas which might be scheduled as national parks on grounds 
of special scientific interest. (Resolution of the Conference of Delegates 
of Corresponding Societies.) 

(j) It was stated in the Report for 1935, p. xxi, that the Council 
brought to the notice of the Lord President of the Council and the 
Minister of Agriculture the desirability of accelerating the revision of 
large-scale maps of the Ordnance Survey. It was learned that the 
Chartered Surveyors’ Institution was taking similar action, and that 
Institution was kept informed of the Council’s action. It was under- 
stood that the matter was receiving the attention of the Minister and 
of H.M. Government. (Resolution of Section E, Geography, sup- 
ported by other sections.) 

A request from the Chartered Surveyors’ Institution, for support of 
the proposals to be brought before the Ministry of Agriculture by 
the Institution in favour of the revision of large-scale Ordnance Survey 
maps, was considered, but it was resolved that, in view of the previous 
action taken by the Council in this connection, no further action was 
necessary. Subsequently the Departmental Committee on the Ordnance 
Survey invited observations from the Association on certain aspects 
of the revision, and the Council, with the generous help of Brigadier 
H. S. L. Winterbotham, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., took measures to 
obtain these from appropriate sources. 


FINANCE. 


VI.—The Council have received reports from the General Treasurer 
throughout the year. His account has been audited and is presented to 
the General Committee. 

The Council have received with regret the resignation of Prof. A. L. 
Bowley as an hon. auditor, and have conveyed to him their thanks for 
his services. 


VII.—A contributory superannuation scheme has been arranged on 
behalf of members of the office staff other than the Secretary, for whom 
such a scheme already exists. 


VIII.—The legacy of £500 received under the will of the late Sir Alfred 
Ewing, K.C.B., F.R.S., past President, as stated in the Report, 1935, 
p- xxi, has been invested. 

- A donation of one hundred guineas was forwarded to the Association 
by the Local Committee for the Norwich Meeting, 1935, out of the 
surplus on the local fund. The thanks of the Council were conveyed 
to the Committee, and it was resolved that the sum should be used to 
meet grants to Committees dealing with subjects of special scientific 
interest in East Anglia, such as pre-history, ornithology, etc., as and when 
occasion should arise. 

A sum of £900 has been received (in successive payments of £500 and 
£400) on account of the Herbert Spencer bequest. In respect of the first 
payment, the Council adopted a proposal, supported by the Down House 
Committee, that this sum (£500) should be earmarked to meet temporarily 


XXXVI REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36 
the cost of repairs and other works on the Down House property, and the 
provision of facilities for scientific work there as occasion should arise. 


IX.—The Council made the following grants from funds under their 
control :— 


From the Caird Fund. L 
Committee on Seismology . : : 2 A ; - 150 
Me », Mathematical Tables : ‘ é ; ‘ 5 ak5O 
Ps ,, Zoological Record ; P , : , Aaa io: 
+ », Naples Table : é A . 50 
55 ,, Rods and Cones in Retinz of Animals ; 3 : 10 


From the Bernard Hobson Fund, 


Committee on Reptile-bearing Odlite of Stow-on-the-Wold . 75 F380 
rh ,», Critical Geological Sections : such part as the income 
allows of a contingent grant of £40. 


From the Leicester and Leicestershire Fund. 


Committee on Routine Manual Factor in Mechanical Ability . ogo 
4 », Chronology of the World Crisis : : f : 10 
55 » Noise . 4 : ‘ Io 
5 », Promotion of Bduearional Research | 5 A < 5 


BRITISH SCIENCE GUILD. 


X.—In 1927-28 a proposal for the amalgamation of the British Science 
Guild and the British Association was before the Council and the General 
Committee of the Association. Certain conditions attached to the 
proposal did not fully commend themselves to either party; but the 
proposal was not rejected in principle, and it was recorded in the Report 
of the Council, as adopted by the General Committee in 1928, that 
‘further action by the Council of the British Science Guild is awaited.’ 
Such action has now been taken, and the Council, after full inquiry and 
report by the General Officers, recommend the incorporation of the Guild 
into the Association under the conditions set out below. The General 
Officers take this opportunity of acknowledging the generous collabora- 
tion of Sir Richard Gregory and Sir Albert Howard throughout the 
negotiations. 

The stated object of the British Science Guild is ‘to promote the 
application of scientific method and results to social problems and public 
affairs.’ ‘The same object is implicit in those of the Association, and the 
programmes of its recent meetings have given evidence of a greater 
concern for these problems than was commonly exhibited in former years. 
It is believed that the proposed union of the two bodies would strengthen 
the Association in the discharge of its public functions, and it is suggested 
that, through the Committee proposed below, the Council might be 
assisted in keeping itself informed as to matters concerning the application 
of scientific method and results to social problems and public affairs. 

The capital funds of the Guild, to which reference is made below, would 
be transferred to the Association after the discharge of certain liabilities. 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36 XxxVii 


The proposed conditions of incorporation of the Guild into the 
Association are as follows :— 


1. That the Council of the British Association should be asked to 
appoint a Committee to be called the British Science Guild Committee. 


2. That the British Science Guild Committee should consist of six 
members, of whom not more than three should be nominated initially by 
the British Science Guild, and three by the British Association. 


3. That the last act of the Guild before winding-up should be to 
constitute the present members of its Council an Advisory Council to 
nominate the three members of the British Science Guild Committee of 
the British Association, representing the British Science Guild. 


4. That the British Science Guild Committee should be a Committee 
of Council of the British Association, and should be entrusted with 
arrangements for lectures already initiated by the British Science Guild, 
and for any others of similar character which may be approved by the 
Council. 


5. That the Norman Lockyer Lecture should be delivered annually, 
and should deal with the application of scientific method and results to 
social problems and public affairs. 


6. That the Alexander Pedler Lecture should be offered annually to 
one of the Corresponding Societies of the British Association, or be 
delivered in some centre outside London. 


7. That Life Fellows of the British Science Guild be offered Life 
Membership of the British Association without further payment, and that 
Life Members of the Guild should be invited to become Life Members 
of the Association on payment of the difference between the subscription 
to the Guild and to the Association. 


(Note.—There were as at January 7, 1936, 62 life fellows of the Guild 
of whom 5 were honorary, and of whose addresses 6 were unknown. 
Eleven of these were life members of the Association and 7 were or had 
recently been annual members. There were 273 life members of the 
Guild, of whose addresses 60 were unknown; of these 45 were life 
members of the Association, and 23 were or had recently been annual 
members.) 


8. That annual subscribers of the Guild should be invited to become 
annual subscribers of the Association. 


(Note——The annual subscribers of the Guild as at June 25, 1935, 
numbered 242.) / 


Financial note-—The market value of the capital funds of the Guild as 
at January 3, 1936, is £4,355. It is understood that inquiry is in progress 
as to any liability which, in the event of the proposed incorporation being 
effected, would or might fall upon these funds in respect of life members 
not desiring transfer, the Guild staff, etc. The Norman Lockyer and 
Alexander Pedler lectures carry fees (ten guineas each) and involve 
certain incidental expenditure. For the two lectures together, including 
fees but excluding the printing of the lectures and postage, the total 
expenditure in 1935 was £36. 

It is further understood that if the incorporation is carried out, Lady 
Lockyer intends to bequeath the sum of £1,000 to the Association. Sir 


Xxxviii REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36 


Albert Howard intends to bequeath a like sum, for the purpose of en- 
dowing an annual lecture to young people at that centre at which the 
annual meeting of the Association is held. 


PRESIDENT (1937), GENERAL OFFICERS, COUNCIL AND COMMITTEES. 


XI.—The Council’s nomination to the Presidency of the Association 
for the year 1937 (Nottingham Meeting) will be announced to the General 
Committee at the Blackpool Meeting. 


XII.—The General Officers have been nominated by the Council as — 
follows :— 


General Treasurer, Prof. P. G. H. Boswell, F.R.S. 
General Secretaries, Mr. F. 'T. Brooks, F.R.S., Prof. Allan Ferguson. 


XIII. Council.—The retiring Ordinary Members of the Council are: 
Prof. J. Drever, Prof. W. T. Gordon, Prof. Dame Helen Gwynne- 
Vaughan, G.B.E., Dr. C. W. Kimmins, and Prof. A. M. Tyndall, F.R.S. 


The Council have nominated as new members Dr. F. W. Aston, F.R.S., 
Prof. F. Debenham, and Mr. W. Campbell Smith ; leaving two vacancies 
to be filled by the General Committee without nomination by the Council. 

The full list of Ordinary Members is as follows :— 


Dr. F. W. Aston, F.R.S. H. M. Hallsworth, C.B.E. 
Prof. F. Aveling Dr. H. S. Harrison 
Sir T. Hudson Beare Prof. A. V. Hill, O.B.E., Sec.R.S. 
Rt. Hon Viscount Bledisloe, P.C., Prof. G. W. O. Howe 
G.C.M.G., G.B.E. Dr. Julian Huxley 
Prof. F. Balfour-Browne Prof. R. Robinson, F.R.S. 
Prof. R. N. Rudmose Brown W. Campbell Smith 


Dr. W. T. Calman, C.B., F.R.S. Dr. C. Tierney 
Sir Henry Dale, C.B.E., F.R.S. Dr. W. W. Vaughan, M.V.O. 


Prof. F. Debenham Dr. J. A. Venn 
Prof. W. G. Fearnsides, F.R.S. Prof.Sir Gilbert Walker, C.S.1.,F.R.S. 
Prof. R. B. Forrester Prof. F. E. Weiss, F.R.S. 


XIV. General Committee—The following have been admitted as 
members of the General Committee, mainly on the nomination of 
Organising Sectional Committees under Regulation 1 :— 


Prof. T. Alty Dr. Murray Macgregor 
Dr. T. H. Bennet-Clark Prof. J. H. J. Poole 
Prof. A. H. Cox Capt. R. S. Rattray, C.B.E. 
Mr. O. Davies Prof. R. W. Reid 

Mr. H. Dewey Mrs. C. G. Seligman 
Mr. A. T. J. Dollar Rev. E. W. Smith 

Prof. J. M. F. Drummond Prof. H. H. Swinnerton 
Dr. W. L. H. Duckworth Dr. G. Taylor 

Miss E. D. Earthy Dr. F. S. Wallis 

Mrs. H. W. Elgee Mr. W. H. Wilcockson 
Dr. R. V. Favell Dr. S. Williams 

Miss D. A. E. Garrod Dr. W. B. Wright 


Mr. K. H. Jackson 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36 xxxix 


XV. Corresponding Societies Committee—The Council resolved to 
inquire into the status of the Conference of Delegates of Corresponding 
‘Societies, and appointed a committee to consider and report upon this. 
The committee made the following recommendations, which the Council 
adopted :— 


(1) An active liaison between the Association and the Conference by 
the regular attendance of the General Officers at its meetings. 

(2) A policy of mutual co-operation between the Conference and the 
Sections of the Association. 

(3) Additional representation of the Conference on the Committee of 
Recommendations (i.e. by the President and one other member). 

(4) The Corresponding Societies Committee to consist of the President 
and General Officers of the Association (as at present), together with not 
more than six of the Delegates to be nominated at the annual conference, 
one-third of whom (i.e. the delegate representatives) shall retire annually 
and shall not be eligible for immediate re-election. 

It is assumed that the retiring President of the Conference would be 
eligible to fill one of the delegate vacancies occurring on the Committee. 


Future MEETINGS. 


XVI.—It has been found desirable to determine the date of the Cam- 
bridge Meeting (1938) as soon as possible, and, following correspond- 
ence with the Vice-Chancellor of the University, the period of Wednesday, 
August 17, to Wednesday, August 24, is recommended. 

The Council have received and gratefully acknowledged an invitation 
from the Town Council of Swansea to meet at Swansea whenever the 
Association so desires. 

The formal invitation of the Indian Science Congress Association 
(accepted in principle by the General Committee in 1935) for the British 
Association to send a party to hold a joint session in India in January 
1938, when the Indian Science Congress Association would celebrate 
its Silver Jubilee, was duly received and accepted by the Council under 
authority of the General Committee. 


MISCELLANEA. 


XVII. Statutes—The following discrepancy in the Statutes has been 
brought to the notice of the Council :— 


Chap. XI, 3. The Delegates of Corresponding Societies . . . shall 
constitute a Conference, of which the President and other officers shall 
be appointed by the Council. 

Chap. II, 4. The General Committee shall . . . (x) Elect the officers 
of the Conference of Delegates. 


Having regard to the fact that the Statute first quoted above is that 
under which the appointments in question are made, it is recommended 
that the line ‘ (x) Elect the officers of the Conference of Delegates’ be 
deleted from the Statutes. 

b2 


xl REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36 


XVIII. Quinquennial Reports——It was stated in last year’s Report 
(p. xxv) that the Council had considered suggestions for the publication 
by the Association of (a) a quinquennial report on the advancement of 
science, and (4) a short statement for general distribution, summarising 
the various activities of the Association. Effect has been given to these 
proposals. 

Messrs. Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons will publish in the autumn, on behalf 
of the Association, and without cost to it, the first quinquennial review 
of the progress of science (1931-35), by a number of authors, to whom 
the Council take this opportunity of expressing their gratitude. 

The short statement on the activities of the Association, referred to 
above, was drafted in the office and has been issued under the title Five 
Years’ Retrospect. ‘The Council here record their gratitude to sectional 
Recorders for kindly reading this statement in draft. 


XIX. Overseas Representatives—The Council resolved that a letter 
should be issued, with the preliminary programme of the Annual Meeting, 
to Dominion and Colonial universities and research institutions, indicating 
that members of their scientific staffs on leave in England would be 
welcome as guests at Annual Meetings. 


XX. Earth Pressures Committee.—A letter has been received from the 
Institution of Civil Engineers, proposing that the work of the Earth 
Pressures Committee should be taken over by the Institution, and stating 
that the Council of the Institution had authorised the contribution of 
£200 per annum for the next two years in order that this research might 
be continued at the Building Research Station, with the existing com- 
mittee as a sub-committee of the Institution’s research committee. 
A letter from Mr. F. Wentworth-Sheilds, Secretary of the Committee, 
was also received. ‘The Council resolved to accept the proposal, and ex- 
pressed their satisfaction to the Institution and to Mr. Wentworth-Sheilds. 


XXI. A Sequel to the Norwich Meeting.—Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S. 
(President, 1935), informed the Council that in response to his personal 
appeal for contributions from visiting members at the Norwich Meeting 
toward the restoration of the cathedral cloisters there, a sum of £140 Ios. 
had been received. 


XXII. Armorial Bearings—A suggestion has been made that the 
Association should possess armorial bearings, and the Council are making 
sympathetic inquiry into the possibility of giving effect thereto. 


Down Howse. 


XXIII. The following report for the year 1935-36 has been received 
from the Down House Committee :— 


The number of visitors to Down House during the year ending June 6, 
1936, has been 7,022, compared with 6,658 in 1934-35. 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 1935-36 xli 


Thanks to the kind offices of the Director of the Victoria and Albert 
Museum and the generosity of the Board of Education, two hats which 
formerly were Darwin’s have been handed over to the Association from the 
Museum and are now exhibited at Down House. Original letters of 
Darwin’s, presented by Prof. Van Dyck and Prof. G. D. Hale Carpenter, 
have been added to the collection. A sculptor’s model of a seated figure of 
Darwin, the history of which is not at present known to the Committee} 
has been presented by Mr. J. Peacock. 

Members of the Urban District Council of Orpington (in which district 
Down House is situated) were received at the house by Prof. W. W. Watts, 
F.R.S. (President), Sir Buckston Browne (Hon. Curator) and other members 
of the Committee on July 28, 1935. ‘They were afterwards entertained at 
tea at the Buckston Browne Research Farm by invitation of Sir Arthur 
Keith, F.R.S. 

The Committee are interested to learn that the Secretary, Dr. Howarth, 
is now chairman of the Town Planning Committee of the Urban District 
Council. 

A new series of photographs of the house and grounds has been made 
and placed on sale: copies of some of them have been presented to appro- 
priate learned societies for exhibition. 

Considerable damage was done to buildings, trees and fences by the gale 
of September 23, 1935. 

The Committee have obtained from a qualified architect a structural 
survey of the property with a view to informing themselves as to repairs 
and renewals which are or will become necessary in the next few years. 
They have given careful consideration to this and to kindred questions. 

They have also constantly in mind the possibility of establishing on the 
property scientific records dependent upon instruments which it would be 
Within the competence of the staff to read—and, indeed, of making any 
appropriate use of the property for purposes of research. 

They therefore desire to support the proposal, which they understand 
the General Treasurer will bring before the Council, that a sum of money 
from the Spencer bequest or other funds of the Association should be ear- 
marked to meet temporarily the cost of repairs and other works on the 
property, and the provision of facilities for scientific work as occasion may 
arise. 

The following financial statement shows income and expenditure on 
account of Down House for the years ending March 31, 1935 and 1936 :— 


Corresponding 
Income figures, 1934-35 
Lae ds fess NO 
By Rents receivable : < : : Tr 0 =O TATIOe O) 
», Income Tax recovered . ; ‘ TOS) Er. 6 I86 I5 oO 
», Interest and Dividends . ; : 826 8 6 826 8 6 
», Donations s : LOwe7) 62 414 0 
», Sale of Postcards and Catalogues ; Zero) 7 2415 2 
», Pilgrim Trust Grant - : LEO" OG) 1 I50 0 O 
i Balance, being excess of expenditure 
over income, 1934-35, transferred to 
Suspense Account : . : — 84 13 I 


£1,327 «9 9 £2,478 5 794 


xiii REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 
Expenditure 

£ 

To Wages of Staff . . 5 aS g 783 

», Rates, Insurance, etc. ‘ 3 < 66 

», Coal, ‘Coke, ete: : 86 
Mn Lighting and Ae (including oi 

and petrol) . 76 

», Water. : 5 Z : 15 

», Surveyor’s Fee j . ‘ : 5 

,, Repairs and Renewals i ; 5 74 
,, Garden and Land: Materials and 

Maintenance oe, 

», Donations to Village Tastititions i 5 

,, Household Requisites, etc. : ‘ 15 

,, Lransport and Carriage . é ; 2 

,, Accountants’ Fees. ‘ 7 ; 18 
,, Printing, Postage, Ragone and 

Stationery . 39 
,, Balance, being excess of income over 
expenditure, 1935-36, transferred 

to Suspense Account . 4 : 64 

£1,327 


1935-36 
Sina: 
I5 10 
5 8 
18 6 
3 10 
16 8 
ako) 
13 9 
12% 
5) 6 
19 4 
13 II 
18 1 
oe) 
7a 
9 9 


£1,418 


94 


‘ b 
VG 
: D 

a 
i] } A 


_ GENERAL TREASURER’S ACCOUNT, 
a 1935-36 


( 


» 
' 
DPE £2: ray ae 
4 
Bi JP ? 


a1 


xliv 


GENERAL TREASURER’S ACCOUNT 


Balance Sheet, 


Corresponding 


Figures 
31st March, 
1930. 


fy) S50. 


38,052 10 24 


9,806 3 10 


1,549 3 4 


LIABILITIES 


GENERAL PURPOSES :— 


Sundry Creditors . 4 

Hon. Sir Charles Parsons’ 
(£10,000) and legacy (£2,000) 

The late Sir Alfred Ewing’s legacy 


gift 


Yarrow Fund 
As per last Account £5,473 14 8 
Less Transferred to In- 
come and Expendi- 
ture Account under 


terms of the gift 358 8 4 
Life Compositions 
As per last Account 2,748 12 2 
Add Received ung 
year A 168 0 0 
2,916 12 2 
Less Transferred to In- 
come and Expendi- 
ture Account 2510 0 
Contingency Fund 
As per last Account 1,224 6 23 
Add Amount trans- 
ferred from Income 
and Expenditure 
Account ; 213 aloros 
Accumulated Fund 


SPECIAL PURPOSES :— 
Caird Fund 
Balance at Ist April, 1935 . 


Less Excess of Expenditure over In- 
come for the year-. 


Mathematical Tables Fund 
Sundry Donations 
Receipts from Sales transferred 
from Income and Expenditure 
Account. 5 4 : 


Cunningham Bequest 
Balance at Ist April, 1935 . : 


Less Excess of Expenditure over In- 
come for the year 


Carried forward 


12,000 
500 


16,488 9 0 


finshed, 
195 5 


oo 


5,115 6 4 


2180122 


1,497 7 6 
38,687 10 11 


9,806 3 10 


15 16 11 
—— | 97aneeee tt 


663) 7 
—_—_——— 68 14 7 


1549 3 4 


194 17 6 
a | ee 


49,900 18 3 


GENERAL TREASURER’S ACCOUNT xlv 


31st March, 1936 


Corresponding’ 
Figures ASSETS 
et ter ae 
BOY Louse ds £s. d. 
baba GENERAL PuRPOSEs :— 
Investments as scheduled with Income 
and Expenditure Account, No.1 . 38,204 3 7 
Sundry debtors and payments in ad- 
vance . - = 5 5 * 90 1 10 
Cash at bank . : . . a 349 9 7 
Cashin hand . - - , : 43 15 11 
38,052 10 2%) | = 38,687 10 11 
SPECIAL PURPOSES :— 
Caird Fund 
Investments (see Income and Ex- 
penditure Account, No. 2) . Sap eee las 
Cash at bank 3 : s : 207 10 8 
9,806 3 10 ——————__ 9,790 6 11 
Mathematical Tables Fund 
—_ Cash at bank - 4 : - 68 14 7 
Cunningham Bequest 
Investments (see Income and Ex- 
penditure Account, No. 3) . sanlbsUSe dane 
Cash at bank : ns “ C 48 18 8 
1,549 3 4 _———_— 1,354 5 10 
Carried forward F - 49,900 18 3 


xvi 


Corresponding 
_. Figures 
1st March, 
1935. 
£ 


Se 


182 18 10 


1,044 16 O 


1,034 4 2 


20,150 12 8 


71,820 9 Ok 


GENERAL TREASURER’S ACCOUNT 


Balance Sheet, 


LIABILITIES (continued) 


1h GS ah Li issd: 
Brought forward 2 é 
Toronto University Presentation Fund 
Capital . “ ° 4 . 178 11 4 
Revenue . r 5 ; - 4 7 6 
Bernard Hobson Fund 
Capital . 4 ; 1,000 0 0 
Revenue—Balance per 
last Account . 44 16 0 
Less Excess of Expen- 
diture over Income 
for the year 14 13 10 
SOmeZ uae 
Leicester and Leicestershire Fund, 1933 
Capital = 2 . - - 1,000 0 0 
Revenue— Balance per 
last Account BAe Ae? 
Excess of Income over Ex- 
penditure for the year 31 4 2 
65 8 4 
Down House 
Endowment Fund : : - 20,000 0 O 
Sundry Creditors and Credit 
Balances ; 5 : : 43 10 11 
Suspense Account 
Excess of Income over 
Expenditure for the 
year. : OLE Reel 
Less balance at Debit 
thereof, at 1/4/35 39S 5 
——+ 24 18 8 


(Total of Special Funds £33,560 6 3) 


NOTE,—There are contingent Liabilities in respect of grants voted 
to Research Committees at Norwich in 1935 but not 
claimed at 31st March, 1936, amounting to £429 14s. 3d. 


The amount which should, in accordance with Council’s resolu- 
tion, have been in the Contingency Fund at 31st March, 1936, 
was £1,875, but the surplus income available for this purpose 
has been insufficient by £377 12s. 6d. to meet the full annual 
amounts transferable. 


/ Coy hPa B 
49,900 18 3 
182 18 10 
1,030 2 2 
1,065 8 4 
20,068 9 7 


£72, 24TH 2 
a 


I have examined the foregoing Account with the Books and Vouchers and certify 
and the Investments, and the Bank have certified to me that they hold the 


Approved, 
UNTIL 
’ EZER 


BowLey Auditors. 


GRIFFITHS 


GENERAL TREASURER’S ACCOUNT xvii 


31st March, 1936 (continued) 


Corresponding 


git ttarch, ASSETS (continued) 
1935. 
cour Saag s IE Gat of sii as 
Brought forward 5 : ° 49,900 18 3 
Toronto University Presentation Fund 
Investments (see Income and Ex- 
penditure Account, No. 4) . > 178 11 4 
Cash at bank - : a 47 6 
182 18 10 15a LS al Pe 182 18 10 
Bernard Hobson Fund 
Investments (see Income and Ex- 
penditure Account, No. 5) e000"! OO 
Cash at bank - : - : S02) 2 
1,044 16 0 go 1,030 2 2 
Leicester and Leicestershire Fund, 1933 
Investments (see Income and Ex- 
penditure Account, No. 6) . 1,000 0 0 
Cash at bank “ : 3 - 65 8 
1,034 4 2 hs i, pe 1,065 8 4 
Down House 
Endowment Fund Investments (see 
Income and Expenditure Account, 
No.7). : ; : . 20,000 0 0 
Cash in hand : : 10 3 
Sundry debtors and payments in 
advance . F 22, wLer'9 
Stock of Gataloncs . < : 45 17 7 : 
20,150 12 8 ————_ 20,068, 9 7 
71,820 9 O04 £72,247 17 2 


the same to be correct. I have also verified the Balance at the Bankers 
Deeds of Down House. 
W. B. Keen, Chartered Accountant. 


23 i Victoria St., London, E C, 4. 
28th May, 1936. j 


GENERAL TREASURER’S ACCOUNT 


xl viii 


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RESEARCH COMMITTEES, Etc. 


APPOINTED BY THE GENERAL COMMITTEE, MEETING IN 
BLACKPOOL, 1936. 


Grants of money, if any, from the Association for expenses connected 
with researches are indicated in heavy type. 


SECTION A.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 


Seismological investigations.—Dr. F. J. W. Whipple (Chairman), Mr. J. J. Shaw, 
C.B.E. (Secretary), Miss E. F. Bellamy, Prof. P. G. H. Boswell, O.B.E., 
F.R.S., Dr. A. T. J. Dollar, Sir Frank Dyson, K.B.E., F.R.S., Prof. G. R. 
Goldsbrough, F.R.S., Dr. Wilfred Hall, Mr. J. S. Hughes, Dr. H. Jeffreys, 
F.R.S., Mr. Cosmo Johns, Dr. A. W. Lee, Prof. E. A. Milne, M.B.E., F.R.S., 
Prof. H. H. Plaskett, F.R.S., Prof.H.C. Plummer, F.R.S., Prof. A.O. Rankine, 
O.B.E., Rev. C. Rey, S.J., Rev. J. P. Rowland, S.J., Prof. R. A. Sampson, 
F.R.S., Mr. F. J. Scrase, Capt. H. Shaw, Sir Frank Smith, K.C.B., C.B.E., 
Sec. R.S., Dr. R. Stoneley, F.R.S., Mr. E. Tillotson, Sir G. T. Walker, C.S.I., 
F.R.S. §150 (Caird Fund grant). 


Calculation of mathematical tables.—Prof. E. H. Neville (Chaiyman), Dr. L. J. 
Comrie (Secretary), Prof. A. Lodge (Vice-Chairman), Dr. J. R. Airey, Dr. 
W. G. Bickley, Prof. R. A. Fisher, F.R.S., Dr. J. Henderson, Dr. E. L. Ince, 
Dr. J. O. Irwin, Dr. J. C. P. Miller, Mr. F. Robbins, Mr. D. H. Sadler, Dr. 
A. J. Thompson, Dr. J. F. Tocher, Dr. J. Wishart. £150 (Caird Fund grant). 


SECTIONS A, B, I—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES, 
CHEMISTRY, PHYSIOLOGY. 


To co-ordinate the activities of Sections A, B, I, as regards joint symposia, etc., 
in so far as these relate to the Sciences lying on the border-lines between 
Physics, Chemistry, and Physiology.—Prof. David Burns, Prof. J. M. Gulland, 
Dr. P. B. Moon, Prof. H. S. Raper, C.B.E., F.R.S., Prof. S. Sugden, F.R.S., 
Dr. D. M. Wrinch. 


SECTIONS A, C—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES, 
GEOLOGY. 


The direct determination of the thermal conductivities of rocks in mines or 
borings where the temperature gradient has been, or is likely to be, 
measured.—Dr. Ezer Griffiths, F.R.S. (Chairman), Dr. D. W. Phillip 
(Secretary), Dr. E. C. Bullard, Dr. H. Jeffreys, F.R.S. (from Section A) ; 
Dr. E. M. Anderson, Prof. W. G. Fearnsides, F.R.S., Prof. G. Hickling, F.R.S., 
Prof. A. Holmes, Dr. J. H. J. Poole. £25 (Part from Bernard Hobson Fund). 


SECTIONS A, J.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES, 
PSYCHOLOGY. 


The possibility of quantitative estimates of sensory events.—Prof. A. Ferguson 
(Chatyman), Dr. C. S. Myers, C.B.E., F.R.S. (Vice-Chaiyman), Mr. R. J. 
Bartlett (Secretary), Dr. H. Banister, Prof. F. C. Bartlett, F.R.S., Dr. Wm. 
Brown, Dr. N. R. Campbell, Prof. J. Drever, Mr. J. Guild, Dr. R. A. 
Houstoun, Dr. J. O. Irwin, Dr. G. W. C. Kaye, Dr. S. J. F. Philpott, 
Dr. L. F. Richardson, F.R.S., Dr. J. H. Shaxby, Mr. T. Smith, F.R.S., 
Dr. R. H. Thouless, Dr. W. S. Tucker, O.B.E. 


RESEARCH COMMITTEES, ETC. lvii 


SECTION C.—GEOLOGY. 


To excavate critical geological sections in Great Britain.—Prof. W. T. Gordon 
(Chairman), Prof. W. G. Fearnsides, F.R.S. (Secretary), Prof. E. B. Bailey, 
F.R.S., Mr. H. C. Berdinner, Mr. W. S. Bisat, Prof. P. G. H. Boswell, O.B.E., 
F.R.S., Prof. W. S. Boulton, Prof. A. H. Cox, Miss M. C. Crosfield, Mr. 
E. E. L. Dixon, Dr. Gertrude Elles, M.B.E., Prof. E. J. Garwood, F.R.S., 
Mr. F. Gossling, Prof. H. L. Hawkins, Prof. G. Hickling, F.R.S., Prof. V. C. 
Illing, Prof. O. T. Jones, F.R.S., Dr. Murray Macgregor, Dr. F. J. North, 
Dr. J. Pringle, Dr. T. F. Sibly, Dr. W. K. Spencer, F.R.S., Prof. A. E. 
Trueman, Dr. F. S. Wallis, Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S., Dr. W. F. Whittard, 
Dr. S. W. Wooldridge. £25 (Contingent grant). 


To investigate the reptile-bearing oolite of Stow-on-the-Wold, subject to the con- 
dition that suitable arrangements be made for the disposal of the material. 
—Sir A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S. (Chaiyman), Mr. C. I. Gardiner (Secretary), 
Prof. S. H. Reynolds, Mr. W. E. Swinton. §25 (Bernard Hobson Fund grant). 


To investigate the bone-bed in the glacial deposits of Brundon, near Sudbury, 
Suffolk.—Prof. W. B. R. King, O.B.E. (Chaiyman), Mr. Guy Maynard 
(Secretary), Mr. D. F. W. Baden-Powell, Prof. P. G. H. Boswell, O.B.E., 
Mr. J. P. T. Burchell, Mr. J. Reid Moir, Mr. K. P. Oakley, Mr. C. D. Ovey, 
Dr. J. D. Solomon, Sir A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S. £25 (Bernard Hobson 
Fund grant). 


To consider and report on questions affecting the teaching of Geology in schools, 
—Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S. (Chaiyman), Prof. A. E. Trueman (Secretary), 
Prof. P. G. H. Boswell, O.B.E., F.R.S., Mr. C. P. Chatwin, Prof. A. H. 
Cox, Miss E. Dix, Prof. W. G. Fearnsides, F.R.S., Prof. A. Gilligan, Prof. G. 
Hickling, F.R.S., Prof. D. E. Innes, Prof. A. G. Ogilvie, O.B.E., Prof. H. H. 
Swinnerton, Dr. A. K. Wells. 


The collection, preservation, and systematic registration of photographs of 
geological interest.—Prof. E. J. Garwood, F.R.S. (Chaivman), Prof. S. H. 
Reynolds (Secretary), Mr. H. Ashley, Mr. C. V. Crook, Mr. G. Macdonald 
Davies, Mr. J. F. Jackson, Dr. A. G. Macgregor, Dr. F. J. North, Dr. A. 
Raistrick, Mr. J. Ranson, Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S. \ 


To consider and report upon petrographic classification and nomenclature.— 
Mr. W. Campbell Smith (Chairman and Secretary), Prof. E. B. Bailey, F.R.S., 
Dr. R. Campbell, Dr. W. Q. Kennedy, Mr. A. G. MacGregor, Dr. S. I. 
Tomkeieff, Dr. G. W. Tyrrell, Dr. F. Walker, Dr. A. K. Wells. 8. 


SECTION D.—ZOOLOGY. 


To nominate competent naturalists to perform definite pieces of work at the 
Marine Laboratory, Plymouth.—Prof. J. Stanley Gardiner, F.R.S. (Chair- 
man and Secretary), Prof. H. Graham Cannon, F.R.S., Prof. H. Munro Fox, 
Dr. J. S. Huxley, Prof. H. G. Jackson, Prof. C. M. Yonge. £50 (Caird 
Fund grant). 


To co-operate with other sections interested, and with the Zoological Society, 
for the purpose of obtaining support for the Zoological Record.—Sir Sidney 
Harmer, K.B.E., F.R.S. (Chaiyman), Dr. W. T. Calman, C.B., F.R.S. (Sec- 
retary), Prof. E. S. Goodrich, F.R.S., Prof. D. M. S. Watson, F.R.S. 850 
(Caird Fund grant). 


To investigate British immigrant insects.—Sir E. B. Poulton, F.R.S. (Chairman), 
Dr. C. B. Williams (Secretary), Prof. F. Balfour-Browne, Capt. N. D. Riley. 
£10. i 

To consider the position of animal biology in the school curriculum and matters 
relating thereto.—Prof. R. D. Laurie (Chaivman and Secretary), Mr. P. 
Ainslie, Mr. Cousins, Dr. J. S. Huxley, Mr. Percy Lee, Mr. A. G. Lowndes, 
Prof. E. W. MacBride, F.R.S., Dr. W. K. Spencer, F.R.S., Prof. W. M. 
Tattersall, Dr. E. N. Miles Thomas. 


lviii RESEARCH COMMITTEES, ETC. 


The progressive adaptation to new conditions in Artemia salina (Diploid and 
Octoploid, Parthenogenetic v. Bisexual).—Prof. R. A. Fisher, F.R.S. (Chair- 
man), Dr. K. Mather (Secretary), Dr. J. Gray, F.R.S., Dr. F. Gross, Dr. J. S. 
Huxley, Dr. E. S. Russell, O.B.E., Prof. D. M.S. Watson, F.R.S. §15. 


To confer with the Museums Association on matters concerning the place and 
function of the Museum in Zoology.—Dr. J. S. Huxley (Chaivman), Dr. A. C. 
Stephen (Secretavv), Dr. W. T. Calman, C.B., F.R.S., Prof. W. M. Tattersall, 
Prof. C. M. Yonge. 


SECTIONS D, I, K.—ZOOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY, BOTANY. 


To aid competent investigators selected by the Committee to carry on definite 
pieces of work at the Zoological Station at Naples.—Prof. E. W. MacBride, 
F.R.S. (Chairman and Secretary), Dr. Margery Knight, Prof. Sir Joseph 
Barcroft, C.B.E., F.R.S., Dr. J. Z. Young. £50. 


SECTIONS D, K.—ZOOLOGY, BOTANY. 


To aid competent investigators selected by the Committee to carry out definite 
_ pieces of work at the Freshwater Biological Station, Wray Castle, Winder- 
mere,—Prof. F. E. Fritsch, F.R.S. (Chaivman), Prof. P. A. Buxton (Secretary), 
Miss P. M. Jenkin, Dr. C. H. O’Donoghue (from Section D); Dr. W. H. 
Pearsall (from Section K). £75. 


Co-ordinating committee for Cytology and Genetics.—Prof. Dame Helen 
Gwynne-Vaughan, G.B.E. (Chaiyman), Dr. F. W. Sansome (Secretary), 
Prof. F. T. Brooks, F.R.S., Prof. F. A. E. Crew, Dr. C. D. Darlington, 
Prof. R. A. Fisher, F.R.S., Mr. E. B. Ford, Prof. R. R. Gates, F.R.S., Dr. €. 
Gordon, Dr. Hammond, Dr. J. S. Huxley, Dr. T. J. Jenkin, Dr. W. B. 
Turrill, Dr. C. H. Waddington. 


SECTION E.—GEOGRAPHY. 


To inquire into the present state of knowledge of the human geography of 
Tropical Africa, and to make recommendations for furtherance and develop- 
ment.—Prof. P.M. Roxby (Chairman), Prof. A. G. Ogilvie, O.B.E. (Secretary), 
Dr. A. Geddes (Assistant Secretary), Mr. S. J. K. Baker, Miss D. M. Doveton, 
Prof. C. B. Fawcett, Mr. W. Fitzgerald, Prof. H. J. Fleure, F.R.S., Mr. R. H. 
Kinvig, Mr. J. McFarlane, Brig. M. N. MacLeod, D.S.O., Prof. J. L. Myres, 
O.B.E., F.B.A., Mr. R. A. Pelham, Mr. R. U. Sayce, Rev. E. W. Smith, Brig. 
H. S. L. Winterbotham, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O. 8. 


To co-operate with bodies concerned with the cartographic representation of 
population, and in particular with the Ordnance Survey, for the production 
of population maps.— (Chaivman), Prof. C. B. 
Fawcett (Secretary), The Director General of the Ordnance Survey, Col. Sir - 
Charles Close, K.B.E., C.B., C.M.G., F.R-S., Prof. H. J. Fleure, F.R.S., 
Mr. A. C. O’Dell, Mr. “A. V. Williamson. 


Insolation and population.—Prof. R..N. Rudmose Brown (Secretary), Prof. F. 
Debenham, Dr. LL. Dudley Stamp. £25. 


SECTION F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS. 


Chronology of the world crisis from 1929 onwards.—Prof. J. H. Jones (Chaiyman), 

’- Dr. P. Ford (Secretary), Prof. G. C. Allen, Dr. C. R. Fay, Mr. H. M. Halls- 
worth, C:B.E., Mr. R. F. Harrod, Mr. A. Radford, Prof. J. G. Smith. £10 
( £7 unexpended balance). 


SECTION G.—ENGINEERING. 


To review the knowledge at present ‘available for the reduction, of noise, and 
the nuisances to the abatement of which this knowledge could best be 


RESEARCH COMMITTEES, ETC. lix 


applied.—Sir Henry Fowler, K.B.E. (Chaivman), Wing-Commander T. R. 
Cave-Browne-Cave, C.B.E. (Secretary), Mr. R. S. Capon, Dr. A. H. Davis, 
' Prof. G. W. O. Howe, Mr. E. S. Shrapnell-Smith, C.B.E. £10 (umexpended 
balances). 


Electrical terms and definitions ——Prof. Sir J. B. Henderson (Chaivman), Prof. 
F, G. Baily and Prof. G. W. O. Howe (Secretaries), Prof. W. Cramp, Prof. 
W. H. Eccles, F.R.S., Prof. C. L. Fortescue, Prof. A. E. Kennelly, Prof. 
E. W. Marchant, Prof. J. Proudman, F.R.S., Sir Frank Smith, K.C.B., 
C.B.E., Sec. R.S., Prof. L. R. Wilberforce. 


SECTION H.—ANTHROPOLOGY. 


To co-operate with a committee of. the Royal Anthropological Institute in 
assisting Miss G. Caton-Thompson to investigate the prehistoric archeology 
of the Kharga Oasis.—Dr. H. S. Harrison (Chaiyman), Prof. J. L. Myres, 
O.B.E.,F.B.A. (Secretary), Miss G. Caton-Thompson, Mr.H.J.E. Peake. £25. 


To report on the probable sources of the supply of copper used by the Sumerians. 
—Mr. H. J. E. Peake (Chaiyman), Dr. C. H. Desch, F.R.S. (Secretary), 
Mr. H. Balfour, F.R.S., Mr. L. H. Dudley Buxton, Prof. V. Gordon Childe, 
Mr. O. Davies, Prof. H. J. Fleure, F.R.S., Dr. A. Raistrick, Dr. R. H. Rastall. 


To co-operate with the Torquay Antiquarian Society in investigating Kent’s 
Cavern.—Sir A. Keith, F.R.S. (Chairman), Prof. J. L. Myres, O.B.E., F.B.A. 
(Secretary), Mr. M. C. Burkitt, Miss D. A. E. Garrod, Mr. A.D. Lacaille. 5. 


To excavate the Roman fort at Brancaster, Norfolk —Mr. M. C. Burkitt (Chair- 
man), Mr. V. E. Nash Williams (Secretary), Mr. K. H. Jackson. £20. 


To investigate blood groups among primitive peoples——Prof. H. J. Fleure 
(Chairman), Prof. R. Ruggles Gates, F.R.S. (Secretary), Dr. J. H. Hutton, 
C.1L.E., Dr. F. W. Lamb, Mr. R. U. Sayce. £10. 


To co-operate with a Committee of the Royal Anthropological Institute in the 
exploration of caves in the Derbyshire district.—Mr. M. C. Burkitt (Chair- 
man), Mr. A. Leslie Armstrong (Secretary), Prof. H. J. Fleure, F.R.S., Miss 
D. A. E. Garrod, Dr. J. Wilfred Jackson, Prof. L. S. Palmer, Mr. H. J. E. 
Peake. £25. 


To carry out research among the Ainu of Japan.—Prof. C. G. Seligman, F.R.S. 
(Chairman), Mrs. C. G. Seligman (Secretary), Dr. H. S. Harrison, Capt. 
T. A. Joyce, O.B.E., Rt. Hon. Lord Raglan. 


' To report on the classification and distribution of rude stone monuments in the 
British Isles—Mr. H. J. E. Peake (Chaivman), Dr. Margaret A. Murray 
(Secretary), Mr. A. L. Armstrong, Mr. H. Balfour, F.R.S., Mrs. E. M. 
Clifford, Sir Cyril Fox, Mr. T. D. Kendrick. 


To conduct archeological and ethnological researches in Crete.—Prof. J. L. 
Myres, O.B.E., F.B.A. (Chairman), Dr. G. M. Morant (Secretary), Mr. L. 
Dudley Buxton, Dr. W. L. H. Duckworth. 


To report to the Sectional Committee on the question of re-editing ‘ Notes and 
Queries in Anthropology.’—Prof. H. J. Fleure, F.R.S. (Chaiyman), Mr. Elwyn 
Davies (Secretary), Dr. H. S. Harrison, Dr. G.M. Morant, Prof. C. G. Seligman, 
F.R.S., Mrs. C. G. Seligman. 


To investigate early mining sites in Wales.—Mr. H. J. E. Peake (Chairman), 
Mr. Oliver Davies (Secretary), Prof. V. Gordon Childe, Dr. C. H. Desch, 
F.R.S., Mr. E. Estyn Evans, Prof. H. J. Fleure, F.R.S., Prof. C. Daryll 
Forde, Sir Cyril Fox, Dr. Willoughby Gardner, Dr. F. J. North, Mr. V. E. 
Nash Williams. £5. 


SECTION I.—PHYSIOLOGY. 


To deal with the use of a stereotactic instrument.—Prof. J. Mellanby, F.R.S. 
(Chairman and Secretary). 


Ix RESEARCH COMMITTEES, ETC. 


SECTION J.—PSYCHOLOGY. 


To develop tests of the routine manual factor in mechanical ability.—Dr. C. S. 
Myers, C.B.E., F.R.S. (Chaivman), Dr. G. H. Miles (Secretary), Prof. C. 
Burt, Dr. F. M. Earle, Dr. Ll. Wynn Jones, Prof. T.H. Pear. £80 (Leicester 
and Leicestershire Fund grant). 

The nature of perseveration and its testing.—Prof. F. Aveling (Chairman), 
Dr. W. Stephenson (Secretary), Prof. F. C. Bartlett, F.R.S., Dr. Mary Collins, 
Mr. E. Farmer, Dr. P. E. Vernon. £10 (Leicester and Leicestershire Fund 
grant). 


SECTION K.—BOTANY. 


Transplant experiments.—Sir Arthur Hill, K.C.M.G., F.R.S. (Chaivman), Dr. 
W. B. Turrill (Secretary), Prof. F. W. Oliver, F.R.S., Prof. E. J. Salisbury, 
F.R.S., Prof. A.G. Tansley, F.R.S. 5. 


SECTION L.—EDUCATIONAI, SCIENCE. 


To consider and report upon the place of Science in Adult Education.—Dr. A. W. 
Pickard-Cambridge (Chaivman), Mr. A. Gray Jones (Secretary), Mrs. V. 
Adams, Prof. W. B. Brierley, Prof. L. E. S. Eastham, Sir Richard Gregory, 
Bart., F.R.S., Mr. A. E. Henshall, Prof. R. Peers. £10. 


CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES. 


Corresponding Societies Committee.—The President of the Association (Chaiyman 
ex-officio), Dr. C. Tierney (Secretary), the General Secretaries, the General | 
Treasurer, Dr. Vaughan Cornish, Mr. T.S. Dymond, Sir A. E. Kitson, C.M.G., 
C.B.E., Dr. A. B. Rendle, F.R.S., Mr. T. Sheppard, Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith. 


RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Ixi 


RESOLUTIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS. 


The following resolutions and recommendations were referred to the 
Council by the General Committee at the Blackpool Meeting for con- 
sideration and, if desirable, for action : 


From Section B (Chemistry). 


The members of Committee of Section B, in agreement with the views 
expressed in their President’s address regarding science and warfare, 
request the General Committee to secure all possible publicity for the follow- 
ing: (1) The extent to which Chemistry is applied for beneficent purposes 
in connection with the industry of the British nation and the health of its 
citizens, is enormously greater than the scope of its employment for purposes 
of warfare. (2) Whilst the individual must remain free to determine his 
own action in relation to national defence, chemists as a body view with 
grave concern the increasing use of science for destructive ends. 


From Section C (Geology). 


The Committee of Section C desire to call the attention of Council to 
the Report which has been drawn up for them on the Teaching of Geology 
in Schools. Enquiries have shown that the subject is practically excluded 
from all but a few schools. This is already producing a dearth of able 
students at the universities, with a consequent narrowing of the basis of 
recruitment for professional geologists, and it is likely to produce a decline 
in the standard of research in this country. 


From Section C (Geology). 


The Committee of Section C draw the attention of Council to the report 
of their research committee on climatic change, and request them to take 
such steps as they think fit to implement the suggestions contained therein. 


From Section G (Engineering). 


The members of Section G desire to call the attention of the Association 
to the manner in which applications of science to industry are impeded by 
the present unsatisfactory legal procedure in connection with patent actions. 
They recommend that a committee be established to collect information in 
this matter and to frame possible improvements in procedure in technical 
cases having particularly in mind improved means whereby issues can be 
more expeditiously examined in the light of technical knowledge and sum- 
marised for submission to the judge. 


From the Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies. 


Resolved : to request the Council of the British Association to bring to 
the notice of the respective Councils for the Preservation of Rural England, 
Scotland, and Wales the increasing menace to health and amenity, of rubbish 


Ixii RESOLUTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 


dumping in places of natural beauty and scientific interest ; and to request 
the said Councils to make representation to the responsible administrative 
authorities concerned with a view to its mitigation. 


From the iGonieren of Delegates of Corresponding Societies, supported 
by Sections C, D, E, K. 


Resolved : to request the Council of the British Association to support 
the Council for the Preservation of Rural England in its endeavour to 
stimulate His Majesty’s Government to consider and take action upon the 
Report of the Government Committee on National Parks. 


SOFEB 1937 


Hritish Association for the Adbancement 
of Scrence. 
BLACKPOOL: 1936 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


THE IMPACT OF SCIENCE 
UPON SOCIETY 


BY 
om JOSIAH STAMP, G.C.B., G:B.E., LL.D., Sc.D. D.Sc., F:B.A. 
PRESIDENT OF THE ASSOCIATION. 


DurInG the past year we have had to mourn the loss of our Patron, 
King George V, but to rejoice in the honour done us by His Majesty 
King Edward VIII, himself our most illustrious past President, 
in taking that office. 

Since the beginning of this century the British Association has, 
till now, added only one new place of meeting in this country to 
its list. Blackpool can certainly do for science in the North all that 
Bournemouth achieved in the South: give our record new vigour 
and itself a new friend. 

The reactions of society to science have haunted our presidential 
addresses with various misgivings for some years past. In his 
great centenary address General Smuts, answering the question 
‘What sort of a world picture is science leading to ?’ declared that 
one of the great tasks before the human race is to link up science 
with ethical values and thus to remove grave dangers threatening 
our future. For rapid scientific advance confronts a stationary 
ethical development, and science itself must find its most difficult 
task in closing a gap which threatens disruption of our civilisation, 
and must become the most effective drive towards ethical values. 
In the following year a great Engineer spoke as a disillusioned man, 
who watched the sweeping pageant of discovery and invention in 
which he used to take unbounded delight, and concluded by de- 
ploring the risk of losing that inestimable blessing, the necessity 

B 


2 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


of toil and the joy of craftsmanship, declaring that spiritual better- 
ment was necessary to balance the world. ‘Then came the President 
of the Royal Society, a supreme Biochemist, on the perils of a leisure 
made by science for a world unready for it, and the necessity for 
planning future adjustment in social reconstructions. Followed 
the Astronomer, deploring man’s lack of moral self-control; in 
knowledge man stands on the shoulders of his predecessor, whereas 
in moral nature they are on the same ground. ‘The wreck of civilisa- 
tion is to be avoided by more and not by less science. Lastly, the 
Geologist gloried in the greatest marvel of millions of centuries of 
development, the brain of man, with a cost in time and energy that 
shows us to be far from the end of a mighty purpose, and looking 
forward confidently to that further advance which alone can justify 
the design and skill lavished on such a task. So the Geologist 
pleads then for scientific attention to man’s mind. He has the 
same faith in the permanence of man’s mind through the infinite 
range of years 


© Which oft hath swept this toiling race of men 
And all its laboured monuments away,’ 


that is shown at the Grand Canyon, where, at the point exposing, 
in one single view, over a billion and a half years of the world’s 
geological history, a tablet is put to the memory of Stephen Tyng 
Mather, the founder of the National Park Service, bearing what is 
surely the most astonishing scientific expression of faith ever so 
inscribed : 


‘ There will never come an end to the good that he has done.’ 


We have been pleading then in turn for ethical values, for spiritual 
betterment, for right leisure, for moral advance, and for mental 
development, to co-ordinate change in man himself with every 
degree of advance in natural science in such a harmony that we may 
at last callit Progress. ‘This extension of our deeper concern beyond 
our main concern is not really new, but it has taken a new direction. 
I find that exactly one hundred years ago there was a full discussion 
of the moral aspects, a protest that physical science was not indeed, 
as many alleged, taking up so much of the attention of the public as 
to arrest its study of the mind, of literature and the arts; and a 
round declaration that by rescuing scientists from the narrowness 
of mind which is the consequence of limiting themselves to the 
details of a single science, the Association was rendering ‘ the pre- 
vailing taste of the time more subservient to mental culture.’ A 
study of these early addresses shows that we are more diffident to- 
day in displaying the emotions and ideals by which I do not 
doubt we are all still really moved. But they also show that we 


° THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 5 


are preoccupied to-day with some of the results of scientific dis- 
covery of which they were certainly then only dimly conscious.. A 
part of that field, which ought itself to become scientific, is my 
theme to-day. 

What do we mean by impact? My subject is not the influence 
or effect of science upon society—too vast, varied and indeterminate 
for such an occasion. We may consider the position of the average 
man, along a line of change we call ‘ progress,’ at the beginning 
of a certain interval of time and at its end. We might then 
analyse how much is due to a change in the average man himself, 
his innate physical and mental powers, and how much to other 
influences, and particularly to science. We may debate whether 
the distance covered is great or small by some assumed standard, 
and whether progress has been rapid. We might ask whether the 
direction has been right, whether he is happier or better—judged 
again by some accepted standard. But our concern here is with 
none of these questions. I ask whether the transition has been 
difficult and distressing, in painful jerks and uprootings, costly, 
unwilling, or unjust; or whether it has been easy, natural, and 
undisturbing. Does society make heavy weather of these changes, 
or does it, as the policeman would say, ‘come quietly’? The 
attitude of mind of our order may be either that change is an 
interruption of rest and stability, or that rest and stability are a 
mere pause in a constant process of change. But these alternatives 
make all the difference to its accommodating mechanisms. In 
one case there will be well developed tentacles, grappling irons, 
anchorages, and all the apparatus of security. In the other, society 
will put on casters and roller bearings, cushions, and all the aids 
to painless transition. ‘The impact of science will be surprising and 
painful in the one case, and smooth and undamaging in the other. 
Whatever may be the verdict of the past, is society and its institu- 
tions now learning that change is to be a continuous function, and 
that meeting it requires the development of a technique of its own ? 

Science itself has usually no immediate impact upon institutions, 
constitutions and philosophies of government and social relations. 
But its effects on people’s numbers, location and habits soon have ; 
_and the resistance and repugnance shown by these institutions 
and constitutions to the changed needs may rebound or react through 
those effects upon scientific enterprise itself and make it more pre- 
carious or more difficult. Thus the effect of applications of 
electricity and transport improvements is clearly to make the original 
areal extent of city or provincial governments quite inappropriate, 
and the division of functions and methods of administration archaic. 
If these resist change unduly they make it more difficult and fric- 
tional, and the applications of science less profitable and less readily 


4 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS . 


acceptable. ‘Time makes ancient good uncouth. When two bodies 
are violent or ungainly in impact, both may be damaged. If the 
‘written constitution of the United States, devised for the ‘ horse and 
buggy ’ days, still proves not to be amenable to adjustment for such 
demands, it will be difficult to overstate the repercussion upon 
economic developments and the scientific enterprise that originates 
them. Letthe Supreme Court Decision of unconstitutionality on the 
Tennessee Valley experiment in large scale applied science to natural 
problems on a co-ordinated plan bear witness. Such unnecessary 
resistance may be responsible for much of what has been aptly 
called ‘ the frustration of science.’ Avoidable friction in the recep- 
tion given to scientific discovery not only deprives the community 
of advantages it might otherwise have enjoyed much earlier, or 
creates a heavy balance of cost on their adoption; it may also 
discourage applied science itself, making it a less attractive and 
worthwhile pursuit. In that sense we are considering also the 
impact of society upon science. This toois notnew. The Associa- 
tion had as one of its first objects ‘ to obtain a more general attention 
to the objects of Science, and a removal of any disadvantages of a 
public kind which impede its progress.’ The first address ever 
offered affirmed that the most effectual method of promoting science 
was the removal of the obstacles opposing its progress, and the 
President instanced the very serious obstacles in the science of 
optics due to the regulations relating to the manufacture of glass. 
To-day perhaps the scientist places more stress upon the failure 
of governments to encourage, than upon their tendency to dis- 
courage. So much then for the zdea of impact. Is the scientist 
or inventor responsible for impact, and if not, who is ? 

Elsewhere I have retouched Jeremy Bentham’s poignant picture 
of the inventor of over a century ago, plans and cap in hand, on the 
doorstep of the rich or influential, waiting for someone to believe 
in him. From this type of external ‘ sport ’ amongst engineers and 
scientists came much or most industrial innovation, external to the 
processes of business. ‘To-day, in the older and applied sciences 
affecting industry the solo scientist is the exception and, with the 
large research departments of particular businesses and trade research 
associations, the picture is quite different—the expenditure higher, 
but the results much more rapid and numerous even if for a time 
they may be kept secret. Although records of finished work may 
be available over the civilised world, there is much overlapping of 
current work, but the price of this as a whole is a far smaller fraction 
of the total result, if we omit from our consideration the first magni- 
tude discoveries of epoch-making influence. The industrial com- 
munity is now far more amenable than hitherto to scientific influence, 
indeed it is often the instigator in the mass of minor advances. The 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 5 


new epoch of concerted industrial research dates really from the 
end of the great war. During all that time I have held some middle 
position of responsibility between the research laboratories and 
institutes on the one hand, and the costing and profit and loss 
accounts on the other, and my impression is that the proportion of 
work in which the initiation comes from the business end is steadily 
increasing. In studies of the periods of scientific and industrial 
gestation respectively, I have elsewhere defined scientific gestation 
as the time elapsing between the first concept of the idea and its 
public presentation to society in a form substantially that in which 
it ultimately finds extensive use without important modification ; 
and industrial gestation as the period elapsing from this point to the 
date when in an economic or industrial sense the innovation is 
effective. Both periods are difficult to determine exactly in practice, 
but on a broad view, the period of industrial gestation, with which 
alone I am here concerned, appears to me certainly to have shortened 
materially, though possibly at greater social cost. It would ob- 
viously be so if industry is actively encouraging research. ‘ Faraday’s 
discoveries came at the beginning of the great steam era, and for 
fifty years there would have been no difference in transport even if 
those discoveries had not been made,’ for the telegraph was the 
only material influence upon it, and practical lighting was delayed 
till rg00. 

In nearly every scientific field there is sub-division of labour, and 
it is rare that the worker who digs out new truth ‘at the face,’ so to 
speak, is also responsible for bringing it to the surface for the public 
use, still less for distributing the new scientific apparatus or ideas 
broadly, and even less for the profitable exploitation of the whole 
process. ‘These functions are nearly always distinct, even though 
they are embraced under the one general popular description : 
chemist, engineer, etc. But in few cases is it any part of the pro- 
fessional training in the subject itself, to study how new products 
or processes affect the structure or welfare of society. I have 
questioned many scientific workers and find them, of course, keenly 
alive to the positive and direct beneficial effects of their work, but 
they have rarely any quantitative ideas as to negative, indirect and 
disturbing consequences. All these discoveries, these scientific 
infants, duly born and left on the doorstep of society, get taken in 
and variously cared for, but on no known principle, and with no 
directions from the progenitors. Nor do the economists usually 
acknowledge any duty to study this phase, to indicate any series of 
tests of their value to society, or even of methods and regulation of 
the optimum rate of introduction of novelty. These things just 
‘happen’ generally under the urge of profit, and of consumers’ 
desire, in free competition, regardless of the worthiness of new 


6 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


desires against old, or of the shifts of production and, therefore, 
employment, with their social consequences. The economist 
rightly studies these when they happen, but he is not dogmatic 
about them not being allowed to happen at all in just that way on 
account of the social disturbance or degradation of non-economic 
values which they may involve. It is truly a ‘ no-man’s land’ for 
it is rarely that the functions of government begin until a vested 
problem exists. Especially in Britain we do not anticipate— 
‘Don’t worry,—it may never happen.’ Problems with us are 
usually called ‘academic’ until we are ‘ going down for the third 
time.’ It is a maxim of political expediency not to look too far 
ahead, for it is declared that one will always provide for the wrong 
contingency. The national foresight over wireless was exceptional, 
and it has to be contrasted with the opportunist treatment of the 
internal combustion engine. In reply, it can, of course, be urged 
that no one can foresee just how a scientific idea will develop until 
it is tried out, rough and tumble, in economic society, and to make 
anticipatory rules may even hinder its development. 

It is rightly stated that the training of the scientist includes no 
awareness of the social consequences of his work, and the training 
of the statesman and administrator no preparation for the potentiality 
of rapid scientific advance and drastic adjustment due to it, no 
prevision of the technical forces which are shaping the society in 
which he lives. The crucial impact is nobody’s business. 

When the research worker lifts his attention from his immediate 
pursuit and contemplates its hinterland, he has three possible areas 
of thought. He may dwell upon its practical applications and seek 
to make them as immediate and realistic as possible ; moved by the 
desire not to be merely academic, he may return to his task, to focus 
his attention primarily on what is likely to be of practical utility, 
rather than on what is intellectually intriguing. Or he may think of its 
ultimate social consequences, and speculate on the shifts in demand, 
the unemployment, the loss of capital, the ultimate raising of the 
standard of life that may result—in other words, he may engage in 
economic prevision and social and political planning for the results 
of his efforts. Or in the third place, he may listen and watch for 
hints from other fields of scientific study which may react upon his 
own, and suggest or solve his problems. I do not attempt to give 
these priority. Economic and political prevision is the most difficult 
and precarious, because it needs a technique different from his own, 
and is not given by the light of nature. Specialist scientists have no 
particular gifts for understanding the institutional processes of social 
life and the psychology of multiple and mass decisions. It is a 
tortuous and bafHing art to transmute their exact findings into the 
wills and lives of unscientific millions. But quite a number engage 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 7 


in the pursuit and have not much greater aptitude as amateur 
ministers of foresight than statesmen would have in planning 
research. Fewer are skilled, however, in what should be the most 
appropriate auxiliary to their work—the synthesising of scientific 
knowledge. The more penetrating they are in their main pursuits, 
the less may they absorb through analogy or plain intimation from 
outside. We constantly hear that the average clinical application 
lags much farther behind the new resources of diagnosis from the 
laboratory than circumstances compel. But it may be the other 
way round. ‘The strongest hint of the presence of a particular factor 
—a positive element in beri-beri—was given by the clinician to the 
bio-chemist, who relied entirely on the absence of a particular factor, 
a negative element, no less than fifteen years before the bio-chemist 
took serious notice, looked for it, and found it. Bacteriology and 
chemistry await the advance of the bio-chemist before they come 
effectively to each other’s assistance. The cause and prevention of 
the obstinate degree of maternal mortality are objects pursued ad hoc, 
with hardly a casual glance at the direct appeal of the eugenist to 
observe the natural consequences of an improvement in female infant 
mortality two decades earlier. 

I do not then pretend to dogmatise as to how far the scientist 
should become a social reformer. One physicist welcomes the 
growing sense of social responsibility, among some scientists at 
least, for the world the labours of their order have so largely created, 
though he deplores that in this field they are still utterly unscientific. 
Then another great authority, Sir Henry Dale, declares that it is the 
scientists’ job to develop their science without consideration of the 
social uses to which their work might be put. 

I have long watched the processes by which the scientific specialist 
‘makes up his mind ’ in fields of enquiry outside his own. It seems 
still a matter for investigation whether the development of a 
specialist’s thinking on balance impairs or improves the powers of 
general thinking compared with what they might otherwise have 
been. We do not know the kind or degree of truth that may rest 
in Anatole France’s aphorism: ‘'The worst of science is, it stops 
you thinking.’ Perhaps this was more subtly expressed in the 
‘ simpler words of the darkie mother : ‘ If you haven’t an education, 
you’ve jest got to use yoh brains.’ 

My own experience is that when the attempt to deal with social 
consequences is made, we quickly find ourselves either in the field 
of larger politics debating the merits of the three prevalent forms of 
state government, or else performing miracles with fancy currencies 
and their blue prints reminiscent of the chemical engineer. 

But there are some essential features of the impact which must be 
dealt with under any form of society and government and with any 


8 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS : 


machinery for regulating values. ‘They involve man’s abilities, his 
affections, and his tools, all of which have been brusquely treated in 
the past, and might be scientifically treated in the future. An indus- 
trial civilisation is unthinkable without division and, therefore, 
specialisation, of labour, and without tools and capital instruments. 
Then life itself is not much worth living without social ties and the 
allegiances of place andkin. These three indispensable elements of 
the good life bring out defensive mechanisms for their protection. No 
one likes to see a man highly trained for a special service or specially 
fitted by natural aptitudes cut off from opportunity to use his powers 
and reduced to the level of an unskilled biped. No one likes to see 
the results of abstinence and specially directed labour which is 
embodied in a great machine or factory rendered impotent long 
before it has given its life’s usefulness. Waste of skill and of capital 
are alike grave faults by which we should judge and condemn an 
industrial organisation. And since man does not live by bread 
alone, if a ruthless industrial organisation continually tears up the 
family from its roots, transferring it without choice, to new surround- 
ings, destroying the ties of kin, home and social life, of educational 
and recreational environments, it is far from ideal. Human labour 
can never be indefinitely fluid and transferable in a society that has 
a soul above consumption of mere commodities. These three 
obstructions to change are not final and rigid limitations upon it. 
Men die, their skill and home associations with them. Plant and 
equipment wear out. Their successor presents a natural opportunity 
in each of the three cases for the introduction of change in position, 
in aptitude, in purpose or design, without waste or human distress. 
The length of working life and the durability of materials mark the 
natural phase or periodicity of a smoothly changing society—its 
quanta, so to speak. But the impetus for change or the irritant has 
no such intervals. It proceeds from various causes: varying 
harvests, changes in natural forces; changing human desires and 
fashions ; differences in the rate of growth of population in its 
different parts ; the collective psychological errors of optimism and 
pessimism in business in an individualistic society ; variations in 
gold supplies and credit policies based thereon. All or any of these, 
without invoking any disturbances from the impact of scientific 
discovery, would serve to make adjustments necessary outside the 
natural phases to which I have referred, in a society with parts that 
are interdependent through division of labour, and localisation of 
industry, joined by foreign trade and convenient transport. These 
alone would bring about a changing world with incomplete adapta- 
tions, loss of capital, and so-called frictional unemployment. It is 
easy to exaggerate the adjustment necessary for the addition of inven- 
tion and science to these causes of change. But with the intensifica- 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 9 


tion of scientific effort, and the greater sub-division of industry, the 
possible dislocation becomes more frequent and the ways of meet- 
ing such change of greater publicimportance. This field of inquiry 
includes widely diverse questions, e.g., patent laws, invention clear- 
ing, obsolescence accountancy and costing regulation, taxation 
adjustments, local rating pooling, trade union regulations, price 
controls, technical education, age and other discriminations in 
unemployment relief, transfer bonuses, pension rights, housing 
facilities, and more selective direction of financial support of intensive 
scientific research. In this neutral field the specialist scientist and 
the politician are both amateurs. It is to be covered by each 
extending his studies, and by specialists who treat impact and 
change as an area of scientific study. 

I do not propose to go over all the ground, so old, so constantly 
renewed, as to the effect of machinery upon employment. It is 
known as an historical induction that in the long run, it makes more 
employment than it destroys, in providing work in making the 
machinery, in reducing price so that far greater quantities of the 
commodity concerned may be consumed, and in enabling purchasing 
power to be diverted to increase other productions. It has even 
facilitated the creation of a larger population, which in turn has pro- 
vided the new markets to work off the additional potentiality of the 
machinery. It does all this in ‘ the long run,’ but man has to live 
in the short run, and at any given moment there may be such an 
aggregation of unadjusted ‘short runs’ as to amount to a real 
social hardship. Moreover, it comes in this generation to a people 
made self-conscious by statistical data repeated widespread at 
frequent intervals, and to a people socially much more sensitive to 
all individual hardship and vicissitude which is brought about by 
communal advance. 

There are two important aspects of the change induced by science 
which are insufficiently realised, and which makes a profound 
difference to the direction of thought and inquiry. The first I will 
call the ‘ balance of innovation’ and the second the ‘ safety valve’ 
of population. 

The changes brought by science in economic life may be broadly 
classified as the ‘ work creators ’ and the ‘ work savers.’ The latter 
save time, work, and money by enabling the existing supply of par- 
ticular commodities to be produced more easily, and therefore at 
lower cost, and finally at lower prices. People can spend as much 
money as before upon them and get larger quantities or they can 
continue to buy their existing requirements at a lower cost. In this 
second event they ‘save money’ and their purchasing power is 
released for other purposes. By a parallel process, producing or 
labouring power is released through unemployment. ‘The released 

B2 


10 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


working force and released purchasing power can come together 
again in an increased demand for other products which, to this extent, 
have not been hitherto within effective demand. The supply of this 
increase may go part or all of the way to absorb the displaced labour. 
But this process takes time, and the labour displaced is not at once 
of the right kind nor in the right place. More important, however, 
is the invention of quite new objects of public demand, which may be 
desired in addition to the supply of old ones. This brings together 
released labour and released purchasing power in the most decisive 
way. ‘The most orderly and least disturbing phases of progress will 
be found when these two types of innovation are reasonably balanced. 
Of course, few new objects of purchasing ambition are entirely 
additive; most of them displace some other existing supplies. 
Artificial silk displaces some cotton consumption, radio may displace 
some types of musical instruments. Recently the German produc- 
tion of pianos and guitars has been at a very low percentage of 
capacity, and part of this has been made good by the demand for 
radio sets. The dislocations caused by labour-saving machinery 
can most easily be made good by a due balance of new labour 
creating commodities. 

A natural increase of population is the best shock absorber that the 
community can possess, especially if accompanied by an extension 
of territory such as the United States enjoyed in the constant west- 
ward movement of the frontier in the nineteenth century, or Britain 
in the period of overseas emigration. A moment’s reflection will 
show why this is the case. Assume that 1,000,000 units of a com- 
modity are made by 100,000 men, and that there is an increase of 
population of 2 per cent. per annum, so that in five years 1,100,000 
units will be consumed and employ 110,000 men. Now assume the 
introduction of a new invention which enables 1,100,000 units to 
be made by 100,000 men. ‘There will be no displacement of existing 
labour, but only a redirection of new and potential labour from that 
industry to other fields. Again, a considerable reduction in demand 
per head can be sustained without dislocation, if the actual aggregate 
of production demanded is maintained by increasing numbers. The 
affected industry can remain static and need not become derelict. 
New entrants to industry will be directed to those points where 
purchasing power, released through labour-saving devices, is creating 
new opportunity with new products. New capital is also naturally 
directed into the new channels, instead of into additions to the old 
industry. 

Now the problem before all western industrial countries is the 
fact that their populations are shortly becoming stationary (and then 
will begin to decline noticeably) and this safety valve of increasing 
population will no longer be available. Every transfer of per capita 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS II 


purchasing power to new directions must then be a definite deduction 
from the old directions, no longer made good by the steady increase 
in the numbers demanding less per head from those old sources. 
The impact of science upon a stationary population is likely, ceteris 
paribus, to be much more severely felt than upon a growing popula- 
tion, because the changes of direction cannot be absorbed by the 
newly directed workers. Of course, the effects of a static population 
can be mitigated if the per capita income is increasing, because a new 
direction of demand can be satisfied out of the additional purchasing 
power without disturbing the original directions of demand provided 
by the original purchasing power. But the change from a growing 
to a static or declining population is only one type of difficulty. 
While the aggregate is altering but slowly, the parts may be changing 
rapidly. Thus, in this country 40-4 millions in 1937 becomes 40°6 
in 1942, 40 in 1947, 39°8 millions in 1952, 38-9 in 1957 and 37°5 in 
1962. Butthe children aged 16—which I take because of its influence 
on schools, teaching and industrial entry—have been estimated, 
taking those in 1937 as 100, to be 85 in 1942, 73 in 1952 and 62 in 
1962. A fall of this magnitude means that industries and institutions 
dependent upon the present numbers must not be merely static but 
actually regressive. On the other hand, the old people from 65 to 
74 will increase in this ratio—r1o00, 113, 127, and 133. These 
problems of static populations at home are accentuated by the 
possibility of a similar tendency abroad, and need thought in advance. 
The Australian farmer is more affected by the British conditions of 
population than by his own. 

We have thus the first difficulty, that of a static total demand, the 
second, that the safety valve of new industrial entrants is becoming 
smaller, but a third difficulty comes from the present tendency of that 
class. Astationary elderly population must beveryinflexibletochange, 
but astream of new young life, evenif itis to be smaller, would give the 
opportunity for just that change of direction, in training and mobility, 
which society needs. But unfortunately, iti practice this does not 
now seem to be veryadaptable. For we learn from certain Unemploy- 
ment Insurance areas that while the older people will willingly take 
jobs at wages a few shillings in excess of the unemployment relief, 
the younger men are more difficult. For every one that will accept 
training under good conditions to suit them for eligible work, ten 
may refuse, and the number who will not go any distance to take 
work at good wages is also in excess of those who do. Attachment 
to place for older people is understandable, and has been accentu- 
ated by housing difficulties—one learns of miners unemployed in a 
village where the prospects of the pit reopening are negligible, while 
at the same time, only twenty miles away new miners are being 
created by attraction from agriculture to more extended workings in 


12 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


their area. ‘The very social machinery which is set up to facilitate 
change or to soften dislocation, aggravates the evil. The first two 
difficulties are unalterable. This third difficulty is a subject for 
scientific examination. 

So much for the effect of change of any kind upon employment. 
Now let us narrow this to scientific changes. At any given moment 
the impact of science is always causing some unemployment, but at 
that same time the constructive additional employment following upon 
past expired impacts is being enjoyed. But it is easy to exaggerate 
the amount of the balance of net technological unemployment. 
For industrial disequilibrium arises in many ways, having nothing 
whatever to do with science. Changes of fashion, exhaustion of 
resources, differential growth in population, changing customs and 
tariffs, the psychological booms and depressions of trade through 
monetary and other causes, all disturb equilibrium, and, therefore, 
contract and expand employment in particular places. Our analytical 
knowledge of unemployment is bringing home the fact that, like 
capital accumulation, it is the result of many forces. A recent 
official report indicated that a quite unexpected amount or percentage 
of unemployment would be present even in boom times. We know 
already that there may be a shortage of required labour in a district 
where there is an 8 or Io per cent. figure of unemployment. So, in 
this country there may well be a million unemployed in what we 
should call good times—it is part of the price we pay for the high 
standard of life secured by those who retain employment. For a 
level of real wage may be high enough to prevent every one being 
employable at that wage—though that is by no means the whole 
economic story of unemployment. Of this number probably 
200,000 would be practically unemployable on any ordinary basis— 
the ‘hard core’ as it is called. Perhaps seven or eight hundred 
thousand from the perpetual body, changing incessantly as to its unit 
composition, and consisting of workers undergoing transition from 
job to job, from plac€ to place, from industry to industry, with 
seasonal occupations—the elements of ‘ frictional’ unemployment 
through different causes. Out of this number, I should hazard that 
not more than 250,000 would be unemployed through the particular 
disturbing element of net scientificinnovation. This is the maximum 
charge that should be laid at the door of science, except in special 
times, such as after a war, when the ordinary application of new 
scientific ideas day by day has been delayed, and all the postponed 
changes tend to come with arush. At any given moment, of course, 
the technological unemployment that could be computed from the 
potentiality of new processes over displaced ones, appears to be much 
greater. But such figures are gross, and from them must be deducted 
all recent employment in producing new things or larger production 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 13 


of old things, due to science. If we are presenting science with part 
of the responsible account of frictional unemployment at any moment, 
it will be the total technological reduction due to new processes and 
displacement due to altered directions of demand, less the total new 
employment created by new objects of demand. This has to be 
remembered when we are being frightened by the new machine that 
does with one man what formerly engaged ten. Perhaps birth control 
for people demands ultimately birth control for their impedimenta. 

The rate of introduction of new methods and the consequent 
impact upon employment may depend upon the size and character 
of the business unit. If all the producing plants for a particular 
market are under one control, or under a co-ordinated arrangement, 
the rate of introduction of a new labour-saving device will be 
governed by a simple consideration. It can be introduced with each 
renewal programme for each replacement of an obsolete unit, and 
therefore without waste of capital through premature obsolescence. 
But this applies only to small advantages. If the advantages are 
large, the difference in working costs for a given production between 
the old and the new types may be so considerable that it will meet 
not only all charges for the new capital, but also amortize the wasted 
life of the assets displaced before they are worn out. In neither case 
then is there any waste of capital, and the absorption of the new idea 
is orderly in time. But it is quite otherwise if the units are in 
different ownerships. Excess capacity can quickly result from new 
ideas. A new ship or hotel or vehicle with the latest attractions of 
scientific invention, quite marginal in their character, may obtain the 
bulk of the custom, and render half empty and, therefore, half 
obsolete, a unit built only a year before. The old unit has to compete 
by lower prices, and make smaller profits. The newer unit is called 
upon to bear no burdens in aid of the reduced capital values of the 
old. It may be that the enhanced profits of the one added to the 
reduced profits of the other make an average return upon capital 
not far different from the average that would result in a community 
where orderly introduction on a renewal basis is the rule. Or per- 
haps the community gets some of its novelties rather earlier under 
competitive conditions and pays a higher rate of interest for them 
as a net cover for the risks of obsolescence. Waste of capital would 
be at a minimum if the ‘ physical’ life before wearing out were as 
short as the ‘ social’ life of the machine. To make a thing so well 
that it will last ‘ for ever’ is nothing to boast about if it will be out 
of fashion in a few years. 

Scientists often look at the problem of practical application as if 
getting it as rapidly as possible were the only factor to be considered 
in social advantage, and this difference in the position of monopoly 
or single management in their ability to ‘hold up’ new ideas is 


14 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


treated as a frustration in itself. Thus it has been said ‘ the danger 
of obsolescence is a great preventative of fundamental applications 
to science. Large firms tend to be excessively rigid in the structures 
of production.’ Supposing that the obsolescence in question is a 
real factor of cost, it would fall to be reckoned with in the computa- 
tion for transition, whatever the form of society, and even if the 
personal ‘ profit’ incentive were inoperative. It cannot be spirited 
away. A customary or compulsory loading of costs for short life 
obsolescence would retard uneconomically rapid competition of 
novelties and could be scientifically explored. 

Now let us look at displaced labour and the costs of it. If the 
effect of diversion of demand through invention is to reduce the 
scope or output of particular industries or concerns in private 
management, they have no option but to reduce staff. Ifthe pressure 
is not too great, or the change too rapid, this does not necessarily 
result in dismissals, for the contraction of numbers may be made 
by not filling up, with young people, the vacancies caused by natural 
wastage, through death and retirement. But where dismissals are 
inevitable, re-engagements may take place quickly in the competing 
industries, otherwise unemployment ensues. Any resulting burden 
does not fall upon the contracting and unprofitable industry—it has 
troubles enough of its own already. Nor is it put upon the new 
and rising industry, which is attracting to itself the transferred 
profits. In the abstract, it might be deemed proper that before the 
net gains of such an industry are computed or enjoyed it should 
bear the burdens of the social dislocation it causes by its intrusion 
into society. In practice, it would be difficult to assess its liability 
under this head, and in fact even if it could be determined, new 
industries have so many pioneer efforts and losses, so many failures, 
so many superseded beginnings, that it might well be bad social 
policy to put this burden upon them, for they would be discouraged 
from starting at all, if they had to face the prospect of such an 
overhead cost whatever their results. It would, of course, be 
theoretically possible to put a special levy on those new industries 
that turned out to be profitable, and to use it to relieve the social 
charges of dislocation of labour. But much the same argument 
could be used for the relief of obsoletism of capital. The distinction 
would, however, be that in the case of the capital it could be urged 
that the investor should have been wide enough awake to see the 
possibilities of the rival, whereas the worker, induced to take up 
employment in such a superseded industry, was a victim, and could 
not be expected to avoid it by prevision. In any case, the prevailing 
sentiment is rather to encourage developing industries, than to put 
special burdens upon them, in order that the fruits of science may 
be effectively enjoyed by society with as little delay as possible. 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 15 


In the upshot, therefore, the injuries to labour, though not to 
capital, are regarded as equitably a charge to be borne by society 
in general through taxation, and to be put upon neither the causing 
nor the suffering business unit. 

And it may well be assumed that taken throughout, the gains of 
society as a whole from the rapid advance are ample enough to cover 
a charge for consequential damages. But society is not consciously 
doing anything to regulate the rate of change to an optimum point 
in the net balance between gain and damage. 

The willingness of society to accept this burden is probably mainly 
due to the difficulty of fairly placing it, for we find that when it can 
actually be isolated and the community happens fortuitously to 
have a control, or the workers a power to induce, it will be thrown, 
not upon the attacking industry, if I may so call it, but upon the 
defender. Thus in the United States recently, the price of consent 
to co-ordinating schemes made for the railroads to reduce operating 
expenses, has been an agreement on this very point. If staff is 
dismissed, as it was on a large scale in the depression, because of 
fewer operations and less stock in consequence of reduced carriage 
through the smaller volume of trade, or through road and sea com- 
petition, no attempt is made to put any of the social cost upon the 
railroads, and the dismissed staff become part of the general unem- 
ployed. But if the self-defence of the companies against competition 
takes the form of co-operation with each other to reduce operations 
and stock and, therefore, costs, any resultant dismissals are made 
a first charge upon them. The agreement is elaborate, and has the 
effect of preventing any adjustments which an ordinary business 
might readily make when it throws the burden on society, unless 
those adjustments yield a margin of advantage large enough to pay 
for their particular special effects. Thus the rapidity of adjustment 
to new conditions, not to meet the case of higher profits to be made 
at the expense of workers, but rather to obviate losses through new 
competition, is materially affected, and a brake is put upon the 
mechanism of equilibrium in this industry which does not exist in 
its rivals, or in any others where the power exists to throw it upon 
the community. A similar provision exists in the Argentine, and it 
is imposed by Act of Parliament in Canada, but as one of the concerns 
is nationally owned, and the current losses fall upon the national 
budget, its charge is really socially borne in the end. In this 
country such provisions were part of the amalgamation project of 
1923, and of the formation of a single transport authority in London 
in 1933 and, therefore, did not arise through steps taken to meet 
new factors of competition. But the opportunity for their imposi- 
tion came when rights to road powers and rights to pooling arrange- 
ments were sought by the railways—both of them adjusting mechan- 


16 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


isms to minimise the losses due to the impact of new invention— 
and this was clearly a specialised case of keeping the burdens off 
society. In the case of the electricity supply amalgamation of 1933, 
brought about for positive advantages rather than in defence against 
competition, similar provision was made, and parliamentary powers 
for transfers to gas and water undertakings, also not defensive 
against innovation, have been accompanied by this obligation. In 
the case of such uncontrolled businesses as Imperial Chemicals and 
Shell Mex, rationalising to secure greater profits, rather than fighting 
rearguard actions to prevent losses, obligations to deal with re- 
dundancies had been voluntarily assumed. In such cases the public 
obloquy of big business operations inimical to society can be a 
negative inducement, but some freedom from radical competition 
in prices provides a positive power to assume the burden initially, 
and pass it forward through price to consumers, rather than back 
against shareholders. The third case, however, of making it a net 
charge on the improved profits, is quite an adequate outlet. If the 
principle of putting this particular obstacle in the way of adjust- 
ments to meet new competition (as distinct from increasing profits) 
is socially and ethically correct, it is doubtful whether it is wisely 
confined to cases where there is quite fortuitously a strategic control 
by public will. 

It will be clear that the difference between the introduction by 
purely competitive elements involving premature obsolescence and 
unemployment, and by delayed action, is a cost to society for a 
greater promptness of accessibility to novelty. The two elements 
of capital and labour put out of action, would have supplied society 
with an extra quantity of existing classes of goods, but society prefers 
to forgo that for the privilege of an earlier anticipation of new 
things. I estimate this price to be of the order of three per cent. 
of the annual national income. But when we speak of social 
advantage, on balance, outweighing social cost, we dare not be so 
simple in practice. If the aggregate individual advantage of adopt- 
ing some novelty is 1oox and the social cost in sustaining the 
consequential unemployed is gox, it does not follow that it is a 
justifiable bargain for society. The money cost is based on an 
economic minimum for important reasons of social repercussions. 
But the moral effects of unemployment upon the character and happi- 
ness of the individual escape this equation altogether, and are so great 
that we must pause upon the figures. What shall it profit a civilisa- 
tion if it gain the whole world of innovation and its victims lose 
their souls ? 

So far I have treated the problem of innovation as one of un- 
economic rapidity. But there is another side—that of improvident 
tardiness. Enormous potentialities are seen by scientists waiting 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 17 


for adoption for human benefit, under a form of society quicker to 
realise their advantage, readier to raise the capital required, readier 
to pay any price for dislocation and to adjust the framework of 
society accordingly. A formidable list of these potentialities can 
be prepared, and there is little doubt that with a mentality adjusted 
for change, society could advance much more rapidly. But there 
is a real distinction between the methods of adopting whatever it 
is decided to adopt, and the larger question of a more thoroughgoing 
adoption. In proportion as we can improve the impact of the 
present amount of innovation, we can face the problem of a larger 
amount or faster rate. Unless most scientific discoveries happen 
to come within the scope of the profit motive, and it is worth some- 
one’s while to supply them to the community, or unless the com- 
munity can be made sufficiently scientifically minded to include 
this particular demand among their general commercial demands, 
or in substitution for others, nothing happens—the potential never 
becomes actual. It has been computed that a benevolent dictator 
could at a relatively small expense, by applying our modern know- 
ledge of diet, add some two inches to the average stature and seven 
or eight pounds to the average weight of the general population, 
besides enormously increasing their resistance to disease. But 
dictators have disadvantages, and most people prefer to govern their 
own lives indifferently, rather than to be ideal mammals under 
orders. To raise their own standard of scientific appreciation of 
facts is the better course, if it is not utopian. It has been clear for 
long enough that a diversion of part of the average family budget 
expenditure from alcohol to milk would be of great advantage. 
But it has not happened. If the individual realised the fact, it 
certainly might happen. It is ironically remarked that the giving 
of free milk to necessitous children, with all the net social gain that 
it may bring about, has not been a considered social action for its 
own sake, but only the by-product emergency of commercial pres- 
sure—not done at the instance of the Ministry of Health or the 
Board of Education, but to please the Milk Marketing Board by 
reducing the surplus stocks of milk in the interests of the producer ! 

Scientists see very clearly how, if politicians were more intelligent, 
if business men were more disinterested and had more social 
responsibility, if governments were more fearless, far-sighted, and 
flexible, our knowledge could be more fully and quickly used to the 
great advantage of the standard of life and health—the long lag could 
be avoided, and we should work for social ends. It means, says 
Mr. Julian Huxley, ‘ the replacement of the present socially irrespon- 
sible financial control by socially responsible planning bodies.’ Also, 
it obviously involves very considerable alterations in the structure 
and objectives of society, and in the occupations and pre-occupations 


18 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


of its individuals. Now a careful study of the literature of planning 
shows that it deals mainly with planning the known, and hardly at 
all with planning for changes in the known. Although it contem- 
plates ‘ planned ’ research, it does not generally provide for intro- 
ducing the results of new research into the plan, and for dealing 
with the actual zmpact—the unemployment, redirection of skill, 
and location, and the breaking of sentimental ties that distinguish 
men from robots. It seems to have not many more expedients 
for this human problem than our quasi-individualist society with its 
alleged irresponsibility. It also tends to assume that we can tell in 
advance what will succeed in public demand and what will be super- 
seded. There is nothing more difficult, and the attempt to judge 
correctly under the intellectual stimulus of high profits and risk of 
great losses is at least as likely to succeed as the less personally vital 
decision onacommittee. Woulda planning committee, for example, 
planning a new hotel in 1904, have known any better than capitalist 
prevision that the fifteen bathrooms then considered adequate for 
social demand, ought really to have been ten times that number if the 
hotel was not to be considered obsolete thirty years later ? Prevision 
thought of in terms of hindsight is easy, and few scientists have 
enjoyed the responsibility of making practical decisions as to what 
the public will want far ahead. They, therefore, tend to think of 
prevision in terms of knowledge and appreciation of particular 
scientific possibilities, whereas it involves unknown demand schedules, 
the unceasing baffling principle of substitution, the inertia of 
institutions, the crusts of tradition and the queer incalculability of 
mass mind. Of course, in a world where people go where they are 
told, when they are told, do what they are instructed to do, accept 
the reward they are allotted, consume what is provided for them, 
and what is manifestly so scientifically ‘good for them’ these 
difficulties need not arise. The human problem will then be the 
‘Impact of Planning.’ I am not here examining the economics of 
planning as such, but only indicating that it does not provide auto- 
matically the secret of correct prevision in scientific innovation. 
When correct prevision is possible a committee can aim at planning 
with a minimum disturbance and wastage (and has the advantage 
over individuals acting competitively), but for such innovation as 
proves to be necessary it does not obviate the human disturbance or 
radically change its character. ‘The parts of human life are co- 
ordinated and some are more capable of quick alteration than others, 
while all are mutually involved. One may consider the analogy of a 
railway system which has evolved, partly empirically and partly 
consciously, as a co-ordinated whole. Suddenly the customary 
speed is radically changed, and then it may be that all the factors are 
inappropriate—distance between signals, braking power, radius of 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 19 


curves, camber or super-elevation, angles of crossings, bridge stresses. 
The harmony has been destroyed. Especially may this be the case if 
the new factor applies to some units only, and not to all, when the 
potential density of traffic may be actually lessened. The analogy 
for the social system is obvious, and its form of government matters 
little for the presence of the problem, though it may be important 
in the handling of it. 

I have spoken as though the normal span of life of men and 
machinery themselves provides a phase to which scientific advance 
might be adjusted for a completely smooth social advance. But 
this would be to ignore customs and institutions, even as we see 
in Federal America, Australia and Canada, constitutions which 
lengthen that phase and make it less amenable as a natural transition. 
At one time we relied on these to bring about the economic adjust- 
ment necessary. But technical changes take place so rapidly that such 
forces work far too slowly to make the required adaptation. Habits 
and customs are too resistant to change in most national societies 
to bring about radical institutional changes with rapidity, and we 
patch with new institutions and rules to alleviate the effects rather 
than remove the causes of maladjustments. The twenty mile speed 
limit long outstayed its fitness, and old building restrictions remained 
to hamper progress. Edison is reported to have said that it takes 
twenty-five years to get an idea into the American mind. The Webbs 
have given me a modal period of nineteen years from the time when 
an idea comes up as a practical proposition from a ‘ dangerous ” left 
wing to the date when it is effectively enacted by the moderate or 
‘safe’ progressive party. This period of political gestation may be a 
function of human psychology or of social structure. We do not 
know how ideas from a point of entry, permeate, infiltrate or saturate 
society, following the analogues of conduction, convection, or lines 
of magnetic force. 

Our attitude of mind is still to regard change as the exceptional, 
and rest as the normal. This comes from centuries of tradition and 
experience, which have given us a tradition that each generation will 
substantially live amid the conditions governing the lives of its 
fathers, and transmit those conditions to the succeeding generation. 
As Whitehead says : ‘ we are living in the first period of human 
history for which this assumption is false.’ As the time span of 
important change was considerably longer than that of a single human 
life, we enjoyed the illusion of fixed conditions. Now the time 
span is much shorter, and we must learn to experience change 
ourselves. 

I have so far discussed modification of impact to meet the nature 
of man. Now we must consider modifying the nature of man to meet 
impact. 


20 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


Sociologists refer to our ‘ cultural lags ’ when some of the phases 
of our social life change more quickly than others and thus get out of 
gear and cause maladjustments. Not sufficient harm is done to 
strike the imagination when the change is a slow one, and all the 
contexts of law, ethics, economic relations and educational ideals 
tend towards harmony and co-ordination. We can even tolerate by 
our conventions, gaps between them when preachers and publicists 
can derive certain amusement and profit from pointing out our 
inconsistencies. But when things are moving very rapidly, these 
lags become important ; the concepts of theology and ethics, the 
tradition of the law, all tend to lag seriously behind changes brought 
about through science, technical affairs and general economic life. 
Some hold that part of our present derangement is due to the lack 
of harmony between these different phases—the law and govern- 
mental forms constitutionally clearly lag behind even economic 
developments as impulsed by scientific discovery. An acute American 
observer has said that ‘ the causes of the greatest economic evils of 
to-day are to be found in the recent great multiplication of inter- 
ferences by Government with the functioning of the markets, under 
the influence of antiquated doctrines growing out of conditions of 
far more primitive economic life.’ It would be, perhaps, truer to 
say that we are becoming ‘stability conscious ’ and setting greater 
store, on humanitarian grounds, by the evil effects of instability. 

In the United States it would be difficult to find, except theoreti- 
cally in the President, any actual person, or instrument in the 
Constitution, having any responsibility for looking at the picture of 
the country as a whole, and there is certainly none for making a co- 
ordinated plan. Indeed, in democracy, it is difficult to conceive it, 
because the man in public life is under continual pressure of particular 
groups, and so long as he has his electoral position to consider, he 
cannot put the general picture of progress in the forefront. White- 
head declared that when an adequate routine, the aim of every social 
system, is established, intelligence vanishes and the system is main- 
tained by a co-ordination of conditioned reflexes. Specialised training 
alone is necessary. No one, from President to miner, need under- 
stand the system as a whole. 

The price of pace is peace. Man must move by stages in which he 
enjoys for a space a settled idea, and thus there must always be 
something which is rather delayed in its introduction, and the source 
of sectional scientific scorn. If every day is ‘ moving ’ day, man must 
live in a constant muddle, and create that very fidget and unrest of 
mind which is the negation of happiness. Always ‘ jam to-morrow ’ 
—the to-morrow that ‘never comes.’ If we must have quanta o1 
stages, the question is their optimum length and character, not 
merely the regulation of industry and innovation to their tempo, 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 21 


but the education of man and society to pulse in the same rhythmic 
wavelength or its harmonic. 

In some ways we are so obsessed with the delight and advantage 
of discovery of new things that we have no proportionate regard for 
the problems of arrangement and absorption of the things discovered. 
We are like a contractor who has too many men bringing materials 
on to the site, and not enough men to erect the buildings with them. 
In other words, if a wise central direction were properly allocating 
research workers to the greatest marginal advantage, it would make 
some important transfers. There is not too much being devoted to 
research in physics and chemistry, as modifying industry, but there 
is too much relatively to the research upon the things they affect, 
in physiology, psychology, economics, sociology. We have not begun 
to secure an optimum balance. Additional financial resources should 
be applied more to the biological and human sciences than to the 
applied physical sciences, or possibly, if resources are limited, a 
transfer ought to be made from one to the other. 

Apart from the superior tone sometimes adopted by ‘ pure 
science ’ towards its own applications, scientific snobbery extends to 
poor relations. Many of the hard-boiled experimental scientists 
in the older and so productive fields, look askance at the newer 
borderline sciences of genetics, eugenics and human heredity, 
psychology, education, and sociology, the terrain of so much serious 
work but also the happy hunting ground of ‘ viewey’ cranks and 
_ faddists. Here the academic soloist is still essential, and he has no 
great context of concerted work into which to fit his own. But 
unless progress is made in these fields which is comparable with the 
golden ages of discovery in physics and chemistry, we are producing 
progressively more problems for society than we are solving. A 
committee of population experts has recently found that the expendi- 
ture on the natural sciences is some eight to ten times greater than 
that on social sciences. There is hardly any money at all available 
for their programme of research into the immense and vital problems 
of population in all its qualitative and quantitative bearings. An 
attack all along the front from politics and education to genetics and 
human heredity is long overdue. Leisure itself is an almost unex- 
plored field scientifically. For we cannot depend wholly on a hit 
and miss process of personal adaptation, great though this may be. 
There must be optimal lines of change which are scientifically 
determinable. We have seen in a few years that the human or social 
temperament has a much wider range of tolerance than we had sup- 
posed. Wecantake several popularexamples. The reaction to altered 
speed is prominent. In the Creevey Papers, it is recorded that the 
Knowsley party accomplished 23 miles per hour on the railway, and 
recorded it as ‘ frightful—impossible to divest yourself of the notion 


22 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


of instant death—it gave me a headache which has not left me yet— 
some damnable thing must come of it. I am glad to have seen this 
miracle, but quite satisfied with my first achievement being my last.’ 
In the British Association meeting for 1836, an address on Railway 
Speeds prophesied that some day 50 miles an hour might be possible. 
Forty years ago we may remember that a cyclist doing 15 to 18 miles 
an hour was a‘ scorcher ’ and a public danger. Twenty-five years 
ago, 30 miles an hour in motoring was an almost unhealthy and 
hardly bearable pace. ‘To-day the fifties and sixties are easily borne, 
both by passenger and looker on. Aeroplane speeds are differently 
judged, but at any rate represent an extension of the tolerance. 
Direct taxation thirty years ago in relation to its effect on individual 
effort and action seemed to reach a breaking-point and was regarded as 
psychologically unbearable at levels which to-day are merely amusing. 
The copious protection of women’s dress then would have looked 
upon to-day’s rationality as suicidal lunacy. One hesitates to say, 
therefore, that resistances to scientific changes will be primarily in 
the difficulty of mental and physical adjustments. But there can be 
little doubt that with the right applications of experimental psycho- 
logy and adjusted education, the mind of man would be still more 
adaptable. Unfortunately, we do not know whether education as 
an acquired characteristic is in any degree inheritable, and whether 
increasing educability of the mass is a mere dream, so that we are 
committed to a sisyphean task in each generation. Nor do we know 
whether this aspect is affected by the induced sterility of the age. 
It may not be a problem of changing the same man in his lifetime, 
but of making a larger difference between father and son. The 
latest teachings of geneticists hold out prospects for the future of 
man which we should like to find within our present grasp, and 
recent successful experiments with mammals in parthenogenesis 
and eutelegenesis bear some inscrutable expression which may be 
either the assurance of new hope for mankind or a devil’s grin of 
decadence. 

What is economics doing in this kaleidoscope ? 

The body of doctrine which was a satisfactory analysis of society 
twenty-five years ago is no longer adequate, for its basic postulates 
are being rapidly changed. It confined itself then to the actual 
world it knew and did not elaborate theoretical systems on different 
bases which might never exist. It is, therefore, now engaged in 
profoundly modifying the old structures to meet these new con- 
ditions. Formerly it assumed, quite properly, a considerable 
degree of fluid or competitive adjustment in the response of factors 
of production to the stimulus or operation of price, which was 
really a theory of value-equilibrium. Wherever equilibrium was 
disturbed, the disturbance released forces tending to restore it. 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 23 


To-day many of the factors formerly free are relatively fixed, such 
as wage levels, prices, market quotas, and when an external impact 
at some point strikes the organism, instead of the effect being ab- 
sorbed throughout the system by adjustments of all the parts, it now 
finds the shock evaded or transmitted by many of them, leaving the 
effects to be felt most severely at the few remaining points of free 
movement or accommodation. Unemployment is one of these. 
The extent to which this fact throws a breaking strain upon those 
remaining free points is not completely analysed, and the new 
economics of imperfect competition is not fully written out or 
absorbed. The delicate mechanism of price adjustment with the 
so-called law of supply and demand governed the whole movement, 
but with forcible fixation of certain price elements consequences 
arise in unexpected and remote quarters. Moreover, the search 
for a communally planned system to secure freedom from malad- 
justments involves a new economics in which the central test of price 
must be superseded by a statistical mechanism and a calculus of 
costs which has not yet been satisfactorily worked out for a com- 
munity retaining some freedom of individual action and choice. 
The old international currency equilibrated world forces and 
worked its way into internal conditions in order to do so. But the 
modern attempt to prevent any internal effect of changes in inter- 
national trade, or to counteract them, and the choice of internal 
price stability at all costs against variable international economic 
equations, has set economic science a new structure to build out of 
old materials. At this moment when elasticity is most wanted, 
stability leading to rigidity becomes a fetish. The aftermath of war 
is the impossibility of organising society for peace. 
_ The impact of economic science upon society to-day is intense 
and confusing, because, addressing itself to the logic of various sets 
of conditions as the likely or necessary ones according to its ex- 
ponents’ predilections, it speaks with several voices, and the public 
are bewildered. Unlike their claims upon physics and mathematics, 
since it is dealing with money, wages, and employment, the things 
of everyday, they have a natural feeling that it ought to be easily 
understandable and its truth recognisable. Balfour once said, in 
reference to Kant, ‘Most people prefer a problem which they 
cannot explain, to an explanation which they cannot understand.’ 
But in the past twenty years, the business world and the public 
have become economics-conscious, and dabble daily in index 
numbers of all kinds, and the paraphernalia of foreign exchange and 
statistics of economic life. The relativity of economic principle to 
national psychology baffles the economists themselves, for it can 
be said truly at one and the same time, for example, that confidence 
will be best secured by balancing the Budget, and by not balancing 


24 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


it, according to public mentality. ‘The economics of a community 
not economically self-conscious are quite different from those of a 
people who watch every sign and act accordingly. Thus the 
common notion that economics should be judged by its ability to 
forecast (especially to a particular date) is quite fallacious, for the 
prophecy, if ‘true’ and believed, must destroy itself, inasmuch as 
the economic conduct involved in the forecast is different after the 
forecast from what it would have been before. The paradox is 
just here, for example: if a people are told that the peak of prices 
in a commodity will actually be on June 10, they will all so act that 
they anticipate the date and destroy it. Economics, thoroughly 
comprehended, can well foretell the effects of a tendency, but hardly 
ever the precise date or amount of critical events in those effects. 
The necessity for a concentration upon new theoretical and analytical 
analysis, and upon realistic research, is very great. But so also is 
the need for widespread and popular teaching. For a single chemist 
or engineer may by his discovery affect the lives of millions who 
enter into it but do not understand it, whereas a conception in 
economic life, however brilliant, generally requires the conformity 
of the understanding and wills of a great number before it can be 
effective. 

But not alone economics : if the impact of science brings certain 
evils they can only be cured by more science. Ordered knowledge 
and principles are wanted at every point. Let us glance at three 
only, in widely different fields : man’s work, man’s health, man’s 
moral responsibility. The initial impact of new science is in the 
factory itself. The kind of remedy required here is covered by the 
work of the National Institute of Industrial Psychology. Some of this 
improves upon past conditions, some creates the conditions of greater 
production, but much of it combats the evils arising from new - 
conditions created by modern demands, speed, accuracy and 
intensity. It invokes the aid of many branches of science. It is the 
very first point of impact. Yet its finance is left to personal advocacy, 
and commands not ro per cent. of the expenditure on research in 
artificial silk, without which the world was reasonably happy for 
some centuries. We can judge of the scope of this by the reports 
of the Industrial Health Research Board. Again, the scientific 
ancillaries of medicine have made immense strides. Clinical medi- 
cine as an art makes tardy, unscientific and halting use of them. 
The public remain as credulous as ever, their range of gullibility 
widened with every pseudo-scientific approach. (We do not know 
what proportion of positive cases can create the illusion of a signi- 
ficant majority in mass psychology, but I suspect that it is often 
as low as twenty per cent.) For a considerable range of troubles 
inadequately represented in hospitals, the real experience passes 


THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 25 


through the hands of thousands of practitioners, each with too small 
a sample to be statistically significant, and is, therefore, wasted from 
a scientific standpoint. Half-verified theories run riot as medical 
fashions, to peter out gradually in disillusionment. If the scattered 
cases were all centralised through appropriately drawn case-histories, 
framed by a more scientifically trained profession, individual idio- 
syncrasy would cancel out, and mass scrutiny would bring the theories 
to a critical statistical issue of verification or refutation in a few 
months. This would be to the advantage of all society, and achieve 
an even greater boon in suggesting new points for central research. 

A suggestion has been made for an inventions clearing house, to 
‘ co-operate the scientific, social and industrial phases of Invention, 
and to reduce the lag between invention and application ’ managed 
by a committee of scientists and a committee of industrialists and 
bankers. The proposal came to me from New York, but London 
was to be the home of the organisation, which was to adopt a code of 
ethics in the interests of inventors, industry and social progress. ‘This 
brings me to my third example, the field of ethics, which needs the 
toil of new thought. The systems of to-day, evolving over two 
thousand years, are rooted in individualism and the relations between 
individuals. But the relations of society to-day are not predominantly 
individual, for it is permeated through and through with corporate 
relations of every kind. Each of these works over some delegated 
area of the individual’s choice of action, and evolves a separate code 
for the appropriate relationship. The assumption that ethical 
questions are decided by processes which engage the individual’s. 
whole ethical personality is no longer even remotely true. The 
joint stock company may do something, or refrain from doing some- 
thing, on behalf of its shareholders, which is a limited field of ethics, 
and may but faintly resemble what they would individually do with 
all other considerations added to their financial interests. ‘The whole 
body of ethics needs to be reworked in the light of modern corporate 
relations, from Church and company, to cadet corps and the League 
of Nations. 

In no case need we glorify change: but true rest may be only 
ideally controlled motion. 'The modern poet says : 


‘ The endless cycle of idea and action, 
Endless invention, endless experiment, 
Brings knowledge of motion, but not of stillness.’ 


But so long as we are to have change—and it seems inevitable—let 
us master it. TS. Eliot goes on: 


‘Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge ? 
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information ?’ 


26 THE PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


My predecessors have spoken of the shortcomings of the active 
world—to me they are but the fallings short of science. Wherever we 
look we discover that if we are to avoid trouble we must take trouble 
—scientific trouble. The duality which puts science and man’s other 
activity in contrasted categories with disharmony to be resolved, 
gaps to be bridged, is unreal. We are simply beholding ever-extend- 
ing science too rough round the edges as it grows. 

What we have learnt concerning the proper impact of science 
upon society in the past century is trifling, compared with what we 
have yet to discover and apply. We have spent much and long upon 
the science of matter, and the greater our success the greater must be 
our failure, unless we turn also at long last to an equal advance in the 
science of man. 


SECTION A—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 


TRENDS IN MODERN PHYSICS 


ADDRESS BY 
PROF. ALLAN FERGUSON, M.A., D.Sc., 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


Our Section has suffered heavy losses in the twelve months that have 
passed since the Norwich Meeting, and it is fitting that we should here 
pay due honour to the memories of McLennan, Glazebrook, Petavel and 
Pearson, who have, each in his own characteristic fashion, played so 
great a part in the advances made during this century. 

The genius and vigour of Sir John McLennan were quick to seize on 
and to develop those ideas which were fermenting at Cambridge in the 
last years of the nineteenth century and to impress on them a character 
peculiarly his own. His energy and versatility are shown equally in his 
early studies of penetrating radiation, in his discovery of the single line 
spectrum of zinc and cadmium, in his later work on the spectrum of the 
aurora and the nature of the famous green line, and in those studies of 
supraconductivity to which his last years in Toronto were given. His 
return to England found him unconquerably young in spirit and prepared 
to play his part in important investigations in radium beam therapy. 
He presided over the deliberations of this Section at the Liverpool Meeting 
of 1923, and those of us who were present at that meeting have vivid 
memories of an address which reviewed some of the major problems 
of atomic structure—an address which, the latest word on the matter in 
1923, reads to-day as an ancient tale. The laboratory at Toronto which 
bears McLennan’s name bears witness also to his genius as a leader of 
research and to his gifts as administrator and director. 

Sir Richard Glazebrook belonged to the elder generation—he presided 
over Section A so long ago as 1893—and to the last occupied himself 
with certain aspects of those problems of macroscopic physics which 
dominated the science of his century. His early papers on the Fresnel 
wave-surface are admirable examples of accurate work accomplished 
with the aid of simple apparatus ; and his experiments on the relation 
between the British Association unit of electrical resistance and the 
absolute unit marked the first step on a lifelong journey. Felix opportuni- 
tate mortis, illness was spared him, and death laid a kindly hand on his 
shoulder while he was still in the full tide of mental activity, still pursuing 
those studies which had been his companions for more than half a century. 
The National Physical Laboratory, which, opening in 1902 with two 
departments and a staff of twenty-six, had in ten years expanded to eight 


28 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


departments and a staff of a hundred and twenty-six, is Glazebrook’s 
enduring monument. 

The work of this great laboratory, stimulated by the conditions of 
the world-war, was further developed by Sir Joseph Petavel; under 
his guidance the laboratory has steadily grown. in prestige and in the 
range of its activities, which now demand the services of a staff of nearly 
seven hundred. In the counsels of our Association, Sir Joseph Petavel 
ranked as an engineer—he presided in 1919 over the work of Section G— 
but we of this Section are not unmindful of his contributions to physical 
science: of his studies of the emissivity of platinum at high temperatures, 
of the effect of pressure on arc-spectra, of his interest in the problem 
of aeroplane stability. 

Genius, both in its creative aspect and on that side which has been 
condensed by Edison into a whimsical phrase, marked all to which Karl 
Pearson put his hand. His ordered development of statistical theory 
wherein new light is shed on the fundamental problems of frequency 
distribution, correlation, and probable errors, formed a firm foundation 
for a superstructure impressive in its height and extent ; he never lost 
that early interest in elasticity shown in his completion of Todhunter’s 
massive History of the Theory of Elasticity; and his Grammar of Science, 
overlooked by the majority of our present-day physical-philosophers 
(though there is perceptible a movement in a direction which shows that 
its thesis is again finding favour), develops a point of view which should 
not prove unhelpful to the student of to-day who would fain remain 
a physicist without of necessity becoming a metaphysician. 

These men, whose memories we honour to-day, were trained in a 
tradition which differs toto coelo from that in which our present generation 
lives and moves. It seems, therefore, not unfitting that one of the 
presidents whom you have honoured by election to this chair should 
endeavour to put before you a picture which may show something of 
these changes and tell something of the facts that have caused them— 
if it be permissible to use a phrase which apparently commits one to a 
deterministic outlook. 

The world-picture of the older generation was, as we look back on it 
to-day, extraordinarily simple. It is, or has been, the fashion to describe 
nineteenth-century science as materialistic. There certainly was Buchner, 
and there was Tyndall’s Belfast address. But Dr. Stoffkraft had neither 
a long reign nor an influential following, and we shall be nearer to the 
truth if we look upon Victorian science as showing a simple realism— 
the realism of the man in the street—not wholly unrelated to that simple 
realism of to-day which sees in an alpha-ray track evidence for the existence 
of an atom of the same order as that furnished by a diffraction photograph 
(or, for that matter, of our own eyes) for the existence of a star. 

That is by no means the whole story, as far as Victorian science is 
eae Pearson tells a very different tale; but more of that 

ater. 

What we have learned to call the classic outlook was based on those 
notions of velocity, acceleration, momentum and force which were 
first formed into an ordered scheme by the genius of Newton—a scheme 


OS a Crh hr 


oe 


A.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES 29 


which sufficed to describe, succinctly and clearly, the series of perceptions 
involved in such phenomena as the motion of a pendulum, a billiard 
ball, a railway carriage, and (with certain reservations concerning fine 
points) the complex motions of the bodies of the solar system. The 
physical science of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was occupied 
in extending and clarifying these concepts, although eighteenth-century 
science in England was hampered by an excessive devotion to the memory 
of Newton, which committed the English mathematicians to the fluxional 
notation. It required the formation of a society at Cambridge ‘ to 
inculcate the principles of pure d-ism, and to rescue the University from 
its dot-age,’ before the British physical school could rival the advances 
of their continental brethren. 

As we have said, the attitude of the physicist to the fundamentals of 
his science was, in general, naively realistic. Mass was quantity of 
matter, and matter itself was defined as ‘ that which can be acted upon 
by, or can exert force,’ or alternatively ‘that which may have energy 
communicated to it from other matter.’ Obscurum per obscurius, with a 
vengeance ! 

Quantitatively, mass was defined, following Newton, as the product 
of volume and density ; and even Thomson and Tait are roused to a hint 
(without attempting to resolve the difficulty) that such a process results 
in a circular argument, inasmuch as we have no other way of defining 
density than as the ratio of mass to volume. 

Early in the nineteenth century discoveries, mainly in the realm of 
chemistry, gave fresh interest to atomic doctrines, and the simple concept 
of the billiard-ball atom proved to be brilliantly successful in explaining 
old happenings and in predicting new ones. It is not immediately 
obvious that an extrapolation of those laws which described the motions 
of bodies of the dimensions of a locomotive or a planet down to bodies 
of the indescribably minute dimensions given to an atom or molecule is 
likely to be successful in subsuming certain perceptual events; the 
extraordinary thing is, not that such an extrapolation should break down 
somewhere, but that it should have any validity at all. And the triumphs 
to be put to the credit of the hypothesis are sufficiently remarkable, 
as afty treatise on the kinetic theory of gases will testify. 

It is an odd fact that these days of probability and indeterminacy 
mark a period in which atomic and molecular constants have been 
evaluated to a degree of accuracy of which electrical standards need 
hardly be ashamed. And we may perhaps be pardoned a little local 
patriotism when we remember that a Manchester man, James Prescott 
Joule, made the first determination of an absolute molecular magnitude— 
the mean speed of a hydrogen molecule, which he evaluated as 6,055 ft. 
per second at the freezing point of water. This paper, which was 
published in 1848, is not the paper which was denied publication in 
extenso by the Royal Society, concerning whose refusal Joule remarked 
to Schuster, ‘ I was not surprised. I could imagine these gentlemen in 
London sitting round a table and saying to each other: “‘ What good can 
come out of a town where they dine in the middle of the day ?””’ That 
particular paper dates back to 1840, and marks an important stage in the 


30 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


story of nineteenth-century physics, for in it Joule described the experi- 
ments on which his famous C2R law is based, and enunciated the law. 
Indeed the story of the identification of heat with energy, in its novelty 
and the difficulty of its adoption, is as outstanding a feature of nineteenth- 
century physics as is the story of the equivalence of mass and energy 
in the physics of the twentieth century. 

No survey of the physical science of the last generation would be 
complete did it contain no reference to radiation and to the nineteenth- 
century concept of the mechanism by which radiation is conveyed. 
Despite the difficulty of framing a theory of the ether which should 
satisfy dynamical laws—‘ Why should it ?’ we might remark incidentally 
to-day—the concept of an ether of space was so brilliantly successful in 
correlating and predicting so many and so diverse phenomena—we need 
but instance that bending of light round corners which we call diffraction, 
that alternate heaping up and destruction of light which we term inter- 
ference, and that remarkable refraction of a ray of light by certain crystals 
as a cone of rays—as to draw from Lord Kelvin the downright statement, 
‘ This thing we call the luminiferous ether . . . is the only substance we 
are confident of in dynamics. One thing we are sure of, and that is the 
reality and substantiality of the luminiferous ether.’ Strange reading, 
to-day ; and reading which might well introduce a note of hesitation into 
some of the confident declarations of present-day realities. 

Molar mechanics, the billiard-ball atom, the ether: the nineteenth 
century had built on these apparently stable foundations an immense 
structure of ordered knowledge. The closing years of the century were 
fated to show cracks in the superstructure and weaknesses in the founda- 
tions. The facts of radio-activity and the discovery of the electron showed 
that the concept of the atom must increase in complexity were it to 
remain competent to subsume the additional perceptual facts. And the 
experimental study of the radiation from a hot body revealed a state of 
affairs inexplicable on the lines of classical theory. A hot body radiates 
energy, and if the radiations are passed through a prism they may be 
drawn out into a spectrum. How is the energy of the radiation distri- 
buted between the different wave-lengths of the spectrum ? Experiment 
gives a clear answer to this question, and the undisputed fact is tHat, if 
we plot a curve showing values of the energy associated with a certain 
wave-length as ordinates against the corresponding wave-lengths as 
abscissze, we obtain a curve of a cocked-hat shape with a definite maxi- 
mum of energy associated with a certain wave-length. If we repeat the 
experiment with the radiating body at a higher temperature, a similar 
curve is obtained with the maximum shifted into the region of shorter 


* In this paper, and in a paper published in the Philosophical Magazine in 1841, 
Joule used the term vesistance in its ordinary electrical sense (‘ the resistances of 
the . . . wires were found to be in the ratio 6 to 5:51’). The term was used by 
Cavendish (‘therefore resistance is directly as velocity’) in his now famous 
anticipation of Ohm’s Law in January 1781—though his words were not printed 
until 1879. Wheatstone is sometimes quoted as an early user of the term in his 
Bakerian Lecture for 1843. It is all the more curious, then, that the Shorter 


Oxford English Dictionary should give 1860 as the date at which the term was 
first used in print. 


A.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES 31 


wave-length. What have nineteenth-century theories of radiation to say 
to this? Their answer is clear, and gives a curve which coincides with 
the cocked-hat curve in the region of long wave-lengths but exhibits 
no maximum, and moves completely away from the experimental curve 
as the wave-length decreases. It was this complete disharmony between 
classical theory and experimental fact that led Planck, in the last year of 
the nineteenth century, to supply a solution giving a curve which closely 
fits the cocked-hat curve, which has revolutionised physical science and 
which has incidentally provided the language with a new verb, ‘ to 
quantise.’ What do we mean when we speak, for instance, of quantising 
energy? To quantise a physical quantity is to restrict its magnitude 
to a number of discrete, separated values, which are integral multiples of a 
certain selected unit. Planck assumed that a hot body consisted of a 
number of oscillators which in their simplest form may be conceived as 
massive particles oscillating in straight lines with definite frequencies, 
in simple harmonic fashion. The energy of such an oscillator is easily 
enough calculated, and the drastic assumption made is that the possible 
values of the energy of the oscillator are to be restricted to a series of 
integral multiples of a unit which is itself proportional to the frequency, 
so that the unit may be written as hn, where nis the frequency and h is a con- 
stant known as Planck’s constant. And energy is emitted in integral bundles 
or quanta, the indivisible unit of measurement having the magnitude hn. 

Turn now to another experiment, quite inexplicable on the lines of the 
older wave-theory. An insulated negatively-charged plate of zinc, when 
exposed to ultra-violet light, loses its charge—loses electrons, that is, in 
terms of our picture. Certain facts emerge from a close study of the 
experimental conditions. If, for example, the frequency of the light is 
below a certain threshold value, then, however great the intensity may be, 
and whatever the length of time of the exposure, the zinc plate keeps its 
charge. If, however, the frequency is raised above this threshold value 
the charge begins to leak away at once, and this, though the intensity of 
the incident light be so small that, on the basis of the wave-theory, it 
would take days to accumulate sufficient energy to release an electron 
with the kinetic energy which it is observed to possess. Moreover, the 
rate of emission of electrons increases proportionately with the increase 
of intensity of illumination. If we take the view that light consists of 
photons, bundles or quanta of energy each of magnitude hn, travelling 
with the velocity of light, then if, say, a surface atom is struck by a photon, 
and emits an electron which has to do work in freeing itself from the 
surface, we may equate the sum of this work and the kinetic energy with 
which the electron leaves the surface to the energy possessed by the original 
photon. A little consideration will show that this explanation meets 
observed facts in a way quite impossible to a classical wave-theory. 

Here, then, in this so-called photo-electric effect, and in the experi- 
mental facts of the distribution of energy in the spectrum, we have two 
simple happenings which cannot in any way be squared with classical 
theory. Consider, now, very briefly some of the elementary facts of 
Spectroscopy—another region of physics to which quantum ideas have 
been applied with brilliant success. We have travelled far to-day from 


32 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


the primitive concept of the nuclear atom, with its nucleus composed of 
(« ++ 2) protons and « electrons, so that the nuclear charge was ze (e being 
the electronic or protonic charge), and electrical neutrality was assured 
by assuming that 2 satellite-electrons (z being what is called the atomic 
number) circulated in orbits around the nucleus. 

The inevitable consequences of the existence of such atoms radiating 
according to classical laws, was an unstable universe in which the satellite- 
electrons, radiating energy as they revolve, would spiral down towards 
the nucleus and finally collapse therein. Quantum notions saved the 
concept, and one of the peaks in the development of twentieth-century 
physics is the story of the Bohr atom, in which it is assumed that only a 
restricted number of stable orbits, or states, is possible ; that electrons 
in these orbits do not radiate ; that an electron in moving from one orbit 
to another radiates or absorbs quanta of energy equal to the difference 
between the energy states of the two orbits, and that the angular momen- 
tum is quantised, that is, is restricted to a number of discrete values, the 
magnitude of the value in the Nth orbit being Nh/2z. 

The application of a little simple algebra to the expression of these 
postulates results in an equation which represents the disposition of the 
lines in the spectrum of a single-electron atom, such as hydrogen, or ionised 
helium, with considerable accuracy. The theory is easily extended to 
elliptic orbits, though here, having to deal with a varying radius vector-and 
varying radial momentum, we have to quantise this latter quantity and two 
quantum numbers become necessary, the so-called azimuthal quantum 
number () which quantises the angular momentum, and what is called 
the radial quantum number, the sum of the two being set equal to the 
total quantum number (JV). 

But the theory in this form was quite inadequate to cope with any 
system more complex than a single electron system. To deal with these 
more complex systems, quantum notions were extended on quasi- 
empirical lines and resulted in what may be called a vector model of the 
atom in which were visualised the possibility of electron and nuclear 
spins, with further possibilities in the way of quantisation and quantum 
numbers. If these quantum numbers are shared between the satellite- 
electrons of an atom in such a way as to agree with an empirical exclusion 
principle which states that no two electrons in an atom may have all their 
quantum numbers identical, we may arrive at a distribution of the satellite- 
electrons as regards their energy-levels which gives a model capable of 
explaining many complex spectroscopic (and other) facts. 

But space presses and we must return, in this rapid survey, to a con- 
sideration of that dualism of outlook which appeared so early in the story 
of twentieth-century physics. The discovery of the Compton effect 
further emphasised this corpuscular aspect of radiation.” 

2 When X-rays are scattered by impact with the more lightly bound electrons 
in an atom, the radiation scattered at an acute angle has a smaller frequency 
than the frequency of the incident radiation, a simple explanation of the 
change being at once forthcoming if the problem is treated in the manner of 
the treatment of the impact of elastic spheres. Thus a light quantum hn 


communicates kinetic energy to an electron by impact. The scattered 
quantum fin’ will have less energy, and hence n’ will be less than n. 


A.—_MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES g3 


Suppose we carry this dualism into concepts that are fundamentally 
corpuscular and assert that matter may have a wave aspect? ‘This is 
the notion put forward by Louis de Broglie, who postulated that, associated 
with a particle having momentum my, there is.a wave of wave-length 
given by A=//mv. As radiation which shows the fundamental wave- 
property diffraction also exhibits corpuscular properties, so electrons 
which are conceived primarily as corpuscular may be expected to exhibit 
Wave-properties ; and they do so. If a beam of electrons be passed 
through thin foil, diffraction phenomena are observed which are perfectly 
consistent with the wave-length postulated by de Broglie. If, moreover, 
leaving the sub-atomic world, we deal with molecular rays of hydrogen or 
helium, we may allow them to be reflected from a crystal surface and may 
observe diffraction phenomena consistent with a de Broglie wave-length 
of the right magnitude; and we may collect the reflected waves as an 
ordinary gas. 

But all this merely emphasises the dualism of the wave and corpuscular 
aspects of matter—a dualism which is now disappearing under the analysis 
of the last few years. The analysis, which is essentially mathematical, 
has introduced the notion of probability into our estimates, say, of position. 
We describe the wave which accompanies a corpuscle by means of an 
equation which will contain an expression for the amplitude of the wave ; 
and the amplitude at any point gives us a measure of the probability of 
finding the corpuscle at that point ; if the amplitude vanishes anywhere 
the probability of finding the corpuscle at that point vanishes also. The 
concept of an electron as a definite entity at a definite point in space is 
replaced by a probability pattern which, very dense in a certain locality, 
rapidly thins as we move away from that locality. In fact, if we fix our 
attention on the densest part of a given pattern, the probability of finding an 
electron at a distance of 10-18 cm. therefrom becomes vanishingly small, and 
most of us may be content to use the concept of an electron almost in our 
accustomed manner, realising that it has become a little fuzzy at the 
edges. 

Despite the impending disappearance of this dualism, the story of the 
discovery of sub-atomic particles is most easily told in particle fashion. 
The discovery of the electron is now more than a generation old, as is the 
discovery of the «-, B- and y-rays of radium, and the «-rays or particles— 
fast-moving helium nuclei—provided an atomic projectile which in the 
hands of Rutherford became a most potent weapon for exploring the 
intricacies of atomic structure. 

Electrons, «-particles and protons are electrical in origin; they may 
therefore be deflected by electrostatic fields. They move and so con- 
stitute an electric current ; they may, therefore, be influenced by magnetic 
fields. Information concerning their charges and masses may therefore 
be deduced from their behaviour when subjected to such fields. Further, 
special means have recently been devised for the generation of controlled 
fields of high potential which may be used to accelerate charged particles 
subjected to their influence. In this manner it has been found possible 
to produce swift protons which may be used to bombard various elements. 
We can in fact now load, aim and discharge our atomic rifle almost at 

c 


34 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


will, and with very remarkable results. For example, the bombardment 
of lithium with high velocity protons results in the formation of «-particles, 
a process which may be described by saying that the lithium nucleus 
whose atomic mass-number is 7 when bombarded by a proton whose 
mass-number is 1, gives rise to two «-particles, each of mass-number 4. 

With this advance in technique has come a corresponding advance in 
discovery. ‘Thus the bombardment of a light element such as beryllium 
by «-particles results in the production of y-rays together with a radiation 
which does not ionise the air through which it passes, but may be recog- 
nised by its effect on the nuclei which it itself bombards, producing, as 
it does, ionisation tracks due to the protons expelled from these nuclei. 
We have to deal, then, with a massive uncharged particle, whose mass 
may be deduced from a study of the tracks made by the nuclei with 
which it collides. ‘The mass of the particle is very nearly equal to that 
of the proton, and it has been called the neutron. 

For long it has been known that radiation of high penetrating power 
exists in the atmosphere, a radiation which increases in intensity, that 
is, in its power to discharge an electroscope, with increasing height. 
This is the so-called cosmic radiation, which may be assumed to have its 
origin in interstellar space. Investigations on cosmic radiation, using the 
Wilson cloud chamber placed in a strong magnetic field, disclosed the 
fact that when cosmic radiation passed into such a chamber tracks were 
produced, some curved in one direction, some in the opposite sense. 
This opposite curvature might be produced by a reversal of the sign of the 
charge or it might be due to the fact that the particle was moving in a 
direction opposite to that of its fellows of opposite curvature. It was not 
difficult to rule out this latter possibility, and we are thus provided with 
another sub-atomic entity of mass equal to that of the electron, and with 
a positive charge equal to the electronic charge. 

This is the positron. 

The identification of heat and energy—a commonplace to-day—was, 
as we have remarked, not established without difficulty. The twentieth 
century has seen a possibly more remarkable identification—that of mass 
and energy—an identification which was made, to within a factor of 4, 
by Hasenéhrl and was put forward in its present form in 1905 by 
Einstein. In this form the energy (E£) possessed by a mass (m) is given 
by E = mc?, where c is the velocity of light. Increase of mass of a system 
means increase of energy and conversely. And if mass be destroyed a 
corresponding amount of energy appears as radiation, if conservation 
laws hold. These conservation laws have been arrived at from a study 
of large-scale phenomena, and there is no @ priori reason why they should 
be expected to hold when applied to atomic happenings far outside the 
perceptual scheme of things.. Indeed, one is tempted to ask, Why should 
the concept of energy have any meaning, let alone any validity, when 
applied to such systems? The necessary and sufficient answer is the 
pragmatic one. 

The possible invalidity of this law of conservation is no new concept. 
‘Twelve years ago Bohr and his colleagues put forward a theory in which 
an atom in an excited state emits radiation continuously, radiation which, 


A.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES 35 


falling on another atom, may make more probable its transition to a higher 
energy-state. It may be shown that such a theory involves a contradic- 
tion of the conservation law in single atomic processes, and experiments 
carried out to test the theory were best explained on the assumption of 
conservation. 

Recently the supposition of conservation which, as we have seen in 
the Compton effect, was invoked to explain the changes of frequency 
involved in the impact of a light quantum and an electron, has again been 
called into question as a result of experiments made, using modern 
counting apparatus, on the scattering of y-rays. 

If we apply the conservation laws to nuclear transformations involving 
protons and neutrons we find that energy is conserved quantitatively, the 
kinetic energy liberated in a reaction being accurately accounted for by 
the disappearance of mass which occurs. It is different when we consider 
atomic processes which involve high speed particles—electrons, say, 
moving with velocities comparable with that of light. Such processes 
are not in agreement with the conservation principle, and to pull them 
into line a new particle, the neutrino, has been introduced, possessing 
no charge and, if Fermi be right, a negligible mass. Such a particle is 
not likely to be detected by direct experiment ; its principal function is to 
‘explain’ continuous $-ray spectra. 

Obviously we have a considerable range of choice in our atomic build- 
ing materials, and the supposition that the nucleus is composed of 
protons and electrons in suitable numbers may need modification. The 
a-particle, long described as made up of four protons and two electrons, 
may also be considered as composed of two protons and two neutrons, 
and there are good reasons for this supposition. But whether the neutron 
is an elementary particle and the proton may be written as neutron + 
position, or whether we have more justification for considering the 
neutron as proton + electron are matters which cannot be discussed in 
detail here. 

One of the most remarkable of the discoveries of recent years has 
been that of artificial radio-activity. Rutherford’s fundamental discovery 
of 1919 was that transmutations may result from bombardment by 
a-particles. Thus, for example, the bombardment of nitrogen by 
«-particles results in the transmutation described by the nuclear equation 


N,* + He,t > O,!? + Hj} 


[Read : The nitrogen nucleus of atomic mass-number 14 and atomic 
number 7 when disintegrated by an «-particle yields the isotope of 
oxygen of atomic mass-number 17 and atomic number 8 together with 
a proton. ] 

Radio-active bodies, on the other hand, are bodies that break down 
spontaneously. We have various particles at hand with which to effect 
transformations by bombardment of nuclei, and for the most part the 
products resulting from such transmutations are stable. It might, however, 
happen that a product is produced which spontaneously disintegrates, 
and we then have the phenomena of artificial radio-activity. The 
bombardment (e.g.) of aluminium with «-particles resulted in the 


36 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


emission of neutrons (the neutron m9! being a particle whose mass-number 
is unity and nuclear charge zero). 


Hence we have 
Aly3?” + ag —> Py 5° + mq", 


the resulting product being an isotope of phosphorus. But if the bom- 
bardment ceases we find that positrons are emitted, the positron (p) 
being a particle of negligible mass and unit positive charge. ‘The isotope 
of phosphorus produced is in fact radio-active and the nuclear equation 
gives 

Ps? > Sig? + 2, 


the final product being an isotope of silicon. Bombardment by protons, 
neutrons, or deuterons may produce disintegration products which are 
unstable ; the unstable products resulting from bombardments by 
a-particles or deuterons pass over into stable species, sometimes with the 
emission of positrons, sometimes with the emission of electrons ; this 
latter species of decay—the B-active species—is often accompanied by 
y-radiation, so that artificially produced radio-active substances behave 
in the manner characteristic of natural B-active substances. Neutron 
bombardment, when it produces radio-elements, produces elements which 
are B-active. 

By nothing has the world-picture of to-day been so transformed from 
that of a generation—nay of a decade—ago than by the introduction of 
the uncertainty principle and by its effect on our notions of causality. 

It can be shown that of two conjugate quantities—time and energy, 
or position (x) and momentum (p)—the product of their uncertainties 
of determination can never be less than the quantum. ‘Thus an increase 
in the accuracy of the determination of one quantity necessitates a corre- 
sponding decrease in the accuracy of the conjugate quantity, and in 
particular the exact determination of one quantity leaves the other com- 
pletely undetermined. An attempt to determine the position of a 
particle involves its illumination by light of suitable wave-length, and 
decrease of the wave-length in order to improve the definition of its 
position involves an increase in the magnitude of the recoil due to the 
Compton scattering process. 

Following a suggestion of Dr. Flint, let us fix our attention on the 
quantities position and momentum and consider a co-ordinate system in 
which momentum () is plotted along one axis and position (x) along 
the other. The co-ordinate space gives us the possible simultaneous 
values of x and p. Suppose this space divided into rectangles each of 
area h. Then the uncertainty principle, which asserts that the product 
(8x 8p) of the uncertainties of the determination of position and momen- 
tum can never be less than h, may be illustrated by resuscitating Maxwell’s 
demon and permitting him to push a point about at will within any one 
of the rectangles. ‘The movement of the point, that is, the corresponding 
changes of position and momentum, will not be detected, for they do 
not correspond to any detectable change in the world of sense. 

Unfortunately the word ‘ indeterminism,’ which has other connotations, 
has become associated with the statement of the principle. Many of us. 


A.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES 37 


remember Clerk Maxwell’s immortal account of the proceedings of our 
Section at the Belfast Meeting sixty-two years ago, when Mr. Herbert 
Spencer regretted ‘that so many members of the Section were in the 
habit of employing the word Force in a sense too limited and definite 
to be of any use in a complete theory of evolution. He had himself 
always been careful to preserve that largeness of meaning which was too 
often lost sight of in elementary works. This was best done by using 
the word sometimes in one sense and sometimes in another, and in this 
way he trusted he had made the word occupy a sufficiently large field 
of thought.’ 

Is it heresy to suggest that some of us who have sung Canticles in 
praise of indeterminism and the disappearance of causality have given 
a similar generousness of meaning to these words ? 

Similar considerations apply to the term observable, which has suffered a 
sea-change in transference from its ordinary usage in the realms of per- 
ception. There is quite as much complicated physical theory lying between 
the perceptually observable marks on a photographic plate and the 
inferred frequencies, as there is between similar preceptual observables 
and the non-observable electron orbit or state which was inferred in order 
to subsume the perceptual facts. A similar generosity of treatment is 
accorded to the term observe when it is applied to the conceptual experi- 
ment for the determination of the position of a particle such as an electron. 

Which brings us round to the starting-point of this discourse. Many 
of us who desire to proceed with our measurements untrammelled by 
these philosophic doubts have asked if there is not some canon by which 
the plain man could test his everyday beliefs. I suggest that a starting- 
_ point at least to this end is provided by a study of Karl Pearson’s work, 

and that, with certain reservations and additions to the method discussed 
in the Grammar of Science, we may develop a canon which will serve 
as a guide through the jungle of additional perceptual facts which 
the physical science of the twentieth century has added to that of its 
predecessors.3 

Those who discuss the doctrine of causality do so with little reference 
to the attitude taken by the philosophers, and it may not be without 
interest—it certainly has some bearing on present-day thought—to con- 
sider the development of the notion of cause since the time of Newton. 
The views of Locke, Newton’s elder contemporary, are clear and simple. 
He remarks: ‘ Thus, finding that in that substance which we call wax, 
fluidity, which is a simple idea that was not in it before, is constantly 
produced by the application of a certain degree of heat, we call the simple 
idea of heat in relation to fluidity in wax the cause of it, and fluidity the 
effect. . . . So that whatever is considered by us to conduce or operate 
to the producing any particular simple idea, whether substance or mode, 
which did not before exist, hath thereby in our minds the relation of a 
cause and so is denominated by us.’ 

Newton, dominated as he was by the principle of causality and ever 


$ In what follows I have drawn on the material of an article which I wrote 
some four years ago (Nature, vol. 45, 1932, p. 130). See also Broad, Perception, 
Physics and Reality. 


38 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


searching for a clear physical picture of the results of his investigations, 
was capable of a philosophic breadth of view which needs surprisingly 
little modification to-day. He makes, for example, a physical picture of 
matter as formed in ‘solid, massy, hard, impenetrable, moveable par- 
ticles,’ and assumes that they have not only a Vis Inertia, but are moved 
by certain active principles, such as gravity. These principles are to be 
considered ‘ not as occult qualities . . . but as general Laws of Nature 

. . their Truth appearing to us by Phznomena. . . . To tell us that 
every Species of Things is endowed with an occult specifick Quality by 
which it acts and produces manifest effects, is to tell us nothing ; but to 
derive two or three Principles of Motion from Phznomena and afterwards 
to tell us how the Properties and Actions of all corporeal Things follow 
from these manifest Principles would be a very great step in Philosophy, 
though the Causes of those Principles were not yet discovered; and 
therefore I scruple not to propose the Principles of Motion above 
mentioned, they being of very general extent, and leave their Causes to 
be found out.’ Evidently Newton takes the view that we have made an 
important step forward when we have subsumed a number of perceptual 
facts under a general formula. 

It is to Hume, though he may owe something to Glanvil and other 
predecessors, that we are indebted for a clearly ordered statement of the 
experientialist doctrine of causation. The generalisation, for example, 
that the earth attracts a stone is explained as a generalisation from thousands 
of observations. ‘Adam . . . could not have inferred from the fluidity 
and transparency of water that it would suffocate him, or from the light 
and warmth of fire that it would consume him. No object ever discovers 
by the qualities which appear to the senses, either the causes which pro- 
duced it or the effects which will arise from it; nor can our reason, 
unassisted by experience, ever draw any inference concerning real existence 
and matter of fact.’ 

Mill further developed the experientialist doctrine in the statement that 
the law of causation ‘ is but the familiar truth that invariability of succes- 
sion is found by observation to obtain between every fact in nature and 
some other fact which has preceded it, independently of all considera- 
tions respecting the ultimate mode of production of phenomena, and of 
every other question regarding the nature of things in themselves.’ ‘To 
the doctrine of succession in this simple form the objection has been urged 
that day may be regarded as the cause of night and conversely. Mill 
meets this objection by pointing out that invariable sequence does not 
necessarily involve causation. ‘To involve causation the sequence must 
not only be invariable but unconditional. 'The day-night sequence is 
conditional by the sun and so does not conform to this test. ‘ We may 
define, therefore, the cause of a phenomenon to be the antecedent, or the 
concurrence of antecedents, on which it is invariably and unconditionally 
consequent.’ 

It is difficult to sum up Pearson’s attitude to the problem of causality 
and to the general problem in a few sentences. Perhaps Kirchhoff’s 
dictum concerning mechanics : ‘ Die Mechanik ist die Wissenschaft von 


A.—_MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES 39 


der Bewegung ; als ihre Aufgabe bezeichnen wir: die in der Natur vor 
sich gehenden Bewegung vollstdndig und auf die einfachste Wetse zu 
beschrieben,’ touches very nearly the root of the matter. 

We live, in fact, amid a mass of perceptions ; and it is the business of 
physical science to correlate, in as simple a fashion as may be, a certain 
section of these facts. ‘To this end the physicist devises a conceptual 
world of atoms and molecules, from which he builds up a system—a 
world-picture—of molar masses whose motions correspond to the routine 
of our sense impressions. Given a frame of reference, we can formulate 
laws of motion for two isolated particles in a conceptual world which may 
be summed up in the statement that whatever be the positions and 
velocities of the particles the ratio of their accelerations is always constant ; 
this ratio is defined as the inverse mass-ratio of the particles ; and in virtue 
of this we have the relation that— 


Mass of A x acceleration of Ad — Mass of B x acceleration of B. 


We give the name force to this product, and hence obtain the law that 
action and reaction are equal and opposite. On the basis of such de- 
finitions we can build up a structure of bodies in the conceptual world 
the motions of which, predictable under the descriptive laws formulated, 
will agree with the routine of our world of sense perceptions. We have 
in fact explained certain phenomena. 

There is, of course, no logical reason why, in this description, we 
should stop short at the second derivative—acceleration—or go forward 
to it for that matter. We are concerned to find the simplest and most 
consistent explanation, and this procedure provides it. Indeed something 
of zsthetics may also influence our choice. 

The atom, whatever its complexity, whether the concept remains sharp 
as that of a billiard ball or a miniature solar system, or whether its outlines 
disappear in a probability-smear, remains a concept outside the realm of 
perceptual happenings which it is the business of the concept to correlate. 
It may or may not emerge into the perceptual world ; unless and until it 
does discussion of its reality is beside the mark. 

Planck, defining the causal condition in the statement that an event 
is causally conditioned if it can be predicted with certainty, goes on to 
remark that the possibility of making a correct prediction has not to be 
interpreted as anything more than a criterion for a causal correction, but 
not that the two mean one and the same thing. Day is not the cause of 
night, although we may be able to predict the advent of night in the day- 
time. Day is therefore a causally conditioned event.* 

Taking the definition as it stands, we find that in the realm of quanti- 
tative physical events we cannot, purely as a matter of measurement, 
predict accurately in advance any one physical event—this, without 
introducing quantum considerations. Prof. Planck escapes from the 
indeterminist position by transferring the definition to a conceptual 

‘ This definition should be carefully examined in the light of the arguments 


of Hume (Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, Section VII) and of Mill 
(Logic, Book III, Chap. V). 


40 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


world in which exact measurements may be made and events correctly 
predicted. He assumes, in fact, in its broad outlines, the thesis of the 
Grammar of Science. He thus retains the principle of causality, as 
defined above, in the happenings of the conceptual world, remarking that 
the relation between events in the perceptual and conceptual worlds is 
subject to a slight inaccuracy. 

The introduction of Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle necessitates a 
corresponding process in dealing with perceptual problems from the 
point of view of quantum physics. A conceptual world of quantum 
physics is framed in which a strict determinism reigns. True, the world 
has not so many points of resemblance to the perceptual world as had 
the older schemes—billiard-ball and solar-system atoms have disappeared, 
and the wave-function, which does not refer to ordinary space, is not so 
easily interpreted in terms of the world of sense. But the philosophical 
problem of the transfer is the same. 

Whatever the form of the picture the hard-pressed physicist of to-day 
remains on firm ground if he refuses to confuse the concept—the world- 
picture—with the percept; if, making this distinction, he studies the 
question of the reality underlying phenomena as philosopher rather than 
as physicist ; if he is as ready to discard outworn models as ever Maxwell 
was. 

There is no finality in these matters, and solutions of these difficulties 
are solutions for a day ; but it is interesting and heartening to know that 
Planck, the initiator of the movement which has revolutionised physical 
thought, has, a generation later, pointed a way to a resolution of the funda- 
mental doubts and difficulties which his genius has raised. 

It must not be assumed that the discussion of uncertainty has passed 
beyond the region of fundamental criticism. In two recent papers in the 
Philosophical Magazine, Dr. Japolsky has developed a theory of elementary 
particles—electrons, protons, positrons, and so forth—which are con- 
sidered as systems of Maxwellian electromagnetic waves. On this basis, 
using classical electrodynamics, he develops the usual quantum and 
relativity relations, including the de Broglie equation. The interaction 
of the particles follows the inverse square law (breaking down at small 
distances), and demands a mass-ratio between proton and electron which 
happens to be that deduced from experiment. 

It is impossible to conclude a sketch of the trend of modern physics 
without touching upon the remarkable advances made in large-scale and 
applied physics; equally impossible is it to do more than mention a 
selection from such topics. ‘The flotation process for the separation of 
minerals may be instanced as one, now of large-scale importance, which 
depends on a knowledge of physical quantities of very academic interest. 
In the practice of this process the powdered ore is churned in water 
which contains some substance capable of producing a stable froth. 
The mineral which it is desired to concentrate must cling to the surface 
and so remain in the froth, the gangue sinking to the bottom, and a reagent 
must be added whose action will ensure this. Obviously some very nice 
physical and physico-chemical problems are involved. In particular, a 


A.—_MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES 4l 


knowledge of contact-angles—a rather neglected subject—is of great 
importance, and during the last year or two, much attention has been 
given to the measurement of contact-angles and to the application of the 
results to flotation processes. Indeed, a knowledge of surface-constants 
has many applications to industrial and to purely scientific problems, 
and it may not be out of place to draw attention to the curious shape of 
the curves showing the march of surface tension with temperature for 
certain crystalline liquids. €. 

A most interesting application of classical atomic physics has recently 
been made in certain extensions of the theory of the Brownian movement. 
Measurements have been made of the Brownian movement of delicately 
suspended balances, movements due, of course, not to mass-motion of air 
or draughts but to irregular molecular bombardment, and a remarkably 
good value of Avogadro’s number results from a determination of the 
amplitudes of such movements. Obviously if instruments become so 
delicate that their Brownian motion is appreciable, it becomes possible 
that Brownian motion may set a limit to the use of the instrument ; this 
question has recently received consideration. 

Electron diffraction has been applied with success to problems in 
technical physics. The very small penetration of even the swiftest 
electrons employed makes them peculiarly suitable for the study of surface 
structure, and the method has been used to attack such problems as the 
poisoning of oxide-coated filaments, and the study of lubrication. 

Of the remarkable progress made in low-temperature research, we shall 
hear during the meeting of the Section. One other matter may be 
mentioned in passing—the development of precision methods in calori- 
metry which may make it possible to study accurately the temperature- 
variation of the specific heats of liquids (deuterium oxide, for example) 
available only in small quantities. 

Of recent years our Association has concerned itself more and more 
with a study of the repercussions of the advancement of science on the 
fabric of our society. Never in the history of mankind have more 
powerful weapons for good and for evil been placed in the hands of the 
community as a direct result of the growth of scientific knowledge ; and 
never has it been more necessary for the scientist to develop some awareness 
of the effects of his activities on the well-being of that community of which 
he himself is a responsible member. 

We are most of us ready enough to discuss the ‘ Impact of Science on 
Society,’ so long as we restrict ourselves to an enumeration of the benefits 
which science has bestowed upon mankind; and on occasion we may 
make a rather snobbish distinction between cultural and vocational 
values. But we have to remember actively that there are dysgenic appli- 
cations of scientific knowledge, and if the scientist claims, as he rightly 
does, that place in the counsels of the nation which the importance of his 
work warrants, he must cease his worship of what Professor Hogben calls 
the * Idol of Purity,’ must be prepared to discuss all the social implications 
of his work and to educate himself, as well as his less fortunate brethren 
trained in the humanity schools, in a knowledge of these implications. 

C2 


42 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


Our Association is peculiarly fitted to develop and discuss such know- 
ledge ; in our own Section we have made a beginning but we have as yet 
touched on but few of these interactions. Our steps are naturally at 
first a little halting, but with increasing knowledge there will come, I 
trust, an increased power in elucidating those complex and difficult social 
problems which the astonishing developments of the last generation have 
forced on the civilised world. 


SECTION B.—CHEMISTRY. 


THE TRAINING OF THE CHEMIST FOR 
THE SERVICE OF THE COMMUNITY 


ADDRESS BY 
PROF,.J:C: PHILIP, O.BiE.,- DSc.) F.R:S., 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


My immediate predecessors in the presidency of this Section devoted 
their addresses to a review of recent progress in special fields of chemical 
knowledge, to the extension of which they themselves had materially 
contributed. On the present occasion I invite your attention to a topic 
of a different and a less technical character, namely, the chemist’s place 
in the modern community and the kind of training necessary for an effi- 
cient discharge of his professional duties. One aspect of this topic was 
discussed at the Toronto meeting in 1924 by Sir Robert Robertson, who 
chose ‘ Chemistry and the State ’ as the subject of his address to Section B. 
The gradual growth in the official status of the chemist was traced from 
the point at which he was perforce summoned to assist in the defence of 
the State to his association in the post-war period with a variety of Govern- 
ment Departments and Government activities. This association has 
steadily extended in the intervening period, but, apart altogether from 
State activities, the science of chemistry and its applications are touching 
the life of the individual citizen more and more closely every day. 

We have indeed moved far from the point of view expressed by 
Lavoisier’s judge: ‘ La République n’a pas besoin de savants,’ but even 
now there is often in influential quarters an inadequate grasp of the place 
and potentialities of the scientist. In the popular mind, and indeed by 
many who, to judge from their position, should be better informed, the 
chemist is still frequently associated merely with pharmacy or warfare, 
in neglect of the innumerable contacts of chemistry with the industry 
of the country, with the activities of the State, and with the health and 
comfort of its citizens. Let me begin by enlarging on these contacts 
and by emphasising the varied ways in which chemists are serving the 
community. 

In relation first to those essential activities of any society which is intellec- 
tually alive—the pursuit of new learning and the cultivation of the spirit 
of inquiry—chemistry is in the forefront. For the promotion of natural 
knowledge and the increase of our understanding of the universe, the 
chemist has laboured with extraordinary success, both in his own fields 
and in those borderlands where chemistry marches with other sciences. 


44 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


It is perhaps worth while glancing at one or two of the chief avenues 
in the region of chemical knowledge opened up by such fundamental 
research. 

While our knowledge of atomic structure is to be credited mainly to 
the work of physicists, the chemist’s technique has revealed the mole- 
cular architecture of the most complex natural products, and on the basis 
of this knowledge the same materials can be synthesised in the laboratory. 
One has only to think of the sugars, the alkaloids, the anthocyanins, to 
realise the astounding results which have been achieved in this field of 
investigation, while such elusive substances as the vitamins and the sex 
hormones are rapidly yielding their secrets to the strategy of the organic 
chemist. 

Take again that region in the scale of size which lies between the 
molecule and the visible particle—the colloid region—the ‘ world of 
neglected dimensions’ as it was once described. In this region, as the 
physical chemist has shown, the relatively great extent of surface is marked 
by quite special behaviour, and the labile systems encountered exhibit 
peculiar characteristics—characteristics which are highly significant for 
the understanding of physico-chemical changes in the living organism. 
Our knowledge of this field of surface chemistry is still extending rapidly. 

Once more, think of the tracking down of the factors which affect the 
rate of chemical change and the elucidation of the mechanism of their 
operation : a little moisture, a speck of dust, a trace of acid, a roughened 
surface, a ray of light, a rise of temperature: any of these may have a 
notable influence on the rate of a reaction. The physical chemist has 
been remarkably successful in unravelling the réle of these various 
factors and in interpreting their significance. It is in such a field as this 
—the field of kinetics and catalysis—that the progress of chemical science 
from the qualitative and descriptive way of treating phenomena to the 
rational and quantitative has been particularly marked. 

These are only one or two of the directions in which the pioneering 
work of the chemist has opened the way to a fuller knowledge of Nature, 
especially in the more delicate aspects of her balance and her trans- 
formations. In the pursuit of natural knowledge for its own sake, the 
chemist has indeed travelled far and his exploration has yielded an 
abundant harvest of discovery. For the pioneer himself it is an adventure, 
and original research may provide thrilling experiences. All this, however, 
is far from the common ways of men, and the investigator in the field of 
pure chemistry moves in a region mostly inaccessible to ordinary folk, 
and he speaks an unintelligible language, as indeed is true of specialists 
in other sciences. The so-called ‘jargon’ of science, inevitable as it is 
to some extent, presents a real difficulty in the transmission of knowledge 
and ideas from the specialist to the average educated man, but it should 
not be forgotten that other specialists besides scientific workers have a 
jargon of their own: to wit, lawyers, financiers, and even sportsmen. 

It has been maintained that the pursuit of learning for its own sake 
is a selfish occupation; that knowledge should be a means to life, 
not an end in itself, that knowledge is of value only in so far as it leads 
to action, directly or indirectly. With this view I have much sympathy, 


B.—CHEMISTRY 45 


but it has become abundantly clear, so far at least as knowledge and dis- 
covery in the realm of pure chemistry are concerned, that we must take 
a very long view indeed in assessing their practical value. Again and again 
in the history of the science observations and discoveries have been made, 
which at the time were of purely scientific interest but which later received 
important practical applications. The laboratory curiosities of a former 
generation, such as aluminium and tungsten, have become the industrial 
commonplaces of the present. The application of exact methods of 
measuring density revealed the presence of a new gas in the atmosphere— 
a discovery of purely scientific interest in the first place—which has led 
to a whole train of remarkable consequences, from a drastic revision of our 
ideas about the elements to the widespread development of illuminated 
signs. Just one hundred years ago, at the Bristol meeting of the Asso- 
ciation in 1836, Edmund Davy announced the discovery of a ‘ new gaseous 
bicarburet of hydrogen,’ now familiar as acetylene. Decades passed, 
however, before the novel gas acquired any practical significance, and indeed 
it was not until 1892, when a large-scale method for producing calcium 
carbide was discovered, that acetylene became of industrial importance. 
Since then its applications have gone ahead rapidly, and its uses in illumina- 
tion, in welding; in metal-cutting, and in the synthetic production of 
organic chemicals are known to us all. In view of these lessons from 
the history of chemical science one hesitates to apply the epithet ‘ useless ’ 
to any specific observation or discovery, however ‘ academic.’ Reflection 
indeed suggests that the really big changes in the material conditions 
of human life have generally had their origin in a search for knowledge 
on its own account. 

There is, however, much more to be said on this matter of fundamental or 
academic research. A solution of the most practical of chemical problems 
on rational and scientific lines is possible only because of our accumulated 
knowledge of natural phenomena and natural laws. It is only against 
the background provided by the pure research of yesterday that the techni- 
cal problems of to-day can be viewed in their proper setting and tackled 
with a reasonable prospect of success. I would submit, therefore, that 
work in pure science, remote as it generally is from the practical issues 
of the moment, is building up a real reserve of knowledge and technique 
on which future generations of practical workers will be able to draw. 

Apart from the chemists who are engaged, mostly in our Universities 
and Colleges, but to some extent also in the larger research institutes, 
in the general task of extending the boundaries of knowledge, there are 
many more who are carrying on what may be called ‘ directed ’ research. 
Their work aims at the solution of some specific problem, concerned, 
it may be, with the improvement of an industrial process, the elimination 
of waste, the safeguarding of health, the utilisation of by-products, the 
synthesis of antidotes. More definitely, and by way of example, the object 
may be to discover a fast blue dye, to purify a water supply, to find a 
rustless steel, to produce petrol from coal, to isolate a vitamin, to make a 
non-inflammable film or a creaseless cotton fabric. The general public, 
however dubious about pure research, would probably admit that) the 
satisfactory solution of any one of these problems would be of service to 


46 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


the community ; but it must be emphasised once more that the chemist 
can do these things only by virtue of his inheritance of knowledge and 
technique. ‘The attack on such problems, to have a reasonable chance 
of success, must be organised on the basis of what is already known 
and what has already been achieved; nay, more, one has abundant 
ground for belief that the attack, so organised, is bound to succeed, even 
though it may be ‘ in the long run.’ 

In the last twenty years the amount of directed chemical research in 
this country has increased enormously. Industries of the most varied 
description have begun to realise the potential value of the trained chemist 
in solving their special problems and putting their manufacturing processes 
on a more rational basis. In this general movement the State, through 
the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, has taken a promi- 
nent part by fostering Research Associations. ‘The work of these organ- 
isations—such as those dealing with rubber ; with paint, colour and varnish ; 
with cotton or wool ; with non-ferrous metals ; with sugar confectionery 
—is in many cases largely chemical or physico-chemical in character. 
The Research Associations have not only shown how general problems 
affecting an industry as a whole can be solved by joint research efforts, 
but their existence and activities have induced a notable degree of 
‘ research-mindedness’ in the individual associated firms. Financially, 
the work is based on co-operation between the State and industry, on 
the principle that the State helps those who help themselves. 

The State itself has founded a number of organisations for the study 
of chemical problems of national importance, and has thus formally 
recognised the significance of directed research for the community. 
Six years ago one of my predecessors in this Chair, Sir Gilbert Morgan, 
gave an account of one of the most notable of these State experiments, 
namely, the establishing of the Chemical Research Laboratory at 'Tedding- 
ton, and the investigation there of various important problems by a large 
staff of trained chemists. ‘The work carried out at Teddington has in- 
cluded the study of synthetic resins and low-temperature tars and the 
exploration of chemical reactions occurring under high pressure, as well 
as research on metal corrosion, chemotherapy and water softeners. 

Fuel and food are two notable cases in which State-aided investigation 
is being carried out, and problems connected on the one hand with 
pulverised and colloidal fuel or the low-temperature carbonisation of 
coal, and on the other with the storage of fruit or the preservation of fish 
and meat, are being intensively studied at appropriate centres. Reference 
might be made also to the work of the Building Research Station, where, 
amongst other matters, the factors detemining the weathering qualities 
of stone are being studied. Other experts than chemists are naturally 
concerned in the investigation of these problems, but the chemical and 
physico-chemical aspects are frequently the predominating ones. 

Again, the serious question of river pollution has been taken in hand 
with State help, and some years ago a chemical and biological survey of 
the river Tees was set on foot, the Tees being chosen for investigation 
because of the great variety of factory effluents discharged into it both in 
tidal and non-tidal reaches. Some of the newer industrial developments in 


B.—CHEMISTRY 47 


Britain are presenting important problems in this direction. It has been 
estimated, for example, that if the waste waters from all the beet sugar 
factories in this country were discharged into our streams they would 
cause as much pollution as untreated sewage from a population of four 
or five millions. The effluents from dairies and factories making milk 
products present a similar problem. Thanks, however, to research activity, 
largely at the instance of the Water Pollution Research Board, the disposal 
or purification of these and other trade effluents is being effectively 
achieved. 

The question of river purification demands for satisfactory handling, as 
already indicated, the collaboration of other scientists with the chemist, and 
indeed the attack on many such problems, especially those affecting the 
health of the community, is likely to be successful only by the co-operation 
of teams of scientific workers from different fields. Smoke and fog, 
which not only present the scientist with interesting phenomena but 
constitute also a social and industrial problem of vital importance, concern 
the physicist, the physical chemist, the analyst, the fuel engineer and the 
meteorologist, and it is only when the knowledge and experience of these 
workers are pooled that there is any hope of interpreting the phenomena 
and solving the problem. Again, recent developments in cancer research 
make it clear that apart from the pathologist, who is mainly concerned, 
the chemist has a very definite contribution to make to our knowledge 
of this baffling disease. Some of the most fruitful scientific investigation, 
indeed, is co-operative in character. 

Research, whether fundamental or “directed, is by no means the only 
outlet for the chemist’s knowledge and craftsmanship. The works control 
of chemical processes, the examination of factory products, the safe- 
guarding of the purity of food, and the supervision of water supplies and 
sanitation, are examples of other activities of a more routine character 
in which large numbers of chemists are engaged. ‘These are, so to speak, 
the general practitioners of the chemical profession, and their contribution 
to the smooth running of industry and to healthy living is far greater 
than most people suppose. I have myself been surprised, in a recent 
survey of the present occupations of my former students, by the extra- 
ordinary variety of the work in which chemically trained men may be 
engaged. This survey shows that photographic emulsions, beer, high- 
speed steel, printing ink, linoleum, dental cream, gramophone records, 
bank notes, and mineral waters, are a few of the materials with the pro- 
duction of which the chemist is concerned, either in the laboratory or 
the works. It is true to say that in the industry of the country the chemist 
is ubiquitous. 

A few moments ago I spoke of the ‘ chemical profession,’ and the 
phrase was used deliberately ; it is really time that the British public 
and its leaders recognised the validity and the implications of the term. 
A profession is a vocation demanding high educational and technical 
qualifications, and it connotes also the body of those who by virtue of 
their qualifications are able to serve the needs and welfare of society in 
some particular field. On all these counts chemistry should have a 
place beside medicine, law, and engineering. ‘That the public is so slow 


48 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


in recognising this claim may be due to the fact that the chemical profession 
is not yet unified to the same extent as the others just mentioned ; but it 
is due also to a lack of realisation of the fundamental and widespread 
character of the service which the chemist renders to the community, 
and which I have emphasised in the foregoing part of this address. 

A just estimate of the chemist’s function is almost impossible for those 
who associate him chiefly with explosives and poison gas and regard him 
as a particularly devilish kind of scientist. Such a picture is hopelessly 
out of relation with the facts. It is, of course, true that chemists have 
produced dangerous and poisonous substances, but most of these were 
discovered originally in the general quest for knowledge, and many 
have legitimate and valuable applications; their use for destructive 
purposes is a perversion. Phosgene, for example, one of the so-called 
poison gases, was discovered more than 100 years ago, and is an important 
material at the intermediate stage in the manufacture of certain dye- 

stuffs. Nitrates, which are the basis for the manufacture of most 
explosives, play a prominent rdéle as fertilisers in agriculture, and ex- 
plosives themselves are indispensable in mining operations. 

The truth is that the employment for other than beneficial ends of the 
substances discovered by the chemist is due, not to his especial wickedness, 
but to the weakness and backwardness of the human spirit. Like other 
scientists, the chemist normally has a constructive point of view, and he 
cannot but deplore the fact that, as Sir Alfred Ewing said in his Presi- 
dential Address : ‘The command of Nature has been put into man’s 
hands before he knows how to command himself.’ I think I speak for 
the vast majority of my fellow-chemists in saying that we dislike intensely 
the present world-wide prostitution of knowledge and skill to destructive 
ends. ‘The sooner this is eliminated, and the less call there is for lethal 
ani devastating materials, the greater will be our satisfaction. 

There are, indeed, welcome signs that scientific workers are increasingly 
impatient at the extent to which their knowledge is made to serve inhuman 
ends. The possibilities before humanity have been fairly set out by a 
recent historian, H. A. L. Fisher : ‘ The developing miracle of science is 
at our disposal to use or to abuse, to make or to mar. With science we 
may lay civilisation in ruins, or enter into a period of plenty and well- 
being, the like of which has never been experienced by mankind.’ To the 
clearing of this conflicting situation, the scientist has not always made the 
constructive contribution which he'might have done: he has been content 
to adopt an objective and detached attitude, suggesting sometimes com- 
plete indifference to the wider human issues at stake. Unfortunately, if one 
may judge from a recent play by J. B. Priestley, this attitude is commonly 
regarded as typical of the scientist. Gridley, a ship engineer, addressing 
Fletherington, a research chemist, says ‘ You’re all wrong. You’re a 
nuisance. You’re a menace.’ Fletherington: ‘I’m not, I’m simply a 
chemist, a scientist.’ Gridley : ‘ I know, I know, and to-day you’re trying 
to blow us up and to-morrow you'll be trying to dose us with poison gas. 
What do you want to go and make the foul stuff for? Before you’ve 
finished you fellows’ull do the lot of us in.’ Fletherington: ‘I’m very 
distressed to hear you talking like this, Mr. Gridley. I’ve never willingly 


B.—CHEMISTRY 49 


hurt anybody in my life. All I do is to research.’ Gridley: ‘ Yes, and 
look at the result. Blowing us up, burning us alive, poisoning us. Just 
stop your damned research.’ 

This view of research, although it may be crude and ill-informed, 
nevertheless confronts the scientist with the question whether he is not 
assenting too readily to the misuse of his knowledge and skill. Impelled 
by patriotic motives, most scientists have put themselves freely at the 
disposal of the State in time of need, but many are hesitating to admit 
that patriotism must always override considerations of humanity. 
Whatever be our individual attitude in this matter, it is time for chemists 
and scientists in general to throw their weight into the scale against the 
tendencies which are dragging science and civilisation down and debasing 
our heritage of intellectual and spiritual values. 

Reference has already been made to the increasing recognition by the 
State of the value of chemical research, but it is surprising how slowly 
those responsible for the machinery of government learn to appreciate 
the real scope of the chemist’s work. A comparatively recent instance of 
the lack of clear thinking on this matter was furnished by the first draft of 
the formal rules dealing with the manufacture of pharmaceutical prepara- 
tions containing poisons. Those allowed to control the manufacture 
were required to possess ‘ qualifications in chemistry,’ and on this basis 
general medical practitioners were to be eligible equally with pharmacists 
and trained chemists. ‘The idea that the general medical practitioner has 
qualifications in chemistry is ludicrous and the later drafts of the Poison 
Rules showed that this had been realised. The contention put forward 
in a Home Office Memorandum on these Rules that certain operations can 
be pharmaceutical but not chemical was equally ill-informed. 

Inadequate realisation of what the chemist even now means for the 
community and failure to grasp his potentiality for development and 
progress may have unfortunate consequences in the commercial world. 
How often is it the case, although there are notable exceptions, that an 
industrial concern depending essentially on the successful operation of 
chemical or physico-chemical processes is controlled by a board of directors 
elected solely by virtue of their financial qualifications. Such men, as a 
tule, are without real appreciation of scientific method and scientific 
research, and, in the absence of a technical member who can speak with 
authority on these matters—a technical employee obviously cannot carry 
the same weight—such a board may make serious mistakes of omission 
or commission. No amount of financial manipulation, however skilful, 
can make up for the lack of enlightened scientific control. 

If we chemists feel, as we certainly do, that the fundamental and 
widespread part which our science now plays in the community is not 
sufficiently realised, and if we consider that our profession should have 
greater influence in commercial, industrial, and national affairs, the 
remedy lies to some extent with ourselves, both individually and collect- 
ively. May I suggest that the phrase ‘ serving the community ’ not only 
describes what has already been extensively achieved by the chemist, but 
stands also for a high aim, such as has inspired, for example, the best 
traditions of the medical profession? The idea of service as a background 


50 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


for life is not new—it is at least 1900 years old—but I believe it to be true 
to-day as always that the finest work in any sphere is linked with that ideal. 
The cynic will, of course, declare that the idea of * service ’ in the present 
connection is both sentimental and irrelevant, and that concern for profits 
and pay need not be tempered with any less material considerations. 
Against this so-called realism I would urge that the spirit of narrow 
commercialism and professionalism, without vision of the potentialities 
of science for humanity, and without concern for the social issues 
involved, gives colour to the false view that science is anti-social. 

Whatever may be our individual views on these questions, practical 
considerations suggest, and even demand, the formation of a corporate 
body to represent the common views and stand for the common interests 
of chemists as a whole. Much has been done already in this direction, 
but formal unification to the extent which prevails in the medical pro- 
fession, for example, has not been achieved. ‘The very diversity of the 
spheres of work with which chemistry is concerned means that the points 
of view and the interests of chemists vary widely : the outlook of the public 
analyst is not that of the research chemist or the man operating a chemical 
process on the factory scale. It is not surprising, therefore, that progress 
in the collaboration of chemists has been slow, and it is improbable that 
the chemical profession can ever become unified as closely and exclusively 
as the medical profession—even supposing it were desirable. 

If for the moment we regard as ‘ trained chemists ’ all those who have 
taken an Honours Degree in Science with chemistry as the principal 
subject, or who have equivalent qualifications, their number in Great 
Britain is probably in the neighbourhood of 12,000. The majority of 
these are members of one or more of the three large chartered bodies 
concerned with chemistry—the Chemical Society, the Institute of 
Chemistry, and the Society of Chemical Industry. The Chemical 
Society, which is the oldest of the three and celebrates its centenary in 
1941, has had for its chief objects the publication of new knowledge in 
pure chemistry and the building up of a comprehensive library—aims 
which have been achieved to a notable extent. The formation of this 
Society took place at a time when the professional and industrial aspects of 
chemical science were still in the background. 

At a later date—over fifty years ago—the Institute of Chemistry was 
founded as a definitely professional organisation, designed to ensure the 
possession of adequate qualifications by those engaged in the practice of 
chemistry. The Institute, now the largest of the three chartered bodies, 
has had a considerable influence on the training of chemists, more especially 
for consulting and analytical practice, and membership of the organisation 
is, for certain kinds of chemical work, taken as a necessary and sufficient 
guarantee of professional competence. Unfortunately, however, there is 
not yet in existence a complete and authoritative register of trained 
chemists. 

The rapid growth of interest in the applications of chemical science led 
to the formation in 1881 of the Society of Chemical Industry, which aims 
at the prornotion of applied chemistry, by regular publication of relevant 
information and discussion of the latest developments. ‘The members 


B.—CHEMISTRY 51 


are linked to one another in Local Sections, which are not confined to 
Great Britain, and by Subject Groups, which provide a common meeting 
ground for those interested in Chemical Engineering, Road and Building 
Materials, Plastics, and Food, respectively. 

In addition to these three main bodies there are numerous smaller 
organisations concerned with chemistry in one way or another, such as the 
Biochemical Society, the British Association of Chemists, the Faraday 
Society, the Institute of Brewing, the Institution of Chemical Engineers, 
or the Society of Public Analysts, and the number of these is in itself a 
testimony to the variety of the chemist’s activities. 

Within the last two years a notable step has been taken towards the 
consolidation of the science and profession of chemistry by the formation 
of the Chemical Council, which is based on the three chartered organisa- 
tions already mentioned, as well as on the Association of British Chemical 
Manufacturers, representing important industrial and commercial interests. 
The Chemical Council, set up in the first instance for a period of seven 
years, aims at securing a joint foundation for undertakings which have 
hitherto been the concern of separate organisations, and at enlisting the 
support of industry in this matter. The publication of new knowledge, 
either in the form of original communications or in the form of summaries 
of papers which have already appeared, is of the first importance in a 
science growing so rapidly as chemistry. For every chemist, whatever be 
his particular field of work, some acquaintance with new views, new 
discoveries, new applications, is essential, and the publication of new 
knowledge in the appropriate form is really a concern of the whole pro- 
fession. The successful prosecution of this enterprise is a vital matter 
also for the industries which depend for their smooth running and their 
progressive development on the application of chemical knowledge and the 
furtherance of chemical research. 

If the newly established Chemical Council can unite the chemical 
profession and the chemical industry in support of publications and other 
objects of similarly wide appeal, such as a central library, it will have 
achieved a notable advance. Its formation is the earnest of further moves 
in the direction of consolidation and unification of the chemical profession, 
such as the acquisition of adequate central premises and the establishment 
of a complete register of trained chemists. 

This leads me to consider the kind of preparation which is necessary 
in order that a man shall be qualified for such registration. The training 
of chemists, as of other professional men, has for its necessary basis a 
broad general education for character, culture and citizenship—in the 
achievement of which the teaching of science can play a distinctive part. 
Regard for accuracy in observation and in statement, understanding of 
logical reasoning, interest and delight in the natural world, appreciation 
of scientific discovery and its meaning for human life—all these are, in 
some measure at least, within the grasp of the child under the guidance of 
a live teacher. In this connection it is unfortunate that the elements of 
biology are taught in comparatively so few schools. It is admittedly 
easier to arrange for elementary instruction in the physical sciences than 
in biology, but, as things are at present, boys, especially, see as a rule 


52 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


only one side of science—they find themselves in a physics-chemistry 
groove, and this groove may become a rut. My own experience of 
students from secondary schools (including public schools) proceeding to 
a university honours degree in chemistry shows that not more than 1 in 12 
has had any previous contact with biological science. Apart from the 
special and intimate relationships between chemistry and vital phenomena, 
such a state of affairs is regrettable on general and cultural grounds. 

After the School Certificate stage our future chemist appropriately 
begins some specialisation in science, either during his last years at school 
or during his first year at University or College. The special science 
teaching in secondary schools now reaches in many cases a high level of 
excellence, but owing to various causes, notably scholarship requirements, 
the extent of specialisation in physics, chemistry and mathematics during 
these last two years has become excessive. Not only does this involve a 
reduction of time and energy for desirable cultural subjects, such as history 
and English language and literature, but it may mean that the student comes 
to the University without a mastery of the tools which he will later need 
in his specialist work. In the case of the chemist this applies especially 
to the German language, and at the moment we have the absurd position 
that many University Departments of Chemistry are finding it necessary 
to teach their students German, while the schools on the other hand are 
busy giving specialist instruction of University standard. 

The student who has passed the Intermediate Science stage and =e 
has decided to become a chemist has two or three years’ training in front 
of him before he enters for his final examinations. In what way can the 
most profitable use be made of this time? ‘The attempt to answer this 
question in detail would be out of place here, but there are a few general 
considerations which should not be forgotten in connection with this stage 
in the training of the chemist. In the earlier portion of this address 
emphasis was laid on the extreme diversity of the tasks which the chemist 
may be called upon to undertake in his professional career, and clearly, 
therefore, it is the basic principles of the science that should mainly occupy 
his attention during his University curriculum. His training must be on 
broad fundamental lines, and any attempt to plan a University under- 
graduate course with a view to preparation for some specific chemical 
occupation, such as paper-making or dyestuff manufacture, is entirely mis- 
conceived, 

On the other hand, the breadth of the chemist’s undergraduate training 
may be sacrificed to intensive and perhaps excessive study of some 
academic aspect of the subject. The criticism is made to-day—and in my 
view it has some justification—that our graduates in chemistry are weak 
in their grasp of the fundamentals of the science. It is said that they can 
talk at length about nuclear spins, valency angles, electron sinks, energy 
levels and so on, but are astonishingly uncertain about more elementary 
and practical matters. The explanation is not far to seek. Discoveries 
in atomic physics, radioactivity and other fields have revolutionised the 
outlook ; our basic ideas about matter and energy have been radically 
altered and extended ; chemical properties and reactions have been re- 
interpreted in terms of the electron and the quantum. ‘The interest and 
significance of these developments are obvious, and all sound chemical 


B.—CHEMISTRY 53 


education must incorporate the new knowledge and the new ideas. It 
does appear, however, that the attempt to present these in all their detail 
to the undergraduate chemist has involved correspondingly sketchy treat- 
ment of less novel, but still fundamental, elements of his training. Further, 
in the chemical and physico-chemical fields opened up by these new 
developments there has been a luxuriant growth of theory and speculation, 
often ephemeral in character and rendered impressive only by a buttressing 
of mathematics. A good deal of this enters into the university teaching of 
chemistry, but much of it has merely an examination value and contributes 
nothing to the permanent equipment of the average student—the man 
whose interests must be kept steadily in view. 

The present prominence of this ‘ armchair’ chemistry suggests that 
there is another consideration which we academic people are apt to forget. 
So far at least as the service of the community is concerned chemistry is 
a practical science and the most of the students under training are to be 
practising chemists. Academic purists may protest that chemistry is a 
philosophical discipline, not a bread and butter affair, and that any- 
thing savouring of vocational training is foreign to the function of a 
University. It is, however, to the national interest that knowledge and 
action should be co-ordinated and that our Universities should not be 
divorced from practical affairs. The existence of our Faculties of 
Medicine and Engineering shows that in other important fields of national 
service the Universities have accepted the burden of putting vocational 
training on a broad foundation of scientific knowledge. In the training 
of the chemist, then, knowledge of fundamental principles must be 
coupled with practical competence, craftsmanship and technique, and 
here I would stress the importance of accurate quantitative analysis as one 
essential element in the education of the chemical student. Apart from 
its value as enforcing the essentially exact nature of chemical reactions, 
experience shows that the successful solution of organic or physico- 
chemical problems depends in a great many instances on some accurate 
analytical operation. Laboratory practice and craftsmanship in general, 
the value of which is discounted by certain schools of physicists to-day, is 
indeed an indispensable feature of the training of the chemist. 

Along with the laboratory I should like to emphasise the importance of 
the library, and here I refer, not to general university facilities, but to a 
departmental library, small it may be but workmanlike, and run as a real 
element in the chemist’s training. With their eye on examinations many 
students regard lectures and laboratories as providing the sum total of all 
wisdom, and yet it is essential that they should have direct access to the 
original sources of information and learn how to use them. This is best 
done in a departmental library, accessible and up to date, but success will 
be achieved only when responsible members of the staff take a real interest 
in this side of the student’s training, and make the library a live affair. 

No single science is self-contained and no man can be a chemist without 
some knowledge and experience of cognate fields. Hence it is appropriate 
that the undergraduate student of chemistry should study physics or 
biology, for example, as a subsidiary subject, and this is generally provided 
for in the courses which lead to an Honours Degree in Chemistry as the 


54 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


main subject. Where the interval between the Intermediate and the Final 
Honours Examinations is only two years, time-table considerations un- 
fortunately may forbid the study of more than one subsidiary subject. 
There is much to be said for a minimum period of three years, which would 
not only relieve the congestion of a two years’ specialist course in chemistry 
but would enable the student to acquire a broader outlook on related 
fields of knowledge. In some Universities where the three-year interval 
between Intermediate and Final Honours is in force, the chemistry 
student takes a general degree—or its equivalent—in three subjects before 
proceeding to the Final Honours year, and this arrangement has much to 
commend it. 

As to the subsidiary subject or subjects themselves, there should be 
much elasticity, and the student’s own aptitudes and interests should be 
the determining consideration. Thus while all chemists should have a 
working knowledge of mathematics up to the calculus, it would be a 
mistake to make more advanced work in this field obligatory as a subsidiary 
subject, irrespective of the student’s individual capacities and interests. 
On the other hand, the chemistry student who has a real flair for mathe- 
matics—in my experience he is a rare bird—should have every encourage- 
ment, both before and after graduation, to cultivate his special talent. 
Such encouragement is specially effective if it is backed by members of 
the mathematics staff with some appreciation of the chemist’s outlook and 
requirements. 

The Honours course in pure chemistry which is current in our Univer- 
sities is itself very specialised and, in my judgment, lacks flexibility. 
Many chemical undergraduates are frankly more interested in the practical 
application of the broad principles of chemistry than in the refinements and 
subtleties which figure largely in our honours courses of lectures. Such 
highly specialised instruction may be appropriate for those who are to 
spend their lives working in the field of pure chemistry, but it has limited 
value for those who are less interested in knowledge for its own sake than 
in its application for practical ends. In physics the necessity of providing 
for these two types of workers has long been recognised and our Univer- 
sities welcome students of electrical engineering as well as students of 
pure physics. In view of these considerations serious attention should be 
devoted to Chemical Engineering as a degree subject. Experiments in 
this direction have already been made in one or two places, and the 
question has been raised afresh by the recent proposal of the Imperial 
College that an undergraduate course in Chemical Engineering should be 
instituted, covering three years after the Intermediate stage. It is essential 
that any course such as that proposed should be based on the fundamental 
principles of physics and chemistry, with the requisite mathematics, and 
should cover their general application in the field where the chemist and 
the engineer have common interests and common problems—a field which 
is very largely that of physical chemistry. 

The oft-repeated criticism that the man trained on the lines proposed 
would be neither a chemist nor an engineer is merely formal and un- 
convincing ; the water-tight separation of the two professions is entirely 
artificial, for in chemical industrial practice there are many who are 


B.—CHEMISTRY 55 


primarily chemists but who have to handle large-scale operations on 
engineering lines. Why should this fact not be faced and the appropriate 
adjustments made in our University courses of training? It is true that 
at the present time some men trained in pure chemistry take a post- 
graduate course in chemical engineering, but this is a piecemeal way of 
acquiring the relevant knowledge and technique, and the welding of the 
two disciplines in a balanced curriculum should produce much better 
results. If the Universities will take this matter in hand, the training of 
the chemical engineer will be moulded on lines consistent with that study 
of fundamental knowledge which it is the function of the Universities to 
promote. 

As in medicine, the man who is at the end of a chemical undergraduate 
training is only at the beginning of that experience of life and practice 
which will make him a mature member of his profession. In some cases, 
depending on aptitude and temperament, it is best that this further 
experience should be begun outside the University and that the new 
chemical graduate should at once exchange the comparative calm of 
academic lecture-rooms and laboratories for the rough and tumble of 
industrial conditions. ‘These are the cases in which sufficient technical 
basis is provided in the undergraduate course for a career which will lie 
more in the field of production management and administration than in 
that of scientific control and development. 

On the other hand, in the majority of cases, the chemist who has just 
completed his first degree curriculum is well advised to spend one or two 
post-graduate years at the University, either in research or advanced 
study, securing in this way the opportunity for more intensive and 
deliberate work in some special field. While I do not consider that 
research should invariably be the occupation of the post-graduate chemist, 
it is essential that all those with distinct originality and with ambition to 
extend the boundaries of knowledge should have the chance of learning 
the art of the pioneer and of experiencing the thrill of discovery. It is from 
the ranks of such post-graduate workers that the Davys and the Faradays, 
the Ramsays and the Perkins of the future must be recruited, and 
accordingly joint research by staff and students should be a prominent 
feature of all chemical departments in our Universities and Colleges. 
If the investigations proceeding in any one department are of a varied 
character, so much the better, for where a single field is being explored 
on established lines, an individual worker may be little more than a cog 
in a wheel, with only slight benefit to himself. 

In the case of those who have no apparent talent or inclination for 
research, the post-graduate period is more profitably spent in acquiring 
special knowledge of some particular field. With a thorough under- 
graduate training in chemistry as a background, intensive work in, say, 

biochemistry, agricultural chemistry, metallurgy, or the chemistry of 
food and drugs, provides technical qualifications of a valuable order. At 
the same time, it must not be forgotten that, however good the post- 
graduate training in research or advanced study may have been, the chemist 
will be faced with new problems and new situations when he enters the 
works laboratory or the factory. ‘This marks the opening of a fresh 


56 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


chapter in his training, and although he may already have acquired a sound 
knowledge of specific principles and scientific method, heis but a beginner 
in other respects, and the new situation may make a heavy call on his 
adaptability and common sense. Real achievement at this stage depends 
largely on character and personality, the possession of which is outside 
the guarantee of University degrees. For the chemist who has not only 
intellectual ability and technical competence, but also qualities of leader- 
ship and judgment, there is abundant opportunity, and our industries 
could profitably absorb many more men of this calibre. 

Since the war there has been a notable increase in the number of openings 
for trained chemists and there is a steadily growing demand for such men. 
It is imperative, however, that the standard of training shall be maintained 
at a high level with the objects of scientific progress and professional 
competence always in view. There is no doubt that, given adequate 
financial and commercial co-operation, chemists trained in our Univer- 
sities and Technical Schools will be able to meet all demands on their 
skill and knowledge and to make their full contribution to the industrial 
and social needs of the community. 

Consideration, indeed, of the scientific and industrial developments 
of the last few decades warrants the view that all technical requirements 
of the community in goods and services can be met sooner or later. While, 
however, knowledge and skill increase, wisdom lingers, and it looks as if 
the real problem at the moment before the nation—before all civilised 
nations—is not any difficulty in technical service or technical production, 
but the wise use and distribution of the natural and synthetic products 
which science has put at our disposal in such abundant measure. 


SECTION C.—GEOLOGY. 


PALZONTOLOGY AND HUMANITY 


ADDRESS BY 
PROF. H. L. HAWKINS, D.Sc., F.G.S., 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


Few branches of scientific research are less familiar to the general public 
than Palzontology. Restorations of extinct animals, glowering in 
museums or quivering on'the screen, do little to provide an understanding of 
the subject ; they savour unduly of the temptation to start reading a novel 
at the wrong end. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that to most people, 
and not to the illiterate alone, the activities of palzeontologists are unknown 
or mysterious. In many quarters a fossil-hunter is still looked upon as 
perhaps amiable, and probably harmless ; while the small economic value 
of his treasures is a clear index to the abnormality of his mind. Most of 
us who work in the field still experience the difficulty of convincing casual 
observers that the specimens we collect and cherish are objects worthy of 
the attention of grown men who are also sane. 

It is not my intention to comment here on a system of education that 
omits to give to its victims an intellectual appreciation of the world in 
which they live. Any such diatribe would be dismissed, like all criticisms 
of established custom, as the product of a biased mind. But I hope 
that the facts and logical deductions that I am about to put before you, 
from the privileged position in which you have placed me, may reach 
beyond the walls of this room (where we are all of the true faith) and 
convince sceptics that Paleontology has a message of vital importance to 
mankind. With this intent I propose to pass over the obvious geological 
applications of the science, concentrating attention upon its biological 
aspect. 

Paleontology is, by name and nature, an historical study. Its aim is to 
decipher the records of past life, and to translate the story into human 
language. Without some knowledge of this sort, true appreciation of 
life in the present is impossible. One of the main factors in human 
progress has been an ability to learn from the experience of past generations. 
That mankind is often lamentably ‘ slow in the uptake’ in this respect 
only emphasises the importance of his faculty; for when discredited 
experiments are repeated progress is postponed. 

The old-fashioned type of biologist who ignored or rejected fossil 
evidence was in the position of a man who, suffering from loss of memory, 
might try to understand the present international situation with no other 
guides than this morning’s papers. This forlorn type is now virtually 


58 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


extinct ; but we still have hosts of earnest workers, battling with problems 
directly concerned with mankind, who either know nothing of man’s 
place in nature or even deny that he is subject to natural laws. In such 
cases ignorance and prejudice are far more dangerous than when they 
inspired opposition to Galileo ; to living beings the laws of life are more 
directly important than those of planetary motion. 


It is difficult to recapture the sense of amazement that must have 
assailed the minds of those who first observed and pondered over fossils. 
The ideas aroused by the ‘ figured stones’ must have seemed grotesque 
and incredible even when they fell short of profanity. Many and various 
hypotheses were devised to explain away facts whose obvious interpre- 
tation did violence to accepted tradition. During the seventeenth 
century, mongrel mixtures of imperfect observation and misread Scripture 
appeared in polemic succession as ‘ Theories of the Earth.’ These 
treatises can never become out of date. Much as they resemble guides to 
Wonderland written by the White Knight, they are good illustrations of 
the perennial danger of logic based on incomplete premisses. 

Fossils were ascribed to astrological conjunctions, meteoric showers, 
thunderbolts, and even to the machinations of the Arch-fiend. Belief 
in the celestial, or at least cosmic, origin of fossils was very general ; 
perhaps it was fostered by the abundance of ‘ Shepherds’ Crowns’ on the 
ploughed fields. The five-rayed pattern of these casts of sea-urchins, 
no less than the stellate structure of nodules of pyrites, linked all ‘ ex- 
traneous fossils’ with the stars. Sounder reasoning, in the light of the 
knowledge then available, prompted a belief (championed strongly by 
Nicholas Lang) in some fertilising essence that generated fossils in rocks 
as it did jelly-fish in sea-water. 

At last, as evidence accumulated, the inevitable and (to us) obvious 
interpretation of fossils became accepted by all who studied them; 
although then, as now, the opinionated felt qualified to deny truths of 
which they were ignorant. The situation was admirably summed up in 
1732 by J. P. Breynius in his treatise on the reputed petrified melons of 
Mount Carmel. He showed convincingly that these objects were crystal- 
filled geodes ; but in so doing he was anxious to avoid casting doubt on 
the organic nature of true fossils. He expressed the opinion that, after 
the revelations made by Columna, Steno and Scilla, ‘ he who would doubt 
the truth of the assertion [that the Glossopetre of Malta were true 
sharks’ teeth] must assuredly have a fungus for a brain.’ 


Real progress in the study of fossils had to wait until a change of fashion 
allowed persons of intelligence and refinement to leave the chaste shelter 
of libraries and cabinets and to expose themselves to the rigours of the 
open country. Hitherto savants had been content (for the most part) to 
speculate and debate over specimens brought to them by illiterate yokels ; 
and they often wove into their theories the fantastic stories with which 
the discoveries had been embellished. The greater part of two centuries 


C.—GEOLOGY 59 


had been wasted in ‘ empty speculation ’ (as Scilla described the efforts of 
his contemporaries) before philosophers learned the value of physical 
labour, with its accompaniment of honest dirt, as a clarifier of the mind. 

And so we come to the heroic period of the late eighteenth and early 
nineteenth centuries, when students of Geognosy began to collect fossils 
for themselves. Immediately two sciences sprang to birth. Geology, 
as we understand it to-day, found in fossils the link that gave continuity 
to a mass of disconnected observations ; and Palzontology took its place 
as the science of the succession of life. The discovery that ‘ Strata [can 
be] identified by Organised Fossils’ must surely rank among the greatest 
episodes in the history of human thought ; for to it we can trace directly 
our conception of geological time and our realisation of the fact of 
evolution. ‘Throughout the past century both of these revelations were 
hotly contested ; for since the days of Elijah truth has always been at 
variance with orthodoxy ; but a recognition of the orderly succession of 
events in the history of the world, inorganic and organic alike, gradually 
dawned on all but the most benighted minds. ‘To-day we can, with such 
concessions to modern delicacy as may be appropriate, apply the dictum 
of Breynius to those who doubt, and especially to those who deny, the 
established facts of history. 


Since I propose to exploit to the full a Presidential licence for generalisa- 
tion, it becomes necessary to remind myself and you of the value of the 
evidence on which the generalisations are based. ‘The depth and range 
of the conceptions of which Palzontology treats, and the importance of 
the conclusions to which they lead, are such that a critical audit is period- 
ically imperative. Evolution is a principle that interests and influences 
every man, whether he likes it or not ; and for that reason it is in constant 
danger of becoming discredited by wild generalisations. Every teacher 
knows the absorbent nature of the student-mind which willingly accepts 
as doctrine suggestions that were not meant to be the commandments even 
of men. We spend our lives in disproving the axioms of our youth. I 
is, then, most important that palzontologists, who alone can speak with 
authority on the course of organic evolution, should be careful of what 
they say. Heaven forfend that they should ever cease to theorise and 
speculate ; but they will do so better if they remember occasionally the 
nature of the foundation on which the apex of their logical pyramid rests. 

In any kind of historical research there must always be a vast quantity 
of undiscovered, and indeed unrecorded, facts. Many of these lost data 
are doubtless best served by oblivion (vide the daily Press) ; but, in the 
intricate ramification of affairs, apparently trivial incidents may prove 
critically important. Nevertheless, a few average samples of news, 
selected on a definite principle, will give a fairer picture of historical truth 
than a welter of flashy details that are ‘ news’ because they are abnormal. 

The imperfection of the geological record is patent and inevitable, for 
all stratigraphical history is written in palimpsest. The paleontological 
record is inseparably involved in the geological ; so that disjointed scraps 
of evidence are all that we can expect. Even when no obvious mutilation, 


60 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


such as angular unconformity, defaces the record, there is no reason to 
assume that the story is consecutive. Just as a net has been described 
as a set of holes held together with string, so a series of strata must 
often represent a succession of non-sequences separated by films of 
sediment. 

In addition to the accidents of destruction inherent in the nature of the 
geological record, there are many gaps due to biological factors. Not 
only do organisms devoid of hard parts perish, usually without trace, 
but many of all kinds are destroyed in providing food for their successors. 
The biological palimpsest immortalised on Ilkla Moor is almost universal. 

Apart from accidental occurrences that are too rare to provide more 
than surprise, fossils consist of the ‘ hard parts’ only of the creatures they 
represent. While in some cases these structures may consist of toughened 
organic material (as, for example, wood or chitin), they are usually 
built of mineral matter secreted or excreted by the organism. Such shells 
and skeletons are valuable to their owners for protection or support ; but 
at best they have a secondary significance in that they are the least ‘ alive’ 
parts. Skeletons are closely associated, and intergrown, with living 
tissues ; but shells have no closer connection with their builders than any 
other kind of homespun garment. 

There is thus a serious limitation, in both quantity and quality, of the 
amount of direct evidence available for the appraisement of the characters 
of extinct organisms. Palzontologists share with anatomists the dis- 
advantage of studying life after it has gone ; but they are further penalised 
by having access only to those parts of the living mechanism that were 
never more than half alive. When we superpose on this Ossa of imper- 
fections the Pelion of the human factor (in the matter of collection, pre- 
servation and interpretation of specimens), there does not seem much left. 

As regards the quantity of evidence available, its limitation is our 
salvation. However short it may fall of the total amount possible, it is 
enormous. In many respects we understand the principle by which it 
has been selected, so that we are in a position to estimate its proportionate 
value. Moreover, such material as is preserved for us has been kept in 
its right chronological order. The fact of succession gives ample com- 
pensation for shortcomings in other ways. 

The quality of fossil evidence is, in effect, far higher than might be 
expected. Although fossils represent but portions of organisms, they are 
not therein unrepresentative. In the laboratory of research in Scotland 
Yard, a mere finger-print is known as a sure criterion for identification. 
A finger-print suffices not only to show some inborn and peculiar character 
of its maker, but often includes features that reveal something of his 
habits and experiences. Most fossils, certainly those on which conclusions 
of importance are based, are far more than finger-prints. In spite of a 
need for caution owing to the vagaries of convergent development, a single 
character is generally enough to serve as a basis of identification of an 
organism. ‘The plumage of birds, the wing-scales of Lepidoptera, or the 
pollen-grains of plants are even better indices of the several species of a 
group than many more intimate anatomical features. Indeed, experience 
shows that ‘ vital’ structures are very uniform throughout families or even 


C.—GEOLOGY 61 


orders of organisms ; the differences that distinguish genera and species 
are usually trivial and superficial. Hence the restrictions laid on palzonto- 
logists, though regrettable, are in no sense crippling. 

Skeletons and shells are particularly informative as to the relation of an 
organism to its environment, and thus of its habits of life. In this matter 
a double check is available. Not only can we study the connection between 
the skeletal and shelly structures of living types and their environment, 
and so infer the significance of similar characters in extinct forms ; but by 
a study of the lithology of the sediments in which fossils are found we can 
deduce the physiographical conditions prevalent at the time of their 
burial. ‘There is, indeed, little to choose between the opportunities of 
neontologists and palzontologists for studying the relation between 
structure and environment, and, with the shifting scene of geological 
history, palzontologists have a unique opportunity to observe the reaction 
of structures to environmental change. It is here that Paleontology can 
make a contribution to biological philosophy no less important than its 
addition of extinct types to the storehouse of biological facts. 


A short digression into the subject of taxonomy will be useful at this 
point. In matters of classification Paleontology has proved a disturbing 
agent. The so-called ‘ natural’ classifications of the past, based on 
conveniently fixed characters, were delightfully simple as well as useful ; 
but they are out of date and even misleading to-day. Whatever other 
principles may or may not have been proved by Palzontology, it has been 
shown beyond cavil that the characters of organisms do not remain fixed 
for long. Indeed, it is impossible to hold any longer a belief that they 
are fixed at all. ‘The new problem thus confronting systematists can be 
expressed by analogy. ‘The old classification aimed to produce a cata- 
logue or dictionary in which each item or word was defined as an entity ; 
the new classification has to devise an etymological concordance, where 
the history and context of each word is more important than its ephemeral 
usage. Modern systematists deserve every sympathy as, with scissors 
and paste, they try to re-edit into a new design the myriad items of their 
catalogues. 

Considerable confusion has arisen through the unavoidable differences 
in the bases of classification used in Palaeontology and Neontology. A 
neontologist can, and should, invoke all the morphological, embryological, 
ecological, physiological and psychological qualities of an organism as 
criteria in taxonomy ; a palzontologist can observe only a fraction of the 
first three of these qualities. But he can study the chronological order of 
succession by way of compensation for the rest. There is actually little 
to choose in the quantity of evidence of taxonomic value available in the 
_ two lines of inquiry ; but the emphasis falls differently. In practice a 
palzontologist recognises that the chronological factor outweighs all 
others in significance ; but he envies and borrows from the wide range of 
information available in Neontology. A neontologist is rarely content 
to-day to restrict his inquiries to the ephemeral matters that are his 
rightful scope ; he steals the palzontological ‘ thunder’ of succession to 


62 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


give verisimilitude to an ‘ otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative.’ 
The distinction between Neontology and Palzontology is fading ; and with 
its passing all other taxonomic boundaries grow dim. 

There is, however, a real difference in the two attitudes towards classi- 
fication, and a difficulty in correlating them. This is due to the vastly 
greater series of characters possessed by a living creature compared with 
the small number that persist after its death. Zoologists and botanists 
can study ontology and ontogeny, whereas the student of fossils must be 
content with partial morphology and morphogeny. Fortunately, in the 
nature of things, the various organs of an organism are so intimately 
related that any one of them may give presumptive indications of the 
rest ; but this is not invariably true, and scarcely ever convincing. There 
is room between the valves of a Pelecypod shell for any or all of the 
anatomical peculiarities on which Pelecypods are classified, and very 
little likelihood that the shell will show which of the many possibilities 
it actually enclosed. This difficulty applies in the case of all shell-bearing 
organisms; it is less acute where skeletal structures are concerned. 
We do not know how many gills the Ammonites had, and so their true 
position among the Cephalopoda is unproved; but we do know the 
disposition of the water-vessels in fossil Echinoderms, and the course of 
blood-vessels and cranial nerves in extinct Vertebrates. 

Most of the characters regarded as of specific importance in modern 
types are superficial. They are real enough, but only skin-deep. ‘The 
colour of feathers, the hairiness of foliage, or the proportions and 
ornament of shells, may serve to differentiate between forms that, though 
otherwise structurally similar, are completely different in habits, distri- 
bution and fertility. A palazontologist can hope, therefore, to recognise 
in fossil shells specific characters comparable with those so regarded by 
neontologists. 

Generic characters, in so far as they can be defined, involve structural 
differences of a more deep-seated nature. Most of them are revealed 
only by dissection, and most are found among the softer tissues. Such 
characters may often have a visible influence on skeletal structures, but 
they rarely affect shells. In Echinoderms, Vertebrates and Plants it is 
possible for a paleontologist to distinguish sections that are virtually 
equivalent to the neontologists’ genera, and to follow consistently up into 
higher groupings. 

We find, therefore, that a palzoconchologist can classify shells speci- 
fically, and usually no further; while his colleague who deals with 
skeletal structures can recognise ordinal and generic, but no smaller, 
characters. In effect, a fossil shell is naturally recognised as a species, and 
arbitrarily placed in a genus; while a fossil skeleton may be naturally 
classed into a genus, and cannot properly be described specifically. That 
it is usually so described upsets the balance of classification ; but since 
taxonomy is at best an artificial scheme, the trouble is not serious so long 
as it is realised. 

Whatever may be the requirements of his stratigraphical colleagues, 
a biological palzontologist is less concerned with genera and species than 
with series and trends. His interest lies in the progressive modification 


C.—GEOLOGY 63 


of certain accessible structures; there he can find facts, whereas his 
excursions into phylogeny must always have some speculative element. 

This limitation is by no means so serious as it may appear. Any 
organism consists of a mass of interrelated characters, each of which 
should rightly contribute to the harmonious working of the whole. It 
is obvious that many of the characters of an individual suffer change 
during its lifetime, and that these changes are not attained at a uniform 
rate. Indeed, individual life can be likened to a chord which is per- 
sistently modulated by alteration in value of its component notes, until 
the time comes when one or more of the notes is so altered that it produces 
discord, a sure foreboding of disease and death. As a consequence, a 
careful watch on the changes that affect a few characters will suffice to 
show both the nature of such changes and their influence on the well- 
being of the organism concerned. 

Palzontologists thus study the history of organic structures rather than 
that of organisms, thereby indirectly watching the fate of the owners 
of those structures. In large measure the application of generic and 
specific names (an arbitrary habit even in Neontology) is tentative. It gives 
convenient, but often false, means of expressing morphological qualities. 
Such familiar ‘ genera’ as Gryphea and Exogyra can be shown to represent 
stages in the morphogeny of oyster-shells belonging to manifestly different 
lineages, so that they are not genera in any strict sense. They correspond 
to such epithets as ‘crony’ or ‘ gaffer’ as applied to stages in human 
development. 


There is a wide range of variation in the durability of fossil types in 
geological time. This variability affects all grades in classification except 
perhaps the highest, and may be assumed, granted a sufficiently long 
perspective, to affect all. Some classes, such as the Spire-bearing 
Brachiopoda, lasted no longer than two eras, while others, such as the 
Atreme Brachiopoda, have endured throughout the known record. The 
families into which such classes are divided often show proportionate 
durability ; the spire-bearing Atrypidz, for instance, being limited to 
about two periods, while the atrematous Lingulide have persisted from 
Ordovician times to the present day. Similarly, the genera and species 
of such families follow, in general, the fashion of the groups to which they 
belong. If we consider a stratigraphical hemera as analogous with a year, 
and a genus as an individual unit, it would be fair to recognise some 
genera as annuals, some as biennials, and others as perennials of varied 
longevity. It is worth noting that a precisely comparable variability of 
expectation of life applies in the case of individuals; so that, accidents 
apart, an oak tree will live longer than a sycamore and a man than a mouse. 

Within the framework of a class there is actually much variability 
of time-range. In the contrasted cases of the Brachiopoda cited above, 
the family Spiriferide persisted through four geological periods, whereas 
several families of atrematous Brachiopoda seem to have been limited to 
the Cambrian period. Again, among the Echinoidea, the small regular 
sea-urchin Hemipedina appeared at the outset of the Jurassic period, 


64 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


and still survives ; whereas Diademopsis, a type so similar as to be almost 
the despair of systematists, appeared at the same time and failed to 
outlast the Jurassic period. 

There is also a wide range of difference in the geographical distribution 
of genera and species, seemingly independent of the time-range. While 
it is, of course, natural that planktonic forms, such as some of the Grapto- 
lites, should be drifted far and wide by ocean currents, it must be realised 
that most marine organisms pass through a planktonic stage in development. 
Not all of them take advantage of this opportunity for wide dispersion. 
In view of the uncertainty as to the truly specific identity of fossils that 
are apparently alike, and of the incidence of orthogenetic and con- 
vergent trends in morphogeny, the problems raised by the study of palao- 
geographical distribution are too hypothetical to be considered here. 

These diversities of quality, in duration and dispersion, of fossil types 
in all grades of classification are strikingly reminiscent of the differences 
of longevity and migration that may occur in different individuals of a 
single species, or even of a single generation born of the same parents. 
Whatever may be the explanation (and we know the causes of such diver- 
sity to be infinitely complex in the case of members of our own species), 
the tendency towards, or capacity for, the differences seems to exist as a 
general principle throughout living matter. Palaeontology merely shows 
here that a quality of life with which all of us are personally familiar 
applies equally in the larger histories in which individuals or generations 
are but transient incidents. 

In the perspective given by geological time, we may hope to detect 
some of the outstanding characters that accompany, and perchance in- 
fluence, the success or failure of a group of organisms. We lose sight of 
the innumerable trivial accidents that determine the fate of an individual, 
so that more fundamental tendencies become clearer. In this particular 
instance we can observe the characters that history has proved to be 
associated with longevity or its reverse. 

Without enumerating actual cases (which would be tedious for those 
who know and still more so for those who do not) we can make at least one 
generalisation that seems to be true. Simplicity of structure, so long as it 
is combined with reasonable efficiency, is associated with palzontological 
longevity; while complexity of structure, however efficient, implies 
relatively brief duration. We need not at this stage look for a reason for 
the existence of such qualities, but it is patent that they exist. The 
reason for their effect, however, is so manifest that it could be adumbrated 
even if proof were lacking. Any organism must of necessity be in tune 
with its environment if it is to survive. Elaborate structures can fit only 
a special type of environment, whereas simple structures have a wider 
scope of possible harmonies; just as a chord of many notes is less easily 
harmonised with another than a single note. In geological time, environ- 
mental changes are inevitable, so that simple structures will have a better 
chance of survival than complex ones. The platitudinous nature of this 
statement is well shown in everyday experience, for the ignorance of a 
thoroughgoing specialist of any but his peculiar brand of knowledge 
is notorious. 


C.—GEOLOGY 65 


Study of the ‘ survival-value ’ of various types in groups whose palz- 
ontological history is adequately known reveals many points of interest. 
Every group includes some types that are relatively persistent and others 
that are relatively ephemeral. For example, among the sea-urchins, 
Cidaris has persisted with no important modification from the Triassic 
period to the present day ; the family of the Cidaridz ranges back to the 
Carboniferous period. Echinocystis, a sea-urchin that appeared long before 
any of the Cidaridz, was limited in range to the Upper Silurian. Hetero- 
salenia, appearing first in the Upper Jurassic, disappeared in the Upper 
Cretaceous. Now Echinocystis and Heterosalenia were both much more 
elaborate in structure than Cidaris, so that their short ranges illustrate the 
generalisation made above. But Bothriocidaris, an early Echinoid far 
simpler in structure than Cidaris, appeared and became extinct within 
the Ordovician period. A closely parallel series of cases could be cited 
among Brachiopoda or Mollusca. In these groups the persistent genera 
Lingula, Nucula and Patella were neither the earliest to appear nor the 
simplest in structure. ‘They represent, however, like Cidaris, the simplest 
types capable of living with a fair measure of efficiency in the circumstances 
appropriate to their kind. Such types never attain the temporary import- 
ance often reached by highly specialised types ; they remain compara- 
tively obscure members of the fauna: but they remain. No imagination 
is needed to see in a limpet the modern representative of a type that was 
ancient before the first Vertebrate appeared. A trace of poetic insight 
would show that its humility has been its salvation. 


The harmony that exists between the structures of organisms and their 
environment would be incredible were it not commonplace. But the 
explanation of that harmony is not yet available, although from the days 
of teleology to the present it has been the ultimate aim of most biological 
research. Do organisms endowed with certain structures deliberately 
select suitable environments (as a Red-underwing moth chooses an elm- 
bole as a resting-place), or does the environment impress on, or extract 
from, the organism appropriate reactions (as the grime of a city seems 
to induce melanism) ? Even to-day the only safe reply to this question is 
to repeat another about a hen and an egg. 

Nevertheless, in one aspect of the question there is definite evidence. 
On individual organisms environment can at least exert the power of 
a final veto. Environment the executioner is so potent in individual life 
that it may, indeed it must, accelerate the extinction of any series of 
organisms whose structures fail to conform to its requirements. A con- 
stant environment is a sure means of maintaining constancy in the char- 
acters of successive generations ; any deviation from the permitted pattern 
cannot fail to prove less perfectly attuned than the orthodox plan. In 
geological time, however, environment is sure to change, so that a group 
of organisms will inevitably drop behind the times unless it can adjust 
its characters or its distribution to the shifting demands of its surroundings. 

Ample evidence of the soundness of this argument can be found in 
Palzontology. Although groups of organisms may become extinct at 

D 


66 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


any time in the geological cycle, there is a marked increase in their mor- 
tality coincident with the major physiographical paroxysms. Indeed, at 
the Caledonian, Hercynian and Alpine ‘ revolutions,’ something akin to 
wholesale massacre overwhelmed once successful groups. Even when a 
group, such as the Trilobites or Reptiles, survived such a storm, it did 
so in greatly reduced numbers and importance. There are significant 
exceptions to this common fate. The Ammonoidea, for instance, came 
through the Hercynian revolution unscathed ; but they collapsed at the 
first rumours of the Alpine troubles. Such exceptions are peculiarly 
valuable in their relation to the phenomena of evolution, and will be 
considered later. For the present we can be content to realise that the 
bulk of evidence points to the fatal effect of environmental change on 
a large proportion of the flora and fauna exposed to it. 

Environment has, then, a powerful influence for destruction ; but the 
question as to its effect, if any, on the introduction of new types to replace 
its victims is not so easily answered. The record of palzontological 
succession certainly shows this replacement to be speedy and thorough. 
The collapse of the Nautiloids in Hercynian times was compensated by the 
rise of the Belemnoids, and the retirement of the Reptiles was followed 
almost at once by the advance of the Mammals. The world seems never 
to wait long for a full complement of novices to replace fallen veterans. 

One partial explanation of this is clear. Physiographical changes; by 
depleting the ranks of the current population, reduce the incidence of the 
biological factor.of the struggle for existence, so that active competition 

‘is temporarily abated. Without competition, the offspring of the sur- 
vivors have better individual chances of life, and multiplication with its 
accompaniment of variation will be almost unrestrained. ‘This explana- 
tion, like most of its kind, leaves the main problem unanswered. It fails 
to show why conditions that were fatal to one group should stimulate 
another with similar habits and needs; and it leaves open the question 
as to the selection of one group for destruction and another for advance- 
ment. Surely, if depletion of the population improves individual prospects 
for the offspring of one race, it should have the same beneficent influence 
on the next generation of any other with similar propensities, including 
the race that has just been decimated. It would be absurd to postulate 
that a group of organisms living and flourishing in all parts of the world 
could have been immolated at one fell swoop by a universal cataclysm ; 
so that there must be some other factor that decides between the doomed 
and the preferred. For the moment we must defer further discussion 
of this difficulty. 


The longevity of some types of organisms as compared with others 
shows clearly that some are less. susceptible to the-lethal influence of 
environmental change than others. We have already seen that the 
types that weather the storms of time are those with relatively simple 
structures, while those‘prone to collapse before them have more complex 
structures. Both types of structure agree in their admirable suitability 
in an appropriate environment; but it is obvious that a wider range 


=P” 


C.—GEOLOGY 67 


of conditions can be appropriate to simple structures than to complex. 
Indeed, we may go further, and conclude that simplicity implies catholicity 
and complexity implies specialisation. A simple type, with simple needs, 
is long-suffering under change; a complex type, with peculiar needs, is 
distraught if those needs are not met in their entirety. A Jack-of-all- 
trades has a better prospect of finding a job than a specialist. 

This principle, while explaining the longevity of simple types, can 
only explain the shortness of the careers of complex types if we assume 
that such types are incapable of modification consonant with changes 
of environment. Although there are very many cases where a stereo- 
typing of structure has undoubtedly had a fatal sequel for this very reason, 
there are also cases where highly elaborate types have come through 
physiographical crises unharmed. One of the most notable of these 
cases isfound inthe Ammonoidea. The Permo-Carboniferous members of 
that group were at least as complex in structure as any before or since 
that time, but the Hercynian revolution had little or no effect upon their 
quality or dominance. Their success is made the more dramatic by the 
spectacular collapse at about that time of the Nautiloidea, an allied group 
with much the same habits of life. Evidently complexity is not necessarily 
fatal, although it is more dangerous than simplicity. 


In an endeavour to find an explanation for the patent fact of varying 
reaction to environment, recognition of the principle of evolution becomes 
inevitable. If all types were irrevocably fixed in character, the meek 
would long ago have inherited the earth; all complex and specialised 
types would have met their doom during the succession of geological 
changes. But in fact, although a steady undercurrent of simple types 
flows unchecked through the record of palzontological history, the 
frequent and spectacular disasters, like the bursting of bubbles, that have 
befallen the complex types have but opened the way for others of equal 
complexity to rise to the surface. 


One of the most stimulating glimpses into the mode of evolution was 
given by the work of Alpheus Hyatt and his successors, notably C. E. 


_ Beecher and R. T. Jackson. ‘The main thesis of their interpretation con- 


_ sists of a kind of extension of the neontological theory of recapitulation to 


fossil forms. When recapitulation was found to continue after the em- 
bryonic or larval stages, and to persist throughout the life of an individual, 
a much more satisfactory element was brought into the theory. Larval 
stages are often passed under conditions that could never have been 
tolerated by the adult forms that they are supposed to recall ; whereas there 
is no reason why an adolescent or adult individual should not occupy an 
environment similar to that of its ancestors. Moreover, the relatively 
slow rate of growth and development after the larval stage makes the 
discrepancy between the speed of evolution and that of ontogeny less 
intense. 

By application of this principle, especially to the cases of Ammonites 


68 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


and Brachiopods, Hyatt and Beecher were able to find the adult character- 
istics of later types represented in the adolescent stages of earlier ones. 
They found in the growth-stages of a single individual a succession of 
characters that agreed with the palzontological succession of its kindred. 
R. T. Jackson applied the method of study to Pelecypods, and enlarged 
the scope of the theory by his recognition of ‘ localised stages in develop- 
ment ’ in forms, such as Echinoderms and Plants, where early features are 
modified or destroyed during life. 

Although the principle of perpetual recapitulation has stimulated a vast 
bulk of palzontological research, it has scarcely attracted among neon- 
tologists the attention it deserves. Work along these lines on recent 
material has generally been done by palzontologists, for there still exists 
a perverse tendency among neontologists to give but scant attention to 
the hard parts of their victims. Especially does one note with regret 
that developmental studies seem, for the most part, to stop when the 
embryo is hatched, even if they extend beyond gastrulation. 

Just as a blind faith in the infallibility of embryological recapitulation 
led to such absurdities that the whole principle was in danger of discredit, 
so uncritical acceptance of Hyatt’s principle of post-larval recapitulation 
has at times been brought into disrepute. Especially has this occurred 
when developmental stages were accepted as evidence of phylogenetic 
descent without the precaution of checking the assumed succession by 
field evidence. The order of occurrence, like the order of superposition 
in stratigraphy, must always be the final test of any scheme based on other 
evidence. It must be admitted that the formidable, and largely un- 
necessary, terminology whose invention seems to have been a passion with 
Hyatt, made unpalatable and obscure the facts that it was designed to 
elucidate ; and also that some of the illustrations he used were un- 
fortunately chosen. But no amount of criticism or scepticism can vitiate 
the discoveries of Branco, Beecher and Carruthers ; the principle is sound 
even if some of its exponents have been mistaken. 


Post-larval recapitulation, with its extension into senile prophecy, 
provides a link between racial evolution and individual life. Most of 
Hyatt’s terminology was based on analogy with individual life ; the seven 
ages of man became symbols of the stages of morphogeny and phylogeny. 
In its fullest implications, it completes the tale of the uniformity of natural 
laws working on different scales. Just as the history of a family is similar 
to, but longer than, that of one of its component genera, and that of a 
genus than that of one of its species, so the evolution of a species is shown 
in an abbreviated and bowdlerised form in the life of one of its individual 
members. Inception and extinction of species have their counterparts 
in the birth and death of an organism, and the phases that intervene can 
be matched in each case. It is usual, and proper, to speak of a genus or 
species as representing an early or late stage in the evolution of its line ; 
it is often possible to demonstrate that these terms have the same sort of 
significance as the words young or old when applied to individuals. In 
short, the delightfully simple conception emerges that the life of an 


C.—GEOLOGY 69 


individual is to all intents and purposes the evolution of its species seen 
through the wrong end of the telescope; or conversely that the evolution 
of a species (or any larger group) is but the life of one of its members 
extended into geological perspective. 

This generalisation may appear to some to suffer from over-attractive- 
ness; it seems too simple to be true. Such an attitude would imply that 
individual life is simple—an absurd travesty of the truth. But even if it 
were, the history of all scientific research teaches that simplicity is a 
characteristic of Nature, and complexity a reflex of human ignorance, In 
the physical world a few simple principles work uniformly on galaxies and 
atoms; it is only to be expected that in the organic world there should be 
a common control of the lives of phyla and cells. The same law of 
dynamics controls a see-saw or the Tower Bridge; why should not one 
law of evolution apply equally to individuals and to the races to which 
they belong? ‘These arguments seem reasonable, but they would be 
mere sophistry were not the facts of Palzontology explicable on no other 
assumption. In the light of our knowledge, we are justified in declaring 
that the way ‘ life’ is lived is the way of evolution, whether it be from 
the Cambrian to the Holocene or from the cradle to the grave. 

It is unnecessary to enlarge upon the corollary to this conception. If 
all living things are in continuous contact with varying conditions, those 
that are adaptable will enjoy greater prospects of success than those that 
are stereotyped. Youth implies plasticity, and old age is synonymous 
with stiffness. Whether physically or mentally, the young are flexible, 
the old more rigid; changes of circumstance that stimulate a youth will 
kill his grandfather. In evolution this means that a group will, in its 
early stages, be able to keep pace with, and be moulded by, its changing 
environment, while when it has passed its prime it will be in deadly 
danger from similar changes, Although we are far from an understanding 
of the mechanism by which this result is attained, the result itself, and its 
causes, are repeated a myriad times in the paleontological record. 


In view of the fragmentary evidence afforded by Palzontology, any 
attempt to produce a ‘ genealogical tree’ for an individual or group must 
be largely speculative, and of doubtful value. It is hard enough to trace 
the descent of human beings whose ancestors were born in recorded 
wedlock ; but the mating of most creatures, particularly of marine in- 
vertebrates, achieves a degree of promiscuity unattained even in Holly- 
wood. Nature is no stud-farm; and, although there are stern laws to 
limit hybridisation, cross-breeding is infinitely complex. Those who 
seek to detect lineages among fossils are seeking the non-existent. 

In his address to this Section in 1920, my late friend and mentor 
Dr. F. A. Bather laid stress on the distinction between succession and 
descent. He illustrated the danger of confusing the two concepts by 
reference to the succession of English sovereigns, where logical adherence 
to a well-founded theory of descent would ‘ make James I the son of 
Elizabeth.’ This mistake would be disreputable in the light of known 
facts ; but, with all deference to the memory of the Virgin Queen, it would 


70 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


be immaterial in palzontological perspective. Both James and Elizabeth 
were of royal ‘blood,’ and were indeed fairly closely akin. There were 
many strands common to the tangled ancestry of both ; and, since they 
belonged to successive generations, Elizabeth could, without disrespect 
or inaccuracy, be described as im loco parentis to James. Perhaps this 
idea can be expressed more clearly by prolonging Dr. Bather’s analogy. 
A glance at Cromwell’s portrait or behaviour would suffice to show the 
improbability of his having been the son of CharlesI; and even a pale- 
ontologist would see in him the introduction of a new lineage. With the 
coming of Charles II a manifest restoration of the earlier lineage is evident ; 
and the question as to whether he was the son, grandson or nephew of 
Charles I is of minor importance. 

Among fossils, a lineage must be considered as a succession of members 
of a freely interbreeding stock ; no more precise definition is possible or 
necessary. Even then it has but a theoretical interest ; in reality the only 
lineages that can be detected are those of morphogenetic succession. 


The palzontological evidence of evolution is complicated by the 
incidence of environmental change. So subtle and complete is the sym- 
pathy between structure and environment that there is a point of view 
that claims environment, and its corollary the ‘ struggle for existence,’ 
as a determining factor in, if not a prime cause of, evolution. If, however, 
we accept the view that environment is an educator, such glorification of 
its influence appears ridiculous. Education can transform an ignorant 
child into a learned man, or a normal flea into a performing one ; but it 
cannot change a gorilla into a chimpanzee nor a whippet into a race- 
horse. Common sense shows that there must be limits beyond which the 
call of environment is powerless to evoke response. 

There is a vast body of evidence to show that evolution is, in some 
measure at least, independent of the incidence of environment. The 
most satisfactory evidence of this nature is to be found in the fauna of the 
Chalk. There, in the stillness of the floor of an open sea, conditions 
remained constant (save for slight temporary irregularities in the depth 
of the water) for a very long period of time. Many groups of animals 
persisted through considerable parts of the Chalk stage, and it is reasonable 
to assume that their represerttatives in the successive layers of the Chalk 
are in as direct lines of descent as can ever exist. When we discount 
slight, often transient, differences of shape that can be correlated with 
bathymetrical changes, we find clear proof of continuous and directional 
evolution in many characters. ‘The case of the genus Micraster is classical ; 
but those of Echinocorys, Conulus, Bourgueticrinus and Inoceramus are 
equally convincing. In a later paragraph I propose to use Micraster as an 
illustration of many important phenomena of evolution. 

The two striking aspects of the nature of morphogeny as shown by 
‘ inch-by-inch ’ collecting of fossils from the Chalk are, first, the intrinsic 
character of the successive changes and, second, their directional quality. 
The course of evolution, seen in a long succession free from appreciable 
external influence, proves to be straight, or at least direct. Whether 


C.—GEOLOGY 71 


its direction was predetermined at the outset, or whether it was induced 
and selected by circumstances at an early stage, we cannot tell; but when 
once it has been fairly started, it continues inexorably to its limit. It 
must be admitted that this view of evolution is out of favour with many 
neontologists,.to whom the word ‘orthogenesis’ is anathema. The 
attitude of these critics has a precedent in that of the physicists of a past 
generation who were convinced that the sun could not have existed long 
enough for geological history to have happened. Inability to explain a 
fact is no evidence of its fallacy; and palzontologists can proceed un- 
ruffled to record the facts of orthogenesis. 

Whatever may be the influence, direct or indirect, of environmental 
changes on the course of evolution, there is certainly this other factor at 
work. The several organs of an organism have considerable independence, 
although they must keep a harmonious balance if disaster is to be averted. 
In the nature of things, palzontological evidence is most adequate for 
appreciation of the evolution of such structures as shells. These external 
organs are at once intimately concerned with the environment, and capable 
of much modification without affecting the welfare of the organism of which 
they are a part. The dual nature of morphological evolution in cases of 
this kind is very clearly shown in the Ostrea-Gryphea lineage worked 
out by Trueman. 

If we consider a flat oyster-shell, such as Ostrea liassica, affixed by the 
greater part of one valve, two obvious imperfections appear. Only a 
limited number of individuals can occupy a definite space if they have this 
posture ; and the valves will open near ‘ ground-level’ where the water 
may be gritty. Whether by some intrinsic impulse, or by selection of 
chance variations, such a type of oyster tends, in the course of many 
generations, to reduce the area of fixation, and, by curving the released 
part of the valve upwards, to reach purer and less crowded water. In 
course of time this tendency is pushed back into earlier stages of develop- 
ment, until a type appears which is fastened by a very small area only, 
and in which the direction of growth has been rotated through go degrees. 
In this state the oyster has rectified both of the disadvantages inherent 
in its first condition, for now many shells can stand erect where previously 
one lay prone, and all open into the water above the mud-level. 

So far in the story (which is demonstrably true) it is possible to invoke 
the influence of environment as a causative and selective influence. But 
the story does not end here. Gradually, in direct continuation of what 
had happened hitherto, the area of fixation becomes more and more 
reduced and the curvature of the shell more pronounced, until once again 
the opening of the valves is bent downwards towards the sea-floor, and the 
area occupied by the individual is again large. Still, as we follow the 
sequence, the rotation continues, until the final spot of fixation is 
obliterated, and the shell, with one valve curved through a semicircle, 
lies loose. Freed from the restraint of fixation, this valve becomes pro- 
gressively more enrolled, until it assumes the familiar spiral form seen in 
Gryphea incurva. As a compensation for freedom, and the inconvenience 
and danger thereby caused, the enrolled part of the valve becomes enor- 
mously thickened, so as to ensure uprightness of posture by the same 


72 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


principle as that used in celluloid dolls with leaden bases. Once more 
the shell stands upright, and all seems well. But the tendency to secrete 
great quantities of carbonate of lime becomes, as Lang has shown in the 
case of Polyzoa, an obsession. A full-grown G. incurva, when opened, 
shows very little accommodation for the oyster in contrast to the bulk and 
massiveness of the shell. With progressive increase in solidity, and 
continuous further curvature of the once fixed valve, the shell becomes 
unwieldy, and that particular lineage of oysters disappears. 

The tragic story of Gryphea is in no sense unique, nor is it of a kind 
peculiar to Mollusca. An exactly parallel case, or series of cases, can be 
found among the Brachiopoda. The story of Productus could be told in 
almost the same words as that of Gryphea ; while there is hardly a family 
of Brachiopoda that does not include some types in which undue curvature 
of the ventral valve has obliterated the pedicle. Whatever ingenious 
devices may have been employed to compensate for this condition, by 
local weighting or spinous growths or coral-like cementation, there was 
no long future in store for a Brachiopod stock that dissipated its birth- 
right by destroying its pedicle. 

We have, of course, no direct evidence as to the changes, if any, that 
occurred in the soft structures of oysters and Brachiopods whose shells 
underwent such alterations. Probably some readjustment would be 
needed to fit the change of posture, but it need not have been drastic. It 
is, however, evident that the utmost perfection and efficiency of all the 
other organs would avail nothing if and when the shell became unmanage- 
able. Heart-failure will kill an otherwise healthy body. ; 


The account of morphogenetic evolution can be extended and amplified 
by a further ‘ Analysis of the Genus Micraster.? Rowe’s work on this 
type, although not the first of its kind, deserves to be regarded as a classic 
in evolutional studies. Perhaps its chief value lies in its avowedly strati- 
graphical aim; the chronological succession was recorded without regard 
to any possible biological implications. Moreover, an Echinoid is an 
exceptionally satisfactory type for paleontological study. Its hard parts 
include a great variety of structures, and the mesodermal and yet peri- 
pheral character of its test ensures intimate association with the living 
tissues and close contact with the environment. For our present purpose 
it will suffice to select three distinct structures of the test, and to consider 
only the simplest aspect of their progressive modification during the 
period of the Upper Chalk. 

The interporiferous tract of the ambulacral petals is almost smooth in 
such types as M. corbovis and M. leskei, species from the base of the Upper 
Chalk. In the highest zones to which the genus persists, these tracts are 
highly ornamented with granules, and marked by a pronounced groove 
along the median line. Every gradation between these two extremes can 
be found ; and, in spite of occasional slight irregularities, the chrono- 
logical sequence of the gradations is remarkably straightforward. It is 
not easy to suggest any functional difference of vital importance that this 
change could indicate ; rather the steady increase in elaboration seems 


C.—GEOLOGY 73 


a wholly gratuitous embellishment. It may well have had a significance 
that will be mentioned in the following paragraph ; but taken on its own 
merits it seems to show a trend of evolution as automatic as unnecessary. 

The thickness of the test of Micraster is another progressive character. 
M. corbovis has a very thin test in proportion to its not inconsiderable 
size, while at the upper extreme M. rostratus has a smaller but much thicker 
test. Again the chronological sequence is almost perfect from thin to 
thick. In this case various reasons can be postulated for a change that 
cannot have been wholly without influence on the bionomics of the animal. 
It has been suggested that life in an environment of calcareous ooze made 
absorption and secretion of calcite a sort of disease. This suggestion, 
however, leaves quite unexplained the delicacy of the tests of several of 
Micraster’s contemporaries and associates, and the extreme flimsiness of 
many recent sea-urchins that live in comparable surroundings. Explana- 
tions based on variation of depth of the Chalk sea are no more satisfying, 
for that quality undoubtedly fluctuated, while the thickening of the test 
is steadily progressive. ‘There is, in short, no sign that this character was 
either enforced by the environment or advantageous to the animal, but 
it developed notwithstanding. By analogy with the case of the petaloid 
ornament, we might suggest that the building of a test (that is, a tend- 
ency to secrete calcite) was a quality which, once started, continued 
regardless of convenience or necessity. Perhaps this is no analogy, but 
all part of the same story ; for the packing of the interporiferous tract 
with granules until it is flush with the surface of the test may well indicate 
a storage of surplus calcite in a place where it would be least in the way. 
Since a similar embarrassment of mineral wealth seems to overwhelm a 
large proportion of the organisms that come within paleontological reach, 
it may be taken as provisionally true that mineralisation, however useful 
it may be in moderation, becomes gradually a disease. 

The third character in the test of Micraster that we can select for 
analysis is that of the labrum, a shovel-like prolongation of the ‘ lower ’ 
lip of the peristome. In this feature progressive change is again in evi- 
dence. Low-zonal species have a scarcely recognisable labrum, while in 
high-zonal forms the structure may be so strongly developed as to project 
beyond the anterior end of the body. There can be no question that, 
for an animal with the habits of a Micraster, a well-developed scoop 
is an aid to efficiency in feeding. The food-bearing ooze or silt is, in part 
at least, directed towards the mouth by the anterior sulcus of the test, 
and any device at the peristome to ensure its entry into the mouth would 
avoid waste. It seems reasonable to conclude that some stimulus, 
possibly that of friction during use, encouraged the initiation of a labrum, 
and that the labrum continued, perhaps under the same stimulus, to in- 
crease in size as one generation followed another. Such a suggestion 
raises the spectre of the inheritance of acquired characters ; but this is 
not the place to worry about warring hypotheses. The fact is that the 
genus Micraster began with practically no labrum, and that that structure 
progressively increased in size as time went on. But (and here is the 
significant feature), after the labrum had reached adequate proportions, 
it continued to grow until, in the latest types, it had so far outgrown 

D2 


74. SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


its functional value as to project beyond the anterior sulcus into a position 
of maximum risk and minimum usefulness. Almost immediately after 
that stage was reached, the genus Micraster disappeared and was no more 
seen. 

Here again we are driven to the conclusion that a structure, once 
initiated with the best intentions in the matter of utility, continued to 
increase regardless of its own efficiency or the welfare of the organism 
of which it was a part. 

Lastly in this connection, we can record a feature in the morphogeny 
of Micraster that often causes difficulty to stratigraphers. When we 
consider the two outstanding characters of petal-ornament and labrum 
together, occasional anomalies appear. It is unsafe to use only a fragment 
of a test for zoning purposes, because the ambulacral character may be 
either before or behind its ‘ time’ in the succession, and the same con- 
dition may apply to the peristomial features. If, however, we find a 
test with relatively ‘ low-zonal’ ambulacral petals ‘and relatively ‘ high- 
zonal ’ labral structure, stratigraphy will always enable us to prove that 
the proper chronological place of that specimen is somewhere between 
the extremes indicated by each character separately. In other words, the 
whole test shows the correct zonal position of the specimen ; it is the 
average result of the conjunction of its various parts. In practice, this 
leads to a very safe, but scarcely mathematical, usage. A practised 
eye can tell by a general look at a Micraster its correct zonal position, 
whereas laborious analysis of each character separately often leads to 
contradictory and confusing results. It is a process closely analogous 
to our recognition of our human acquaintances: we do not consciously 
remember (if we ever really knew) every detail of each feature. Even 
lovers, who may be expected to indulge in fairly close investigation, are 
not always able to recite a reliable catalogue of the facial peculiarities of 
the object of their regard. 

The general principle that seems to emerge from this scrutiny of 
some of the features of Micraster can be expressed in simple terms. 
Each character has some measure of independence, and follows a morpho- 
genetic trend (whether of increment or reduction) irrespective of the other 
characters and even of its own utility. ‘The organism as a whole seems 
to hold a kind of balance between the several characters, so that if one 
of them is precocious another will be backward. 

Although this principle has been illustrated here by reference to the 
history of a single genus (and, for the sake of clearness, of a few characters 
only), it can be recognised in most of the groups of organisms of which 
we have much palzontological knowledge. In effect, it is merely a state- 
ment of the fact of over-specialisation ; but it seems to explain in some 
degree the danger inherent in that disease. For if the function of the 
whole organism is to ensure a balance between independent and perhaps 
antithetic trends of evolution among its components, specialisation in one 
respect must inevitably involve reduction in others. ‘There is no evidence 
to suggest that the structures that become highly specialised are necessarily 
the most vitally useful (although if they are of that calibre their over- 
development will soon neutralise their value); so that over-emphasis 
of an unimportant or harmful feature must lead to starvation and reduction 


C.—GEOLOGY 75 


of others that may be of vital importance. No organism can thrive 
unless its components work in harmony ; no harmony can be held for long 
when the several structures follow their own rates and directions of 
modulation. Doubtless this self-evident condition affects every com- 
ponent of every organism; to the palzontologist the note that seems 
doomed to modulate into discord is that of mineral secretion. 

It must be obvious to all that the course of morphogeny just sketched 
is closely analogous with the history of individual life; or, for that matter, 
of political and economic affairs. The whole issue boils down to the 
simple proposition that structures, organisms or states arise, gradually 
reach maturity, and then pass beyond it to destruction. An important 
aspect of the matter, however (again platitudinous, but often overlooked), 
is that the smaller and unconsidered ingredients may often be the final 
arbiters. It avails nothing for an organism or a body politic to be in 
otherwise perfect order if one of its ingredients is out of proportion. 
An organism or a kingdom, if divided against itself, cannot stand. 

There is thus a twofold Nemesis awaiting all living creatures. Environ- 
mental change may outpace their powers of adaptation, and so destroy 
them ; or, if this external disaster is avoided, the means adopted to elude 
it proceed relentlessly towards a disproportion that means failure. The 
gloomy conclusion we have now reached implies nothing more unexpected, 
or more encouraging, than that for races, as for individuals, there exist 
but two alternatives, natural or accidental death. 


We are now in a position to summarise the palzontological evidence 
as to the manner of evolution. Palzontology gives no direct evidence 
as to the origin of groups, of whatever taxonomic grade; its scope is 
limited to records of the later stages in the careers of groups already 
in existence. ‘This is not to deny that the presumptive evidence for the 
birth of new types is overwhelmingly strong; but actual tangible proof 
of their parentage and generation is lacking. A paleontologist is more 
of an undertaker than a midwife. 

Again, fossil evidence cannot give convincing demonstration of the 
origin of structures in organisms; its scope is restricted to observation 
of the fate of those structures after they have appeared. There must 
always be a theoretical quality in attempted explanations of the develop- 
ment of new characters; there are facts recording what happens to them 
in course of time. 

The only language which adequately expresses the nature of morpho- 
geny is that used in description of individual life. Structures, once 
originated, pass through stages of development, modification and ampli- 
fication that are closely analogous to the phases of personal history, both 
physical and psychological. There is a continuous duplicity, in that 
intrinsic characters are involved with external requirements ; environment 
is educative but not creative. There is a limit to the response to environ- 
ment possible for any structure ; if that limit is exceeded, disaster results. 
Every character of an organism, like every complete creature, is more 
responsive to environmental influence in its early history than later. 
Directions of development induced or encouraged by environment 


76 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


become gradually ingrained ; just as practices oft repeated become in- 
eradicable habits. In contrast with modern municipal tendencies, trolley- 
buses are transmuted to trams. 

The several characters of an organism are at once independent and 
inseparable ; each can follow its own line of development, but unless a 
balance is kept within the whole series, collapse is certain. ' Just as different 
groups of organisms show very different evolutionary speed, so the various 
structures in a single organism become modified at varying rates. The 
attainment of mature perfection from a stage of immaturity can never be 
more than a transient phase on the way to a fresh disproportion com- 
parable with senility. 

Structures, and with them the organisms to which they belong, grow old, 
exhausted or hypertrophied by their own intrinsic expenditure of evolu- 
tional ‘ effort’ amid an ever-fluctuating embarrassment of circumstance. 

We come to the conclusion that the oracular recommendation to know 
ourselves is a guide to the secret of evolution. Physically and (in the 
human case) psychologically we live our lives as compromises between 
hereditary tendencies and environmental requirements. As we grow 
older our accumulated load of compromise becomes an obsession, reducing 
our capacity for further efforts of the kind; and our environment never 
tires in its changefulness. 

If we consider these principles in the light of the struggle for existence, 
we find that those types which can attain the most perfect harmony with 
their environment will flourish proportionately. But their success brings 
Nemesis in its train; for speedy evolution towards dominance implies 
continuous speed ; the perfection point is passed by the same momentum 
that reached it. Undoubtedly the victor in the struggle for existence 
wins the prize: but the prize is death. 


When we attempt to apply to human affairs the principles of evolution 
as shown in Paleontology, many difficulties appear. Not the least of 
these is the impossibility of a dispassionate outlook ; we are proverbially 
unable to see ourselves as others see us. Another serious difficulty arises 
from the shortness of the time during which our species has existed, and 
the paucity of reliable evidence that it has left of its history. 

At the outset we must admit that the basis of our analysis of mankind 
will be on a different plane from that which we employ in the case of other 
organisms. Morphological and physiological characters change so slowly 
that we cannot expect to find much alteration during our brief career ; 
and in any case there is practically no evidence of that sort available. 
But if the conclusions already reached as to the universality of the law 
of evolution are accepted, it matters not a whit which particular attribute 
of an organism we select for study. Behaviour is but an expression of 
the reaction between the qualities of an organism and its environment, 
and civilisation is a kind of behaviour. This argument is not so specious 
as it may appear, for the evidence available to check its validity is ample. 

Before following that line further, it will be well to attempt an estimate 
of the qualities of the human species as they appear to a paleontologist. 
This is a dangerous part in this address ; for I am bound to omit, for the 


C.—GEOLOGY 77 


time being, reference to many human attributes. I must appeal for your 
patience, assuring you that I am as fully aware as any of you of the incom- 
pleteness of the analysis I am about to make ; and that later on, in a des- 
perate attempt to arrive at a happy ending, I propose to give consideration 
to those qualities in man that truly differentiate him from other animals. 

If it be asked how a student of ‘ lower ’ orders of organisms (and those 
defunct) can presume to include the human race in his purview, a plea 
of justification can be made on two grounds. Mr. Tony Weller gave it 
as his opinion that ‘the man as can form a ackerate judgment of a animal 
can form a ackerate judgment of anything.’ This generalisation, like 
all others, may be debatable ; but the course of human history, in so far 
as it is known, shows features typical of the course of evolution revealed by 
Palzontology. 

The outstanding physical peculiarity of the human species is its upright 
posture, a feature to which many of its bodily structures are far from com- 
pletely adapted. Inspite of its relatively large size, the human body cannot 
be claimed as exceptionally capable. A man stripped of the instruments 
of his devising, left to compete on equal terms with the other occupants 
of his restricted environment, would stand no better chance than they. 
It is true that he could perform most of the actions expected of land animals, 
but none of them superlatively well. Were he compelled to rely on his 
bodily characters alone, there would be little more reason to single him 
out for special consideration than there would be the capacity to do so. 

The mental powers of man are those that place him in a category 
apart from other creatures. By the exercise of his wits he can find 
compensation for structural shortcomings, and challenge, defeat and 
control all other living things. With the help of the machines that he 
invents, he can project himself successfully beyond the normal range of 
terrestrial animals, transporting his body and his habits over the sea and 
through the air. He can, within fairly wide limits, overcome the influence 
of environment. 

With no intent to belittle the mechanical achievements that have 
brought man to his commanding position, we must admit that few of 
them can be claimed as original. They are copies, often improved edi- 
tions, of devices that already existed in the animal creation, coupled with 
applications of natural forces that are as old as the world. Man’s capacity 
for generalisation has enabled him to foresee the effects of his inventions, 
and so to reduce the time that would otherwise have been spent on the 
costly method of trial and error. He can transmit his experiences to 
his own and following generations, so preventing (for those who listen) 
a wasteful repetition of mistakes. The speed with which he has beaten 
all other creatures at their several games is commensurate with the degree 
of his success. Paradoxically he has become supremely generalised by 
the exercise of a highly specialised faculty. 

It is difficult to find any type of animal behaviour in which man cannot 
excel. Whether in the strictly mechanical processes, such as locomotion 
or building, or in the more subtle qualities of affection and aspiration, 
he stands revealed as an exaggerated animal. There are no activities, 
constructive or destructive, and no habits, pleasing or loathsome, in 
which he cannot outdo the most accomplished animal. 


78 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


This analysis leads to a somewhat equivocal result. On the one hand, 
the high cerebral specialisation that makes possible all these developments, 
and the extraordinary rate at which success has been attained, both point 
to the conclusion that this is a species destined to a spectacular rise and 
an equally spectacular fall, more complete and rapid than the world 
has yet seen. On the other hand, the wide range of directions into which 
the specialisation extends, and the measure of control over environment 
that it entails, seem to suggest a peculiar kind of plasticity that might pass 
for generalisation, with the consequent hope of a long time-range. In 
this uncertainty we must look for such facts as are available, facts of 
history which are at least comparable with the record of Paleontology. 
But first we must estimate the relative value of the evidence afforded by 


human history. 


Fossils and historical documents alike give but a fraction of an account 
of the matters of which they treat. In both cases the story of the early 
stages of racial progress is imperfect and often mythological ; the episodes 
of decline and fall are more fully documented. But, in contrast to 
paleontological evidence, human accounts are always suspect. Written 
records of events represent an impression made on one, or at best a few, 
minds ; they may, indeed they must, be tainted with prejudice and ignor- 
ance even when they are not deliberately falsified. ‘The impious rebellion 
of one writer is the glorious revolution of another. Whatever may be the 
criticisms levelled at the transcribers of Natural History, no doubts can 
be cast on the essential truth of the record they try to interpret. As an 
academic proposition, it may be debated as to whether a misread fact 
is preferable to a misread falsehood ; but there is at least a chance of 
finding the truth in the former case. 

Again, the bulk of human history is the record of the performance of a 
few actors on a specially selected stage; Palzontology, with all its im- 
perfections, gives a picture of events in fairer proportion. ‘The parts of 
human history usually recorded represent the activities of man the in- 
tensified animal rather than of man the half-fledged angel. The behaviour 
of the animal is the more rational, and so easier to remember and describe. 
But from very early times another factor has entered into human affairs— 
a factor illogical and wayward, but every bit as real to a man as his animal 
qualities. This factor, which we may call ‘ altruistic,’ makes human 
actions often unintelligible in the present, and still more so in the past. 
For example, it is easier to find a rational explanation of the presence and 
characters of a Micraster in the Chalk than to form a plausible hypothesis as 
to the meaning of the Stonehenge that men erected over it. Man can 
safely claim to be unique, for he is the only irrational creature in the world. 
A palzontologist may be excused for looking askance at a record of 
creatures like that written by one of themselves. 

Nevertheless, man leaves other traces of his activities besides written 
screeds, and many of these records are as revealing, and as unintentional, 
as the shell of a mollusc. By piecing together archzological materials, 
and fitting documentary accounts into the plan of this mosaic, a conception 
of human history can be gained that comes within measurable distance 


C.—GEOLOGY 79 


of scientific evidence. We have more established knowledge of the 
Belemnites than of the Incas, but perhaps we know almost as much about 
the Romans as about the Trilobites. 


It would be wearisome to reiterate the various features wherein the 
history of human affairs corresponds with the course of evolution in other 
groups. Whether we consider individual lives, dynasties or empires, the 
same depressing story applies. Some races, once dominant in their 
particular sphere, have disappeared entirely ; others, fallen from high 
estate, linger in inglorious decay. But all of those brave civilisations and 
empires of which we have records seem to have shown a succession of 
similar histories. They have risen from obscurity through possession of 
successful attributes, and have reached the peak of their power only to 
pass it. Some have rotted away quietly, others have fallen before the onset 
of less rotten stocks or perhaps of extra-human disaster. Many of the 
early empires were on so small a scale that their rise and fall had merely 
local effect ; others have been more comprehensive, and their dissolution 
has spread havoc over wide areas of the world. 

Until comparatively recently, there has been a persistent proportion of 
‘ backward ’ types, unaffected by the civilising influence of the progressive 
powers. These have remained as a quiet background to the transient 
pyrotechnics of the others. They remained to provide a new upstart 
when the current one had crashed. ‘To-day there are few races of this 
kind left; almost all of mankind has encountered civilisation and either 
perished or been transmuted. The fatal complexity of civilisation grips 
the whole species, crushing ‘it into unity. 

The specific causes of the collapse of once dominant races are doubtless 
varied ; but there is general agreement that one universal factor in dis- 
integration is complexity, an aspect of over-specialisation. The units of 
an empire, be they individuals or factions, tend to work together in 
harmony during the period of upward struggle ; but when a position of 
dominance is won, they continue to struggle. When there are no new 
worlds to conquer they begin to fight among themselves. Selfish aims 
replace patriotic ones, and the community becomes discordant. 

The correspondence between this state of affairs and the morphogenetic 
trends in other races of animals is so close that it needs no elaboration. 
Those who deny that human institutions are subject to the laws of 
organic evolution know either no history or no Palzontology. Many 
proverbs give epigrammatic statements of the principles of evolution in 
imaginative terms. 


‘ Tll fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, 
Where wealth accumulates and men decay.’ 


The history of extinct empires, which should be studied as a cautionary 
tale, is commonly regarded as providing an example to be followed. 
Human nature has the curious trait of gambling against the laws of cause 
and effect. We always hope that the fate that befel our predecessors will 
pass us by. Babylon, Egypt, Rome, Spain all traversed the same track ; 
and to-day we follow in their footsteps hoping to reach some different goal. 


80 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


If this were all, man’s outlook would indeed be dark. According to 
temperament we might as well sit with folded hands in a darkened room 
awaiting the inevitable end, or meet the crash with ribaldry and riot. 
Our peculiar quality of superior mentality seems but a suicidal acquisition, 
hastening and intensifying the imminent doom. But the human mind is 
more than a fabricator of evanescent institutions. It can transcend 
utilitarianism (wherein it but exaggerates animal qualities) and can form 
idealistic conceptions. 

Ideas of chivalry, honour and self-sacrifice have no place in the struggle 
for existence ; but they are inherent in all but hypersophisticated minds. 
Among ordinary folk, conceptions such as these are stronger incentives 
to action than animal impulses, as even the most rascally demagogue 
knows. Learning, philosophy and art are realities to which men will 
devote their lives, creating rather than copying, with no ulterior or 
mercenary aim. ‘The arts and virtues bring a new and incalculable 
feature into the story of evolution. Some, at least, of their achievements 
outlive kingdoms and empires, seeming immortal. 

Men are, for the most part, enthusiastic admirers of virtue, even to the 
extent of devising laws to ensure its maintenance. Very many of them are 
actual exponents of virtue in their personal relations ; but in public affairs 
and in the mass they are often content to behave as animals rather than 
as men. ‘Manners makyth man’ is perhaps the most concise specific. 
diagnosis ever published. But there is only one law of evolution, common 
to individuals and races alike. If mankind as a whole neglects its ‘ manners,’ 
it abandons any claim it may have to qualitative difference from other 
animals. ‘There is no doubt of man’s ability to become the most successful 
type of animal that has ever existed; but the reward of success in that 
direction is death. 


The love of truth, greatest of all virtues, is especially an attribute of men 
of science. In this we are idealists, for the truth is unattainable, how- 
ever worth the seeking. We know that all the progress that our species 
has made, in material as well as in mental affairs, is the result of the 
search for truth. We find ourselves strangers in a world riddled with 
more or less blatant deceit ; but we still follow our ideal, confident that all 
other paths are blind. We recognise in the conception of truth something 
eternal, not subject to the laws of change and decay. 

We know that idealism is the goal and incentive in all actions that can 
truly be described as human. ‘To the idealist environment is something 
to be overcome or adapted into service ; the story of human progress is 
one of triumph over circumstances. The self-styled ‘ realist,’ who 
advocates acceptance of, and submission to, his temporary environment, 
is less than a man ; he follows in the tradition of the beasts that perish. 

To idealists Palzontology has no message, save to welcome them as 
something new in Nature. To realists, who seek material success in the 
struggle for existence, Palzontology, with millions of years of history as 
its authority, declares emphatically ‘ You have been warned.’ 


SECTION D.—ZOOLOGY. 


NATURAL SELECTION AND 
EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS 


ADDRESS BY 
J. S, HUXLEY, MiVA.; D:Sc., 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


THE MULTIFORMITY OF EVOLUTION. 


BioLocy at the present time is embarking upon a phase of synthesis after 
a period in which new disciplines were taken up in turn and worked out 
in comparative isolation. Nowhere is this movement towards unification 
more likely to be fruitful than in the many-sided topic of evolution ; 
and already we are seeing its firstfruits in that reanimation of Darwinism 
which is such a striking feature of post-war biology. 

With the reorientation made possible by modern genetics, evolution 
is seen to be a joint product of mutation and selection. Contrary to the 
view of Darwin and the Weismann school, selection alone has been shown 
to be incapable of extending the upper limit of variation, and therefore 
incapable by itself of causing evolutionary change. Contrary to the 
views of the more extreme mutationists and the believers in ortho- 
genesis, mutation alone has been shown to be incapable of producing 
directional change, or of overriding selective effects. ‘The two processes 
are complementary. 

The students of a particular aspect of evolution are prone to think 
that their conclusions are generally applicable, whereas they usually are 
not. The palzontologists unearth long evolutionary series and claim that 
evolution is always gradual and always along a straight course, which may 
be either adaptive or non-adaptive. However, as Haldane has pointed out, 
their conclusions apply almost entirely to abundant and mostly to marine 
animals. In some land plants, on the contrary, we now have evidence of 
a wholly different method of evolution—namely, the discontinuous and 
abrupt formation of new species. And in rare forms the course of evolu- 
tion will not run in the same way as in abundant and dominant types. 

Meanwhile the naturalist and the comparative physiologist are struck 
by the adaptive characters of animals and plants: to them the problem of 
evolution becomes synonymous with the problem of the origin of adapta- 
tion, and natural selection is erected into an all-powerful and all-pervading 
agency. ‘The systematist, on the other hand, struck by the apparent 
uselessness of the characters on which he distinguishes species and genera, 
is apt to overlook other characters which are adaptive but happen to be 
of no use in systematics, and to neglect the broad and obviously adaptive 
characters seen in larger groups and in palzontological trends. 

‘ 


\ 


82 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


The palzontologist, confronted with his continuous and long-range 
trends, is prone to misunderstand the implications of a discontinuous 
theory of change such as mutation, and to invoke orthogenesis or Lamarck- 
ism as explanatory agencies. Since there exist more rare than abundant 
species, the biogeographer will have to discount the fact that he is dealing 
mainly with processes irrelevant to the major trends of evolution regarded 
as a long-range process ; while the ecologist and the pure physiologist, 
appalled by the complexity of the phenomena, are apt to give up any 
quest for evolutionary explanation. 


SELECTION IN A MENDELIAN WORLD. 


In our attack upon the problem, we must first mention some implica- 
tions of recent genetics. Essentially, the modern conception may be 
put as follows. The notion of Mendelian characters has been entirely 
dropped. Instead of a given gene having a constant effect, its actual 
effect is dependent upon the co-operative action of a number of other 
genes. Mutations which in one gene-complex are pathological, in 
another may be perfectly harmless, and in yet another advantageous. 
The adjustment of such mutations to the needs of the organism may 
occur entirely through recombination of existing modifiers, or, after a 
preliminary and partial buffering by this means, the final adjustment 
may have to wait upon further mutation. 

Thus evolution need not occur by a series of sharp single steps ; each 
such step is immediately buffered by ancillary changes in genes and gene- 
combinations. What evolves is the gene-complex ; and it can do so in 
a series of small if irregular steps so finely graded as to constitute a con- 
tinuous ramp. 

When we reflect further that it is theoretically possible for a gene to 
alter its character radically by mutating step by small step from one 
multiple allelomorph to another, we shall see that the discontinuity in- 
herent in Mendelian genetics is no obstacle to the visible continuity 
revealed in palzontological evolution. 

Nor is the pathological character of many mutations at their first 
appeararice necessarily a bar to their final evolutionary utilisation by the 
species. Let us take some examples of this last-named process. ‘The 
mutant gene eyeless in Drosophila was originally described as considerably 
reducing the size of the eyes, in some cases to complete absence, markedly 
decreasing fertility, and depressing viability. When, however, a 
stock for eyeless was inbred for a number of generations, it was found 
that practically all had normal eyes and showed little reduction in either 
fertility or viability. On outcrossing to the normal wild type and re- 
extracting the recessives in F2, it was found that these once more mani- 
fested the original characters of eyeless, though in even more variable 
degree. 

The explanation of these facts is that the manifestations of eyeless 
are readily influenced by other genes, and that in general those modifiers 
which make for normal viability and fertility also make for normality 
in eye-size. Thus natural selection acting upon the recombinations of 
modifiers present in the stock speedily saw to it that the combinations 


D.—ZOOLOGY 83 


making for the manifestation of reduced eyes were eliminated. In 
competition with the wild-type allelomorph, eyeless would be eliminated ; 
but in stocks pure for eyeless, the genes to be eliminated will be the plus 
modifiers of the mutation. 

Selection of this type, it now appears, is a constant and indeed normal 
process. It has become almost a commonplace in animals used for genetic 
analysis to find that mutant types which at first are extremely difficult 
to keep going, after a few generations become quite viable. This has 
repeatedly occurred in Gammarus, for instance, as well as in Drosophila, 
and is also known in mice and nasturtiums. The explanation is 
essentially similar to that for the case of eyeless. 

R. A. Fisher has extended this concept to explain dominance and 
recessiveness in general. Mutation is always throwing up new genes ; 
the majority of these will inevitably be deleterious, and will also be re- 
peatedly produced. Obviously the great majority will be carried in 
single dose, so that it will be an advantage to minimise any activity shown 
by them while in this heterozygous state. Thus a harmful mutation will 
inevitably be forced into recessivity by selection acting on the rest of the 
gene-complex. Haldane has given a somewhat different explanation of 
the origin of the recessive character of most mutations, based upon multiple 
allelomorphism ; but this too involves selection acting upon other genes 
than the mutant. On either hypothesis, dominance and recessiveness 
are to be regarded as modifiable characters, not as unalterable inherent 
properties. Dominant genes, or most of them, are not born dominant : 
they have dominance thrust upon them. Mutations become dominant 
or recessive, through the action of other genes in the gene-complex. 

There remains the difficulty that most mutations so far investigated 
are deleterious. If mutations are the raw material of evolution, some of 
them in some cases must be, or must become, advantageous. However, 
this also is not so serious as at first sight appears. Since the gene- 
complex is an elaborately co-ordinated system, any changes in it are much 
more likely to act as defects rather than as improvements. Further, 
the larger the change the less likely is it to be an improvement ; and in- 
evitably the geneticist will detect large changes more readily than small. 
Recent analysis, however, has revealed numbers of gene-differences 
with extremely small effects, down almost to the limit of detectability. 
It is not only possible but probable that among these are to be sought 
the chief building blocks of evolutionary change, and that it is by means 
of a series of small multiple-allelomorphic steps, each adjusted for via- 
bility and efficiency by changes in the genic background, that an organism 
usually achieves gradual but well-defined alteration. 

But in addition to the initial or intrinsic usefulness of certain small 
mutations, we have also the fact that mutations which are deleterious 
in what may be described as normal conditions may become advantageous 
either in an altered environment or in an altered genic background, 
and the further fact that many mutations or Mendelizing variations 
cannot be described as intrinsically useful or harmful, but vary in their 
selective effects with variation in environmental conditions. 

Let us take a fewillustrative cases. In conditions near the optimum, the 
vestigial-winged mutant of Drosophila is much shorter-lived than the wild 


84 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


type. Butif vestigials and normals are kept together without food and water, 
the vestigials survive longer. ‘Thus, in environments which occasionally 
become very unfavourable, the vestigial type might even oust the normal. 

In dandelions, Sukatschew has carried out elaborate experiments on 
a number of pure lines. Altering the density of total numbers of plants 
per plot may completely alter both the survival of the seedlings and the 
fertility of the survivors, so that a pure line which is inferior in one set 
of conditions will oust the rest in other conditions. ‘This conclusion is 
entirely in accord with the work of Stapledon and others showing the effect 
of varying intensity of grazing on the survival and reproduction of 
different species and strains of pasture plants. 

A striking case of rather a different nature concerns a variety, probably 
due to mutation, observed in tobacco. ‘The new variety failed to flower 
until the ratio of light to darkness was altered to correspond with what 
would prevail in a semi-tropical summer, when it became a better per- 
former than the type. Any competition between mutant and type would 
thus be decided according to latitude. 

I ought also to mention the case, described by Harrison, of the light 
and dark varieties of the moth Oporinia autumnata. ‘The relative abun- 
dance of these in a dark pinewood and an adjacent light birchwood is 
quite different, and so, but inversely, is the intensity of selection, as re- 
vealed by the number of wings left by birds. The result is that in the 
dark environment the dark variety is sixteen times the commoner, in the 
light environment six times the rarer. 

Thus, whatever other processes may possibly be at work, it is clear 
that selection is constantly operative. A difference in environment may 
decide between two genes with sharply contrasting effects ; quantitative 
differences in conditions may lead to a complete reversal of advantage 
between varieties ; the gene-complex may be selected so as to protect 
the species from the deleterious effects of mutations, or so as to minimise 
the ill effects of an otherwise advantageous mutant. In these and other 
ways natural selection proves itself to be a pervading, active agency. 

Having dealt briefly with the modus operandi of natural selection in a 
Mendelian world, we must now discuss the processes of evolution and 
the réle which selection may play in them. Darwin himself happened 
to confuse the issue by calling his greatest book the Origin of Species. 
Evolution; however, must be dealt with under several rather distinct 
heads. Of these one is the origin of species—or we had better say 
the origin of minor systematic diversity. Another is the origin of 
adaptations. A third is extinction. And a fourth, and in many ways the 
most important, is the origin and maintenance of long-range evolutionary 
trends. It is of course true that these all overlap and interlock. None 
the less, the distinctions are real and important. 


THE ORIGINS OF SPECIES. 


First, then, we have the origin of species. It is logically obvious that 
every existing species must have originated from some pre-existing 
species, but equally clear on the basis of recent research that it may do so 
in one of several quite different ways. A single species as a whole may 


D.—ZOOLOGY 85 


become transformed gradually until it comes to merit a new specific 
name. Or it may separate, also gradually, into two or more divergent lines. 
Sometimes the separation into mutually infertile groups may occur 
suddenly, but the subsequent divergence may yet be gradual. Or it may 
hybridise with another species and the hybrid product then, by doubling 
of the chromosomes (allopolyploidy), give rise at one bound to a new 
species. Here, instead of one species diverging to form two, two converge 
to form one. (It is possible that such sudden origins of new species by 
means of chromosome or genome aberrations may also occur without 
hybridisation, from a single instead of a dual origin.) Finally, in certain 
groups of plants, the minor systematics are in an inextricable tangle, so 
that no two authorities agree even approximately as to the number of 
species involved and their limitations; in these cases hybridisation, 
apparently involving many more than two forms, together with recom- 
bination, chromosome-doubling, and apogamy, appears to have been and 
still to be at work. Thus species-formation may be continuous and uni- 
linear ; continuous and divergent; abrupt and convergent ; or what, 
following a recent writer, we may call reticulate, dependent on constant 
intercrossing and recombination between a number of lines, and thus 
both convergent and divergent at once. 

Palzontology provides numerous evidences of gradual specific trans- 
formation ; these have been preserved almost exclusively in aquatic 
animals, though also in a few land vertebrates such as the horses ; but 
similar changes must, it is clear, have been generally at work. In some 
cases at least, as in the shift of the mouth in the sea-urchin Micraster, 
the change seems to have been an adaptive improvement. 

Divergent splitting must clearly be postulated on a large scale, if only 
to account for the rapid increase of the number of forms in newly evolved 
groups such as the higher placental orders. It is not easy to obtain direct 
evidence of divergence from palzontology, since this demands good series 
in two separate but crucial areas. But what without question are different 
stages of the process are yielded by a study of geographical distribution. 
This reveals all stages of geographical divergence, from dubious to sharply 
defined subspecies, and thence on to species and genera. 

Physiological subspecies, such as the races of gall-forming insects 
restricted to different host plants, are of a similar nature, though their 
distinctive characters are not among those which appeal to the museum 
systematist. 

In all these cases isolation, whether geographical or physiological, 
is involved. Although sometimes, as in many of the geographical colour- 
varieties of the mouse Peromyscus, the differences seem definitely to be 
adaptive, in others subspecific distinctions appear as biologically meaning- 
less, as do many specific differences between allied species. We cannot 
be sure whether isolation simply makes it easier for selection to cause 
adaptive divergence in relation to local conditions, or whether in some 
cases at least, by some method as yet obscure, it permits the fruition of 
mere random and biologically useless variation. 

An interesting case in which we must presume the isolation to have been 
suddenly effective is that of Drosophila simulans, which so closely resembles 
D. melanogaster that it was wholly overlooked by the systematists. 


86 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


Genetical analysis showed that it differed from melanogaster in having 
a large section of one chromosome reversed. ‘This must have occurred 
suddenly, and, once established in homozygous condition, would inhibit 
the fertility of any heterozygotes. The bar to fertility once established, 
other differences between the two types could accumulate, though they 
are still very slight. 

It does not, however, matter in principle whether isolation is effected 
gradually or abruptly ; in any case subsequent divergence will be gradual 
(except in some of the cases to be described later, where the isolating 
process itself produces marked differences in appearance). 

We often know the approximate date at which isolation of an island has 
occurred, and can see that, broadly speaking, the degree of divergence is 
proportional to the time that has since elapsed, as well as to the effective- 
ness of the isolation. It is thus a legitimate deduction that geographical 
variation provides us with a cross-section of a temporal process, and that 
isolational divergence has been constantly operative, throughout evolution, 
as an agency promoting minor systematic diversity. 

The sudden convergent formation of new species as a result of hybridisa- 
tion has only been established in quite recent years. So far we know of 
it only in plants. Several cases are known, of which Primula kewensis 
is the classical example ; but the most striking is that of the rice-grass 
Spartina Townsendi. This, it now seems certain, is an allopolyploid 
derived from the crossing of the European S. stricta and the imported 
S. alterniflora; most interesting from an evolutionary standpoint is 
the fact that it is for some reason better equipped than either of its parents, 
and not only kills them out in competition, but is extending its range 
beyond theirs. In addition the chromosomal and genetic analysis of 
various of our most important cultivated plants indicates that they too 
owe their origin to this process. 

The common existence in plants of species within a genus with different 
multiples of a basic chromosome-number is also proof of discontinuous 
species-formation. In some cases this may have been due to autopoly- 
ploidy, and would be therefore not convergent but divergent. 

The two classical examples of reticulate evolution are the roses and 
the willows, though similar cases exist in other groups of plants in which 
species-crossing and chromosome or genome aberrations are prevalent. 
So far it is not known to exist in animals, except in man. Here it assumes 
a somewhat different form, since the crossing has been between units of 
lower than specific rank and no complications of polyploidy, apogamy, 
and the like have intervened. Thus the result is a single species with 
a unique degree of variability, in which recombination is the major factor. 
The evolution of such a group is clearly reticulate. 

Biologists have realised for some time that the term species is loose and 
difficult of definition. However, whether we can define species or not, or 
whether we ought to emphasise the distinctions between different kinds of 
species by refinements of terminology, it remains true that species are 
genuine biological units. On the other hand, we can distinguish in principle 
between the causes of their isolation and the causes of their divergence. 
Groups separated by geographical isolation are species only in posse. 
Their separation into good species is a slow and subsequent process, 


D.—ZOOLOGY 87 


accompanying the gradual process of character-divergence. In other 
cases, such as Drosophila simulans, the two groups must be regarded as 
species from the outset, although they may be indistinguishable in any 
character save that which isolates them. At the opposite extreme are 
those cases in which the factor inducing isolation simultaneously produces 
considerable character-difference. This is so in Spartina Townsendi and 
most cases of convergent and reticulate species-formation. Further 
character-divergence may of course occur later. 

From the standpoint of natural selection, species will then fall into 
two contrasted categories. On the one hand we have those in which 
natural selection can have had nothing to do with the origin of the basic 
specific characters, but merely acts upon the species as given, in competition 
with its relatives. These include all species in which character-diver- 
gence is abrupt and initial. On the other hand we have those forms in 
which character-modification is gradual. Here natural selection may, 
and on both deductive and inductive grounds often must, play a part in 
producing the characters of the species. This helps to bring home the 
heterogeneity of the processes which we lump together as ‘ evolution.’ 


ADAPTATION AND SELECTION. 


We next come to the origin of adaptations. It has been for some years 
the fashion to decry the study or even to deny the fact of adaptation. I 
have not the space to discuss the anti-adaptational attitude ; I will only 
say that I believe it to be a passing fashion, and that, both structurally 
and functionally, every organism is a bundle of adaptations, more or less 
efficient, co-ordinated in greater or lesser degree. 

How has adaptation been brought about ? To-day biology rules out 
special creation or divine guidance, frowns on entelechies and purposive 
vital urges, and repudiates Lamarckism. 

Most biologists also look askance at orthogenesis sensu stricto, as im- 
plying the inevitable grinding out of results predetermined by some 
internal germinal clockwork. As Fisher has cogently pointed out, the 
implications both of Lamarckism and of orthogenesis run directly counter 
to the observed fact that the great majority of mutations are deleterious. 

There remains natural selection. Before discussing some concrete 
examples of selection at work to produce adaptation and of adaptations 
illustrating the work of natural selection, a few general points deserve to 
be*made. In the first place, there is the aged yet perennial fallacy that 
such-and-such an arrangement cannot be adaptive, since related organisms 
can and do exist without it. ‘This is, quite frankly, nonsense. It is on 
a par with saying that electric refrigerators are not useful because many 
people manage to get on happily without them. 

There are numerous possible explanations of such a state of affairs. 
It may be that mutations in that direction did not crop up, or were not 
available before the stock started specialising along other lines ; there 
may be differences in the genetic make-up or the environment of the two 
forms which make such an adaptation less advantageous to one than to 
the other. For instance, rare species are not likely to show the same 
adaptations as abundant ones. 


88 f SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


All that natural selection can ensure is survival. It does not ensure 
progress, or maximum. advantage, or any other ideal state of affairs. A 
type may survive by deceiving its enemies with a fraudulent imitation of 
a nauseous form just as well as by some improvement in digestion or 
reproduction, by degenerate and destructive parasitism as much as by 
increased intelligence. 

Then we must invoke natural selection whenever an adaptive structure 
involves a number of separate steps for its origin. A one-character, single- 
step adaptation might clearly be the result of mutation. But when two 
or more steps are necessary, it becomes inconceivable that they shall have 
originated simultaneously. ‘The first mutation must have been spread 
through the population by selection before the second could be combined 
with it, the combination of the first two in turn selected before the third 
could be added, and so on. Most adaptations clearly involve many 
separate characters, and when we can study their actual evolution with 
the aid of fossils, we find that it is steadily progressive over tens of millions 
of years, and must therefore have involved a large number of steps. 
The improbability is therefore enormous that they can have arisen without 
the operation of some agency which can gradually accumulate and combine 
a number of contributory changes: and natural selection is the only such 
agency that we know. 

R. A. Fisher has aptly said that natural selection is a mechanism for 
generating a high degree of improbability. This is in a sense a paradox, 
but it expresses epigrammatically the important fact that natural selection 
is all the time achieving its results by giving probability to combinations 
which would otherwise be in the highest degree improbable. 

This important principle clearly removes all force from the ‘ argument 
from improbability ’ used by many anti-Darwinians, such as Bergson. 
It helps us also to detect another fallacy. T. H. Morgan, followed 
by Hogben, has asserted that natural selection merely preserves certain 
among the hosts of recombinations: in the absence of natural selection, 
in addition to the known forms of life a vast assemblage of other types 
would exist which have been destroyed by selection. 

Actually this is on a par with saying that we could expect the walls 
of a room to collapse on occasion owing to all the molecules of gas inside 
the room moving simultaneously in one direction. Both are of course 
only improbabilities—but they are improbabilities of such a fantastically 
high order as to be in fact entirely ruled out. Each single existing species 
is the product of a long series of selected mutations ; to produce these 
adapted types by chance recombination in the absence of selection would 
require a total assemblage that would fill the universe and overrun 
astronomical time. 

This is perhaps the place to discuss pre-adaptation. According to 
this view, variations occur which would be adaptive in some new environ- 
ment or way of life, and their possessors then find their way into that 
environment or take up that way of life. However, what we have pre- 
viously said makes it clear that this can only apply to the early stages of an 
elaborate adaptation, not to its whole history. 

A mutation such as that discovered by Banta for altered temperature- 
resistance in a Cladoceran may be described as potentially pre-adaptive ; 


D.—ZOOLOGY 89 


and so may that previously mentioned (p. 83), adjusting a plant to another 
rhythm of light and darkness. Doubtless such potentially pre-adaptive 
mutations are not uncommon, and may play an important réle in widely 
dispersed types, and during periods of changing environment. 

That selection can influence adaptive characters is shown by a number 
of lines of evidence, experimental as well as indirect. Cesnola found 
experimentally that the colours of Mantids exerted a protective effect in 
relation to enemy attacks. We have already mentioned the results of 
Heslop Harrison on the colours of certain moths. 

Then there is now a large body of experimental evidence showing that 
insects with warning colours are on the whole rejected, while those with 
protective colours are on the whole accepted. One of the most interesting 
pieces of evidence as to the efficacy of selection in maintaining mimetic 
adaptation is afforded by unpublished data for which I am indebted to 
Mr. E. B. Ford. The butterfly Papilio dardanus has several mimetic 
types of female. Random collections were made from two areas. In 
one of these the models were far more numerous than the mimics, while in 
the other, on the limit of the models’ range, the models were actually less 
abundant ; the actual ratios were 17°6: 1 and o-24:1. ‘The collections 
showed that whereas in the former case the mimetic resemblance was very 
close (mimics classified as imperfect being below 4 per cent.), in the latter 
it was far from exact (31°5 per cent. of imperfect mimics), and the varia- 
bility of the mimics much greater. 

The evidence that we possess goes to show, first, that selection can be 
very efficacious in altering the mean of a population within the range of 
existing variability ; secondly, that a relaxation of selection will allow 
the type to deviate away from adaptive perfection, quite outside the range 
of variability to be found where selection is more stringent ; and, thirdly, 
that adaptive characters may advantage their possessors in such a way 
as to exert definite selection-pressure in their favour, and that accordingly 
selection can have a continuous guiding effect towards adaptive perfection. 


SOME FALLACIES. 


_ Here we must turn aside to consider long-range evolutionary trends. 
‘It is quite clear that many of these are adaptive. So obvious is this fact 
that it has found expression in the current phrase adaptive radiation. 
When palzontological evidence is available the adaptive radiation is 
seen to be the result of a numebr of evolutionary trends, each tending 
to greater specialisation—in other words, to greater adaptive efficiency 
in various mechanisms subservient to some particular mode of life. 
Specialisation continues steadily for a considerable time, which in the 
higher mammals at least seems to last between ten and forty million years ; 
eventually change ceases, and the specialised type either rapidly becomes 
extinct or else continues unchanged for further geological periods. 

It is hard to understand why the trends seen in adaptive radiation 
have been adduced as proof of internally determined orthogenesis. 
Whenever they lead to improvement in the mechanical or neural basis 
for some particular mode of life, they will confer advantage on their 
possessors and will come under the influence of selection ; and the selec- 


90 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


tion will continue to push the stock further and further along the line of 
development until a limit of perfection has been reached. 

This limit is usually determined by quite simple mechanical principles. 
A horse cannot reduce its digits below one per foot, nor can it complicate 
the grinding surface of its molars beyond a certain point without making 
the grinding ridges too small for the food to be ground. The selective 
advantages of mere size, which must often be great in early stages of a 
trend, will be later offset by reduction of speed, or difficulties of securing 
sufficient food, or, in land animals, by the relative increase of skeleton. 
There is a limit to the acuity of vision, the streamlining of aquatic form, 
or the length of a browser’s neck, which can be useful. When these 
biomechanical limits have been reached, the trend ceases, and the stock, 
if it is not extinguished through the increasing competition of other 
types, is merely held by selection to the point it has reached. 

The only feature inviting orthogenetic explanation is the directive 
character of the trends, their apparent persistence towards a predeter- 
mined goal. But on reflection this too is seen to be not only explicable 
but expected on a selectionist viewpoint. Once a trend has begun, 
much greater changes will be necessary to switch the stock over to some 
other mode of life than to improve the arrangements for the existing 
mode of life ; and the further a specialised trend has proceeded, the deeper 
will be the groove in which it has thus entrenched itself. Specialisation, 
in so far as it is a product of natural selection, automatically protects 
itself against the likelihood of any change save further change in the same 
direction. , 

However, that this apparent orthogenesis is determined functionally 
is excellently shown by the evolution of the elephants. ‘These began 
their career by an elongation of the muzzle involving the enlargement of 
both jaws and both upper and lower incisor tusks. Before the beginning 
of the Pliocene, this process had reached what appears to have been a 
mechanical limit. In the later evolution of the stock the jaws were 
shortened, the trunk elongated, and the lower tusks abolished. The 
effective reach of the animal for its food was continuously increased ; 
but the structural basis was wholly altered. It is impossible to stretch 
the principle of internal orthogenesis to cover a process of this type. 

While on this subject, we may deal with a cognate point, the so-called 
law of the irreversibility of evolution. This is an empirical fact of palz- 
ontology, but that it involves no intrinsic necessity is shown by the 
experimental findings of Sewall Wright on guinea-pigs. He was able 
to build up a stock which was in full possession of the hind little toe 
that the wild species genus, and family, had definitively lost. ‘Thus 
Nature no more abhors reverse evolution than she abhors a vacuum. 

The same principles would seem to apply in general to small-scale 
adaptations as to long-range adaptive trends, except that since such 
adaptations frequently concern only one particular function and not the 
organism’s main way of life, it should be easier for evolutionary direction 
to be changed, and for adaptation to set off on a new tack. 

An important difference will be found between abundant and scarce 
species. In the latter, competition will be more with other species, 
while in the former it will be more between members of the species 


D.—ZOOLOGY gI 


itself. In general this latter or intra-specific type of selection is more 
widespread than the inter-specific. 

It is a common fallacy to think of natural selection as first and foremost 
a direct struggle with adverse weather, with enemies or with the elusive 
qualities of prey. ‘The most important feature of the struggle for 
existence is the competition of members of the same species for the means 
of subsistence and for reproduction. Surprise has been expressed by 
some biologists at the fact that in New Zealand, domestic pigs which 
have become feral have, in spite of the absence of predatory enemies, 
reverted to something like the wild type; but in competition for food 
and reproduction the leaner and more active wild type must clearly 
have a strong relative advantage over the fatter and more sluggish domestic 
forms. 

It is another fallacy to imagine that because the major elimination 
of individuals occurs in one period of life, therefore selection cannot 
act with any intensity on the phase of minimum numbers. It has, 
for instance, been argued that because the main elimination of butter- 
flies takes place during the larval stage, therefore elimination of the 
imagines by birds or other enemies can have no appreciable selective 
effect, and that therefore any protective or warning or mimetic colouring 
which they exhibit cannot have any adaptive significance. However, 
it is the adults which reproduce, and a one per cent. advantage of one 
adult type over another will have precisely the same selective effect 
whether the adults represent ten, one, or one-tenth of one per cent. of 
the number of fertilised eggs produced. ‘The same applies to those plants 
in which the main elimination occurs during the seedling stage. Selection, 
in fact, can and does operate equally effectively at any stage of the life- 
cycle. Further, elimination is far from being the only tool with which 
selection operates. Differential fertility of the survivors is also important, 
and in man and many plants is probably the more influential. 


RatTE-GENES AND SELECTION. 


But, as Haldane has stressed, the results of selection at one period of 
the life-cycle may have repercussions on other periods and affect the 
species as a whole in unexpected ways. Perhaps the best example which 
he gives is that of intra-uterine selection in polytocous mammals. Here there 
must be intense competition, since a considerable percentage of every 
litter dies in utero and rapidity of growth must be at a premium. Haldane 
suggests with some plausibility that any rapidity of pre-natal growth 
thus acquired is likely to be transferred in whole or in part to post-natal 
life as well, and that intra-uterine selection may thus help to account for 
the progressive increase in size seen in so many mammalian lines during 
their evolution. At any rate, the converse seems to hold, namely that 
on account of intra-uterine selection it would be impossible for a poly- 
tocous mammal to slow down its rate of development. One of the most 
characteristic features of man is precisely such a slowing down of general 
rate of development. Without it he could not in all probability have 
become fully human or biologically dominant. This condition could not 
have occurred in a polytocous form. It was only after man’s ancestors 


92 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


ceased to have litters and began to bring forth a single young at a birth 
that the further evolution of man became possible. 

The slowing of human development further had numerous corollaries. 
The typical adult human condition of hair on the head but almost 
complete absence of hair on the body, the hymen of the human female, 
and the smooth orthognathous form of the human face and skull appear 
to be based upon characters automatically transferred from earlier to 
later stages of the life-cycle. 

This general slowing down of man’s post-natal development is doubtless 
due in part to its possessing selective advantage. But, as Haldane points 
out, it may also be in part the indirect carry-over from a slowing of pre- 
natal development. In the circumstances of primitive sub-man a fcetus 
is on the whole better nourished and less exposed to danger than a new- 
born infant, so that pre-natal slowing is here as advantageous as pre-natal 
acceleration in a polytocous mammal. 

This prolongation of a more protected early phase may also apply to 
the larval period, for instance in insects with their ccenogenetic larve, 
which are often highly adapted to their secondary mode of life. One 
need only think of the mayfly with its imaginal phase reduced both in 
structure and in duration. 

Sometimes this reduction is carried to its logical extreme and the adult 
phase is wiped out of the life-history by neoteny. This has demon- 
strably occurred in various beetles, and in the axolotl. It has probably 
taken place in ourselves as well, with the heavy brow-ridges and pro- 
truding jaws of our ancestors. } 

Haldane in an interesting paper discusses these and similar phenomena 
from the standpoint of the time of action of the genes controlling them. 
A more comprehensive view, however, would include as still more im- 
portant the genes’ rate of action. 

A large number (possibly the majority) of genes exert their effects 
through the intermediation of a process operating at a definite rate. 
The speeds of processes which such rate-factors control are not abso- 
lute, but relative—trelative to the speeds of other processes of develop- 
ment and of development in general. It is also found that a decrease 
in rate of process is in general accompanied by a delay in the time of its 
initial onset, and vice versa. Furthermore, such processes do not neces- 
sarily continue indefinitely. Often they reach an equilibrium ; when this 
is so, the level of the equilibrium is correlated with the rate of the process. 
This is so, for instance, with eye-colour in Gammarus, and probably in 
man. In addition to such rate-factors, others are known which appear 
only to affect the time of onset of a process and not its rate. 

Attempts have been made by representatives of the Morgan school 
to minimise the importance of these discoveries, by asserting that they 
constitute only a redescription of old phenomena and add nothing truly 
new. On the contrary, I would maintain that they are of first-rate 
importance. I need not go into their bearings upon physiological genetics. 
Here we are concerned with their evolutionary implications. 

In the first place, since rate-genes are common, it is a legitimate pro- 
visional assumption that the rates of developmental processes in general 
are gene-controlled. Further, the simplification introduced into an 


Sa aaa 


4 


a 


D.—ZOOLOGY 93 


analysis of development by the concept of relative rates of processes 
makes it desirable to try this key first of all when attacking any problem 
involving development. 

It then provides a great simplification of the facts of recapitulation 
and anti-recapitulation. Whenever the rate of a process is correlated 
with time of onset and final equilibrium-level, a mutation causing an 
increase in rate will produce recapitulatory phenomena. It will drive 
the visible onset of the process further back in ontogeny, will add a new 
‘hypermorphic’ character at the end of the process, and will cause all 
the steps of the original process to be recapitulated, but in an abbreviated 
form, during the course of the new process. This will account, for in- 
stance, for many of the recapitulatory phenomena seen in the suture lines 
of ammonites. 

Conversely, a mutation causing a decrease in rate will have anti- 
recapitulatory effects. It will prolong the previous phase longer in ontogeny, 
it will not only slow the process down but stop it at a lower level of 
completion, and it will remove certain previous adult characters and push 
them off the life-history. Many of the phenomena of so-called ‘ racial 
senescence’ in ammonites, including the gradual uncoiling of the shell, 
may be due to phenomena of this type. 

As de Beer has pointed out, when ccenogenetic changes occur in the 
embryo or larva, the adult remaining unchanged, neither paleontology 
nor comparative anatomy would register any phylogenetic advance. But 
if now neoteny or fcetalisation occurs, the old adult characters may be 
swept off the map and be replaced by characters of a quite novel type. 
This process he calls clandestine evolution, Garstang has suggested 
that it has operated on a large scale in the ancestry of vertebrates and of 
the gastropods. 

A clear-cut small-scale example comes from the snail Cepea. Its 
non-banded varieties are produced not because their genes cause the 
total absence of pigment, but because they slow down pigment-formation 
and delay its visible onset relatively to general growth, to such an extent 
that growth is completed before any pigment can be formed. 

This is a comparatively unimportant effect ; but when major pro- 
cesses are affected such as metamorphosis, sexual maturity, or general 
rate of growth or development, the results may be far-reaching. Pzado- 
genesis is caused by relative acceleration of the processes leading to 
sexual maturity. Neoteny in the axolotl and presumably in insects is 
due to the slowing down of the processes leading to metamorphosis. 
The condition seen in man should not strictly be called neoteny, but rather 
feetalisation, or perhaps juvenilisation : this would seem to be produced 
by a general slowing of developmental rate, relative both to time and to 
sexual maturity. 

The existence of rate-factors has an important bearing upon the problem 


_ presented by apparently useless characters. For alterations in the rate 


of a process will often automatically produce a number of secondary 
and apparently irrelevant effects. Numerous examples of such ‘ corre- 
lated characters,’ as Darwin called them, are now known. 

I will take a simple example from Gammarus. Here, the depth of eye- 
colour depends upon the rate of deposition of melanin. But it depends 


94. SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


also on eye-size—when the eye is smaller, the melanin is more crowded 
and the eye looks darker. ‘Thus a mutation affecting the relative rate of 
eye-growth alters the depth of eye-pigmentation. 

It would seem inevitable that many of the apparently useless features 
used in diagnosing species are correlated characters of this type. Not 
only this, but the development of such correlated characters during 
evolution may simulate orthogenesis. One of the most convincing bits 
of evidence for orthogenesis was the discovery of Osborn that horns of 
the same type arose independently in four separate groups of Titanotheres. 
The study of relative growth, however, has provided a simpler explanation. 
The horns of Titanotheres are, like most horns, allometric, increasing 
in relative size with the absolute size of the animal, and not appearing 
at all below a certain absolute size. Given the potentiality of frontal 
horns in the ancestral stock, their independent actualisation in the different 
groups becomes inevitable so soon as a certain threshold of body-size is 
reached. Increase of body-size is probably advantageous up to a limit ; 
if so, the horns are the useless correlate of a useful character. It would 
be more accurate to say initially useless, since presumably once they ap- 
peared they were employed in fighting. That they later became useful 
is rendered probable by the brilliant analysis of Hersh, who has shown 
that after a certain period in their evolution the allometry of the horns 
became intensified. 

Generally speaking, change in absolute size is almost certain to produce 
numerous correlated changes in proportions, and change in relative size 
of an organ is quite likely to be accompanied by correlated changes in 
various characters. In addition, continued increase in absolute size will 
so increase the relative size of an allometric organ that it will eventually 
approach the boundary of disadvantage. Selection may then operate 
to reduce its rate of growth, or, if conditions alter rapidly, the organism 
may be caught napping in an evolutionary sense, and be extinguished. 
This may apply to the antlers of the Irish elk and the fantastic horns 
of some beetles. 

The claim that the concept of rate-genes is important would thus seem 
to be justified. It has illuminated the evolutionary aspect of recapitu- 
lation, neoteny, fcetalisation, clandestine evolution, and apparently useless 
characters, as well as helping to a simpler understanding of the innumerable 
cases of quantitative evolution. 


THE RESULTS OF SELECTION, Goop aND Bap. 


Examples such as those of polytocous mammals, of abundant versus 
rare species, and of allometric organs, show how the type and course of 
evolution may be altered according to the type of organism or of biological 
machinery on which it has to work. We may mention a few other cases 
to illustrate this general principle. The most striking is, I think, that 
of the social insects. Haldane has demonstrated that only in a society 
which practises reproductive specialisation, so that most of the individuals 
are neuters, can very pronounced altruistic instincts be evolved, of a type 
which ‘ are valuable to society but shorten the lives of their individual 
possessors.’ ‘Thus, unless we drastically alter the ordering of our own 


D.—ZOOLOGY 95 


reproduction, there is no hope of making the human species much more 
innately altruistic than it is at present. 

Another example concerns the reproduction of the higher plants. In 
them the pollen-grains may be affected in various ways, including the 
rapidity of their growth down the style, by the genes they bear. As a 
result of this, certation, or a‘ struggle for fertilisation ’ between genetically 
different types of pollen-grain, often occurs. Nothing of the sort, 
however, appears to take place in the sperm of higher animals, where 
the genes exist in a condensed and apparently inactivated form. ‘Thus 
genes for rapid pollen-growth will be at a premium in plants, and their 
effects may spill over into other phases of the life-history ; whereas in 
animals no such effects can occur. 

It is a common fallacy that natural selection must always be for the good 
of the species or of life in general. In actual fact we find that intra- 
specific selection frequently leads to results which are mainly or wholly 
useless to the species as a whole. ‘The protection afforded by a cryptic 
or a mimetic resemblance of moderate accuracy might approach the limit 
so far as its value to the species is concerned, if there were any way in 
which selection could be restricted to effects on the species as a species. 
Actually intra-specific competition between individuals will often lead 
to the process of adaptation being continued until almost incredibly 
detailed resemblances are reached—for instance, in some of the leaf- 
butterflies. Such ‘ hypertely’ is sometimes held up as a disproof of 
natural selection. In point of fact, it is to be expected from natural 
selection when intra-specific. 

In other cases intra-specific selection may even lead to deleterious 
results. This is especially true with intra-sexual competition, between 
members of the same sex of the same species. When polygamy or 
promiscuity prevails, the selective advantage conferred by characters 
promoting success in mating will be very high indeed ; and accordingly 
in such forms (for instance, peacock and Argus pheasant) we meet with 
male epigamic characters of the most bizarre sort which, while advantaging 
their possessor in the struggle for reproduction, must be a real handicap 
in the struggle for individual existence. In such cases, of course, a balance 
will eventually be struck at which the favourable effects slightly outweigh 
the unfavourable ; but here again extinction may be the fate of such 
precariously balanced organisms if the conditions change too rapidly. 

We may, however, go further and proclaim with Haldane that intra- 
specific selection is on the whole a biological evil. The effects of com- 
petition between adults of the same species probably, in his words, ‘ render 
the species as a whole less successful in coping with its environment. No 
doubt weaklings are weeded out, but so they would be in competition with 
the environment. And the special adaptations favoured by intra-specific 


- competitions divert a certain amount of energy from other functions.’ 


Intra-specific competition among pollen-grains has led to a real over- 
production of pollen by anemophilous plants; intra-sexual competition 
among male mammals has led to unwieldy size or to over-developed 
Weapons and threat organs ; intra-specific competition among parasites 


_ has led to their often monstrous exaggerations of fertility and complications 


of reproductive cycle. 


96 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


There can be little doubt that the apparent orthogenesis which has 
pushed groups ever further along their line of evolution until they are 
balanced precariously upon the edge of extinction, is due, especially in its 
later stages, to the hypertely induced by intra-specific competition. 

This conclusion is of far-reaching importance. It disposes of the 
notion, so assiduously rationalised by militarists and laisser-faire economists, 
that all man needs to do to achieve further progressive evolution is to 
adopt the most thorough-going competition : the more ruthless the com- 
petition, the more efficacious the selection,'and accordingly the better 
the result. But we now realise that the results of selection are by no 
means necessarily ‘ good,’ from the point of view either of the species 
or of the progressive evolution of life. ‘They may be neutral, they may 
be a dangerous balance of useful and harmful, or they may be definitely 
deleterious. : 

Natural selection, in fact, though like the mills of God in grinding 
slowly and grinding small, has few other attributes that a civilised religion 
would call divine. It is efficient in its way—at the price of extreme 
slowness and extreme cruelty. But it is blind and mechanical; and 
accordingly its products are just as likely to be zsthetically, morally, 
or intellectually repulsive to us as they are to be attractive or worthy of 
imitation. Both specialised and progressive improvement are mere 
by-products of its action, and are the exceptions rather than the rule. 
For the statesman or the eugenist to copy its methods is both foolish 
and wicked. Not only is natural selection not the instrument of a God’s 
sublime purpose: it is not even the best mechanism for achieving 
evolutionary progress. 


EVOLUTIONARY PROGRESS. 


This question of evolutionary or biological progress remains. I have 
discussed elsewhere at some length the meaning to be attached to this 
term, so that here a few points will be sufficient. In the first place, it 
is not true that the use of the word progress is a mere anthropocentrism. 
There has been a trend during evolution which can rightly be called 
progressive and has led to a rise in the level of certain definable properties 
of organisms. The properties whose rise constitutes biological progress 
can be defined in the broadest terms as control over the environment 
and independence of it. More in detail they consist in size and power, 
mechanical and chemical efficiency, increased capacity for self-regulation 
and a more stable internal environment, and more efficient avenues of 
knowledge and of methods for dealing with knowledge. 

One-sided progress is better called specialisation. For progress must 
not merely be defined a priori: it must also be defined on the basis of 
results. ‘These results have consisted in the historical fact of a succession 
of dominant groups. And the chief characteristics which analysis reveals 
as having contributed to the rise of these groups are improvements that 
are not one-sided but all-round and basic, such as temperature-regulation 
or placental reproduction. 

lt might be held that biological inventions such as the lung and 
shelled egg, which opened the world of land to the vertebrates, are 
after all nothing but specialisations. Are they not of the same nature 


D.—ZOOLOGY 97 


as the wing, which unlocked the kingdom of the air to the birds ? 
This is in one sense true; but in another it is untrue. The birds, 
although they did conquer a new section of the environment, in so 
doing were as a matter of actual fact cut off from further progress. 
Theirs was only a specialisation. The conquest of the land, however, 
not only did not involve any such limitations, but made demands upon 
the organism which could be and in some groups were met by further 
changes of a definitely progressive nature. ‘Temperature-regulation, for 
instance, could never have arisen through natural selection except in an 
environment with rapidly changing temperature. 

As revealed in the succession of steps that led to new dominant forms, 
progress has taken diverse forms: at one stage, the combination of cells 
to form a multicellular individual, at another the evolution of a head ; 
later the development of lungs, still later of warm blood, and finally the 
enhancement of intelligence by speech. But all have, though in curiously 
different ways, increased the organism’s capacities for control and for 
independence ; and each has justified itself not only in immediate results 
but in the later steps which it made possible. 

So much for the fact of progress. What of its mechanism? It will 
be clear that if natural selection can account for adaptation and for long- 
range trends of specialisation, it can account for biological progress too ; 
for progressive changes have obviously given their owners advantages. 
Sometimes it needed a climatic revolution to give the progressive change 
full play, as at the end of the Cretaceous with the mammal-reptile differ-_ 
ential of advantage: but when it came, the advantage had very large 
results—wholesale extinction on the one hand, wholesale radiation of 
new types onthe other. It seems to be a general characteristic of evolution 
that in each epoch a minority of stocks give rise to the majority in the next 
phase, while, conversely, of the rest the majority become extinguished 
or are reduced in numbers. é 

There is no more need to postulate an é/an vital or a guiding purpose 
to account for evolutionary progress than to account for any other feature 
of evolution. 

One point is of importance. Although we can quite correctly speak 
of evolutionary progress as a biological fact, this progress is of a particular 
and limited nature. It is an empirical fact that evolutionary progress 
can only be measured by the upper level reached ; for the lower levels are 
also retained. It is of course a fallacy to use this fact as an argument 
against the existence of progress. To do so is on a par with saying that 
the invention of the automobile does not represent an advance, because 
horse-drawn vehicles remain more convenient for certain purposes, or 
pack animals for certain localities. 

One somewhat curious fact emerges from a survey of evolutionary 
progress. It could apparently have pursued no other course than that 
which it has historically followed. 

Multicellular organisation, triploblastic development, a ccelom and a 
blood system were clearly necessary to achieve a reasonable level of size 
and organisation. Among the ceelomates, only the vertebrates were eligible, 
for only they were able to achieve the combination of active efficiency, size, 
and terrestrial existence needed as a basis for the later stages of progress. 
The arthropods are not only hampered by their moulting, but their land 

E 


98 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


forms are restricted by their tracheal respiration to very small size and 
therefore to cold-bloodedness and to a reliance on instinctive behaviour. 
Thus lungs were one needful precursor of intelligence. 

Warm blood was another, since only with a constant internal environ- 
ment could the brain achieve stability and regularity for its finer functions. 
This limits us to birds and mammals. Birds were ruled out by their 
depriving themselves of possible hands in favour of actual wings. 

Remain the mammals. Most mammalian lines cut themselves off from 
ultimate progress by concentrating on immediate specialisation of limbs, 
teeth, and sense of smell. As Elliot Smith has set forth, the penultimate 
steps in human development could never have been taken except in the 
trees, where the forelimb could be converted into a hand, and sight 
inevitably ousted smell as the dominant sense. But for the ultimate step 
it was necessary for the anthropoid to descend from the trees before he 
could become man. This meant the final liberation of the hand, and 
placed a higher premium upon intelligence. Further, the feetalisation 
necessary for a prolonged period of learning could only have occurred in 
a monotocous species. 

The final step taken in evolutionary progress to date is that to con- 
ceptual thought. We see, however, that this could only arise in a 
monotocous mammal of terrestrial habit, but arboreal for most of its 
mammalian ancestry. All other known groups of animals are ruled 
out. Conceptual thought is not merely found exclusively in man: it 
could not have been evolved on earth except in man. 

Evolution is thus seen as a series of blind alleys. Some are extremely 
short—those leading to new genera and species that either remain stable 
or become extinct. Others are longer—the lines of adaptive radiation 
which run for tens of millions of years before coming up against their 
terminal blank wall. Others are still longer—the lines that have led to 
the development and advance of the major phyla; their course is to 
be reckoned in hundreds of millions of years. But all save one have 
terminated blindly. 

Only along one single line is progress and its future possibility being 
continued—the line of man. If man were wiped out, it is in the highest 
degree improbable that the step to conceptual thought would again be 
taken, even by his nearest relatives. In the ten or twenty million years 
since his ancestral stock branched off, these relatives have been forced into 
their own lines of specialisation, and have quite left behind them that 
more generalised stage from which a conscious thinking creature could 
naturally develop. 


THE EVOLUTIONARY FUTURE. 


What of the future? In the past, every major step in evolutionary 
progress has been followed by an outburst of change, whether by exploiting 
anew the familiar possibilities of adaptive radiation, or by peopling new 
environmental realms, or by improving the fundamental progressive 
mechanism itself. 

Conscious and conceptual thought is the latest step in life’s progress. 
It is, in the perspective of evolution, a very recent one. Its main effects 
are indubitably still to come. What will they be ? Prophetic phantasy is 
a dangerous pastime. But at least we can exclude certain possibilities. 


D.—ZOOLOGY 99 


Man is not destined to break up into separate radiating lines. For the 
first time in evolution, a new major step in biological progress will produce 
*but a single species. We can also set obvious limits to the extension of 
his range. Thus the main part of any large change in the biologically 
near future must be sought in the improvement of the brain. 

First let us remind ourselves that with our human type of society we 
must give up any hope of developing such altruistic instincts as the social 
insects. It would be more correct to say that this is impossible so long 
as our species continues in its present reproductive habits. If we were to 
adopt some system for using the gametes of a few highly endowed indi- 
viduals, directly or from tissue-cultures, to produce all the next generation, 
then all kinds of new possibilities would emerge. Man might develop 
castes, and some at least of them might be endowed with altruistic and 
communal impulses. 

Meanwhile there are many obvious ways in which the brain’s level of 
performance could be raised. If for all the main attributes of mind the 
average of a population could be raised to the level now attained by the 
best endowed ten-thousandth or even thousandth, that alone would be 
of far-reaching evolutionary significance. Nor is there any reason to 
suppose that such quantitative increase could not be pushed beyond 
its present upper limits. 

Further, there are other faculties, the bare existence of which is as yet 
scarcely established : and these too might be developed until they were 
as commonly distributed as, say, musical or mathematical gifts are to-day. 
I refer to telepathy and other extra-sensory activities of mind, which the 
work of Rhine, Salter and others is now forcing into scientific recognition. 

In any case, one important point should be borne in mind. After 
most of the major progressive steps taken by life in the past, the pro- 
gressive stock has found itself handicapped by characteristics developed 
in earlier phases, and has been forced to modify or abandon these to realise 
the full possibilities of the new phase. ‘This evolutionary fact is perhaps 
most obvious in relation to the vertebrates’ emergence from water on to 
land ; but it applies in other cases too. 

Man’s step to conscious thought is perhaps more radical in this respect 
than any other. By means of this new gift, man has discovered how to 
grow food instead of hunting it, and to substitute extraneous sources of 
power for that derived from his own muscles. And for the satisfaction 
of a few instincts he has been able to substitute new and more complex 
satisfactions, in the realm of morality, pure intellect, zsthetics, and 
creative activity. 

The problem immediately poses itself whether man’s muscular power 
and urges to hunting prowess may not often be a handicap to his new 
mode of control over environment, and whether some of his inherited 
impulses and his simpler irrational satisfactions may not stand in the way 
of higher values and fuller enjoyment. The poet spoke of letting ape 
and tiger die. ‘To this pair the cynic later added the donkey, as more 
pervasive and in the long run more dangerous. The evolutionary bio- 
logist is tempted to ask whether the aim should not be to let the mammal 
die within us, so as the more effectually to permit the man to live. 

Man seems generally anxious to discover some extraneous purpose to 
which humanity may conform. Some find such a purpose in evolution. 


100 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


The history of life, they.say, manifests guidance on the part of some 
external power; and the usual deduction is that we can safely trust that 
same power for further guidance in the future. 

I believe this reasoning to be wholly false. Any purpose we find 
manifested in evolution is only an apparent purpose. It is we who have 
read purpose into evolution, as earlier men projected will and emotion 
into inorganic phenomena like storm or earthquake. If we wish to work 
towards a purpose for the future of man, we must formulate that purpose 
ourselves. .Purposes in life are made, not found. 

But if we cannot discover a purpose in evolution, we can at least 
discern a direction—the line of evolutionary progress. And this past 
direction can serve as a guide in formulating our purpose for the future. 

As further advice to be gleaned from evolution there is the fact that 
each major step in progress necessitates scrapping some of the achieve- 
ments of previous advances. But this warning remains as general as 
the positive guidance. The precise formulation of human purpose 
cannot be decided on the basis of the past. Each step in evolutionary 
progress has brought new problems, which have had to be solved on their 
own merits; and with the new predominance of mind that has come 
with man, life finds its new problems even more unfamiliar than usual. 

The future of man, if it is to be progress and not merely a standstill 
or a degeneration, must be guided by a deliberate purpose. And this human 
purpose can only be formulated in terms of the new attributes achieved . 
by life in becoming human. Human purpose and the progress based 
upon it must accordingly be formulated in terms of human values ; 
but it must also take account of human needs and limitations, whether 
these be of a biological order, such as our mode of reproduction, or of a 
human order, such as our inevitable subjection to emotional conflict. 

Obviously the formulation of an agreed purpose for man as a whole will 
not be easy. ‘There have been many attempts already. ‘To-day we are 
experiencing the struggle between two opposed ideals—that of the 
subordination of the individual to the community, and that of his intrinsic 
superiority. Another struggle still in progress is between the idea of a 
purpose directed to a future life and one directed to this existing world. 
Until such major conflicts are resolved, humanity can have no single 
major purpose, and progress can be but fitful and slow. 

But let us not forget that progress can be achieved. After the dis- 
illusionment of the early twentieth century it has become as fashionable 
to deny the existence of progress, and to brand the idea of it as a human 
illusion, as it was fashionable in the optimism of the nineteenth century 
to proclaim not only its existence but its inevitability. The truth is between 
the two extremes. Progress is a major fact of past evolution ; but it is 
limited to a few selected stocks. It may continue in the future, but it is 
not inevitable ; man must work and plan if he is to achieve further progress 
for himself and so for life. 

Our optimism may well be tempered by reflection on the difficulties to 
be overcome. None the less, the demonstration of the existence of a 
general trend which can legitimately be called progress, and the definition 
of its limitations, is a fundamental contribution to thought; and we 
zoologists may be proud that it has been made, chiefly from the zoo- 
logical side, by evolutionary biology. 


SECTION E.—GEOGRAPHY. 


MAPPING OF THE COLONIAL 
EMPIRE 


ADDRESS BY 
BRIGADIER H. S. L. WINTERBOTHAM, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION 


Ir seems ridiculous, from this chair, to begin with cycles and waves. 
Yet I feel compelled to do so. We, as geographers, owe our own progress 
very largely to the innumerable impulses recorded by the advances of 
other sciences, and of other branches of knowledge. Their wave-lengths 
of progress—their cycles of advance and research—may be different from 
ours, but none the less geography is, at once, their debtor and their catalyst. 
Our environment is both physical and human. Our analysis and our 
correlations are at fault if we do not study and profit from any advance 
in the knowledge of environment, and man’s reaction to it. No new find 
at Babylon or in the Tombs of the Kings but adds to our bill of fare. 
We wait upon the explanation of climatic changes in Greenland as eagerly 
as does Geodesist or Geologist, and we find trade cycles as important as 
those of sunspots. It is a fact that the study of man’s reaction to his 
environment is so wide that we must draw our raw material from all sides 
and from all authorities. Our progress is, in large measure, dictated by 
theirs. 

In one important particular, however, geography, in the original sense 
of that difficult word, provides its own raw material. ‘To take proper 
stock of our world we must map it. A globe, a map, a plan, a chart— 
these are not only records of our physical environment, but provide the 
background against which all other factors may be shown. My dis- 
tinguished predecessor in this chair, pointing out that most of us are still 
immobile in this world of ours, said that we still have to take our im- 
pressions of regions other than our own from picture or narrative. No 
doubt that is true. We may get an impression of the Highlands of 
Scotland from Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley amplified by the attractive 
advertisements of sundry hydropathics. 

But if we want the facts we turn to the 1-inch map, the geological map, 
the agricultural atlas and the population map. Later on, in his interesting 


102 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


survey of the polar regions, Prof. Debenham gets drawn into maps as 
naturally as every geographer is bound to be. He complains of projec- 
tion difficulties, foresees a ‘ germ-density ’ map, and fears that the political 
maps may become too highly coloured. Indeed no one could expect a 
representative of that ancient seat of learning to do anything else than 
face the facts of life. It would be a waste of time to beat about the bush. 
Maps are potted information about environment, and about man. They 
are ndispensable to us and, at the moment, we are, as regards their 
production, in the trough and not on the crest. We are living through 
a cycle of indifference and we are forgetting the lessons of history. 
That is the reason, as you all know, why one who has no claims to geo- 
graphical eminence speaks to you to-day. It is because the illustrator is 
of significance even if he pales before the author. ‘The mapping cycle 
is of as much, if not more, importance than any other. 

The bald statement that we are in the trough of the wave may take 
many by surprise. For over a century we have had reason to be proud 
of the mapping of the British Isles. For much of that period we have 
known ourselves to be the best mapped country in the world. The 
curvey of India has had an extraordinary fine record, and for a period of ~ 
twenty years or so we tackled the mapping of Africa, largely to illustrate 
its partition, with zeal. ‘Then came the war, and, since that time, whether 
in the short boom or in the long depression, survey departments have 
shared in a neglect similar to that of the fighting services. In England 
itself the reason for this neglect is curiously difficult to find. Our maps 
and plans might serve a military purpose just as a London omnibus, or a 
screw factory, might. Their primary purposes are to help the work and 
the play of the nation as a whole. For example, no revision of the plans 
shows the railway system of the Kentish coal-fields, or records the growth 
of Scunthorpe, and so, up and down the land, innumerable interests have 
had to map themselves and pay double for it. No revision of the maps 
is complete in showing the full effects of the road programme. 

To get closer to geographical matters ; on what maps may we study the 
growth of industrialism in the south, or where shall we look for a record 
of the expansion of Birmingham? What 6-in. plans of the Highlands 
will explain in detail the water power schemes of to-day? What is 
Kinlochleven like now? 

A distinguished American—President of the International Union of 
Geodesy and Geophysics—remarks that the principal reason for the very 
backward state of the mapping of the United States lies in the fact that 
that country has been rich enough to survive the handicap of inadequate 
mapping. Are we rich enough to survive the handicap of losing the 
value of our original survey ? and to pay through the nose for overlapping 
work on the rates? In 1922 we had both to live frugally and to build a 
‘land for heroes.’ On the one hand we began ambitious building pro- 
grammes and started to recast our road communications, whilst on the 
other we cut the survey votes to the bone. Building means supply 
services and drainage, and we had, before us, the warnings of the cholera 
epidemic of 1841 with its enforced and overlate expenditure on town plans. 


E.—GEOGRAPHY 103 


Roads mean adjustments of property and administration and we had the 
warnings of the waste of two millions on the poor and local surveys of the 
tithe maps; and the demands of legal and administration authorities 
which doubled the survey of 1880. It is as if an elderly gentleman, 
overstout for his shabby suit, reluctantly ordered another from his tailor 
with strict injunctions to use a yard less material. In this particular, the 
revision of ordnance maps and plans of Great Britain, things look like 
improving. ‘The Ordnance Survey, tucked away in that onetime asy:um 
in Southampton, keeps on doing its best, and its difficulties are, at last, 
being considered. None the less all British geographers have a duty in 
this matter. We ought to see that our house is kept in order, and that 
the staff of the Ordnance Surevy is not ha'ved jus: when the changes of 
development are doubled. 

We must have the maps, indeed, not only for what they show, but for 
what they can be made to show. Against the black background of map 
detail any subject can be illustrated in colour. There is no need to talk 
distribution maps to an audience of geographers, yet it is astonishing how 
little has been done. Geology was the first science to map itself, and the 
Ordnance Survey has done much for the mapping of archaeology and 
history. Within limits it is perhaps easiest for that department to pro- 
vide the appropriate and contemporary outline. A population map, 
perhaps only in tentative form, illustrates the 1931 census. It seems to 
me important that distribution maps for subjects of first-rate national 
importance should be made and revised at stated intervals so that, in 
the future, comparisons may be based on unimpeachable evidence, and 
tendencies identified and studied. Intensive studies of small areas are 
the realm of geographers themselves. They can be well illustrated in black 
and white, and the records will be found in geographical magazines. But 
there is always need of a more general and wider stretching pictur>. It 
is not a necessity that every geographer should be word perfect on land 
utilisation in Glen Clova, but it is a necessity that he should be well aware 
of the differences of population density in Great Britain. Here we come 
back to a national field, and one into which we are just entering. 

It may be of interest to see what the national survey has done in the 
question by recording the genesis of some of our editions. In the first in- 
stance the Geological Survey started as the ‘Ordnance Geological Survey.’ 
The 10-mile map began as a map for the River Commissioners. The }-inch 
map was first produced at a joint call of archzologists, geologists and 
soldiers, the 1/M to answer a request from an international assemb'y of 
geographers. Physical editions at various scales have been made at the 
request of British geographers. Population maps were made to help 
in the delimitation of interstate boundaries, and, at the special request of 
this section, to illustrate the 1931 census. Archzological and historical 
maps are a case of spontaneous combustion, and are, as a matter of fact, 
a by-product of the mapping of the relevant sites, which is a normal 
function of the Ordnance Survey. 

On the whole, in Great Britain, the situation is none so bad as far as 
the geographer is concerned. Municipal administration, town and regional 


104 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


planning, land transactions, and comfort of motor travel, have suffered 
more than geographical analysis. It is a very different story if we turn 
to the vast areas under the British flag overseas. Here I am not going 
to talk of the Dominions, for they are masters of their own affairs. It is 
enough perhaps to suggest that they, too, are wealthy enough to survive 
the handicap of inadequate mapping. ‘The Anglo-Saxon abroad does not 
seem to start with any very definite convictions on the question of good 
stocktaking. Let us turn to the areas under the Colonial Office. The 
first, best, and to us most natural, preliminary is to see what our forbears 
did, and thought, about it, so that we may avoid the pitfalls they fell into 
and start where they left off. 

At the close of the eighteenth century, Major-General Roy, Surveyor- 
General of the Coasts, Fellow of the Royal Society, Mapper of the 
Highlands, and spiritual father of the Ordnance Survey, had died. The 
connection between the Observatories of Greenwich and Paris had been 
established by triangulation. The Master-General of the Ordnance had 
appointed a small staff, and set about the mapping of the British Isles, 
and the question arose, ‘ What about the Colonies? What about maps 
of foreign parts?’ ‘The Ordnance Survey was domestic. We wanted 
something at once imperial and diplomatic. 

The first step taken was to install, in 1803, the ‘Depot of Military 
Knowledge,’ a branch of the Quarter-Master-General’s Department, and it 
included a ‘ drawing room’ for the copying and storing of maps and plans. 
It is comforting to note that it was to be watched over by ‘ an officer of 
approved knowledge,’ and that one of the clerks ‘ conversant with foreign 
tongues ’ was to receive 7s. 6d. a day. 

Thereafter Napoleon was finally vanquished ; these tiresome new ideas 
ceased to worry us for a time ; and a minor boom and a major depression 
came as usual to rub in the consequences of war. The Depét of Military 
Knowledge experienced, in that post-war period, what the Ordinary 
Survey suffered in a later one, and it was not until the Crimean War that 
the matter was revived. 

Major Jervis, a retired Sapper, had been employed on survey work 
in India. He had refused, unbelievably enough, the appointment of 
Surveyor-General in India, but he had tasted the joys of map-making 
and knew what he was talking about. In 1846 he wrote to the then 
Foreign Secretary, Lord Aberdeen, as follows : 

‘Great Britain is the only country of note which has no geographer 
attached to the Government, and no national depét of geographical 
maps and plans. The Ordnance Survey is exclusively directed to British 
territories ’ (he meant the British Isles); ‘the Hydrographic Office to 
nautical charts ’—and so on to the wisdom of equipping the Foreign 
Office, in particular, with reliable maps on which to study the problems 
of territorial diplomacy. I ask you to note the underlying idea. Because 
it was suggested by a soldier it would be assumed, to-day, that it was 
aimed at destruction, and meant to be conducted in the darkest secrecy. 
No such thing. The idea was a national office for the production of 
oversea maps required by government departments. 


E.—GEOGRAPHY 105 


The next stage is pure farce. The idea was good but nothing was 
done. The Crimean War was casting its shadow ahead, and Major 
Jervis, in a foreign capital, copies Russian and Austrian staff maps of the 
relevant areas. ‘The war duly breaks out. Major Jervis reappears with 
the most priceless maps. He is told that there is no precedent for supply- 
ing soldiers gratis with maps, but that some will, no doubt, be bought, if 
he makes them himself. One can almost see the peremptory hall porter 
asking to see his pass as he left the War Office of the day. But, stout 
fellow that he was, he accepted the challenge. Making his own map 
office he printed his maps which were, of course, invaluable. 

By 1855 this new idea had had time to become respectable. The 
‘Topographical and Statistical Department’ was formed, and Jervis, 
reminded of his ‘ varied attainments,’ and of the ‘ great attent’on ’ he had 
paid to ‘ geographical Science’ was offered the command, together with 
a coach-house and stables in Whitehall in which to start his dark and hidden 
calling. 

Let us examine his own draft for his terms of reference. 


*z. Compilation and printing of all maps required for military and 
political purposes. Collection of maps published at home and abroad, 
and of topographical and statistical information about the colonies and 
foreign countries.’ 


Note again—‘ political’ and ‘ Colonies.’ 

In 1857 Colonel Jervis, as significant a figure in British topography, as 
perhaps, General Roy, was gathered to his fathers, and we find Lord 
Panmure, ‘ Secretary at War,’ calling a committee to consider what had 
been done, and what should follow. 

The committee recommended that the department should be an inde- 
pendent branch of the War Office empowered to employ officers and men 
from any branch of the British and Indian armies or from civil life, and 
that it should aim at ‘procuring topographical information.’ Lord 
Panmure’s instructions are even more significant. 


‘Lord Panmure is desirous that you direct an early attention to the 
subject of Colonial surveys, ascertaining as far as possible what works of 
this nature are in progress at the expense of Colonial legislatures, and_report- 
ing whether it may not be possible to establish a system, under which your 
department, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State for the Colonies 
may assist in their systematic prosecution, His Lordship being satisfied that 
whether from a military, scientific, or a national point of view, it is of much 
importance to bring all the topographical operations of the British Colonies 
into harmony with one another, and to collect all information respecting 
them at a central establishment accessible to government.’ 


For some years this ‘ Topographical Department’ and the Ordnance 
Survey were coalesced under the direction of General Sir Henry James. 
Then the 1-in. of Great Britain was finished, the large scale survey 
(ro ft., 5 ft., and 25-in. to the mile) began, and War Office votes could 
not be stretched, it was thought, so far. The departments fell asunder 

E2 


106 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


again: the Ordnance Survey to be the national and domestic map maker. 
the ‘ Topographical Department’ to be the national and overseas (but 
predominantly colonial) mapmaker. Both, however, were the suppliers 
and advisers for all departments of state. 

Is it in any way curious that the War Office should father a national 
institution of this sort? Is it curious that Astronomers Royal should 
shelter under the wings of their Lordships of the Admiralty, or that the 
Meteorological Office should flourish under the Air Ministry ? Should 
they all be under a ‘ Ministry of Applied Science’? But it is the privilege 
of the ‘ Golden Bough’ to wander, delightfully from point to point, and 
I must back to mapping. 

The Topographical Department continued to grow and to subdivide. 
It gave birth to ‘ Military Intelligence’ and to ‘ Military Operations.’ 
As so often happens the sons overtopped the father. The department 
was, for a time, under the hand of the late Lord Cromer, it has been the 
nursery for many distinguished soldier surveyors, and we bring it up to 
the time of the Boer War with a brief reference to the two germs from 
which, in spite of all its good work, it did suffer. These are :— 


(a) The germ of anaemia, due to starvation when no peril threatened. 


(6) The germ of hypertrophy, due to taking too seriously the minor 
lessons of the last war (whichever it was). 


At the beginning of this century the department was, as for some time 
it had been, the institution which provided the trained officers and men 
for boundary commissions and topographical surveys abroad ; which had 
the best map library in the country ; which provided topographical maps 
and advice to all departments of state, and which was closely in touch 
with the Colonial Office on matters pertaining to the Colonial Survey 
departments. 

The Topographical Department was now rechristened the Geographical 
Section of the General Staff (or M.I. 4 for short), and it is time to consider 
its work under two the normal subheads : 


(a) The compilation and publication of maps of unsurveyed, or only 
partially surveyed, areas. 


(b) The actual survey on the ground—the real mapping—of the 
Colonies. 


For making the best possible use of all knowledge preceding survey— 
the routes of travellers, the occasional observed latitude and longitude, 
the rare railway or river plan, and the still rarer record of local surveying— 
the Geographical Section acquired a staff of draughtsmen probably 
unequalled in Great Britain. The first maps of Africa made by the 
Section were the 1/M and the 1/250000 series. These were compiled 
from all sorts of information, included many inaccuracies, but for some 
ten years were by far the best maps of the continent. Another large and 
important series was the 1/250000 of Asia Minor, which was still the best 
map of those parts when the war broke out. With a prescience which 


E.—GEOGRAPHY 107 


became proverbial the Section also mapped the Sinai Peninsula, and South 
Palestine, and with that geographical instinct characteristic of its then 
Chief, Sir Charles Close, put the international 1/M on a firm basis. We 
should notice, in passing, the significance of the 1/250000 scale so much 
used in these early maps. If we take the }-in. as being practically 
identical with it, and compare the areas of the world mapped at those 
three alternative small scales 1/250000, 1/200000, and 1/300000 we find 
that they are in the proportions 13, 3 and 1. 

Since the war those two great series—the 1/4M of Asia and the 1/2M 
of Africa—have proved enormously useful, and it is right to mention 
them in passing, because it is just for such painstaking reliable maps as 
these that we look to the Geographical Section. I have no doubt at all 
that the best maps of Abyssinia to-day are the sheets on both these series 
(which overlap in Arabia Felix and Abyssinia), and that they are the basis 
of all other maps, recently published, of that country. Here is one part 
of the original terms of reference well kept up. 

But to-day I want to speak of the other side—item (6) reliable survey 
on the ground. In the first years of colonial expansion a general map 
compiled from odd routes and sketches may suffice. Even so administra- 
tion finds all sorts of difficulties. One is, everywhere, dependent on a 
guide. There is no stocktaking of the country and its peoples. There is 
no guide to tribal and trade movements, to the grazing grounds of the 
different seasons, the limits of this or that local custom, or the places 
where conflicting interests may result in friction. Then come the problems 
of development. Where shall the railway run (we are nearly always 
caught napping over that); how shall the road system develop ; where 
are the raw materials (of which we hear so much to-day). It is absurd to 
try to solve all these by trial and error. And finally there are many 
vitally interested people at home, such for example as ourselves, who can 
form no accurate mental picture without a map to work on. 

The first land surveyors to begin work inthe Colonies were not, 
however, always, or necessarily, directed by the Geographical Section. All 
over the world, and from the earliest times, you will find that surveying 
originates in two distinct ways, serves two separate purposes, works at 
different scales, and survives almost everywhere, save in Great Britain, 
in the form of overlapping survey departments to-day. The one is the 
property survey which safeguards property rights and forms the basis 
of land taxation, and the other the topographical survey, usually based on 
triangulation, which is the national stocktaking. The former is generally, 
or was generally, carried out by a private practitioner for a client; the 
latter by state surveyors normally soldiers. The former is always measur- 
ing lengths, the latter usually angles; the former is not concerned with 
altitudes, the latter finds much of his work in contouring. In colonial 
expansion both these sides are required, but whereas the necessity for 
the property surveyor is immediately obvious, the greater significance of 
the topographer, promising rewards of the future rather than of the 
present, is generally overlooked. 

Since, however, the property surveyor comes first in time (he was 


108 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


‘ active in Sumeria) we will take him first in Africa. He dates back, here, 
to the earliest days of Dutch settlement at the Cape. Naturally in the 
busy times of the great trek his work was of the sketchiest. He improved 
with the times and with competition. He became subject to certain State 
inspections ; presently he had to show certain diplomas ; he turned into 
the ‘ licensed surveyor.’ In his native land (the Dominion of S. Africa) 
he has never made a map, but he has first-rate education in instrumental 
surveying and can deal readily enough with a least square adjustment. Then 
presently the Rhodesias, British East Africa, and the West Coast colonies 
began to call for his like, and he came. With him came others trained in 
similar schools for similar work from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, 
but, with very rare exceptions, never from England. Here, at home, 
large scale surveying had been taken over by the State, and the profession 
was extinct. ‘Thus were born the Colonial Survey Departments of Africa, 
just as they had been in earlier times in Ceylon and Bermuda, in Jamaica 
and Mauritius, in British Guiana and Hong Kong, although in these 
surveyors from England took more part. 

Fortunately for colonial expansion, there have been, generally, Royal 
Engineers somewhere handy. ‘To them we owe the first roads, railways, 
cathedrals, government houses, town-planning, canals, and, of course, 
maps. It was part of our policy in former years that there should be, 
always, a large number of these Royal Engineer officers on survey work, 
and every ex-Director-General of the Ordnance Survey still surviving 
found his topographical training at that duty. In a small part of Hamp- 
shire within a circle of some eight miles radius live the three who had 
most to do with framing our very successful war surveys. Between them, 
in their earlier years, they surveyed in almost every part of Africa. Such 
Royal Engineer officers, sometimes on the Colonial pay-roll, sometimes on 
that of the War Office, sometimes drawing partly from both, but always 
chosen and directed (even if indirectly) by the Geographical Section, 
began the topographical mapping of Africa. 

A third element appears, however, before the fusion of property and 
topographical surveying. In Great Britain the Ordnance Survey was 
always greatly helped by the Astronomers Royal. Airy, for example, was 
one who was closely in touch with its development. ‘The Astronomer 
Royal in Cape Town early in this century was Sir David Gill, and it was 
due to his energy and persistence that the geodetic triangulation of South 
Africa was undertaken and completed. His great ambition was to see it 
carried on through the heart of Africa till, joining up with the Egyptian 
triangulation, it should form a continuous arc, roughly along the meridian 
of 30° E. of Greenwich. It is noteworthy that most of the officers con- 
cerned in the measurement were Royal Engineer officers lent by the War 
Office. The great arc will appear again and again in considering the 
recorded geography of Africa because its prosecution and completion are 
entirely vital to any reasonable survey of East Africa. As we all know the 
Isle of Wight could be mapped on a basis of a little plane trigonometry, 
but Great Britain required a primary triangulation. We never boggled 
at the triangulation inevitable for India, and yet with all this African 


E.— GEOGRAPHY 109 


territory to administer and improve we cannot find it possible to finish 
even the first and most vital preliminary. 

Let us return for a moment to what one may describe as imperial 
surveying, under the immediate leadership of the Geographical Section. 
Early in the century a ‘ Colonial Survey Section’ was formed. Its object 
was topographical mapping with the theodolite and plane-table, and its 
subject the Colonies. Starting with Mauritius and St. Helena, hitherto 
charted but unmapped, we find it at work in the then Orange River Colony 
from 1905 to 1g11. ‘The result of that survey is a reliable }-in. map. A 
large part of Northern Cape Colony was mapped on the 4-in. scale, as 
was Basutoland, by officers individually selected by the Geographical 
Section. The Colony (or peninsula) of Sierra Leone, Pemba Island, 
and many paris of the Transvaal were also mapped before 1912. A 
reconnaissance survey of Northern Nigeria was finished in the same 
imperial fashion, whilst substantial portions of Asia were tackled in the 
same way. 

More significant still, however, were the geographical results of boundary 
Commissions. It is the British practice, or was until quite recently, 
not only to see that the boundary is correctly placed on the earth’s surface, 
but to map a strip of territory on each side, in order to facilitate a decision, 
if there is disagreement, to examine thoroughly the resources and lie of 
the land through which the dividing line is to run, and to make it easy to 
find and to restore the boundary marks. From 1900 to 1913 no less 
than 10,000 miles of African boundary line were placed on the ground, 
by astronomical observation and by triangulation, permanently marked, 
and mapped to some considerable depth on either side. Some of these 
survey; were connected to Gill’s arc, which by 1913 had reached the 
southern end of Lake Tanganyika (a distance of 1900 miles). Most, 
however, were based on independent datum points, and remain to be 
incorporated, one day, in a general triangulation. 

We may say, at ‘his moment, that most of the mapping of Africa under 
the British flag is hung upon and controlled by Gill’s arc, or the boundary 
commission triangulations. 

Now turning again to the Colonial Survey Departments we come to 
the birth of the ‘ Colonial Survey Committee.’ Its formation was inspired 
by Colonel Sir Charles Close, who was, at that time, the chief of the 
Geographical Section. Its object was to strengthen that vital element in 
the terms of reference of the section ‘ to assist in the systematic prosecu- 
tion . . . oftopographical operations of the British Colonies . . . with 
the concurrence of the Secretary of State for the Colonies.’ 

The Committee began its labours with Ceylon. It insisted upon and 
secured a topographical survey long overdue. In Africa it began to realise 
that fusion between property and topographical surveying is essential if 
these departments are to follow the British model of making but the one 
general survey of the country and of avoiding overlap of responsibility. 

The first stage in this matter is to provide a triangulation upon which all 
survey may rest. An indefeasible title to land and title requires it just 
as much as a general map. The idiotic waste of money implied in per- 


110 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


petual measurements along the ‘ground, and in a fresh azimuth for every 
field or homestead ; that overlapping effort which, in Great Britain ‘ fell 
as a heavy burden upon the whole community’ before the days of the 
Ordnance Survey, had to be eliminated. There seems to be something 
fatally soporific about a general truth to which everybody can assent 
in principle, but in respect of which no one feels compelled to get 
busy at once. How many political illustrations have we not had lately 
of this curious fact! It will be best to give a concrete illustration 
of what triangulation does do. In Northern Nigeria lies that Bauchi 
Plateau inhabited by pagans and tin-miners, which has seen so 
much alienation of land for mining concessions, and from which so 
much of the world’s tin has come. Very early in the development of 
Northern Nigeria it became a problem how to keep pace with applica- 
tions. A party of Royal Engineer officers and men was called for. A 
hasty triangulation was made and the arrears were caught up with. But 
then came the war. ‘The party was recalled. ‘The officer who had made, 
and computed, the triangulation was killed, and his records were lost in 
the confusion of the times. After the war the rush started again. Appli- 
cations were now dealt with in the ancestral fashion of property surveying. 
Each concession was a problem all of its own. Measures were dupli- 
cated, and arrears began to mount up. At last another imperial party 
was borrowed. A good and permanently marked triangulation was 
extended from the growing primary triangulation of the colony. Arrears 
were promptly overtaken, and now each fresh concession can be surveyed 
at quarter the time and cost. 

In pursuance of the policy of amalgamating the two sides of survey the 
War Office, which, in 1913, had 100 Royal Engineer officers on survey 
duty, lent many officers and men to the Colonial Survey Departments. 
In West Africa activity was general. In Kenya and Uganda a really good 
triangulation was extended from the Boundary Chains, and a great deal 
of really sound mapping was finished at 1-in. and }-in. scales. In some 
cases the Colonial Survey Department was put under a Royal Engineer, 
in others imperial parties were lent to the Surveyor-General to get on 
with the mapping and triangulation. Whilst these activities were in 
progress an imperial party, fresh from the boundary between Uganda 
and the Belgian Congo, started to measure a portion of Gill’s arc along 
the 30th meridian in Uganda. Finally a complete tour of inspection 
was carried out by the late General Hills, visiting each survey in turn, 
and bringing coherence into the aims, and methods, of the various 
departments. 

Having now considered a period of thirteen years | (1900-1913) it will 
be as well to recapitulate the achievements. 


PERIOD 1900-1913 (AFRICA ONLY). 


1. Triangulation (or astronomical or traverse control). 
(a) The completion of the geodetic survey of South Africa. 


E.—_GEOGRAPHY III 


(b) The arc of meridian 30° E. of Greenwich : 
1900 miles, Port Elizabeth to Lake Tanganyika. 
150 miles in Uganda. 


(c) Boundary Commissions, 10,000 miles. 


2. Reliable mapping. 


Boundary Commission maps, topographical surveys of 
parts of the Gold Coast, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cape Colony, 
Kenya, Uganda, Transvaal, and the whole of the Orange Free 
State and Basutoland, and subsequent publication on the 
1 in., 4-in. and }-in. scales. Total Area 330,000 square 
miles. 


3. Compilation Maps. 


The 1/M, and 1/250000 series of all Africa then under the 
British flag. 


4. Administrative. 


Formation of Colonial Survey Committee. The building 
up of Colonial Survey Departments. The first general 
inspection. 


The war period brought the mapping and revision of Great Britain 
toafull stop. In Africa it did not have quite the same effect. We learnt, 
of dire necessity, a good deal about East Africa, and improved the com- 
pilation of the more generalised maps. A more important consequence 
was the unfortunate renewal of the divorce between the topographical 
and property surveying sides. Royal Engineers were either recalled or 
employed on other duties. The survey of Kenya, for example, has never 
recovered its pre-war usefulness, and even the maps of that delightful 
land, made before the war, lie neglected and now out of date. This 
department—too small in strength to undertake triangulation or mapping— 
has reverted wholly to the cadastral. There is a bright spot to notice 
about the war. On many a battlefield the regular and the temporary, 
the topographical and the property surveyor, met and learnt, often in the 
Field Survey Battalions, each other’s methods and technique. There is 
going to be small difficulty in broadening out when administration learns 
that maps are as indispensable to a knowledge of human factors as to 
the development and exploitation of natural resources. 

In considering what has been done since the war, why it is so little, 
and what can be done to augment it, we can take the period of thirteen 
years, from 1922 to 1935, and so achieve a direct comparison with the 
former period of 1g00 to 1913. But, alas! there is little good to record. 

Let us consider first the framework—the geodesy ; for land surveying, to 
be consistent and continuous, must be held together by a rigid framework. 
Mudge in England, Everest in India, made no mistake in their beginnings. 
First a triangulation to hold together the areas of their task, and then 


112 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


topography. They worked from the whole to the part. :In that con- 
tiguous and vast country from the Limpopo to the Egyptian border we 
must equally work from the whole to the part, unless, in the future we 
are content to scrap this or adjust that. At present we are working from 
five parts. This it was that Sir David Gill hoped to avoid. His great 
and controlling arc coming up from the south is like a steel rod with one 
fixed, and one vibrating, end. A section lies nearly in place ready to be 
bolted on. A long stretch remains open, and the clamp at the northern 
end waits on the final connection. From 1900 to 1913 2050 miles were 
measured ; from 1922 to 1935 only 360! During my tour of inspection 
in Africa (next in sequence after that of General Hills) this enterprise 
got to be derisively known as the ‘ arc of the covenant.’ It was indeed 
difficult to explain its fundamental importance to minds more apt with 
the Humanities. Yet something—if only 360 miles—came of my strivings : 
a really absurd contribution to a subject which affects every geographical 
position from Capetown to Cairo. 

On the west coast much more of this fundamental programme has been 
tackled. There had been much activity in triangulation there before 
the war, and after it Sir Gordon Guggisberg, first as Surveyor-General 
and then as Governor of the Gold Coast, kept up a well-organised pro- 
gramme. In these later days the Surveyors-General of Nigeria and the 
Gold Coast have greatly enlarged and strengthened his earlier work. 
It is true that on the Eastern Plateau some triangulation has been done. 
The surveyors themselves have done their best, but in doing so are aware 
that all their present triangulations must some day be corrected and that 
the longer it is put off the greater will be the burden and cost of 
adjustment. 

The next point of importance is to build, as have Great Britain and 
India, departments economical in production and graded into specialised 
groups. It might be very amusing to build the whole of a motor car 
with one’s own fingers, but it would be singularly uneconomical. The 
first Colonial Survey Department to appear in order to make settlement, 
and alienation of land, possible, is composed, as stated before, of the pro- 
perty or cadastral element. It is staffed by men who are trained to carry 
out, with their own hands, any and every type of instrumental measure- 
ment of land, and thereafter to provide a finished drawing. The field 
books containing their measurements are the records, and the justification, 
for their finished work. Could India have ever been surveyed by a col- 
lection of individualists each doing everything in turn? All big survey 
departments rest indeed upon a staff designed for mass production. The 
trigonometrical observer is not his own computer; the detail surveyor is 
not the draughtsman ; and no one of the four attempts lithography. For 
the mapping of Africa this is a vital point. Methods and processes must 
be simplified and divided up until the staff can be doubled without 
increase of cost. In 1907 General Hills pointed this out, during his tour 
of inspection, and on the west coast General Sir Gordon Guggisberg, 
began to raise a corps of native surveyors. 

These native surveyors have done well because the methods in which 


E.—GEOGRAPHY 113 


they have been trained are simple and undeviating. It is curious to note 
that they are very much those of Roy and Mudge. During the first (and 
indeed only) topographical surveys of Great Britain (since 1855 all the 
maps of Great Britain have been made by direct reduction from the plans) 
the compass and chain were used instead of the plane-table, because the 
use of the latter demands a visibility rare in this country. It is equally 
rare in the forest belt of West Africa. Kitchener was ill-advised to 
introduce these traverse methods into Cyprus and Palestine, but Guggis- 
berg made no mistake in basing his west coast surveys upon them. A 
remarkable instance of what can be done in this way is offered by Sierra 
Leone where the whole of the hinterland has been mapped at the 1-in. 
scale by native surveyors under the supervision of officers of the Royal 
Engineers. It is an equally striking commentary on our methods that 
the greater part of this excellent series remains in manuscript, and does 
not look like publication for many a long day. In the higher and drier 
plateaux of East Africa the natural implement is the plane-table. So far, 
however, no topographical native plane-tablers have been trained. I am 
convinced that they could be raised, trained, and made efficient. It 
seems to me absurd to maintain that the standard of intelligence is lower 
amongst the Bantus than among the Negroes. Whenever the question 
has been discussed, however, it has been assumed that instrumental and 
mathematical questions are at stake. They are not. Plane-tabling 
demands qualities of craftsmanship and honesty, but has practically 
nothing to do with instrumental or mathematical surveying. Presently, 
no doubt, common sense will have its way. Meanwhile native labour 
comes in slowly with the beginnings of printing, and gradually the 
Colonial Surveys of Africa will follow the model of the surveys of India, 
Ceylon, and Malaya. It is, however, due to the lack of proper organisa- 
tion that the amount of reliable survey in our second period is not more 
than a third of that contributed by the first. 

It is at this point that the intelligent modern layman begins to talk of air 
survey. ‘This term was invented for the sake of brevity, and means ‘ The 
survey (by any one of a variety of methods) of ground from photographs 
taken of it from the air.’ The photographic image is a perspective view 
of a solid body (of three dimensions). ‘To extract the plan of two dimen- 
sions and to add the third in the form of contours is perfectly possible at 
a scale not smaller than 2} in. to the mile (smaller than that the photo- 
graph becomes unreadable). Asa method it is invaluable where surveyors 
cannot get on the ground, and is probably without a rival at such a scale 
as the 6-in. No one who was able to get to the ground would dream of 
making a 4- or }-in. map of an open plateau in this way because of the 
expense. 

It may be taken as proved that we need not hope for topography from 
the existing staffs of Colonial Survey Departments. They are not in 
sufficient numbers, and the value of their education and training implies 
a salary higher than should be paid for the work. 

None of these factors, however, affects the solution employed during our 
first period, viz. from 1900 to1913. Then the topographical mapping was 


114 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


done by parties of Royal Engineers. It could be done equally well in that 
way now. Why is it not being done? It is not because these African 
Colonies are ‘ rich enough to survive the handicap of inadequate mapping,’ 
and it is not because we do not want the invaluable training for those who 
might have to map in war. It was, indeed, lucky that we had had that train- 
ing in the pre-war period, for the officers and men so trained quickly raised 
our war mapping (and kindred matters) to the highest level amongst not 
unskilful rivals. The War Office has now 30 officers of the Royal 
Engineers engaged on survey work. This is less than one-third of the 
pre-war number, and includes just four who are learning, under the 
proper conditions, how to survey under difficulties. 'The remainder are 
busy on the surveys of Great Britain and India in the Geographical Section 
and in training establishments. Nevertheless the War Office wants the 
training, the Colonies want the mapping, and Africa is still with us. 
Incidentally one of the most obvious jobs is to revise the maps made in 
the pre-war period, and very easy it would be. Let us hope that an 
equitable bargain may soon be struck ! 

Although the advantages of a topographical survey are difficult to bring 
home to the public, and to the administration, both seem content to pay 
large sums for surveys disguised under other budgets. Almost every 
colony has authorised special surveys for railways, roads, water projects, 
draining schemes, and the like. These special surveys would, in large 
part, be avoided by good mapping, and they are unpublished and play no 
part in the general development. Yet it is not to be wondered at if we 
reflect that Great Britain paid two million pounds for a poor collection 
of tithe maps (also unpublished) rather than begin that large scale ordnance 
survey, which had to be begun shortly afterwards. There is one of our 
most charming West Indian Islands which insists on remaining unmapped, 
and which burdens the fruit industry with an annual expenditure of some 
thousand pounds for its own (unpublished) mapping. In Africa the 
geologists, I am sure much against their better judgment, are often made 
to turn themselves into topographers, and are sometimes given trained 
topographers to supervise. ‘The results of such labours are also un- 
published surveys and also a subterfuge for putting off the inevitable. 
But no doubt geology brings up delicious thoughts of gold or copper, 
and a booming budget ! 

Another post-war factor of significance is a change in the practice of 
boundary demarcation. In many recent instances local officials have 
been employed, instead of imperial parties. Often when this has been 
done we have failed to secure the proper mapping of the boundary. The 
geographical results have fallen off not owing to any lack of ability on the 
part of the survey staff, but because they cannot supply topographers 
unless Royal Engineers are attached to the party. ‘Thus, whilst the later 
period has given us 4,600 miles of boundary determination in Africa, it 
has given us no more than 3,500 miles of reasonable topography, and 
that much restricted in depth. Boundary demarcation is one of the finest 
trainings in quick triangulation and mapping that the world affords, Yet 


E.— GEOGRAPHY 115 


such men as may be wanted in war have, perforce, been put to train in 
Hampshire. 

We can now summarise the results of our later period, and it will be as 
well to make a comparative table, and show things for the two periods 
side by side. 


1900-13. 1922-35. 
Triangulation (or good control) : 
(a) Geodetic survey. : Geodetic — sur- Geodetic  sur- 
vey of South vey of Nigeria 
Africa. and part of the 
Gold Coast. 
(6) Arc of 30th meridian i 2,050 miles. 360 miles. 
(c) Boundary Commission. 10,000 miles. 3,500 miles. 
Published Topographical Maps 
Resulting from reliable 
survey and including 
boundary commissions 
and local surveys . . 480,000sq.miles. 170,000 sq. miles. 


Note.—During the later period our African responsibilities had grown 
by no less than 743,000 square miles. 


The problem of mapping Africa is not being tackled in fact. Where 
is the machinery at fault ? The Geographical Section has not been idle. 
It has inaugurated periodical conferences of the survey officers of the 
empire, and most useful they are. It has started the Empire Survey 
Review, which is, perhaps, the best survey periodical in the world. It 
inspired the design and manufacture of that best of all theodolites, made 
by Cook, Troughton & Siemens, and called the ‘ Tavistock.’ It has given 
ready help on all technical questions. The Colonial Surveyors themselves 
have realised a complete fusion between the various aspects of their work. 
Such powder as they have in the magazine is dry. It is the trust in higher 
beings which has failed. 

The fault is that public opinion, with many urgent matters to consider, 
is as slow to grasp the position in Africa as it was to do so in Great Britain, 
and there is no force, in being, strong in proportion as the matter is urgent, 
to call attention to the ultimate economy of starting a definite and pro- 
gressive programme. In Africa to-day, as in England yesterday, the 
public suffers because there is no reliable map on which to work. Every 
private interest and every government department must fend for itself. 
Lack of maps, or unorganised and piecemeal mapping, amount to the 
same thing in this particular. They cause a heavy financial burden to 
fall on the whole community. 

. There are some generalisations which experience allows us to make. 
Thus, just as history cannot be divorced from geography, so neither can 


116 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


social, economic, industrial development be divorced from land surveying. 
Mapping is indeed one of the vitamins necessary to the growth of the 
body politic. It is for us geographers to forward this matter. We know 
that we are failing not only to secure the maps on which we ourselves may 
study, analyse, and suggest, but we are also failing our friends the geolo- 
gists, engineers, airmen, settlers, business men, and the people themselves. 
Never, for a century, have we treated our geographical duties so lightly. 


SECTION F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS. 


PLANTATION ECONOMY 


ADDRESS BY 
Cree PAY, Wie scr 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


1. THE NATURE OF PLANTATION AGRICULTURE. 


THE Royal Commission on Agriculture in India of 1928 in its brief 
notice of plantations remarks on their importance to the export agriculture 
of India. ‘’The three main planters’ crops are tea, coffee and rubber, 
but sugar-cane is important in Bihar as are spices in the South of India. 
The area.under indigo in Bihar, where it was formerly the principal 
planters’ crop, is now negligible. The total area under tea, coffee, rubber 
and indigo in 1925-26 was 1,169,000 acres, of which 982,000 acres were 
in British India . . . A little cinchona is also grown by planters. The 
value of their crops is out of all proportion to their acreage. In 1926-27 
the value of the total exports, including spices, amounted to Rs.34.59 
crores or about 18 per cent. of the value of all agricultural products 
exported. By far the greater part of this was accounted for by tea, the 
value of the exports of which amounted to Rs.29.06 crores.’ (Report, 
p. 597.) A crore is 10,000,000 and a lakh is 100,000, of persons, things, 
or money : and the present value of the rupee is 1s.6d. ‘The Commission 
appends plantations to its chapter on horticulture as a special type of 
intensive agriculture, and it does not even raise the question whether the 
staples of agriculture such as cotton and wheat in the years to come may 
adopt the plantation system and thus cause Indian agriculture to exhibit 
a structure which would resemble outwardly the collective farms of Soviet 
Russia. 

The Royal Commission on Labour in India of 1931 has four chapters 
on plantations, dealing respectively with general survey, recruitment of 
labour, wages, health and welfare. It studies them as a distinctive and 
important section of wage labour in a country where factory employment 
is relatively rare; and it defines the system succinctly thus: ‘ The 
plantation system connotes the acquisition of a limited but fairly extensive 
area for the cultivation of a particular crop, the actual cultivation being 
done under the direct supervision of a manager, who in some cases may 
himself be the actual proprietor. A considerable number of persons (the 
number may run as high as 4,000) are employed under his control in the 
same way as the factory workers are under the control of the factory 
manager, but there is one important difference in that the work is 


118 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


essentially agricultural and is not concentrated in a large building.’ 
(Report, p. 349-) 

The plantation has behind it a long history. It was the creation of the 
English overseas, beginning with the plantation of Ulster, extending to 
America and finding its modern home in the East. In old usage the word 
is synonymous with colony; and as Cunningham well says, ‘ English 
colonisation was, in its beginning and in its growth, the expansion of the 
landed interest.’1 Now in early Canada and the early relations of England 
with India we are confronted not with plantations but with factories and 
forts, factories for trade and forts for the protection of trade. The plan- 
tation flourished in the West Indies and on the American sea-board, and 
was the economic instrument whereby colonies were established there. 
The Commissioners of Trade and Plantations embraced the two sides of 
imperial economy, trade by sea and plantation of the land. 

On the mainland the first planted commodity was tobacco, which so 
monopolised the life of the southern colonies that they were called the 
tobacco colonies. Sugar held a similar pre-eminence in the West Indian 
islands. From the end of the seventeenth century the range of plantation 
produce was widened on the mainland. In 1694 rice was introduced 
into South Carolina from Madagascar; in 1745 indigo into South Carolina 
from Montserrat in the French West Indies ;, in 1794 sugar, the main 
produce of the West Indies, into Louisiana ; in 1797, most crucial of all, 
sea-island cotton into Georgia from the West Indies via the Bahamas. 
But already before 1800 on the mainland, in contrast with the West Indies, 
the plantation had ceased to be the only form of agriculture exploited by 
settlers. ‘The planter employing hired labour, at first white indentured 
labour and before long coloured slave labour, found a rival in the white 
settler employing only his family and himself. The free settler won in 
the end, and his triumph furnished the outstanding crisis of American 
social history. He was essentially a pioneer, and as the interior of the 
continent was settled, he and his type prevailed increasingly. The 
plantation, it was observed in early Virginia, hugged the tide water, 
whilst the free settlers pushed inland ; this was typical of all plantation 
history. Apart from the short-lived reign of the great ranches, with their 
cattle kings, and of the bonanza wheat farms, the unit of enterprise in 
American agriculture has been small ; and when the North by its victory 
in the Civil War ended slavery, it dissolved the plantation into similar 
small parts. The integrated enterprise of the slave owner gave place to 
a loose system under which tenants held on money or shares from 
indigent landlords and lived in a state of debt either to these landlords 
or to strong commercial middle-men. In the West Indies, as in Cuba, 
the sugar plantations survived, but the slaves freed in 1833 would not 
work properly on them, and their survival into modern times was only 
made possible by the introduction of coolie labour from the East. Our 
colonial empire is a great producer of sugar to-day, and the sugar plan- 
tation, though it exists in places, does not predominate on the whole. 
In all cases the organisation of production centres round the factory. 
But in the West Indies and Mauritius sugar factories buy both from 

1 W. Cunningham, Growth of English Industry and Commerce, vol. ii. pp. 119-120. 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 119 


outside planters and peasant farmers, though sometimes they have plan- 
tations of their own ; and in Fiji, where the industry is under the control of 
the Colonial Sugar Refining Co. of Australia, almost all the cane used is 
bought from peasant farmers occupying their own lands or lands leased 
from the company. Only in British Guiana and East Africa is there in 
general that complete integration, to be met with in the tea industry, in 
which the cane is grown on estates connected with particular factories 
and under the same ownership and control. Nor is peasant cultivation 
falling away. ‘The tendencies in recent years have been towards (i) in- 
creased size and centralisation of factories ; and (ii) greater development 
of peasant farming as the most economical method of producing cane.” 
Everywhere in North and South India one notices the small and isolated 
clumps of sugar-cane. Over broad, continuous sugar fields, one is told, 
the jackals would plunder without hindrance. There is thus a balance 
between large and small. Sir William Ashley taught us to recognise the 
complementary relation between first and final producers—the former 
large, the latter small, in the old-time textile and metal industries of 
England. In sugar we have a similar relationship, with the difference 
that the first producer is the small peasant and the final producer the 
large factory. 

The course of land settlement in Australia was different from that in 
North America, being dominated by the large sheep run of the pastoralist, 
which has held its place in the Australian economy. The sheep property 
is, indeed, not a plantation, but structurally it is not far removed. It 
has a large area, it requires a manager and at certain seasons, though not 
throughout the year, it has an important labour force on it, the sheep- 
shearers. It may be owned by capitalists overseas, such as the Australian 
Estates and Mortgage Company, which administers sheep and cattle 
properties, operates stud farms and has an agency business as well. The 
desire for agricultural settlement makes these properties difficult to 
administer, especially at long range; and while the large property may 
be a permanency in the dry interior, it is likely to disappear in time, at 
any rate as an investment for overseas capital, in other parts of Australia. 
Messrs. Drabble Brothers, the Buenos Ayres representatives of Geo. Fraser, 
Son and Co., of Manchester, a cotton business with which the writer’s 
father was connected for over sixty years, formed with capital raised in 
Manchester the River Plate Estancia Company. After yielding 10 per cent. 
in dividends for many years it was wound up in 1g1oas the result of the area 
coming into demand for building and other purposes, and over a million 
pounds was available for distribution among the shareholders of a com- 
pany with a nominal capital of £80,000 only. Fruit-growing, however, 
has not been developed by the company fruit ranch. Alike in California 
and Australia, it is the stronghold of relatively small-scale and highly 
intensive agriculture. Perhaps if oriental labour had not been excluded 
from America and Australia, horticulture would have developed on the 
plantation pattern. 

Outrivalled and dispossessed in North America, kept out in our own 
time by the policy of government from the tribal economy of West Africa, 

2 Cf. Economic Survey of the Colonial Empire, ed. 1935, p. 515. 


120 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


the planters found a new home in the East : in particular in the British 
and Dutch East Indies. And to-day plantation denotes not only a system 
of agriculture but a system which chiefly grows plants from wood as 
opposed to plants from grass: tea, coffee, rubber, cocoa, coco-nut, cin- 
chona. No doubt the capital investment required in raising wood plants 
has been instrumental in bringing these products under the plantation 
system, though it has not made it impossible for native growers, e.g. in 
rubber, to produce for themselves. There are no cotton or tobacco 
plantations in India and only a few sugar plantations; and although 
indigo is a grass plant and provided the first form of plantation in India, 
it has all but disappeared through the supersession of indigo in commerce 
by aniline dyes. In method of exploitation, therefore, the plantation of 
to-day is closer to certain forms of forestry than it is to grain crops or 
roots. One may think of it with advantage as intensive forestry conducted 
in regions of hitherto sparse population. 


2. THE History oF INpIGOo. 


Indigo and saltpetre are the two export specialties of Indian economic 
history : the former a crop yielding a textile dye, the latter a deposit, not 
a mineral but a human and animal deposit, used in the making of gun- 
powder. Neither is a foodstuff: and both have been superseded, the 
one by aniline dyes, the other by nitrate of soda (Chile saltpetre). Be- 
tween Latin America and the Tropical East there has been a many-sided 
and age-long rivalry of supply. Cinchona and rubber were taken to the 
East from their habitat in South America, and the planted product of the 
East has ousted the wild product. Similarly, around 1830, in a battle of 
the insects, the lac of India, which yielded the scarlet red of soldiers’ 
uniforms, displaced the cochineal of Central America. On the other 
hand, coffee, first supplied to the European market from Mocha in Arabia 
and later from South India, Ceylon and Java, to-day has its centre of 
production in Brazil, which provides 60 per cent. of the world’s coffee 
and could easily provide the whole. Indigo has shared the same geo- 
graphic pull. As the name signifies, its origin was in India, where the 
English and Dutch competed as merchants for the finished native product, 
but towards the close of the seventeenth century the trade was lost to 
. Latin America, to reappear at the end of the eighteenth century, when 
there arose a new demand for ‘navy blue’ and when the West Indies 
were distracted by revolution, as in Haiti, or switching, as in the British 
West Indies, to more profitable crops such as cotton. 

The revival of indigo production towards 1800 was the work of 
European planters in Bengal; and they were assisted by the East India 
Company, which advanced large sums of money to the industry, en- 
couraged its servants to take up planting, and relaxed, in favour of the 
planters, its monopoly of trade. Hitherto the Europeans had been 
merchants, buying in certain markets of West, North and East India the 
village-made product. The planters of the seventeenth century were the 
peasants themselves, but they were not independent producers. For 
the Dutch trader, Pelsaert, writing in 1626, states that when supply is 

‘ 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 121 


short, it is prudent to avoid running around the villages, as the hungry 
Armenians do, and better to buy in the town ‘from the substantial 
Hindu or Moslem merchants who live there and have been many years 
in the trade, and who have made advances against indigo some months 
beforehand, binding the debtors to sell to no one else.’ The European 
planters took the place of the Indian merchants and something more : 
for they set up factories in the areas of supply and manufactured the 
raw produce by improved machinery, drawing on the personnel and prac- 
tice of the West Indies. Like Samuel Oldknow in eighteenth-century 
Lancashire, they advanced from merchant capitalism to factory owner- 
ship. As the land was already in the hands of the ryot, they were not 
able to set up the slave plantation system, in which the planter owns and 
operates both factory and land ; and they endeavoured to ensure supplies 
by intensifying the debtor relationship which existed already between 
native merchants and native cultivators. They made advances of money 
which gave them a lien on the ryots’ crop at a fixed price and reinforced 
their position as creditor by acquiring zemindar (landlord) rights over 
the cultivator. Sons succeeding to their fathers’ property and debts 
inherited, so they believed, the compulsion to grow indigo. This was 
what the ryots detested and the planters desired ; for, as one of the latter 
observed in 1860, ‘ to encourage any ryot to pay off his balance would be 
virtually to close the factory.’* ‘The situation became intolerable when 
the planters, having formed a Planters’ Association, divided up the terri- 
tory and maintained a fixed price which was much below the cost of 
production at a time when other crops and the expenses of cultivation in 
labour and draught animals were rising rapidly. The result was a 
growers’ strike, accompanied by disorders, which led to the appointment 
of a Royal Commission, and its Report of 1860 is a document of the first 
importance. It shows that the planters had been guilty of illegal seizures 
and detentions of ryots, and that the contract to grow, though believed to 
be hereditary, was not really so. It evinced a determination to protect 
the peasant, but was so dominated by current doctrines of non-interference 
that it was opposed both to penal legislation against the cultivator and to 
any protective legislation in his favour that ‘ fetters the free agency of 
the contracting parties.’ ® 

But throughout the nineteenth century the indigo planters owned some 
land and to that extent were true planters. This was called Nz-joti 
(‘it may be likened in some respects to a home farm managed by the 
proprietor of an estate in England ’),® and the majority of it was on land 
of new alluvial formation annually inundated and occurring mainly in 
Eastern Bengal. On this class of land indigo was the crop most suited 
to the soil, and there were few disorders here in 1860. But so long as the 
ryot was compelled to deliver indigo at much less than the cost of pro- 
duction, the major part of the supply was virtually subsidised, and the 
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, in commenting on the findings of the 


8 F. Pelsaert, Jahangiv’s India, ed. Moreland, p. 16. 

4 Report of Indigo Commission, Parliamentary Papers, 1861, XLIV. S. 109. 
5 Tbid., s. 188. ‘ 

& Thid., s. 20. 


122 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


Commission, pointed out that ‘the real planter who grows and manu- 
factures his own plant is, in fact, injured by the manufacturer who under- 
sells him, because he gets his plant at a less price than any free system 
cultivator in his senses would grow it for.’’ However, both he and the 
Commission believed that it would be impossible for mj cultivation to 
replace ryot cultivation, even if the contract system was abolished, 
inasmuch as the ryots were already in possession of the good lands and 
planters could not here obtain compact estates. It would be a slow 
business for the planter to move his servants and ploughs from place to 
place, whereas the ryot on the spot could turn out with his own plough 
and sow the moment the weather was favourable. Therefore, after 1860, 
the planters were still dependent on the ryots and now assured themselves 
of supplies by procuring leases or other forms of control over ryot land. 
A planter would make loans and receive as compensation a sub-lease of 
the ryot’s holding, thus becoming often a sub-tenant of his own tenant, 
over whom he already had general zemindar rights. It was only towards 
the end of the indigo period that the full plantation system was adopted, 
immigrant hillmen working in the factories and their women and children 
in the planters’ fields. In 1890 about half of the 240,000 acres under 
indigo in Bihar was thus cultivated. 

Inasmuch as indigo was superseded by synthetic dyes, we must turn 
to a commodity in new demand on already occupied land, to find out 
how a prosperous indigo industry might have evolved under twentieth- 
century conditions. ‘Tobacco furnishes a good example. The British- 
American Tobacco Company, through its associated companies, is some- 
thing more than a merchant and manufacturer in India, yet it is not a 
planter. The centre of its operations is Gunthur in Madras Province. 
India is, after the United States, the greatest producer of tobacco in the 
world, and the great majority of it is consumed locally. Of some goo- 
1,000 million lb. of Indian tobacco, the British-American Tobacco Com- 
pany handles about 40 million. Its task has been to introduce tobacco 
of the Virginian type to Indian consumers on the lines of its earlier 
work in China, and then, under the stimulus of a protective tariff, to 
manufacture. this kind of leaf in India itself. Its problem was to secure 
adequate supplies of the right type. Therefore, in addition to its factories, 
it has a Leaf Development Company, which teaches the ryot how to 
grow improved varieties and supervises the growing. The seed is issued 
by the company’s staff of expert botanists, and the company contracts to 
purchase crops of selected ryots whose output can be expected in a normal 
year to reach a certain figure. It thus exerts in a paternal way the influence 
which Messrs. Chivers, fruit and jam manufacturers at Histon, Cambridge- 
shire, exert on the surrounding fruit growers. When the indigo planters 
tried to improve their product by the issue of selected seed, the ryots 
refused to take it, lest this should count as a money advance of the old 
type, which would put them in permanent bondage. But the British- 
American Tobacco Company has no such designs on the peasant and his 
land. ‘The ryots grow the new varieties eagerly and well; and I saw the 
tich green of the highly cultivated tobacco land around Gunthur. 

TPP TOOvI XV: Sx25) p. 76. 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 123 


A second example is supplied by sugar. For in India since the war 
sugar-cane production has been increased by the aid of tariffs and 
subsidised sugar factories. ‘The research stations of the Government, 
e.g. that of Heppal outside Bangalore in Mysore State, play the part of 
leaf development companies to the suppliers of sugar. What réle co- 
operation among growers may one day play in tobacco and sugar is hard 
to forecast. I suggest that, co-operation for credit apart, it will take the 
form of a collective bargaining association, as among the milk producers 
of America, rather than of a processing organisation like that of the fruit 
growers of California or the dairy farmers of Denmark and New Zealand. 
The capitalisation and technique are too advanced to allow of the peasant 
undertaking the co-operative management of sugar factories. In tobacco, 
as contrasted with butter or sugar, a further difficulty is present. It is 
exceptional for any tobacco product to be manufactured exclusively from 
a single grade of leaf. Nearly all are blended from a variety of leaves 
possessing different qualities, and the expert blender, who makes these 
mixtures, must be satisfied that the leaf offered to him possesses the 
qualities which he requires. 


‘ 


3. TEA as A Commopiry. 


The bulk of the tea consumed by Great Britain is grown in one of 
three districts, Assam (with adjoining territory), South India and Ceylon. 
Java is a competitor in lower-priced teas, and China grows its special 
China tea. The production is highly localised, and tea tends to drive 
out any rival. Climate and altitude are important, and Ceylon is 
favoured in both respects. First of all it has two monsoons: the south- 
west, June, July, August, September; and the north-east, November, 
December, with the tail end in January; and the rainfall is sufficient 
to promote growth virtually the whole year round. In Assam, which 
is outside the Tropics, there is only the one monsoon, the south- 
west ; and for a part of the year there is no growth owing to the winter 
cold, and the plantations are closed down. South India has a shorter 
off-season, though in parts there may be a five-month drought, when 
growth is slow. Of Ceylon, though not of India, it may be said 
that the higher the land the better is the quality of the tea.8 Just 
as in Canada the best apples are grown near the frost line, so in Ceylon 
the best tea comes from the high land. Ceylon distingnishes between 
three classes of plantation land, the low coastal land which is devoted to 
coco-nut plantations, the middle land which has rubber, cocoa and tea, 
and the high land which has been all but monopolised by tea since tea, 
fifty years ago, took the place of coffee. But even in Ceylon the range of 

tea is wide; and the Colombo market reports distinguish between high, 
_ medium and low elevation teas. The handicap of Ceylon is its relatively 
small area and the consequent high price of land. In South India along 
the Western Ghats plantations are of more recent growth and there is 


§ The tea plant grows wild in the lowland jungle of Assam, and perhaps the 
finest tea in the world is grown in the Brahmaputra Valley at only a little above 
sea-level. 


124 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


more room for expansion. On the middle land in Ceylon tea and rubber 
are seen side by side, but the interplanting of tea with rubber is rare. 
After the rubber slump of a few years ago a certain amount of inter- 
planted rubber was removed and the whole left to tea. Strong regionali- 
sation, conforming to natural requirements, has been reached as the 
outcome of experience. 

The Royal Commission on Labour in India continues: ‘ Factories 
are to be found on certain plantations. Most tea gardens have their own 
factories for dealing with the harvested crop. A number of the coffee 
plantations in South India also have their own factories, but in them the 
process of manufacture is only a preliminary stage, the coffee being cured 
and finally prepared for export in factories outside the plantations ’ 
(p. 349).° This quotation calls attention to an important feature in tea. 
Every tea estate has on it, or adjoining it, a tea factory ; and in this factory 
tea leaf is carried to its final processed form. When it arrives overseas, 
it only has to be blended to be ready for consumption. Moreover, when 
blended it is ready for final consumption. It is not, like cocoa, the raw 
material of a further industry such as chocolate. Coffee again is different ; 
for on the coffee estate processing is confined to the removal of the two 
coffee berries from the containing skin or cherry. When the cherry has 
been removed, the berry is sent in parchment form to curers on the coast, 
and finally is roasted and ground overseas. The coffee estate is very far 
from turning out the finished article. Similarly with rubber the latex 
comes in liquid form from the trees and, after the impurities have been 
strained off, it is coagulated into sheet or crépe rubber, baled and exported. 
These processes require a very elementary factory in comparison with 
the sequence in a tea factory or rubber and tyre factory. 

As a plant, tea is distinguished by a further feature. It is a leaf and 
not a fruit, and its yield is both continuous and reliable. It is like having 
one’s hair cut every week or fortnight. But a fruit such as the orange 
or the coffee berry has a flowering season, and damage to flowering may 
hurt the crop beyond remedy, whereas in a foliage crop, although certain 
conditions may arrest growth and hurt the quality, yet these adverse con- 
ditions may be followed by good conditions favourable to further growth 
and a restoration of quality. Finally, because it is a leaf no spraying is 
possible. ‘To spray a whole tree would be too large a task and might leave 
deleterious matter on the leaf. Of course, when the tree is being pruned 
and out of use, this objection does not hold. 


4. THE Tea Factory. 


Let us enter a South Indian or Ceylon tea factory and watch the 
sequence of operations. 

1. Withering —The leaf on entering the factory is taken to lofts where it 
is spread on tats, strips of hessian cloth on which the leaf is thinly spread. 
It remains here for a minimum period of eighteen hours, after which 
it is in a withered state. The required degree of wither is checked by 


* Tea ‘ gardens’ I take to be the language of China and Assam. Does it derive 
from the time when tea was grown by the villagers of China in little gardens ? 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 125 


one of the factory staff, and should be taken to a stage of approximately 
58 per cent., 42 per cent. of moisture being removed. In certain con- 
ditions of weather it is necessary to wither the leaf artificially by hot 
air. Modern atmospheric conditioning plant working automatically opens 
up great possibilities for the future. One thinks of the perfect control 
given by the ‘ humidifier ’ in the modern cotton mill. 

2. Rolling and Breaking.—The leaf is collected and fed to a roller 
consisting of a large box-like arrangement with a brass table. About 
350 Ib. are taken on to a roller and rolled for three to five periods of 
about half an hour each. The object is to put a twist on the withered 
leaf and to break it up gently. The small leaf passing through the mesh 
is collected and taken away to a cool room to ferment. ‘This is called 
‘fine bulk.’ The bigger bulk, which is carried off the end of the roll 
breaker, returns to the roller, where the process is repeated. ‘This is 
called ‘coarse bulk’ and goes also to the fermenting room. Over- 
rolling would reduce the leaf to a mush and break the fine tips. 

3. Fermenting—In the fermenting room the leaf is evenly spread on 
a tray and exposed to air. The object is to improve the liquor and 
flavour of the tea under chemical action. It takes about three hours, 
and at a certain stage the leaf gives out a smell which informs the tea- 
maker that it is ready to be fired. If it were left for twenty-four hours, it 
would be ruined and the smell would be offensive. 

4. Firing —The tea is now passed over revolving trays, dropping 
from one to the other. As it goes over the trays, hot air is passed con- 
tinually through it. The object of firing is to make the tea black and crisp, 
and the process corresponds to the roasting of coffee. It is now quite 
black. Green tea comes from the same plant ; but if green tea is required, 
the leaf is heated by steam to a degree at which fermentation cannot occur 
and stays green in colour. 

5. Sifting and Packing —On the next day the teas thus made are taken 
to another room on the ground floor, where they are sifted and cut and 
sorted into a series of evenly graded clean teas, the final products being 
classified thus: broken orange pekoe (B.O.P.), broken pekoe, pekoe, 
pekoe su, B.O.P. fannings, B.P. fannings, dust, fluff (this comes from the 
hairs on the tip of the leaf and, though formerly used as a dye, is now 
used only as manure). ‘Orange’ pekoe is so named because of the 
bright golden pieces of tea, which are the buds of the bush. The Oxford 
English Dictionary says, under ‘ pekoe’: ‘ Chinese, from pek white + ho 
down. A superior kind of black tea, so called from the leaves being 
picked young with the down still on them.’ 


5. THe TEA PLANTATION. 


We step now outside the factory to inspect the factory from without 
and the estate itself. 

The factory, with its roof and walls of corrugated iron, painted brick- 
red or left plain, has a basement of brick and mud and cement floors, 
and it is built on steel framework panelled with wood. It is not so gaunt 
as a grain elevator in Canada, and its background is always pleasing. It 


126 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


will be a little way inside the limits of the estate, and usually near the 
bottom of it, and it is reached by a winding road. Near-by are the super- 
intendent’s bungalow, the coolie lines and a store. The chug of the 
engine is audible some distance away. 

Where, as in tea- or butter-making, the raw material is processed close 
to its place of growth, the conveyance of the raw material to the factory 
is economically important. ‘There are five different ways in which the 
tea leaf may come to the factory : (1) the whole way in baskets on the heads 
of the girls, to be weighed at the factory door; (2) on the bullock with 
side bags, which is now out of date; (3) in the bullock cart; (4) on the 
wire shoot, using gravity, with overhead carriages, resembling the ap- 
paratus on which cheese is slung in the Alps ; (5) in the motor truck. The 
truck is now ousting the bullock cart and represents the best modern 
practice. ‘The tea is weighed from the basket into the truck at the road- 
side, and the babies are fed at the same time! Lorry leaf, because it comes 
so expeditiously, arrives in better condition. Similarly, the source of 
power for the operation of the factory is closely bound up with its neigh- 
bourhood. The usual fuel is wood taken from the jungle, or stump wood 
from the estate itself, when it is being cleared. Wood fuel favours the 
dispersion of factories in such a way that each will have around it an 
adequate fuel supply. ‘The wood is used in two forms: (1) as heated 
charcoal, made by estate labour, which gives off gas for the generation of 
power in an internal combustion engine ; (2) as logs for firing the furnaces 
which heat the pipes through which air is taken into the drying machines. 
But in the Anamalais (South India) group of the English and Scottish 
Joint Co-operative Wholesale Society, Ltd., three factories have been 
recently electrified to take power from the Pykara Dam, and in its Manan- 
toddy group the possibilities of Cauvery water have been considered. 
Ceylon is rich in hydro-electric power, but very little has been developed. 
Any general adoption of hydro-electric power would be a force favouring 
the concentration of production at one or more central points in a group 
of estates. 

The work on the estate embraces three distinct tasks : (1) clearance and 
planting ; (2) cultivation and soil conservation ; (3) the plucking of the 
leaf. 

(1) A planter must be an engineer, road-builder, technical agriculturist 
and labour manager all in one ; and at the outset a labour force must be 
assembled which is ready to turn its hand to every task that is required. 
The area to be cleared is first of all surveyed for roads and levelled. The 
jungle wood is felled, dried and burnt; unburnt residue being cut up 
and reburnt. Large roots are taken out. Lines are then laid, normally 
north-south, and pitted for tea bushes. The estate is roaded, drained and 
planted. All this requires a period of about six months, from felling in 
October to planting in May, in readiness for the south-west monsoon. 
In the same interval protective trees are planted. 

The tea seed either is raised in a nursery and the plant lifted after eighteen 
months or more, or else after germination it is put in a basket in which 
it is shortly taken to its position in the field. It is then left to grow for 
a period (during which the planted area is weeded, dug and cleaned), 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 127 


and after a light pruning yields tea. Whether it is nursery or basket plant, 
the interval between planting in the field and coming into bearing may 
be reckoned at 2} to 44 years, according to climate and elevation. ‘Thence- 
forward the trees are pruned on a two- to three-year cycle: the object of 
pruning being to control the tree and get an even spread of leaves. It is 
a serious operation, to which only healthy trees respond properly. Bushes 
in use are 3 to 4 ft. high, but left wild they would grow to a height of 
20 to 30 ft. or more, and would have small white flowers all over them 
at blossom time. It is interesting to remember that in New Zealand in 
spring the white flower of the manuka shows up prominently. It is called 
the tea tree because the earlier settlers made a drink resembling tea from 
it, and it is sometimes spelt incorrectly ‘ ti’ tree, as though it were a Maori 
word. 

(2) An estate in bearing is cultivated each year as well as pruned 
periodically. Growth is permitted during the wet season to resist erosion, 
but after the rains must be cleared. The digging is done with a four- 
pronged fork, and its purpose is to turn and aerate the soil, bury weeds 
and absorb water. (In parts of South India the division of labour is 
carried to the point at which two men work one spade, one man inserting 
and raising the spade, and another jerking the contents to one side by 
means of a small cord attached to the neck of the spade.) In pruning the 
branches are cut away and stacked in rows, and, when the foliage has 
dropped, they are removed for firewood or manure. The leaves them- 
selves are scraped into heaps and forked in with the help of the worker’s 
feet above the bushes. Compost manure is humus made from the waste 
products of agriculture such as leaves, sweepings and cattle dung. 
Heaped rubbish engenders great heat, takes up nitrogen and kills lice. 
It is finally dug into the soil between the bushes, say five tons to the 


-acre. The value of this organic manure is now generally recognised, 


and it is customary to apply it with a chemical concentrate such as bone 
meal and potash. 

Though tea is the only plant on the estate grown to yield a cash return, 
yet there are other trees planted on it to help the tea tree by way of pro- 
tection and nourishment. The most common shade tree is the tall grey 
Grevillea robusta, commonly called the silver oak. The stouter Albizzia 
yields good wood as well as shade. The Dadap is a quick-growing nitro- 


_ genous shrub, which is lopped for its leafage. In Ceylon a common 


catch crop is the yellow-flowered Crotolaria, which is cut down and forked 
in. The deciduous leaves of the Grevillea, when they lie on the ground, 
protect the soil from the baking effects of the sun and act as a mulch, 
preventing soil washing. 

There is thus on the estate, even when cleared, a continuous pro- 
gramme of cultivation, which is done by male labour. Any slackening 
of cultivation is punished by attacks from couch grass, allock, lantana 
and other noxious weeds. ‘These have to be eradicated by continuous 
forking and burning, after which it is possible to re-establish high-shade, 
medium-shade and green nitrogenous plants. 

(3) Tea-plucking falls into two parts. The first plucking is on the young 
trees to bring them to a level, and it is done three times over. Then comes 


128 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


the regular plucking once every week or ten days or more until the tree 
is rested for pruning—provided of course that, as in Ceylon, all-year 
picking is possible. Only the tips of the bush (‘ two leaves and the bud ’) 
are picked. The small tap leaf (which is about the size of one’s little 
finger), together with one leaf above that, is left on the bush, and only 
the tender leaves at the top are taken for manufacture. Inside these leaves 
rests the orange-coloured bud. The lower leaves would be too coarse 
and bitter ; they are not left because of any scheme of restriction. 
Plucking is done by women under the supervision of a maistry or 
foreman, and is the crucial operation on which the wage economy of the 
plantation rests. It corresponds to the shearing of sheep, the harvesting 
of wheat, and the stripping of cotton. Shearing is done once a year by 
itinerant shearers using machine clippers, harvesting by. the aid of the 
harvester which both strips (or cuts) and thrashes, cotton-picking either 
by hand or by the mechanical stripper. But there is no machine for 
tea-picking, and for technical reasons there is never likely to be one. If 
there were, it would upset the balance of the labour force. For the men 
workers and women workers with their families live and work on the estate. 


6. OPTIMUM SIZE AND THE AGENCY SYSTEM. 


What is the optimum size of the tea plantation? The figure generally 
given for a mature estate is 500 acres. In East Africa, where tea-planting 
is new, there is no restriction of export as such, but a recent arrangement 1° 
provides that planters with 100 acres and upwards shall be allowed to 
expand to 500 acres, which is conceived of as the working optimum. 
In India and Ceylon it was determined historically by the capacity of the 
individual planter in pre-motor days to finance and supervise the develop- 
ment of the estate, its cultivation and working and the treatment of its 
product in the factory on the estate. With primitive roads and bullock 
carts the daily delivery of the leaf made an estate of much over 500 acres 
impracticable ; and many private estates lacking finance would remain 
smaller than this. But the days of the proprietary planter are over, and 
now one meets not with planter owners but salaried superintendents—one 
superintendent to each estate. Moreover, several estates, say two, three 
or four, are grouped together to form a ‘ group’ with a group manager. 
The latter superintends the other estates on his group and in addition 
manages one estate directly. A large company will have a number of 
groups in different districts. 

Normally the position still is one estate, one tea factory, but not always. 
There is a growing tendency for the factory to be enlarged, so that it can 
take the produce of several estates. For example, recently in the Sheikal- 
mudi (Anamalais) group of the English and Scottish Joint Co-operative 
Wholesale Society in South India, four estates have been feeding one 
factory, and the two factories thereby put out of action are kept as stand- 
bys for use in the rush season. From the estate superintendent’s 
point of view this development may be unwelcome. As one of them 
(not in this group) said to me, ‘ You will have no end of complaints about 

10 Report of the International Tea Committee, 1934-35, P- 7- 


——— - ~«*™ 


eee er eer rerrecrrrreeeeeer ree 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 129 


the quality of your tea if you do not make your own leaf.’ Mechanical 
transport and electrical operation indicate a figure closer to 800 than to 
500 acres as the optimum size of a single estate in the future. 

As the result of evolution there are four different types of plantation 
to-day. 

1. The Proprietary Planter.—He is almost extinct. ‘The man who is 
called a planter is in fact a salaried superintendent. In 1909-10 perhaps 
30 per cent. of the planters were proprietary planters (except in the coco-nut 
plantations, which have always been either a village or a company enter- 
prise). But to-day it is rare to meet one. 

2. The Small Companies—These, with their agents at the coast, 
are the most representative type of plantation in Ceylon to-day. They 
have their London shareholders and directors and their agents in Ceylon, 
and they may employ the services of visiting agents to report on the 
condition of the estate from time to time. I visited the estates of two 
such companies : the Nayabedde Estate Company Ltd. at Passara, Ceylon, 
and the Dimbula Valley Tea Company Ltd. at Bearwell, Ceylon. 

3. The Large Companies——Examples are the Ceylon Tea Plantations 
Ltd., which acts as its own agent, and the Anglo-Ceylon and General 
Estates Ltd. These large companies produce rubber and coco-nut as 
well as tea, thus diversifying their interests. ‘The Ceylon Tea Planta- 
tions Company has the following acreage in bearing: tea, 9,456; rubber, 
5,193 ; coco-nut, 2,414 acres. Its profits for 1935 were £54,000, dividend 
Io per cent., by comparison with the prosperous days of the 1920’s, when 
—e.g. 1925—profits were £332,000 and dividend 60 per cent. 

4. The Consumer Companies—These companies have in Great Britain 
their own wholesale and retail organisations for the disposal of tea, and 
they operate estates from which they derive a portion of their supplies. 
Such are Lipton, Brooke Bond, and the English and Scottish Joint 
Co-operative Wholesale Society. 

The small companies above mentioned could hardly exist in their 
present small form if they were not commercially integrated by the great 
coastal agencies. ‘These agents play a dominant part in the commercial 
and industrial life of the East. The evolution of their contact with 
plantation agriculture may be studied in the indigo industry. ‘ They 
[the Calcutta agency houses of the 1830’s] also became Calcutta agents 
for the plantations and received commissions on purchases and various 
other transactions, including 2 per cent. on all sales. Mortgages were taken 
on the property, but the risks were great. The investments in buildings 
and land were not nearly so substantial as the outlays for advances to 
cultivators,’44 And there is a strong analogy in the stock and station agents 
of Australia and New Zealand, like Dalgety, Goldsbrough Mort and the 
New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency, which have served as the 
financial spine of the pastoral industry in those parts. The agents’ 
functions are very miscellaneous. They act as shipping agents, as import 
agents and as export agents. Some of them are almost exclusively con- 
nected with plantation produce, and in particular with tea. A large agency 

11D. H. Buchanan, Development of Capitalistic Enterprise in India (1934), 
P- 37- 

F 


130 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


firm will be agent for perhaps forty or fifty plantations, they may have a 
financial interest in them, and though not technically the managers of the 
estate they may be virtually so. ‘They supply their estates with planters’ 
requirements and they handle the produce of the estates, selling it at the 
auctions in Colombo or sending it to London for auction there. At the 
auction they are present both as buyers and sellers, and if the lot of tea 
on offer comes from one of their own estates and they want it for a 
customer, other buyers (I was told) do not bid against them. Leading 
agencies are: Harrison and Crossfield, James Finlay & Co. of Calcutta, 
Carson’s of Colombo, George Steuart & Co. of Colombo. The managing 
agency is applied in India to factory industry also. But whereas 
in factory industry the commission is usually paid on a profits basis, 
in plantation industry it is paid ona quantity basis, calculated on purchases, 
shipments or sales. Its penetration is, therefore, less complete here: 
the agents manage the plantation in an indirect fashion only. 

The English and Scottish Co-operative does not employ agents. It 
started on the coast as a merchant and then pushed inland to own and 
manage tea estates, the produce of which it despatches to the English 
and Scottish Wholesale Societies, who jointly own it, in Great Britain. 
It procured its estates by the purchase both of planted and unplanted 
land. The nucleus of its South Indian properties was bought by Sir 
Fairless Barber, who later became the general manager. In Ceylon it 
sent its commercial manager from the Colombo depot to take charge of 
its estates when it acquired them there. Being structurally a buying 
agency which has pushed inland, the English and Scottish Co-operative 
has naturally followed other agents in developing an inward as well as 
an outward business. Not only does it supply its estates with require- 
ments, but it also in Calicut does a general business of import, selling to 
wholesalers in the district. It sells where it can the products of the 
factories of the Co-operative Wholesale Society itself, but except in 
proprietary lines this has not been easy to develop owing to Japanese 
competition. A similar attempt with somewhat similar results has 
attended the efforts of the Co-operative Wholesale Society to develop 
a reciprocal trade between itself and the dairy farmers of New Zealand. 


7. LaBouR CONDITIONS. 


Where tea is grown in hilly regions or in an area that has hitherto been 
jungle, the problem of labour is in the first instance one of recruitment 
from a distance. It is a special case of that larger problem which we 
call migration. Migration is of two kinds: from village life in one country 
to village life in another, and from village life to town life inside the same 
country. Estate labour migration comes midway between the two. 
It is migration from one rural existence to another, but the discipline of 
the estate is not far removed from that of the urban factory. However, 
unlike many factories, the plantation requires the whole labour force 
of the family, the terrain is rural and the environment is pleasant. ‘There 
is thus in plantation labour no marked hostility to the employment as 
such. The workers are not thinking the whole time of the village at 


: 
; 
; 


3 


f 
; 


Oe asd 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 131 


home to which they will return when they have made enough money. 
In time the plantation becomes their home, and the return to their own 
country is a holiday away from home rather than an escape to it. 

The problem of recruitment differs according to the area. First, 
North India. In the Darjeeling area much of the land is too high 
for the plains people, and the labour is derived from the voluntary 
migration of near-by hill peoples from Nepal and Sikkim. Many 
of these workers have lived on the estate since birth.12 Assam was 
the difficult district to settle. Seventy years ago it was uncultivated, and 
nearly uninhabited, jungle. It was a rude and insecure region close to 
the frontier of India. In the nineteenth century planters had to obtain 
and hold their labour by a system which had many harsh features in it. 
It was virtually a system of indentured labour with severe penal contracts 
attached. Recruitment was prohibited in certain districts outside 
Assam—for example, in parts of the United Provinces—and the planters 
obtained their main labour from primitive tribes people of the Santal 
Parganas and Chota Nagpur by methods which degenerated at times 
into a system approaching to slavery. Even before the war this was 
greatly changed. The penal contract had been modified, and propaganda 
and advertisement by recruiting agencies forbidden. ‘There has, however, 
to be some method of recruitment, and, in the absence of organised 
agents on the one hand or a Government system of labour exchanges on 
the other, there grew up a highly expensive system of informal recruiting 
by the foremen of the estate, themselves ex-workers. Under this system 
it cost before the war Rs.200 to Rs.500 to recruit one labourer, and in 
1930 Rs.150. ‘The foreman (sardar) abused his position. About one- 
half of them did not recruit a soul, and about one-third did not even 
return themselves, according to the Royal Commission in 1931. More- 
over, it became customary to make everyone who was returning home 
a sardar, because that was the simplest means of assisting his return. 
* It is only in the case of Assam that neither the employer nor anyone else 
can assist the labourer who is willing to migrate except by the expensive 
and cumbersome expedient of sending down a garden sardar to sponsor the 
recruit.’ 3 ‘The Commission therefore recommended that a recruiting body 
representing Indian as well as European planters should be allowed to 
open recruiting depots, and that assisted recruits should not be forwarded 
except through these depots; while, to protect the workers on arrival, 
a Protector of Immigrants with powers to work inside Assam should be 
appointed. ‘The problem is likely to diminish; for it is computed that over 
600,000 ex-garden labourers were settled on Government land in Assam 
in 1921, the total number of foreigners in the province attributable to the 
tea industry being one and one-third million, i.e. one-sixth of all Assam. 
With tea restriction and the acclimatisation of foreign-born workers to 
Assam they will to an increasing degree find a place of retirement within 


Assam itself. 


The position in South India is rather different. ‘The country is newer, 


12 The Dooars, a submontane tract to the south of Darjeeling, derive their 
labour from the same sources as Assam, but there has been no penal contract. 
18 Report of Royal Commission on Labour in India, p. 70. 


132 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


and the problem of recruitment is easier because in Madras Province, 
and especially in Malabar, there is a great mass of labour seeking work. 
The existence of ‘ distressed’ areas, where poverty was extreme and 
perennial, facilitated recruitment at the outset. The labour comes to 
the estates and returns to a near-by home once a year, for the tea year is a 
ten-month year, and in the two idle months the workers go home. ‘This is 
the inland side of that great overseas movement which until recently took 
place year by year from the west coast of Madras to the rice fields of the 
Irrawaddy Delta in Burma. 

In Ceylon there are, from an agricultural standpoint, four distinct 
divisions of population: (1) the European commercial and planting 
community ; (2) the native Sinhalese, who are the officials, the lawyers, 
and the ordinary agriculturists of the island, but though some Sinhalese 
are employed incidentally on the estates, they are rarely part of its labour 
force ; (3) the old immigrants from South India, the Jaffna Tamils, who 
are also agriculturists—Jaffna being a rich agricultural district which, 
inter alia, grows tobacco for the South Indian market; (4) the estate 
labourers, also ‘Tamils from India, who supply the labour force of the 
estates. It is estimated that in 1935 the estate population of men, women 
and children numbered 688,000, or one-ninth of the island population. 
The movement of labour is strictly controlled, and there are no abuses. 
They have paid in the past periodic visits to their old homes, but more and 
more the younger workers are coming to regard the estate where they 
work and perhaps were born as their home. ; 

I did not visit Assam, therefore I will draw my examples of wages and 
living conditions from South India and Ceylon. In South India the 
methods of wage payment (16 annas = R.1, I anna =a penny) are 
as follows : 

A male worker earns 6 to 7 annas a day and is given a definite task of 
digging, etc.,to perform inthe working day. ‘The women work by piece- 
rate, so much per pound of green leaf plucked. In the hot weather, 
when the crop is short, they may earn only 2 to 3 annas a day, but in the 
flush season perhaps a rupee. Under restriction the working week is 
a five-day one, with no plucking on Saturday or Sunday. The earnings 
of the worker are not, however, paid out each day or week, or even each 
month. They are credited to him or her on the worker’s check roll 
account and paid out as follows: each week to each man and woman 
4 annas for the whole week (also 2 to each working child), this payment 
being called se/vado, together with a ration of rice, say 11 annas’ worth 
per adult worker. During the season one or more advances will be made 
to enable the worker to pay off village debts or to incur some outlay, such 
as purchasing a marriage sari (dress). Finally, at the end of the season, 
the worker draws a lump sum in cash, being the balance of what is due 
to him after all deductions. ‘This sum the workers take home with them, 
but it is said that many are already so greatly in debt to a near-by money- 
lender or trader that the lump sum earned is in their possession only for 
a moment. 

In Ceylon (100 cents = R.1, 6 cents =a penny) the system is 
different. First of all there is a legal basic rate, which is fully enforced. 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 133 


Secondly, payment of the whole wage due is made once a month, the 
standard rates being as follows : 
Cents a day. Rs. a month. 


Man . f E : ; ah FQ II 
Wate ; : i . /. 46 9 
Two children. : : eel 14 

34 


Careful estimates of budgets have been compiled, to ensure that the 
wage rate is sufficient for reasonable subsistence. The monthly ex- 
penditure is calculated as follows : 


Rs. Cents. 
Rice 1 bushel at current rates for the man : 5 Sa? tage (6) 
”» 3 ” ” ” ” ” wife $ . ° 3 30 
“jal aS A - .; », 2 working children . 4 40 
2.) SiG 


A further Rs.7 and 50 cents is allowed for other grains, such as gram, 
dhal (a pea), and soya beans. Thus the family bill for the main food- 
stuffs is about Rs.20 a month against a family income of Rs.34. To this 
must Be added expenditure on oddments such as chillies, spices, sugar. 
I inspected the edibles in several of the co-operative stores run by the 
planters on their estates, and they represented over half the total trade 
of the store. 

The remaining trade was in cooking vessels made of clay, and clothing, 
of which the chief items were saris (women’s dresses), vertis (men’s skirts), 
shirts, loin cloths, head cloths, and rain shawls with hood attached. The 
vertis and head clothing were the only products coming from Lancashire. 
The shirt is frequently native- or Indian-made, from homespun khaddar. 
But the bulk of the clothing is Japanese. When, in pursuance of the 
Ottawa agreement, textile quotas were imposed by proclamation on 
Japanese textile imports, as from July 31, 1934, the Japanese in part 
got round the quotas by sending in the finished article, which was not 
quota’ed, instead of piece goods. ‘The imports of Japanese made-up 
apparel have intensified during the past three years. This development not 
only represents an increase of possibly 50 per cent. of the Japanese quota, 
but has also caused considerable hardship to the local tailoring commun- 
ity.’ 14 I found a widespread condemnation of the textile quota. It came at 
a time when the earning power of the population had been heavily reduced 
by distress and disease, and it was forced by London on Colombo. But 
for the reduced cost of clothing due to the Japanese imports the real 
earnings of the working population of Ceylon, and in particular those of 
the general agricultural population, whose returns vary with the price of 
their produce, would have fallen below subsistence level after 1929. 

It is noteworthy how frequently the Royal Commission on Labour in 
India quotes with admiration the methods of Ceylon. The tea company 
itself, the Ceylon Government and the Government of India’s agent 
from Madras (who resides in Kandy and is entitled to visit the estate and 

44 Extract from the Ceylon Customs Administration Report of 1935. 


134 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


inspect pay-sheets) all look after the coolies’ welfare. And when Indian 
planters objected to this or that proposal, the Royal Commission was 
able to argue with effect that this very proposal had been introduced in 
Ceylon at the demand of India’s representative in Ceylon, so that India 
was only being asked to follow the practice which she had helped to 
impose on Ceylon. 

I was in Ceylon at the tail end of the great malaria epidemic, which, 
in conjunction with famine, in the space of a year and a quarter destroyed 
around 100,000 lives. A full account of its cause, course and consequences 
is given in the Reports of Colonel Gill of the Indian Medical Service 
(September 1935), of Dr. Briercliffe, head of the Medical Department 
of Ceylon (September 1935), and of the special relief Commissioner, 
Mr. H. E. Newnham, Ceylon Civil Service (March 1936). Dr. Gill © 
emphasises the cumulative damage wrought by the epidemic. First, 
the actual sickness and mortality which attended it. Secondly, the ac- 
companying privation and starvation. Thirdly, the paralysis of village life. 
Fourthly, the debility and sickness consequent upon it. The cause of the 
malaria epidemic, as well as of the famine, was the abnormal drought of 
1934 and 1935, so that rivers which normally flowed strongly were 
reduced to stagnant pools in the sand and rock of the river-bed. In these 
the mosquito (Anopheles culifacies) found an ideal breeding ground. 
Malaria is endemic in parts of Ceylon and in the East generally, but there 
was no epidemic in those parts of the country which normally suffer the 
most. ‘The epidemic was confined to certain river systems, flowing in 
the main to the west coast. The area included all but the higher situated 
tea plantations. At the height of the epidemic in certain regions every 
other person was stricken. It was the duty of Mr. Newnham to organise 
the programme of relief. He testifies in his Report to the excellent response 
of the native self-governing legislature in the crisis and to the honourable 
conduct of the large majority of those who were relieved. He quotes 
cases of abuse, but they were in the minority, and he is able also to quote 
cases of villagers refusing supplies, on the ground that the needs of their 
neighbours were greater than their own. The blow to the economic 
life of the country was so complete that it was necessary to organise relief 
works. ‘The lack of technical experts in sufficient numbers was found 
a major obstacle in instituting suddenly a largely increased programme of 
road building. Moreover, the workers were themselves in poor condition. 
Therefore at first anti-mosquito measures, such as clearing stagnant 
water and spraying river streams, proved the most suitable light work to 
those recovering from malaria. In addition to clearing streams they 
removed undergrowth, filled hollows and burnt rubbish. Thereafter 
they were employed on road-making and irrigation works. But the 
financial drain on the State was heavy and, though aid was given freely 
‘while the crisis lasted, the State Council felt compelled to curtail its 
works programme as soon as these were unnecessary for relief; and 
Mr. Newnham laments the resulting loss, for ‘meanwhile the rain 
descended and the floods came and beat upon the earthwork, and for want 
of culverts, etc., some hundreds of miles of roads were becoming derelict.’ ® 


15 Report, p. 37. 


wag ap 2 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 135 


Colonel Gill’s Report emphasises the fine work done by the planters. 
Both in South India and Ceylon the hospital facilities on the estates are 
of a high order; for the planters have to maintain a continual fight not 
only against malaria but also against the hook-worm, which enters through 
the bare feet of the workers when they tread on infected matter. During 
the epidemic the planters took charge of their own people and also of 
adjacent villages. Dr. Gill concludes that in certain rural areas, and more 
especially on estates, the prevention of malaria epidemics is a practicable 
proposition. He ventures the opinion that another major epidemic is 
unlikely within the next five years, and meanwhile he submits a pro- 
gramme of preparation and co-ordination of effort. It is useless, for 
example, for the planters to clear their estates if the neighbouring village 
land continues to breed the mosquito. 

A final thought emerging from this crisis concerns the relation between 
plantation agriculture and village agriculture. Too often the hope of 
village agriculture is thought to lie in the export market when there is 
a better one athome. ‘The plantations by their great demand for supplies 
offer a considerable local market. Secondly, though the workers on them 
have hitherto been immigrants, it is by no means certain that they will 
always be, especially as the standard of living on the estates rises. It 
may be expected, therefore, that there will not be the disinclination 
which there has been in the past on the part of the native Sinhalese to 
work as daily paid ‘ coolies ’ under a regimen which to him was servitude. 
In the old days the housing on the estates was not what it is to-day. Now 
in addition to excellent medical facilities and (in a few cases) to excellent 
co-operative stores, the housing itself of the labourers has been greatly 
improved. ‘Thus the new lines which I saw on the estate of the English 
and Scottish Co-operative at Westhall, Kotmale district, Ceylon, are 
Government-standard huts made of cement, with concrete walls, iron 
frames, and verandas 6 ft. wide with a low wall in front, inside which the 
family can rest and play when it is too hot or too wet to be outside, while 
some yards away in the rear, and apart, are tidy latrines, also made of 
cement. Each room has its own chimney and fireplace, three or four 


inhabitants to the room. It must be remembered that the climate is 


such that much of the day throughout the year can be spent out of 
doors, while the nights are often so hot that many prefer to sleep in 
the veranda. 


8. TEA CONTROL. 


It is customary to use the leading cash crop of a country as the source 
from which funds are derived for purposes common to the growers con- 
cerned; and in addition the Government may add in this way to general 
revenue. Inthe Canadian wheat pools expenses were met by deductions 
from growers’ receipts, and at any pool meeting or general agricultural 
conference it was frequent to hear suggestions that this or that desirable 
purpose could be thus financed. The planters of Ceylon have their 
Planters’ Association, to which the members subscribe on an acreage 
basis. But the tea planters in addition pay a number of export taxes or 


136 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


‘cesses.’ They amounted in April 1936, per 100 lb. of tea exported, 
to the following : 


Rs. Cents. 
a. Customs duty (taken to general revenues) . Zu OO 
b. Medical wants on estates Quer ns 
c. Tea research . One ie 
d. Tea propaganda On 75 
e. Tea control One Str 
Bircy 25 


The restriction scheme is more properly called a regulation scheme ; 
and it is concerned with the regulation of exports. In Ceylon it takes 
no account of domestic consumption, but in India it is accompanied at 
present by a gentleman’s agreement under which producers agree not 
to manufacture for sale in the domestic market more than a certain 
percentage (in 1936, 12 per cent.) of the estate’s basic crop. It does, 
however, in both countries, provide for a prohibition of new planting, 
save in special cases, and then only up to } of 1 per cent. of the total 
area under tea. Replanting is limited to replanting on the same area 
which has been uprooted, and the nursery acreage may not be increased 
permanently. The scheme came into force on April 1, 1933. There 
was a precedent for it in the post-war scheme of rubber restriction 
known as the Stevenson Scheme. ‘The latter eventually failed, because 
in addition to being rather greedy and very inelastic it did not include 
the Dutch East Indies, where an enormous impetus was given to new pro- 
duction, especially by native producers. But this time Holland herself 
took the lead ; and the tea scheme of April 1, 1933, was followed by the 
new rubber scheme of June 1, 1934, Holland again being a member in 
respect of the Netherlands Indies. Inasmuch as the schemes in each 
country have the force of law, all producers must conform. Tea restriction 
has borne with exceptional severity on the activities of the English and 
Scottish Joint Co-operative Wholesale Society in South India. Since 
1914 the English and Scottish Co-operative has added largely to its 
acreage, its policy being to produce as much as possible of its own 
consumption. What it already produces is a fraction only of this con- 
sumption. But now it cannot add to this except to a slight degree by the 
purchase of other producers’ export rights. 

Regulation was the final item in a long chapter of voluntary co-operation 
for other ends. The planters of Ceylon first came to co-operate closely 
with one another for the recruitment and regulation of labour and the 
organisation of medical services. Their next step was to co-operate for 
research. Before the war research was done in the Royal Botanical 
Gardens at Peradeniya, which in 1914 were transferrred to the Department 
of Agriculture to serve as its technical nucleus. After the war the 
tea-planters began to feel that there was need of tea research by the planters 
themselves ; for the Agricultural Department now desired to pay more 
attention than before to the ordinary village agriculture of the island. 
A tea research scheme accordingly was drawn up, supported and financed 
by the tea industry and established by colonial ordinance. The Institute 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS 137 


was opened in 1926 and acquired its present habitation in 1929. This is 
the St. Coombs Estate. 

Research hitherto called upon to assist expansion is now helping the 
difficult task of restriction. The supply of tea is not a tap that can be 
turned off and on at will. The produce cannot be left like tin or copper 
to lie in the ground until the market is better. But restriction being a 
fact, it must be carried through with the least financial and technical 
damage. A large company with numerous estates, some on high and 
some on low land, is in the better postion. It will consider whether it is 
not better to close up one estate and put it down to ‘ care and maintenance,’ 
allowing the other estates to work to capacity. A small company has 
less scope for this kind of rationalisation. It must decide whether it 
will (a) buy export coupons from others, so as to produce as much as 
before ; (b) export only the higher grades of tea, putting the lower grades 
on the home market ; (c) restrict production to its quota by discarding the 
poorer fields. But the home market is a small one and crowded with 
native small-holders, who are in the same case; while cutting out particular 
fields may bring a small company down to a production level which is 
well below the technical optimum. Therefore the Institute is engaged 
in working out the kind of reduction which is least harmful technically 
for estates in different situations. 

The Export Control regulations are as follows :— 

The International Tea Agreement fixes for each country a standard 
output. ‘The standard upon which regulation is based shall be fixed 
on the maximum exports of tea from each producing country reached in 
any of the three years 1929, 1930 and 1931.’ For each crop year the 
international committee sets a regulation figure, which so far has been 
at the following rates: 1933-34, 85 per cent. of standard exports ; 1934-35, 
873 per cent. of standard exports; 1935-36, 824 per cent. of standard 
exports. The reduction in 1934-35 was at the request of the tea trade, 
but it proved excessive and therefore the rate was raised by 5 points 
for the ensuing year. 

It is the task of each country to assign to its own producers their 
individual share in the country’s quota. Thus in Ceylon each estate is 
given export coupons for a certain quantity of tea based on past production 
as shown by the estate books. Native small-holders are allowed so many 
coupons per acre, inasmuch as they had no books showing their poundage. 
As the industry consisted in the main of companies possessing statistical 
records, the control scheme escaped the inaccuracies and ‘ overstatements ’ 
(for which it may or may not be possible to work out a ‘ coefficient of 
mendacity ’), which obstructed the initial operations of production control 
in the tobacco industry of the United States.1* The coupon is a quantity 
and not a quality coupon. ‘The owner may export so many pounds weight 
of tea, not so much rupees’ worth of value; and pro tanto the scheme 
favours quality production. But this has been neutralised by the recent 
increase of 2d. per lb. in the British import duty, which is expected to 
prejudice quality production by diverting British consumers to cheaper 

16 Cf. H. B. Rowe, Tobacco under the A.A.A. (Brookings Institution), 1935, 
pp. 164-181. 

F2 


138 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


teas. In point of fact it is very customary for the small-holders to sell 
all their export rights, leaving their holding idle. There is a regular 
market for export coupons, as in the parallel rubber scheme. 

On Monday, March 16, 1936, I attended the tea auction at Colombo, 
The great majority of the tea is sold with export rights attached; and 
prices ranged, according to quality, from about 60 cents per lb. upwards, 
but at the end of the auction some parcels of native tea were sold without 
export rights, and the prices were in the neighbourhood of 20 to 30 cents. 
This would be for tea of a lower quality than that which is exported. To 
give elasticity to the scheme it is allowable for a country or a company to 
carry over its quota from one crop year to the next. 

The international authority is the International Tea Committee. From 
its two Reports, 1933-34. and 1934-35, it appears that the scheme has worked 
well and with but few changes. When nations mean a thing to work, 
there is no insuperable difficulty to international agreement. Loopholes 
have been stopped up. The Report of 1934-35 (pp. 16, 17) draws atten- 
tion to the steps which have had to be taken to prevent tea smuggling 
across the overland frontier of India. Ceylon administers both the tea 
and rubber schemes in a single office under a single head, though in 
separate departments. The office is not a part of the Government 
secretariate, and is close to the harbour for the convenience of merchants. 
There has recently been introduced in Ceylon a coco-nut board, but this 
is not part of an export control scheme and there is no question of coupons. 
It is regulated by ordinance and has a central sales room for the display 
of coco-nut products ; and its work is confined to the stimulation of the 
sale of these products at home and abroad and to the general encourage- 
ment of the coco-nut industry. The tea and rubber schemes, being 
international agreements, have a definite duration—tea to March 1938 and 
rubber to December 1938. 

The reports of the International Tea Committee indicate satisfaction 
with results achieved to date. But the Committee is concerned with the 
danger of a decrease in consumption and has therefore instituted propa- 
ganda designed to expand the market. One small evidence of this is the 
shop on Colombo pier, where couponed tea can be purchased by 
passengers. Another is seen in the advertisement lighting along and 
around Colombo harbour. More serious is the campaign which has 
been launched in the United States to increase consumption there. 

The British Empire is easily the largest producer of tea. ‘Taking the 
figures for 1933-34, gross world exports amounted to 800 million lb. : 
from regulated countries 650 millions, from other countries (mainly 
China and Japan) 150 millions. Of the 650 million lb. 520 came from 
India and Ceylon, the proportionate export of the regulated countries 
being roughly India 3, Ceylon 2, the Netherlands East Indies 14. In 
rubber the British Empire is again the leading producer, though the con- 
tribution of India and Ceylon is trifling. ‘The basic export quota of 1935 
was for the whole world 1-1 million tons, of which Malaya was given 
538,000, Netherlands Indies 400,000, Ceylon 79,000 tons. ‘The Dutch 
have managed the control of native production by a heavy export duty on 
such produce, which is now being replaced by export licences such as 


ee Mie 


eee 


Nake <5 


tor = 


F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND: STATISTICS 139 


are required from the European planters. It must be remembered that 
in Sumatra, the leading producer of Netherlands Indies, much British 
and American capital is engaged. 

In consumption of tea the British Empire again leads, for the United 
Kingdom and the Dominions consume respectively 430 + I10 = 540, 
out of 860 million lb. consumed in 1933-34. But in consumption of 
rubber the position is different. A foreign non-producing country, the 
United States, consumes far more than the United Kingdom. 


g. PLANTATION PRODUCE AND FORESTRY. 


Plantation economy throws light on forest economy and vice versa. 
In the United States crop restriction, which in its first form was pro- 
nounced unconstitutional, is now being sought in indirect fashion by 
measures for soil conservation; and this involves afforestation, i.e. more 
forest produce. But the time when the produce will mature is so far 
ahead that no attention is being paid to the increase of timber which the 
policy will cause. In any case there is a fear of scarcity rather than of 
abundance ; and forests are desired not only for their yield, but for the 
help which they give to the conservation of moisture and the like. ‘ And 
thus do we by indirections find directions out.’ 

In New Zealand there is conflict between two points of view. The 
public authorities (the Central Government and the municipalities) are con- 


- cerned to conserve forests, protect water catchment areas and encourage 


native species where these will grow to advantage. The other point of 
view is represented by a commercial, and rather speculative, venture, 
which under the title of ‘ Perpetual Forests, Ltd.,’ has planted large areas 
to a soft wood, Pinus insignis. It has financed itself by selling bonds not 
only in Australia and New Zealand but in many countries of the East ; 
such bonds entitle the buyer to a share in a unit of the forest. Some of 
these plantations are now reaching maturity, and the problem has to be 
faced of how their physical increase is to be turned into cash by ex- 
ploitation of the maturing timber. Asiatic holders, no doubt, would be 
glad to take the plot itself and build a bungalow on it, but the law against 
immigration forbids them to put their bodies inside. 

Precious woods are at the other end of the scale. In Mysore State 
sandalwood is a government monopoly, and here there is a kind of restric- 
tion scheme which in principle resembles those for tea and rubber. 
The recent industrial depression spoilt the European market for sandal- 
wood oil. The Government, which owns the wood and converts it into 
oil in its own factories, summoned the buyers and asked them how much 
they would take at or near the old price ; and it has endeavoured to restrict 
sales to this amount. The difficulty is the competition of Australia, 
which produces more than twice the amount of Mysore and (in Mysore’s 
opinion) has a much inferior product, improperly admitted recently to 


the British pharmacopeia. The technical problem involved in sandal- 


wood restriction is this, that only dead wood is cut for treatment. The 
present restricted cutting leaves much dead wood in the forest, where 
it is liable to theft or damage. If cut and stored in the depot, there would 


140 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


be heavy charges for storage and insurance. Madras has a little sandal- 
wood, which is marketed by Mysore; and Madras, apprehensive of the 
difficulties of restriction as at present operating, would prefer that sandal- 
wood was sold up to the dead wood limit. It points out with reason that 
India is in fact making the market for Australia. There has therefore 
been recently an effort to associate Australia with the scheme; for the 
lesson of rubber is that a scheme is likely to break down if it has outside 
it a formidable competitor. 


In view of the high record of plantation economy in the nineteenth 
and twentieth centuries it is almost comical to remember that ‘to send to 
the plantations ’ signified in earlier days a sentence to penal servitude. 


SECTION G.—ENGINEERING. 


THE ENGINEER AND THE NATION 


ADDRESS BY 
PROF. WILLIAM CRAMP, D.Sc., M.I.E.E., 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


THE object of the British Association is to make known, as widely as 
possible, not only the aims and achievements of every science, but also 
the bearing of each advance upon world conditions. ‘The very fact that 
engineering was the seventh section to be formed shows that there never 
was any intention to restrict the activities of the Association to ‘ pure’ 
as distinct from ‘ applied’ science. Our President was strictly in order 
when he suggested, last January, that Sectional Presidents should not 
hesitate to deal with current difficulties and misconceptions in their 
particular fields of work, and with the reactions of that work upon the 
community. ‘These are matters that concern the engineer very closely, 
since his activity is linked with the national life and often consists in the 
application of knowledge previously secured by the physicist, chemist, 
and metallurgist. He himself is not thereby debarred from fundamental 
researches. On the contrary, he is frequently led to investigate in detail 
problems half solved by the physicist, or to discover phenomena which 
the chemist has missed. No better example could be quoted than the 
arc-rectifier, which from its humble beginning in the investigations of 
Cooper-Hewitt to its present position as the most important converter 
in heavy electrical engineering, is entirely the work of engineers. 


Pure SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING. 


But though engineering has for so many years been regarded as a branch 
of science by the British Association, there are great and fundamental 
differences between those engaged in pure science and the engineers. 
The former may, if they so choose, indulge in a life of ardent detached 
curiosity, devoting themselves to the observation of behaviour and to the 
construction of a framework of principles neatly fitting the collected 
observations. ‘To such men, the known is just a key to the unknown, 
and the unknown is the one thing worth knowing. This is called the 
pursuit of truth as distinct from the pursuit of learning. Around each 
hypothesis, prediction becomes possible; but should new results be 
incompatible with previous theory, the worker does not hesitate to alter 
his construction to accommodate the fresh knowledge. Such a life 
brings great happiness, since it entails self-forgetfulness, the satisfaction 


142 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


of curiosity, the exercise of reason and the joy of constructiveness and of 
wonder. When pursued under the best conditions, it is as free from 
worldly care and responsibility as was that of the medieval monk, and for 
that very reason it is apt to be incomplete and ill-balanced. Such self- 
forgetfulness is not true freedom from ego-consciousness, since it is only 
temporary. It is not altruism. But the blissful dream-life of the 
laboratory may easily become as entrancing as the paradise of the opium 
addict. ‘The man of science is happily almost free from the jealousy 
and exhibitionism which afflict the artist, but his joyous Nirvana may make 
him oblivious of others, and his interest in things may obscure his interest 
in persons. As I have said elsewhere, it is probable that Mrs. Faraday 
spent too many lonely evenings in the garret of the Royal Institution — 
and even the university professor, whose human interest should be sus- 
tained by daily contact with students, may fall a victim to the dope of 
research. ‘Thus, a certain French professor, when asked how many 
students he had, replied: ‘as few as possible; I find that they interrupt 
my work.’ 

The function of the engineer is to apply the co-ordinated knowledge 
of the pure scientist and the experience of the ages to the satisfaction of 
human desire, and to the increase of the amenities of life. He is the 
link between human experience and scientific knowledge, and, as such, 
he cannot perpetually live in a rarefied atmosphere of detachment. 
He must be in daily contact with humanity and learn to understand 
human psychology as well as human needs. As a result, he is less 
specialised, more balanced, more adaptable and understanding than his 
colleague in pure science. His judgment in human affairs is more 
developed; he is a better ‘mixer.’ A nation of pure investigators would 
be calm and peaceful, but cold as Scotland Yard. A nation of engineers 
might be quite a pleasant community. 


ENGINEERING AND CIVILISATION. 


In its purest form, engineering is the greatest instrument of civilisation 
that the world has ever seen, in the sense that it continually tends to 
promote a closer contact, a greater intimacy, and therefore a more profound 
understanding between individuals and nations. Three-fourths of the 
work of the engineer is devoted to the development of communication. 
Roads, canals, bridges, railways, harbours, ships, motor-cars, aeroplanes, 
telegraphs, telephones, television, all these and many more are humanity’s 
hyphens. Their natural effect is to foster friendliness and dissolve 
differences. Left undisturbed by the politician, the scaremonger, and 
the patriot, the engineer would demolish the ‘Tower of Babel and render 
war impossible. Build a channel tunnel ; then Calais and Dover become 
neighbours and Anglo-French understanding ensues in all senses. Place 
transmitters in the trenches with receivers and televisors at home; then 
war becomes unthinkable. ‘The very first thing that a government does 
on going to war is to seize and control every means of communication 
and every engineering device that might otherwise serve to unite the 

1 Faraday and Some of His Contemporaries (Pitman & Co.), pp. 60, 61. 


G.—ENGINEERING 143 


combatants. Then ensues that apotheosis of wicked absurdity which 
was to be seen in Switzerland during the Great War. A works normally 
devoted to machinery for the preparation of cereals, consisted of two long 
bays. Up and down one bay went the inspectors of the Central Powers, 
checking the production of their shells. Up and down the other bay 
walked the inspectors of the Allies on similar work for their countrymen. 
And this ironical madness still exists ; for only a few weeks ago I received 
a letter from an old student, which contains the following sentence: ‘ The 
torpedo works where I am at present working is very busy. We are 
producing these instruments of war for most of the European nations, 
and, as far as I can gather, the works will be up to full capacity for several 
years.’ Verily for the promotion of peace and understanding, engineering 
easily outclasses every religion; and for battle, murder, and sudden death 
it has no equal. 


STATUS OF THE ENGINEER. 


To each nation then, as well as to the world, the activities of the engineer, 
and the uses to which they are put, are matters of supreme importance. 
His position in peace and war is very different from that of the devotee 
of pure science. ‘True, great physicists and great chemists may be called 
upon in times of emergency, but they then renounce their ordinary occupa- 
tion to take up employment akin to the normal work of the engineer. At 
all times, in peace or in war, the engineer must be intimately concerned 
with human relationships. This fact gives him proportionately greater 
opportunities both for the development and for the loss of character : 
-his chances of salvation and of damnation are alike increased. For 
character does not mature in cloisters and exposure is necessary to prove 
immunity. 

To what extent do his fellow subjects recognise this national im- 
portance and this difficult dual réle ; and to what extent does the engineer 
abuse his unique position or allow himself to be made the tool of less 
scrupulous men ? In short, what attitude does this nation adopt towards 
the engineer, and how does the engineer respond ? 

In any community, the status of an individual should depend upon the 
extent to which his occupation is fiduciary, upon the measure of responsi- 
bility which he incurs, and the nature of the services he renders. The 
doctor is held in esteem largely because his patients are dependent upon 
his honour and good faith, as well as upon his knowledge and skill. He 
is in a position of trust as well as of responsibility, and his conduct is 
expected to be unaffected by the lure of private gain. His motto is, or 
should be, noblesse oblige, not caveat emptor. On these assumptions, 
the status accorded to him is deservedly high. It is nationally defined 
by the General Medical Council and jealously guarded by the British 
Medical Association and the legal insurance societies. The present 
period of training for a general practitioner is six to seven years from 
matriculation. At the end of that time, he steps straight into a great 
profession with a tradition of noble service and unhesitating devotion to 
duty. The protection afforded him is proportionately great. He may 


144 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


make technical blunders in diagnosis or in treatment, involving even death, 
or he may neglect panel patients ; but neither patient nor relative dare move 
against him for fear of the professional organisation of which he is now a 
part. On the other hand, except in extreme cases, he knows that his 
colleagues will view mercifully any untoward ‘accidents,’ and his certifi- 
cate of death will rarely be questioned. \ 

Fortunately, the great majority of the medical profession are men whose 
lives are beyond reproach, but that this protection may sometimes go too 
far is shown in the following instance. A relation of mine died in the 
nursing home of a well-known surgeon. I discovered afterwards that this 
surgeon had for some time been addicted to the drug habit. It had such 
a hold upon him that even in the operating theatre he would slip behind 
a screen togive himself an injection. Such a weakness could not be un- 
known to the doctors and nurses ; and indeed it was a nurse who first 
told me and a doctor who confirmed the statement. Notwithstanding 
this common knowledge, no action was taken, and for at least five years 
after the events mentioned this surgeon continued to practise. Ultimately, 
of course, his brain was affected, and he died in a mental home. 

Contrast this with the position of the engineer. His training also takes 
about six years from matriculation, but he then has no status that is 
nationally recognised. Yet he is held to be legally and financially 
responsible if he fails to apply such knowledge as is in keeping with the 
‘state of the art,’ and he has no legal assistance from his professional 
Institution when he is attacked. The example of the Johannesburg 
engines aptly illustrates this point, but there are many instances of far 
less importance where the courts have held the engineer responsible. 
I remember a case in which, under exceptional circumstances, an iron 
staircase collapsed, and the engineer was held liable for the faulty design 
or material of the brackets that supported it. 

The fact is that, as the years pass, even at home, each one of us becomes 
moreand more dependent upon the skill, knowledge, and good faith of the 
engineer. ‘Three simple examples will illustrate this point. 

(i) Gas authorities all over the country are at present actively pushing 
the use of the gas-cooker on which the engineer has provided an outlet 
for a flue connection. Even where stoves are installed by a municipal 
authority, it is rare to find this outlet connected to a chimney or flue. 
Consequently, all the products of combustion and cooking pour into the 
room until the air of a small kitchen becomes foul, and acid-laden moisture 
runs down the walls. In this instance it is usually the commercial man 
who is to blame. ‘The engineer is not allowed to control what is obviously 
an engineering matter. 

(ii) Coke is sent to many houses for central heating, etc. It is often 
delivered with 20 per cent. of water in it. Suppose that the price of coke 
is 30s. per ton. Then for every twenty tons of coke ordered, the sales- 
man delivers sixteen tons of coke and four of water. Dirty water at 
30s, per ton is dear. It is said that the water is due to the quenching 
of the coke as it leaves the retorts, and therefore the engineer is to blame. 
That, of course, is no excuse. The engineer would be quite willing to 
dry the coke, or alternatively, to declare the moisture content, so that a 


ee ee eel 


G.—ENGINEERING 145 


proper allowance could be made. This, however, would not suit the 
salesman, and so we have a new form of an old rhyme :— 


‘ Little drops of water in a bag of coke 
Fill the gas-works coffers. Good then ; let it soak ! ’ 


The engineer, moreover, knows that this is not the end of the mischief. 
He is aware that part of the heat of the coke must be used in evaporating 
the water bought at 30s. per ton. 

(iii) I lately had an electric kettle installed. I insisted that it should 
have a three-pin plug and be properly earthed. The contractor carried 
out my instructions, but told me that he was constantly putting in such 
apparatus yet never took this precaution unless the householder insisted. 
This is an instance where the Institution is quite definite in its rules, but is 
without the power to enforce them. I need not remind members of this 
Association of the unfortunate deaths due to such neglect. 

It may be objected that this contrast is unfair, since the responsibility of 
the engineer is far less than that of the doctor. But is it so? Three- 
quarters of a doctor’s daily work consists in visiting and prescribing for 
routine cases, where nothing more than ‘ pulv rhei et sac alb’ or their 
equivalents are needed. When serious matters arise, the modern practi- 
tioner often sends his patient to the specialist. The responsibility of the 
engineer even in so simple a thing as house-wiring is far greater ; and when 
such matters as the design of high-speed machinery, the brakes and steering 
gear of a motor-car, or the stability of a structure are considered, there is 
no comparison at all. Where the doctor’s neglect kills one man, the 
engineer’s mistake may kill 100. But the doctor can bury his accident 
behind a death-certificate which he himself issues, while the engineer 
must submit to a public legal inquiry. The loss of prestige attaching to 
faulty design or workmanship after such an inquiry, constantly urges the 
engineer towards greater and greater care, and this in the last resort is the 
safeguard upon which the nation relies. Such a liability will serve as 
the best antidote to an abuse of privilege, but it can only be justified as the 
concomitant of recognised status. The engineer now has the liability 
without the status. ‘The doctor or barrister has fairly acquired the status ; 
but the organisation to which he belongs tends, as I think unwisely, to 
shield him from the healthy breeze of liability. 


REMUNERATION OF THE ENGINEER. 


As regards remuneration, the contrast between the engineer and the 
members of other professions is equally striking. A medical man just 
qualified is admitted to His Majesty’s forces at a salary of £387 per 
annum for a period of five years, and if he then leaves the service he 
receives a gratuity of £1,000. Thus at the age of say 26, he is regarded 
as being worth nearly {600 per annum. If the same man accepts work 
as a ‘locum,’ he will demand as a minimum f10. tos. per week, with 
free accommodation and the use of a motor-car. It is not difficult for a 
youngster who is not too scrupulous to reach an income of £1,000 


146 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


per annum by means of panel work within three years of putting up 
his plate. 

The corresponding pay of an engineer at the end of his training is 
£200 per annum, and after a further three years he is lucky if he 
reaches {400. I have known engineers responsible for the design of 
high-speed turbo-generators whose remuneration never exceeded £750 
per annum. 

It is appropriate here to point out that the high pay of the young 
doctor has a reaction upon the progress of medical research. Every 
university has a certain number of post-graduate scholarships to offer of 
about £100 per annum. An engineer will willingly accept one of these 
for the sake of training in research, though it often entails a considerable 
sacrifice. As a rule, the medical student will not consider them at all. 
He asks for £250 to £350 per annum if he is to take up research, and 
for such scholarships no funds are available. Consequently, the output 
of original work from the medical schools is small compared with other 
branches of pure and applied science. 


CHARGES AGAINST THE ENGINEER. 


The conclusions to be drawn from this analysis will be mentioned later. 
It is necessary to point out that, besides the responsible work which he 
undertakes and the legal liabilities to which he is exposed, the engineer is 
called upon to answer certain charges laid against him by the preacher and 
the press. The first is that he is equally willing to lend himself to works 
of utility and to works of death and destruction. Remember, however, his 
dual réle. Pure science has nothing to do with ethics ; she recognises no 
moral obligations whatsoever. The same explosive that releases coal 
underground can also kill men in battle. The telephone is useful alike 
in the home and in the front line trenches. The same bacteria may be 
beneficial in one case, harmful in another. The same principles that 
bring the stars within our ken also control the range-finder. There is no 
scientific apparatus that cannot be misapplied ; and to every advantage 
there is a corresponding drawback. The ear that relishes music is the 
more sensitive to discordant noise. Not until beauty is seen to be beautiful 
can ugliness be defined. To the extent that the engineer is a scientist, 
the use to which his discoveries shall be put does not concern him. But, 
it will be urged, the engineer on the human and commercial side designs 
and makes armaments for profit. And if he does, shall he not be credited 
with at least as much honesty of purpose as the politician who de- 
clares war and orders the guns? May he not be persuaded, profits 
apart, like the Archbishop of York, that ‘the great war was a thousand 
times worth while’? These are matters that have nothing to do with 
engineering per se, but with Man—the embodiment of creed and con- 
science. ‘The engineer is in such matters exactly on a par with the rest of 
mankind. 

Again, the engineer is charged with some responsibility for the existing 


G.—ENGINEERING 147 


economic chaos. ‘ There should be a moratorium as regards scientific 
research and development,’ said one preacher to the British Association. 
‘'The world would have been a better place if the internal combustion 
engine had not been invented,’ said another. ‘If it were not for the 
immense increase of automatic machines and of labour-saving devices, 
we should not have the problem of unemployment,’ says the press. True 
enough, we should not. But the invention of a machine does not compel 
the use thereof. Let him who holds these views, return home, smash his 
lawn-mower and his wife’s sewing-machine, and engage gardeners to cut 
the grass with shears, and seamstresses to hem by hand the household 
sheets. To rid the world of machines needs a change of attitude towards 
occupation, a love of monotonous work for its own sake, a real desire for 
real work and not merely for the reward thereof. Que messieurs les 
assassins commencent ! 

Yet another view was often urged during the period of blackest 
depression, and still is sometimes heard : ‘ If our inventors were more 
fertile and our engineers more enterprising,’ it is said, ‘ they could introduce 
new industries in the distressed areas.’ But the man who writes thus 
can have little knowledge of the real facts. It is not merely that the 
Englishman is essentially cautious and conservative, nor that the inventor 
is unduly optimistic—though these things are true enough. The whole 
legal system in this country is framed in such a way as to thwart the 
inventor who would create a new industry. Generally, the only way to 
proceed is by taking out a patent. ‘This is of no use unless pirates can be 
restrained. ‘To defend a patent, or to attack an alleged infringement, 
involves incredible legal expense ; and large firms, knowing this, will 
unblushingly copy an invention, relying on the inability of the patentee to 
finance an attack. The Patent Office, having granted the letters patent, 
takes no further interest. Let me give an illustration of the course of a 
patent action from my own experience. ‘A’ sued ‘ B’ for infringement. 
Each party immediately promised to indemnify his users against a demand 
for royalties if he lost. In the first court, after three weeks’ hearing, ‘ A ’ 
lost. The case went to appeal and ‘B’ lost. ‘A’s Counsel, coming 
from court after the appeal, happened to meet the judge of the former trial. 
The judge asked how the appeal had gone. ‘ Your judgment was 
reversed, my Lord,’ was the reply. ‘ Ah,’ said the judge, ‘ I thought it 
might be ; I could hardly understand a word about it!’ ‘B’ could not 
afford to carry the case to the Lords and, in fact, went bankrupt, so that his 
users received no protection from the indemnity. The case cost in all 
£30,000 ; more than half of which was incurred in trying to get a decision 
before a judge who admitted that he could not understand the technicalities. 
The costs were swollen by Counsel, who pressed for Juniors and introduced 
side-issues, which, I thought, lengthened the hearing unnecessarily, and 
thus entailed too many ‘ refreshers.’ There is no hope for the patentee 
in this country under such a clumsy, ineffective system ; but to change it 
will be difficult. It will be necessary to break through the resistance of a 
thoroughly case-hardened Bar, and engineers know what that means. I 
believe that this Association is the only body with the necessary prestige 


148 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


and influence to produce the desired effect. I hope that this Section 
will urge the Council to take steps to bring about a reform that is so long 
overdue. 

In France, thanks largely to Napoleon’s short way with legal privilege, 
the case given above, with an appeal, cost less than one-tenth of the hearing 
in the English courts. ‘There, to the best of my recollection, the system 
is as follows. ‘The courts sits to determine if there is a case. Having 
decided in the affirmative, three technical experts are appointed, one by 
each litigant and one by the judge. These three have access to all 
apparatus, experiments and documents. Each presents an independent 
report to the judge, and on these the issue is decided. 

As a further example of these ills, I remember an opinion being sought 
upon a point of patent law. ‘The barrister did not answer for three weeks 
and the matter became urgent. A director of the firm who had sent the 
inquiry, met the barrister by chance near Lincoln’s Inn and reminded him 
of the case. Counsel said ‘ Let’s see ; what was it about? Have you 
the papers here?’ ‘The director produced a copy of the letter. The 
man of law, standing on the pavement, scanned the document hastily and 
said ‘I should say “ No,”’ and hurried away. Next week the firm 
received a bill for forty guineas for this ‘ opinion.’ No legal redress 
seemed possible ; for the directors were told by their solicitor that if 
they refused payment, no barrister would in future act for them. 

But it is_ not only in the law-courts that invention is penalised. In 
Government Departments and in some large firms the decision to adopt.or 
to reject a new idea (as well as the reward to the inventor) is too often in 
the hands of men whose opinion on the subject is worth nothing : financiers, 
accountants, lawyers and men with no scientific training. Many firms 
expect all new ideas to emanate from their own staff. If advised by their 
technical men to take up a particular invention, they will almost invariably 
reply ‘ Can’t you get round it ? ——which is an incitement to dishonesty 
difficult to withstand, but made easier to accomplish by the legal system 
already described. As an example of Government Departments, the 
Board of Admiralty at once comes to mind. This body has many 
technical matters to decide ; yet it is entirely composed of admirals and’ 
politicians, an arrangement which, at the time that Board was formed, was 
no doubt sound ; but is it not now an anachronism ? 


ATTITUDE OF THE ENGINEER TOWARDS THE NATION. 


Having thus roughly observed the attitude of the nation towards the 
engineer, we may cross the road and look at the matter from the other side. 
Here I know that I am on difficult ground ; for the engineering depart- 
ments of universities are much beholden to their colleagues in industry 
and gratefully acknowledge the many courtesies and great help which they 
receive so often. At the same time, I know my professional brethren too 
well to think that they will resent comments born of experience, especially 
when my sole object is to obtain for the engineer that recognition of which 
he is at present deprived. The question at issue is that of professional 


G.—ENGINEERING 149 


conduct ; and it is made all the more difficult by the commercial conditions 
from which the engineer cannot altogether escape. Curiously enough, 
this “ honourable behaviour,’ ‘ scale of values,’ call it what you will, seems 
to be an attribute of the round soul of the man and almost independent of 
home influence or educational environment. ‘Things ‘ not done’ when 
wearing the old school tie, seem to be regarded as permissible in after life. 
Consider the following instances : 

A man, whom I will call Smith, was brought up in a wealthy and cultured 
home, sent to a renowned public school and then took his degree in the 
Mechanical Sciences Tripos at Cambridge. He next entered the large 
engineering business created by his father, where he soon became 
managing director. A contract for a building and equipment in which the 
local town council was financially interested was to be placed, and it was 
known that there were only three firms in the country, ‘ A,’ ‘ B,’ and ‘ C,’ 
who could supply the machines required. Of these ‘ A ’ was controlled 
by Smith, ‘ B ’ was equally capable and controlled by a friend of Smith’s, 
and ‘C’ was of minor importance. It was agreed between Smith and 
his friend that each should include in his tender a sum of £1,000 to be paid 
by the winner to the loser. Firm ‘ A ’ obtained the order, and the private 
account of Smith was credited by his firm with £1,000, that he might 
send his private cheque to his friend, who presumably paid a like amount 
into the account of ‘ B.’ As an ironical corollary, Smith later became 
mayor of the very town whose contract had been tampered with in this 
way. 

It may be argued that co-operation of this kind to repay a firm for the 
cost of getting out an unsuccessful tender is justifiable. I should agree if 
it were done openly and recognised. But the very secrecy surrounding 
the cheque suggests in this instance that both Smith and his friend were 
really ashamed of the transaction. 

My second example concerns an engineer of similar standing who had 
secured a large order for a complete plant. His customer asked him to 
advise on the selection of engines and boilers. He agreed to act as 
consulting engineer for a fee of 5 per cent. on the cost of the power plant. 
When the tenders came in, however, he passed over the best offer in favour 
of a maker who would reserve for him a further 5 per cent. This 
commission was not, of course, divulged to the purchaser. Subsequently, 
this same man took a similar secret commission on a building in South 
America, and the invoices for the machinery were falsified to avoid 
customs dues. 

Another form of temptation which assails the engineer because of the 
dual nature of his work is illustrated by the following example : 

A firm of engineers whose directors had learnt the value of scientific 
investigation through their university training, embarked upon a series of 
tests. [he object was to find out whether the machines that they made 
were capable of a greater output without an inordinate increase of power. 
[t was proved conclusively that by increasing the speed about 20 per cent. 
the output went up proportionately, while the power was only raised by 
about 5 per cent. Further tests showed that there was in each case a 


150 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


‘most efficient speed,’ which was considerably higher than that recom- 
mended in their catalogue. Those results have never been, and I suppose 
never will be, published. ‘The catalogue speeds have not been changed. 
For it was evident that, if the customers once realised the facts, no 
extensions of their works would be needed for some time. 

In none of these examples were the engineers in need of money. In 
the first two, the standard of values that should have been absorbed at 
home, school, and college was abandoned for an increase of income that 
was trifling. In the third case, the university had inculcated a spirit of 
scientific inquiry, but the firm would not sacrifice private profit to the 
advancement of science. In all three cases, the serious consequence is 
that once a man slips so far, he is ripe to take his part in questionable 
collective action. A small blot on a single page may soak through the 
leaves of a large volume. 


ENGINEERING ASSOCIATIONS. 


It is an aphorism of political life that trusts and combines grow well in 
the shelter of tariff walls, and the protection afforded to various sections 
of the Engineering industry by the war and since 1918 has certainly 
confirmed this dictum. Cement, tubes, steel, cables, instruments, 
electric lamps and, to some extent, electric motors, are now controlled by 
Associations of manufacturers, of which probably the Cable Makers’ 
Association and the Electric Lamp Manufacturers’ Association are the 
most powerful. The purchaser may not now buy where he likes, nor is 
there any competition to regulate prices automatically. The individual 
firms have little control over prices, and I have known instances where 
goods ordered from one firm have been supplied by another without the 
courtesy of a reference to the purchaser’s wishes. 

The avowed object of these Associations is to standardise and to maintain 
the quality of the goods, and to eliminate unnecessary duplication of 
administrative work, wasteful tendering and unfair price-cutting. It is 
asserted that such co-operation must benefit the buyer by reducing over- 
head charges, thus enabling the maker to supply as good an article at a 
lower price, with a fair margin for research, for development, and for 
profit. 

It may be argued that such organisations are the work of financiers and 
commercial men, and have nothing to do with engineering. But that is 
not always true ; for in some instances engineers are largely responsible 
both for their formation and management; and where it is true, the 
engineer suffers from their mistakes. The subject also has a special 
interest for this Association, since in his Presidential Address to Section G 
at York, Professor Miles Walker insisted that a cure for the present 
economic chaos could be found in a world governed by engineers. The 
Associations are a test of that theory. 

It will be agreed that the objects in view (as expressed above) are both 
laudable and logical, but it is fair to ask whether those objects are in fact 
achieved without detriment to the community as a whole. In two 


G.—ENGINEERING 151 


instances at least (viz. cables and lamps), the Associations have thoroughly 
established and well maintained the quality of their wares, and the trading 
profit has been such as to enable the makers to spend very large sums upon 
development and research, and to support generously such undertakings 
as the Electrical Research Association. ‘That the profits are at least | 
adequate is shown not only by the large sums placed to reserve, but also 
by the declared dividends and the market price of the shares. This is 
illustrated by the following table relating to four leading cable companies. 
The prices are for July 1936. 


‘ 


: Share ise Market Price 
ies Denomination Pass eee of Share 

A | Ordinary £1 15 per cent. if sr as. © 6d: 
excluding bonus | 

B do; \...da, I5 per cent. LAs VeSen 1d 

ce (oo © (OP I5 per cent. : ag apy egal 2 
excluding bonus 

D do. do. 25 per cent. Lies vgs anod. 


From these results, it might be argued that the Association had achieved 
rather more than its object in one direction, and had not yet begun to 
pass on the benefit to the buyer. ‘This view is emphasised by the fact 
that most electrical firms ardently support the Electrical Development 
Association, whose aim is the furtherance of every application of electricity. 
It is clearly difficult to strike a balance between the desire to achieve those 
ends and the opportunity to benefit by the elimination of competition and 
the helplessness of the buyer, who has no remedy but by a question in the 
House of Commons. 

There is, however, another side to the activities of some of these 
Associations, which from the national point of view is perhaps more 
disquieting. I mean the discrimination against the home market in 
favour of the foreigner. In some instances, it is theoretically possible 
for an agent abroad to import British goods, re-export them to Britain and 
sell them there at a good profit against similar goods that have not made 
the double journey. I heard of an Egyptian who played this cunning 
game until his supplies were stopped. What offence has the poor Briton 
committed that he should be so heavily penalised by his compatriots ? 
Heaven forbid that I should do anything to fan the flame of economic 
nationalism, but it does seem reasonable to ask that an Englishman at 
home should be allowed to buy from an English firm at as low a price as a 
foreigner abroad. Do not manufacturers always owe something to the 
country in which their industry is carried on, and will they not in return 
resist the temptation to squeeze the inhabitants of the very state which, 
by its protective tariffs, has rendered their monopoly possible ? 


152 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


It is certain that no trade combine can continue to operate unchecked 
in England, unless informed with a spirit of reasonableness that is self- 
commending. ‘There is nothing that the Englishman hates more than 
misused private power. He would not have it from King, Barons or 
Church ; and if he once believes that he is being driven by a trade 
organisation, he will insist either upon state interference or a democratic 
constitution for the offending body. ‘The only tyranny to which he will 
submit is one that is self-imposed, because he thinks that it can be ended 
when he pleases. It is certainly desirable that those who direct the 
activities of trade associations should be well acquainted with ‘ 1066 and 
all that.’ 

It would be very unjust if any of these comments were regarded as 
applicable to the Electrical Research Association. That body only 
concerns itself with large scale investigations of electrical engineering 
problems. It has nothing to do with sales or prices. It has carried out, 
and honestly published, a vast amount of original work at a great cost to 
the industry and a very small cost to the nation. The ‘ Buried Cables ’ 
Report alone has saved the nation literally thousands of pounds, and Eng- 
land is exceedingly fortunate in having a voluntary body working so con- 
sistently in the public interest. It is a strange psychological phenomenon 
that some of those engineers who loyally aid this beneficent organisation 
are also among the supporters of Trade Associations pursuing a different 
policy. 


CONCLUSIONS. 


This brief investigation of the relations between the engineer and the 
nation points to the necessity for certain reforms. Of these, the first is 
the provision of some body with statutory powers to define the qualifica- 
tions and status of those who may use the title Civil Engineer, Mechanical 
Engineer, Electrical Engineer, etc., to prevent unqualified persons from 
jeopardising life and to check unprofessional conduct. At present, the 
three great Institutions try to fulfil that réle, and the Institution of Consult- 
ing Engineers has also done its best. But as none of these bodies has 
statutory powers, the rules that they frame cannot be enforced. The late 
Professor S. P. Thompson told me that when he was President of the 
Institution of Electrical Engineers, he found it his duty to call the attention 
of a certain member to flagrant breaches of the professional code. The 
member did not reply but continued his naughty conduct. Dr. Thompson 
then tried to make his protest libellous by repeating the charges on a post- 
card. ‘To this he received the following answer :— ‘ Dear Prof. Thomp- 
son, I think it is now time that this correspondence ceased. Yours, 
etc. ...’ In the face of such bravado, what can one do? The answer 
is that, by means of an organisation that has grown up in one generation, 
the medical fraternity has progressively improved the standard of qualifica- 
tion, and has earned the nation’s gratitude by getting rid of humbugs, 
charlatans and quacks. ‘The engineer asks for a similar recognition and a 
like opportunity. But the medical profession and the Bar have also 


ae Y 


G.—ENGINEERING 153 


achieved a measure of immunity from liability for which the engineer 
does not ask ; believing that therein temptation may be lurking amid the 
slime of self-interest. 

The second reform is the proper representation of science upon all 
governing bodies in industry, and upon all technical departments in the 
state. Here I think this Association can do the nation a service by passing 
a resolution asking for more adequate representation on the Board of 
Admiralty and similar state bodies. I should like to see a small Com- 
mittee of this Section appointed at this meeting to explore the matter 
further. 

A third reform, dependent to some extent upon the first and second, is 
some machinery which in technical matters will prevent the engineer 
from being over-ruled by the commercial man. This is a very difficult 
subject ; but at least a beginning could be made with government and 
municipal undertakings, where the evil is very pronounced. ‘The three 
examples on pp. 144-145 illustrate this point exactly. It is not right that. 
the citizen should run risks of life or health to save trouble or expense to a 
trading department. The county and borough councils have the remedy 
in their own hands. On engineering questions the engineer should 
always have the last word. 

The fourth reform is a drastic alteration of the patent procedure in the 
law courts. Here, again, I think this Association should help by recognis- 
ing the existence of this evil and recommending that a Royal Commission 
be appointed to investigate the subject at once. 

The fifth reform concerns the Trade Associations and can only take the 
shape of a suggestion. To obviate unpleasant suspicions, and to enable 
these bodies still to carry on that part of their work which is so beneficial 
to the nation, I would most strongly advise them to make their Councils 
fully representative of all the three interests, viz. : makers, contractors, 
and buyers. I think that if they fail to do this, they will slide by degrees 
into a slough of self-interest, until questions in the House of Commons, 
or the advent of a Socialist Government, leads to state interference with 
their organisations. 

Finally, there is the question of the general professional code of the 
engineer, as illustrated in the examples on pp. 146 and 147. Everything 
possible under existing conditions had been done to give those sinners a 
high code of honour, and yet they failed to respond. ‘The only conclusion 
possible is that the existing conditions of training are lacking in some 
essential factor. The modern curriculum both in school and university 
has become so crowded, the teaching so vocational, and the objects so 
material, that a real perspective of life is impossible. Youths and maidens 
sail away from the university with excellent intellectual training, but with 
no sheet anchor to which they can trust in distress. This is true of every 
faculty : of arts as well as of science and medicine. ‘The result is that 
when they meet a strong current of self-interest, they drift helplessly, 
and we see them exhibiting that unsocial behaviour of which I have 
given so many instances. ‘The remedy lies in the hands of parents and 
of those who control educational institutions : it is urgent and of national 


154 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


importance. I commend its consideration to the Board of Education, 
the Committee of Vice-Chancellors, and to the members of Section L. 
British engineers have, in the past, earned a great reputation for reliability 
and straight-dealing. This is a national asset of real value; which can 
only be maintained if, as in our national games, we continually place 
integrity before personal advantage. 


SECTION H.—ANTHROPOLOGY. 


mie UPPER PALAOLITHIC IN’ THE 
LIGHT OF RECENT DISCOVERY 


ADDRESS BY 
MISS D. A. E. GARROD, 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


Tue last twelve years have seen a new impetus given to prehistoric studies 
by the multiplication of researches outside Europe. Excavations in 
Africa, the Near East, Asiatic Russia and China have opened up a new 
field for speculation, and at the same time have revealed the unsuspected 
complexity of many problems which to De Mortillet and other pioneers 
seemed relatively simple. Gone for ever is the straightforward succession 
of Palzolithic cultures from Chellian to Magdalenian as laid down in 
the Musée Préhistorique. Even as early as 1912, when Breuil produced 
his classic paper on the subdivisions of the Upper Palzolithic its foundations 
were sapped, and the discoveries of the last decade have merely completed 
its demolition as a system of world-wide application. 

I need not insist that De Mortillet’s scheme, as corrected by Breuil, 
who first pointed out the true position of the Aurignacian in western 
Europe, was the best that could be devised given the very incomplete 
information, relating to a very limited area, possessed by workers at 
that date. The fault of De Mortillet’s disciples lay in their canonisation 
of a system which could only be applied locally, and which in any case 
contained enormous gaps. The attempt to bring into this framework the 
first discoveries made outside Europe inevitably led in many cases to 
forcing of the evidence, and it was not until the old orthodoxy had been 
dethroned that the new material could be made to give its full measure. 

In the old system the Palzolithic cultures appeared as a straightforward 
succession with clear-cut horizontal divisions, as in a diagrammatic 
geological section. For the Fathers of Prehistory these cultures developed 
logically one from the other in an orderly upward movement, and it was 
assumed that they represented world-wide stages in the history of human 
progress. ‘To-day prehistory has suffered the fate of so many of the 
component parts of the orderly Universe of the nineteenth century. 
New knowledge has given a twist to the kaleidoscope, and the pieces are 


_ still falling about before our bewildered eyes. The main outline of the 


new pattern is, however, already beginning to appear. We can distin- 
guish in the Old Stone Age three cultural elements of primary importance. 
These are manifested in the so-called hand-axe industries, flake industries 


and blade industries, and we know that the first two, at any rate, run side 


156 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


by side as far back as we can see, and we are beginning to realise that 
the origins of the third may have to be sought much farther back than we 
had suspected. Only a moment of reflection is needed to see that we 
have here the old divisions of Lower, Middle and Upper Paleolithic, 
but with a new axis. The diagram has been manipulated like one of those 
patterns which oculists twirl before the eyes of astigmatic patients, so 
that not only have the horizontal lines become vertical, but, as to the 
astigmatic eye, the divisions which were formerly so clearcut are now 
blurred. I want to insist on this blurring, because in the ardour of 
conversion some prehistorians are tending to make the new vertical 
divisions as rigid as the old horizontal ones. In fact these culture-streams 
do not run parallel and independent ; such a view of human history would 
be absurdly artificial. They are perpetually meeting and influencing 
each other, and sometimes they merge to produce a new facies. 

In the creation of this new outlook (as in so much else) it would be 
difficult to overestimate our debt to the Abbé Breuil. I think it is true 
to say that he was the first prehistorian to develop a genuine world- 
outlook, and his investigation and correlation of a mass of evidence from 
widely-separated areas has led directly to that change of axis which 
to-day we are beginning to take for granted. 

In the attempt to present in an intelligible form our new vision of man’s 
earliest history we are hampered by a vocabulary which is out of date. 
In his monumental Weltgeschichte der Steinzeit Menghin has recently 
attempted to produce a terminology which will meet the situation, but 
although this remarkable book contains ideas which are interesting and 
utilisable, it is open to criticism on several grounds. Instead of using 
the general division into hand-axe, flake and blade cultures which un- 
doubtedly gives the best results when we are dealing with the Old Stone 
Age, Menghin treats flake and blade cultures as one, and creates a third 
class for bone cultures. That his framework is in fact artificial and far 
too rigid is proved by the fact that it leads him into a number of contra- 
dictions, as when he classifies Predmost as a hand-axe culture on account 
of the presence of primitive Solutrian types, and then is obliged to bring 
the pure blade culture of Mezin into the hand-axe class because its art is 
so clearly related to that of Predmost. He fails also in dealing with one 
of the chief difficulties of the old system, which is that the terms Lower, 
Middle and Upper Paleolithic are used at the same time in’a chronological 
and a typological sense. At the time when the system was created this 
was quite logical, but it cannot. be made to work to-day. Nevertheless 
we seem unable at the moment to get free from this entanglement, and 
nine prehistorians out of ten continue to use these terms as more or less 
synonymous . with hand-axe, flake and blade industries respectively. 
Menghin attempts to meet this by re-baptising the Lower and Middle 
Palzolithic as Protolithic, and the Upper Palzolithic and Mesolithic as 
Miolithic, and assigning to each its own groups of hand-axe, flake and bone 
cultures, but he thereby perpetuates the idea of a discontinuity between 
the Protolithic and Miolithic, an idea which we are coming more and 
more clearly to see is contradicted by the evidence. Moreover, by using 
the terms Epiprotolithic and Epimiolithic for industries which are of 


H.—ANTHROPOLOGY 157 


Protolithic and Miolithic type respectively, but later in time, he betrays 
that he has not freed these terms of typological significance. The time 
has come when the labels Lower, Middle and Upper Palzolithic should 
be used exclusively in a chronological sense, without any typological 
connotation whatsoever, to cover approximately the periods from the 
beginning of the Pleistocene to the end of the Riss Glacial, from the end 
of the Riss to the middle of the Wiirm, and from the middle of the Wiirm 
to the close of the Pleistocene respectively. For purposes of typological 
classification the three main groups of hand-axe, flake and blade cultures 
are essential, but should not be made too rigid, and it will be necessary 
to multiply names derived from type-stations to denote the many variations 
found within these groups. Here again, however, a warning seems to 
be needed, for there is a tendency to-day unnecessarily to create distinct 
labels for industries which are essentially the same, though found in 
widely separated areas, and this practice tends to obscure those migrations 
of culture over wide areas which it should be our major interest to trace 
and interpret. 

These general considerations are necessary to clear the ground for 
the subject with which I am going to deal—those cultures whose appearance 
in Europe towards the close of the Pleistocene marks the extinction of 
Neanderthal man and the arrival of Homo sapiens. In the main these 
are essentially blade cultures, though in certain areas industries of 
Mousterian tradition lingered on into Upper Palzolithic times. Now it 
is clear that these blade cultures must have passed through the early 
stages of their development somewhere outside Europe, during Middle 
or even Lower Paleolithic times, but we have at present only the faintest 
clues as to how and where that development took place. In dealing with 
them we are therefore in fact dealing mainly with that period which 
we have defined as Upper Palzolithic, but we should bear clearly in 
mind that this limitation is due only to a limitation of our knowledge, 
and should guard against falling into the error of applying the term 
Upper Paleolithic to the industries themselves. 

Before showing how recent discovery has modified and enlarged our 
views on this subject it will be necessary to give an outline of the situation 
as it stood roughly twelve years ago. In western Europe, at any rate, 
the succession of blade cultures was pretty clear. We had the Lower 
Aurignacian with its curved points, the Audi stage followed by the 
Chatelperron stage; the various levels of the Middle Aurignacian, with 
keeled and nose-scrapers and notched blades; the Upper Aurignacian, 
subdivided into the Gravette and Font-Robert stages; the Lower, 
Middle and Upper Solutrian ; and finally the six stages of the Magdalenian. 
Outside Europe the only blade industry which had been studied at all 
seriously was the Capsian of North Africa, and this was regarded as the 
parent of the Aurignacian, the generally accepted view being that the 
Lower and Upper Aurignacian represented successive Capsian invasions 
of Europe, while the Middle Aurignacian developed in situ at a time when 
contact with Africa was temporarily broken. ‘The Solutrian was recog- 
nised as an intrusion from central Europe, the special form which it 
assumed in the West being due to contact with the Upper Aurignacian 


158 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


already in possession. Finally, the Magdalenian was regarded as a highly 
specialised local development of the Aurignacian, though the possibility 
of Eastern influence was not excluded. 

It was recognised that central and eastern Europe presented certain 
peculiarities. In particular the Upper Aurignacian of Moravia, as 
represented in the great loess station of Predmost, contained a remarkable 
range of objects made of bone and mammoth ivory, ornamented with 
geometric designs of a type unknown in the West. A Solutrian of a 
primitive kind, unmixed with Aurignacian forms, had been found in the 
caves of Hungary, and it seemed clear that this was the centre of dispersion 
from which this culture had spread on the one hand into France, and on 
the other into Poland, where it underwent less change than in the West. 
A Magdalenian corresponding roughly to the Magdalenian III and IV 
of France was somewhat sparsely distributed in central Europe, and 
reached even into south-west: Poland, while the final stages of the 
Palzolithic appeared to be represented both in Moravia and Poland by 
the industry of Font-Robert tradition which has since been named 
Swiderian, and which continues into the Mesolithic. 

Of the Palzolithic of Russia very little was known, but that little 
suggested that it would prove to be of great importance. An industry 
of Upper Aurignacian type with objects in bone and ivory resembling 
those of Predmost had been found at Mezin in the Ukraine ; at Kostenki, 
on the middle reaches of the Don, a similar station, further characterised 
by shouldered flint points identical with those of Willendorf and Predmost, 
had yielded a female statuette carved in mammoth ivory. Much farther 
to the east, in southern Siberia, G. von Merhart had excavated a number 
of stations on the upper reaches of the Yenisei, and had found a rather 
puzzling industry in which stone implements of both Mousterian and 
Aurignacian types were associated with objects of bone and ivory, such 
as points or awls with longitudinal grooves and a single specimen of a 
pierced bdton of reindeer antler. The fauna of these stations included 
rare specimens of mammoth and woolly rhinoceros, and Merhart considered 
that they should be placed at the end of the Pleistocene. Still farther 
east, at the Verscholensk Mountain near Irkutsk, B. E. Petri had excavated 
a site containing a stone industry with the same mixed characters as that 
of the Yenisei, associated with double-edged harpoons of reindeer antler, 
apparently rather of Azilian than of Magdalenian type. Mammoth and 
woolly rhinoceros were absent from the fauna, so this station was pre- 
sumably later than those excavated by Merhart, and might even be of 
Mesolithic age. These Siberian industries, judging from the very 
inadequate accounts available, could not easily be fitted into the general 
framework of Eurasiatic prehistory, but they were generally referred to 
as an Oriental facies of the Magdalenian, with the implication that they 
were in some way related to the Magdalenian of the West. 

To what extent has this general picture been modified by recent 
discoveries within and outside Europe? ‘To begin with, it has become 
very much more complicated; in particular it is now recognised how 
large a number of diverse strains have hitherto been grouped together 
under the single heading Aurignacian. Furthermore, we have to revise 


H.—ANTHROPOLOGY 159 


our views about the possible centre or centres of dispersion of the blade 
industries, and to envisage the possibility that they had already developed 
their main characteristics at a surprisingly early date. 

I propose to consider one by one the regions which have yielded 
significant evidence in this matter, beginning with Europe. I cannot 
pretend to discuss every discovery of the last decade, but only to consider 
in a general way those which either throw fresh light on our problems, 
or introduce new and significant complications. 

I begin with Perigord, a classic region for prehistoric studies, which 
might be supposed to have yielded long ago all the information which 
it had to give. Here we have to do, not with any new and startling 
discovery, but with patient and meticulous observations made during 
many years by Peyrony. The result of these is to emphasise the close 
relationship, already noted by Breuil and others, between the Lower and 
Upper stages of the Aurignacian, in contrast with the intrusive character 
of the Middle stage. Moreover Peyrony has found at Laugerie Haute 
an industry of blunted-back blades, underlying the true La Gravette 
level, which he compares with the industry of Bos del Ser in the Corréze, 
excavated by Canon Bouyssonie, and with the upper Chatelperron level of 
La Ferrassie. ‘This he considers to be the stage of transition between 
the Lower and’ Upper Aurignacian, and he suggests that at Laugerie 
Haute it represents an occupation of the shelter contemporary with the 
classic Middle Aurignacian of the neighbouring site of Gorge d’Enfer. 
He concludes that in the Chatelperron-Bos del Ser-La Gravette succession 
we are dealing with a culture totally different from the so-called Middle 
Aurignacian, and, in the Vézére basin at least, completely uninfluenced 
by it, and he proposes to group all those industries characterised by the 
blunted-back blade under the title of Perigordian, reserving the old 
name of Aurignacian for the industry of Gorge d’Enfer, Cromagnon, 
etc., which is marked by keeled scrapers, nose-scrapers, beaked burins, 
and by the split-base bone point, or pointe d’ Aurignac. 

This theory has been criticised by Breuil, who, while admitting the 
reality of the contrast between the Middle Aurignacian and the Chatel- 
perron-Gravette levels (a contrast which he himself had already 
emphasised) considers Peyrony’s view of the complete independence of 
the two traditions in the Vézere basin as too absolute, and points out 
that there is no stratigraphical proof of the contemporaneity of the Gorge 
d’Enfer and the Bos del Ser level of Laugerie Haute. He emphasises, 
however, that the notion of a double element in the Aurignacian must 
not be lost sight of, and we shall see later that discoveries in the Near 
East underline this view. 

Quite recent work has thrown an unexpected light on the blade 
industries of the Iberian Peninsula. It has always been assumed that 
Spain was a purely Capsian province (with the exception, of course, of 
the Cantabric region, which showed the same succession as the French 
Pyrenees), but it is now clear that this view must be greatly modified. 
It had long been recognised that the wall paintings of the cave of La 
Pileta, in the province of Malaga, had close affinities with Franco- 
Cantabric art, but this isolated occurrence was regarded as a puzzling 


160 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


anomaly. Quite recently, however, Sefior Cabré has discovered re- 
markable parietal engravings in pure Aurignacian style in the caves of 
La Hoz and Las Casares, in the province of Guadalajara, not far from 
Madrid. Still more cogent proof that hunters from the north penetrated 
even into southern Spain is furnished by the excavations of Senor Pericot 
Garcia in the cave of Parpallé, in the province of Valencia. This site 
has yielded an apparently complete succession from Middle Solutrian to a 
Magdalenian corresponding more or less closely to the early Magdalenian 
of France. The Upper Solutrian, it is true, showed a great development 
of special forms, such as winged and tanged points, which seem to fore- 
shadow the Neolithic—a peculiarity for which we were already prepared 
by discoveries in Catalonia—but the industries of the other levels conform 
to the classic Franco-Cantabric types. Painted and engraved limestone 
plaques were abundant in the Upper Solutrian and Magdalenian layers, 
and Obermaier has pointed out that the style of these works has affinities 
with that of the East Spanish group of rock paintings. 

Obermaier still regards the Franco-Cantabric cultures as intrusive 
in the southern part of the Peninsula, and a re-examination of sites 
excavated by Siret in Almeria and Murcia, and of other stations of this 
region, leads him to suggest there is a parallel development from a more 
or less typical early Aurignacian to a rather poorly characterised late 
industry for which he proposes the name epi-Aurignacian. He points 
out that it is only in the final stages of this development that Capsian 
influences appear, an observation which agrees with the late dating for 
the Capsian now proposed by Vaufrey. ‘This theory of a local culture 
running side by side with the Solutrian and Magdalenian is still not 
very securely based, but it does appear that something of the kind is 
needed to account for the East Spanish rock paintings, which, in spite 
of affinities with the art of Parpallo, have many distinctive features which 
mark them off from the Franco-Cantabric tradition. 

In text-books written before 1928 references to the Palzolithic of 
Italy were very sketchy, and for the Upper Palzolithic it was usual to 
cite only the Grimaldi caves in the extreme north-west and the cave of 
Romanelli near Otranto. Vaufrey has now made a careful study of the 
subject, and has shown that the Italian blade industries present a single 
facies corresponding in time with the whole period of the Aurignacian, 
Solutrian and Magdalenianin France. This culture, which is characterised 
by shouldered points of flint and by a multitude of notched blades, is 
closely related to the Upper Aurignacian of the loess stations of Lower 
Austria, of which Willendorf is the type. Vaufrey proposes for it a 
separate name, Grimaldian, and this has now been generally adopted. 
The late and impoverished facies of this culture which is found in 
Sicily is not altogether unlike the Oranian or Iberomaurusian of North 
Africa, but Vaufrey rejects the idea of a direct connection between 
the two. 

In Italy, then, as in Spain, we find in late Palzolithic times a close 
relation with the regions lying immediately to the north, with a tendency 
to local variations due to an isolated geographical position. ‘The third 
great peninsula of the northern Mediterranean, Greece, has so far yielded 


H.—ANTHROPOLOGY 161 


no Palzolithic remains of any kind, but it is difficult to believe that none 
exist. If and when they are found, they will almost certainly prove to 
be related to the cultures of Central and Eastern Europe. 

If we now turn to the latter region, we find that in the last ten years 
nothing has been found to modify the general sequence already established 
for Upper Palzolithic times, though some supplementary evidence has 
been gained. In Moravia, Absolon’s excavations at Vistonice have 
brought to light an astonishing collection of works of art associated with 
an Upper Aurignacian of the type of Willendorf, characterised by tanged 
and shouldered points and Gravette points. ‘The excavator apparently 
considers this industry to be older than that of Predmost, but an unfor- 
tunate delay in the scientific publication of his results makes it very 
difficult for other workers to appreciate the evidence on which this con- 
clusion is based. It would not appear, however, that the difference in 
time can be very great, since Predmost also yielded an industry of 
Willendorf type. The works of art from Vistonice include seven female 
statuettes and a number of animal figures modelled in a material which 
has been found on analysis to consist of bones ground to powder and 
baked or burnt, mixed with loess and worked into a plastic mass with 
water or fat—a new and rather surprising technique, unknown in any 
other age. 

In Rumania Breuil had noted in 1925 the presence of a rough laurel- 
leaf tool of Hungarian type in a collection from the neighbourhood of 
Brasov, in Transylvania—an isolated find in a region which had otherwise 
yielded only an impoverished Middle Aurignacian. N. Morosan has 
now proved the existence, in stratified deposits in Moldavia and Bessarabia, 
of a Solutrean industry containing laurel-leaf tools of Hungarian type 
associated, as in western Europe, with Upper Aurignacian forms—a 
discovery which extends notably the area of distribution of the Solutrean. 

The Swiderian of Poland is now established as of early Mesolithic 
date, and as forming one of a group of tanged-point cultures which 
spread across northern Europe from Belgium to the Ukraine at the be- 
ginning of the pre-boreal period. These cultures, however, undoubtedly 
have their origin in the Palzolithic, perhaps even in the final stage of the 
Aurignacian with its tanged and shouldered points. Schwantes and 
Rust have recently discovered near Hamburg an industry with tanged 
and shouldered points and reindeer antler harpoons which can be dated 
to the close of the Ice Age, and must therefore be in part contemporary 
with the final Magdalenian. In view of this discovery it is interesting 
to recall the reappearance of tanged and shouldered points in the 
Magdalenian VI of Perigord. The presence in Poland of a similar 
Palzolithic precursor for the Swiderian has not been definitely estab- 
lished, but it is considered possible that the three stations of Mielnik 
represent an early stage of this culture. ; 

In Russia the last twelve years have been marked by discoveries of 
first-rate importance, associated with the names of Zamiatnin, Efimenko, 
Bontch-Osmolovski, Gerassimov and others. Up to the present, however, 
publication has admittedly not kept pace with discovery. The sites 
explored fall into four geographical groups ; the open-air stations of the 

+ G 


162 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


South Russian plain, the caves of the Crimea, the caves of Transcaucasia, 
and the open-air stations of southern Siberia. 

In the South Russian plain it has been possible to work out a probable 
succession of blade industries, though this is not yet confirmed at all 
points by stratigraphical evidence. The earliest group includes sites 
contained in loess or loess-like deposits lying either on the middle terraces 
of rivers, or on the slope of ravines, all of which date from a time before 
the laying down of the lower terrace deposits. Typologically these 
stations fall into two divisions, the first characterised by an industry of 
Willendorf type with shouldered points, and the second by a rather 
generalised Upper Aurignacian, with small blunted-back blades, round 
scrapers and angle-burins. The first division, which Russian workers 
consider the earlier of the two, includes such important stations as 
Kostenki I, Gagarino and Borshevo I, all on the upper reaches of the 
Don, and Berdysh in the Dnieper basin. We have already seen that a 
female statuette in mammoth ivory was found in this level at Kostenki I, 
and to this may now be added seven figurines of the same type from 
Gagarino, one of which bears a very close resemblance to the Venus of 
Willendorf. Associated with these were a number of points, needles 
and pendants in bone and ivory. The identity of this culture with that 
of Willendorf, Vistonice and Grimaldi is fully recognised by Zamiatnin, 
Efimenko and other Russian workers. 

The second division includes 'Timonovka and Suponevo, on the Desna, 
and the well-known station of Mezin. Although the shouldered point 
is absent at this stage, the predominance of angle-burins and above all 
the geometric decorations on mammoth ivory of Mezin and Timonovka 
provide a link with Predmost, while the highly conventionalised objects 
from Mezin interpreted by Breuil as female statuettes represent the last 
stage of degeneration from the more naturalistic figures of Kostenki and 
Gagarino. 

The next stage in the South Russian succession is represented by the 
stations of Kostenki II, III and IV, which have yielded a rather rough 
industry characterised by a very high proportion of polyhedric burins, 
associated with abundant remains of mammoth. I have not seen any 
drawings of this industry, but the description given by Efimenko suggests 
a possible analogy with the latest Aurignacian level in Palestine, to be 
described presently. 

The final stage of the Upper Paleolithic sequence in South Russia 
is represented by the site of Borshevo II, which lies in the deposits of 
the lower terrace of the Don, and in part below the present level of the 
river. ‘There are three culture layers, all of which contain an industry 
characterised by angle-burins, blunted-back blades and small round 
scrapers. ‘The description and drawings given by Efimenko suggest 
that this has affinities with the level of Timonovka and Mezin, but the 
bone industry contains only simple points, awls and needles, without 
decoration. ‘The lowest level of Borshevo II contained mammoth bones 
in abundance, but these became rarer in the middle stage and disappeared 
entirely in the most recent level, which Efimenko places at the beginning 
of the Mesolithic. The industry of this level, while remaining essentially 


H.—ANTHROPOLOGY 163 


the same as that of the lower horizons, shows a certain evolution towards 
the type of the so-called Azilio-Tardenoisian stations of the South 
Russian plain. The final stage of the Upper Paleolithic represented 
in the lower level of Borshevo II is found also at Honcy on the Udai 
river, and in the upper level of the site discovered in 1897 in the Saint 
Cyril Street at Kieff. 

It is noteworthy that no blade industry earlier than that of Kostenki I 
and Gagarino has yet been found in the South Russian plain, and that 
earlier Palzolithic stages are represented so far by a single Mousterian 
station on the Derkul river. Efimenko suggests that the swampy con- 
ditions which prevailed in this region in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene 
were unfavourable to human settlement. Certainly there is no geological 
evidence to suggest that the stations of the Gagarino group are not 
approximately contemporary with similar sites in central and western 
Europe. 

In Southern Siberia, roughly two thousand miles to the east of the 
group of stations just described, Gerassimov has excavated a hut site at 
Malta, not far from Irkutsk. This contained a most remarkable series of 
objects in bone and ivory, including points, needles, rods and pendants, 
some of which are decorated with very small crescentic incisions giving 
the effect of punctuations. Twenty female statuettes carved in bone 
are more roughly made and, with few exceptions, less corpulent than 
those of Gagarino, but clearly belong to the same family. A group of 
curiously shaped objects supposed by the discoverer to represent 
birds are interpreted by Breuil as highly conventionalised human figures, 
but Gordon Childe insists that they are in fact birds. The lithic industry 
of Malta shows, in a lesser degree, the same mixture of Mousterian and 
Aurignacian forms as was found in the Yenisei stations and at the 
Vercholensk Mountain. ‘The fauna, however, includes mammoth, woolly 
rhinoceros, musk ox and glutton, so the site is clearly older than the 
Vercholensk Mountain, and probably antidates the Yenisei stations also. 
The female statuettes form a link with the South Russian plain, but the 
bone objects as a whole have a very exotic look, and cannot at present 
be compared exactly with those from any other site. The mixture of 
Mousterian and Aurignacian forms in the stone industry is a feature 
which suggests possible connections with the Far East, since in 1924 
Father Licent and Father Teilhard de Chardin found an industry of 
» similar mixed character in the loess along the course of the Shuitungkou 
river in northern China. This culture Father Teilhard dates as Upper 
Palzolithic and himself compares it with the Yenisei finds. 

The Crimea, although it lies so near to the South Russian plain, appears 
to belong to a different industrial province, and its caves were inhabited 
from the final Acheulian onwards. In the cave of Syuren I Bontch- 
Osmolovski has discovered a blade-industry sequence which appears to 
correspond rather closely with that of Palestine. It begins with an early 
form of Middle Aurignacian in which rough keeled scrapers are associated 
With small, delicately retouched blades. This is followed by a classic 
Middle Aurignacian, and the sequence closes with a not very typical 
Upper Aurignacian in which abundant polyhedric burins are associated 


164 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


with microlithic blunted-back blades and rare Gravette points. Bontch- 
Osmolovski considers that this sequence represents the earlier stages 
which are absent in the South Russian plain, and places the stations of 
Gagarino type immediately after the Upper Aurignacian of Syuren I. 
Gordon Childe, however, suggests that this relative dating, based on 
typology, may be misleading, and I am inclined to agree, on the ground 
of the resemblance of the Crimean sequence with that of Palestine, which 
is known to cover the whole of the Upper Palzolithic. 

Not much is known so far of the blade-culture sequence in Trans- 
caucasia, but the description given by Zamiatnin of finds made up to the 
present suggests a general resemblance with the Crimea. This is what 
we should expect, since it is presumably by this route that the blade 
industries entered the peninsula. 

The next link in the chain is found in the Middle East. In 1928 
I was associated with a joint expedition of the American School of 
Prehistoric Research and the Sladen Memorial Fund to investigate the 
Palzolithic of Southern Kurdistan. In the caves of the Sulaimani 
district we found a highly developed Aurignacian of Willendorf type, 
with Gravette points, shouldered points, small notched blades, and 
microlithic lunates and triangles—the last named, however, being con- 
fined to the top of the layer. At the time of publication of these finds 
information from Russia was very scanty, and I mentioned the Austrian 
loess stations and the Grimaldi caves as the nearest comparable sites. 
I now realise that the Kurdistan industry, though possibly later in time, 
should be linked with that of Kostenki I and Gagarino, only 600 miles 
away to the north. At the same time, the microlithic forms and small 
round scrapers resemble those from the cave of Gvardzhilas Klde in 
Transcaucasia, a site which must also date from the very end of the 
Palzolithic. 

The next region which has been investigated at all seriously is Palestine, 
where the excavations of the Institut de Paléontologie Humaine under 
Neuville and Stekelis, and the Joint Expedition of the American School 
of Prehistoric Research and the British School of Archeology in Jerusalem 
have established more or less clearly the sequence of blade cultures. 
These begin with a lower Aurignacian whose most characteristic imple- 
ment is a triangular point with bulbar face flaking at the base, which 
occurs also sporadically in the Aterian of North Africa. Associated with 
this are blunted back blades, more or less of Chatelperron type, burins 
and end-scrapers. ‘The industry as a whole, however, is more delicate 
and less primitive in appearance than that of the Chatelperron level in 
the West. It is followed by a Middle Aurignacian of primitive type 
with rough keeled scrapers and microlithic points, which appears to 
correspond with the earliest Upper Palzolithic stage of the Crimea. 
Next comes, as in the Crimea, a rich industry of classic Middle Aurignacian 
type, with keeled scrapers, nose-scrapers and beaked burins. The 
bulk of the Aurignacian of Palestine can be referred to this stage, and it 
is clear that it must cover the whole of the period which in the West is 
occupied by the Middle and Upper Aurignacian and the Solutrean. 
The industry of Antelias and the Nahr el-Kelb, near Beirut, described 


H.—ANTHROPOLOGY 165 


by Zumoffen in the early years of the century, belong to this cycle, and 
Pittard has recently identified a similar facies in a rock shelter near 
Adi Yaman, in southern Anatolia. The closing stages of the Upper 
Palzolithic in Palestine are represented by an industry in which steep 
scrapers and polyhedric burins predominate, in association with occasional 
Chatelperron points. This does not correspond very closely with any 
other blade industry so far known, but descriptions given by Efimenko 
and Bontch-Osmolovski suggest, as I have already pointed out, a possible 
analogy with a late stage of the Upper Paleolithic in South Russia 
and with the final stage in the Crimea, though the Chatelperron point 
is apparently absent in those regions. Finally, it should be noted that, 
in contrast with the West, bone tools are excessively rare in the Aurignacian 
of Palestine, and so far no specimen of the split-base point has been found. 

When we pass into Egypt we enter a world which was apparently 
cut off from the main line of development in Upper Palzolithic times, 
since blade industries proper are unknown before the appearance of 
the microlithic cultures which mark the close of the Pleistocene. Their 
place is taken by the Aterian, whose Upper Paleolithic dating 
has been demonstrated by G. Caton Thompson and E. W. Gardner 
in the Kharga Oasis, and by a peculiarly Egyptian culture, the 
Sabylian of Vignard, an industry of diminutive Levallois cores and 
small truncated flakes which at its first appearance has Levalloiso- 
Mousterian affinities, but eventually leads up to a form of Tardenoisian. 
For Vignard, indeed, the Sabylian is the parent of all the microlithic 
industries which surrounded and spread out from the Mediterranean 
basin in Mesolithic times, but this extreme view is not generally accepted, 
and most prehistorians would give greater weight than he does to regional 
differences in this stage. 

I have said that until recently North Africa was regarded as the region 
from which successive Aurignacian invasions entered Europe. ‘This 
part of the world still awaits systematic excavation, but Vaufrey’s recent 
investigations have done much to discredit the old view, and it now 
seems more probable that in Little Africa the true blade cultures arrived 
late, their place in early Upper Paleolithic times being taken, as in 
Upper Egypt, by an industry in which Mousterian tradition was strong— 
the Aterian, in which triangular points and racloirs are associated with 
burins and end-scrapers and a peculiar, characteristic tanged point. 
The true blade industries fall into two groups, the Capsian proper, which 
is now perceived to be an inland culture, with its centre in the region of 
Gafsa, and the Oranian, or Iberomaurusian, which occupies the coast-line, 
its present identified limits being, roughly, Tunis on the east and 
Casablanca on the west. 

Vaufrey has shown that the former division of the Capsian into a 
lower stage characterised by large angle-burins and curved points, and 
an upper stage in which microliths appear, is based on faulty methods 
of excavation. His own soundings in various sites have proved that 
microliths, and even micro-burins, occur already in the Lower Capsian, 
side by side with the larger tools. It therefore becomes impossible to 
correlate this stage with the Chatelperron level of Europe; it must fall 


166 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


at the extreme end of the Upper Palzolithic, if not in the Mesolithic, 
and the Upper Capsian must, by definition, be later still. The only 
alternative to this view is to suppose that the microlithic facies appeared 
in Africa much earlier than in Europe—a theory for which at present 
there is no evidence. 

The Oranian—I adopt the name suggested by Vaufrey, since it is now 
clear that the so-called Iberomaurusian does not occur in Spain—is a 
poor and monotonous industry. The bulk of its inventory consists of 
small blunted-back blades; end-scrapers and burins are very rare. 
The typical nucleus, made from a small pebble, resembles the Sabylian 
core, and, as in the Sabylian, miniature Levallois cores sometimes occur. 
In the Oranian sites excavated by Arambourg at Afalou-bou-Rhummel, 
in the department of Constantine, no micro-burins were found, but 
Vaufrey records that geometric microliths and micro-burins occurred in 
all the Oranian sites which he investigated, and he concludes that this 
industry is probably contemporary with the Upper Capsian. It is not 
excluded that some part of the Oranian may be rather older than Vaufrey 
thinks, but it seems probable that, like the Capsian, it belongs at most 
to a very late stage of the Upper Paleolithic. 

Finally, a very interesting proof of connection between the Oranian 
and the Aterian was obtained at the open-air site of El Hank, near Casa- 
blanca. This was very carefully excavated by Lieutenant Brouaux, and 
the industry has been described by Vaufrey. El Hank contained two 
archzological levels, of which the uppermost yielded a typical Oranian, 
and the lower an industry showing on the one hand definite Aterian 
affinities, in the presence of Mousterian points and tanged points, and 
on the other equally definite links with the Oranian, especially in its 
cores, which were identical with those of the upper level. 

The rock paintings of North Africa Vaufrey now places in the Neolithic, 
since at all the sites which he examined the only implements to be found 
belonged to the Neolithic of Capsian tradition, and Obermaier, working 
on the basis of style and of the fauna represented, supports this view. 

It is impossible in the time at my disposal to deal with the African 
continent as a whole; nor is the chronology of African prehistory suffi- 
ciently sure to make correlation with Eurasia anything but hazardous 
at present. On the whole I am inclined to agree with Vaufrey that 
Africa in Upper Palzolithic times was something of a backwater, and 
that more or less all over the continent industries of Mousterian type 
lingered on until and after the arrival of blade cultures in a relatively 
late stage of development. I would suggest that this is possibly the 
case even in Kenya, where Leakey has claimed a great antiquity for the 
Aurignacian. ‘The only well-developed blade industry known at present 
(apart, of course, from admittedly late ones, such as the Elmenteitan) is 
the Upper Kenya Aurignacian, which is later than the second maximum 
of the Gamblian pluvial. By correlating Gamblian II with Wirm II 
Leakey makes this stage contemporary with the Upper Aurignacian and 
Solutrian of western Europe, but in view of the fluid state of opinion 
in the matter of pluvials and glacials such a correlation can only be 
regarded as tentative. Vaufrey, and more recently S. A. Huzzayin, 


H.—ANTHROPOLOGY 167 


suggest for Gamblian II a correlation with the final glacial stages 
(Buhl, etc.), and this agrees better with the typological evidence, since 
the Upper Kenya Aurignacian, with its microliths, micro-burins and 
pottery, has a definitely late appearance. Vaufrey points out that, putting 
aside the pottery, it is in fact an almost typical Capsian. Such a dating 
would also rejuvenate the last phases of the Kenya Stillbay, since in 
Gamble’s Cave a layer of this type was found between the Upper Kenya 
Aurignacian and the Elmenteitan. If we now turn backward in time we 
find that the Lower Kenya Aurignacian, which occupies the period 
from the beginning of Gamblian I to the second Gamblian maximum, 
is not at present known as a separate industry, but that crude backed 
blades do in fact occur side by side with Mousterian tools in deposits 
of Lower Gamblian age. Leakey makes out a good case for regarding 
these blades as belonging to a separate culture and not as part of the 
Mousterian, but he does not prove that this Aurignacian must necessarily 
be regarded as exceptionally early; it can equally well be argued that 
the Mousterian is a late survival. Here, again, the dating depends on 
the correlation of Gamblian I with Wiirm I, which has yet to be proved. 
I do not mean to suggest by this criticism that Leakey’s correlations 
are necessarily incorrect, but simply that they are at present hypothetical, 
and give no solid ground for supposing that the Kenya Aurignacian is 
older than the Eurasiatic blade industries. On the other hand, the late 
survival, as in Little Africa and Egypt, of a culture of Mousterian tradi- 
tion—in this case the Kenya Stillbay—is certain, even on Leakey’s own 
dating. 

We have now worked round to our starting-point, and it remains to 
see what general conclusions can be drawn from the material at our 
disposal. A point which stands out at once, and very clearly, is the 
diversity of the strains which have so far been grouped together under 
the name Aurignacian. As long as we were dealing only with Western 
Europe this did not matter very much, as everyone knew what was meant 
by the Lower, Middle and Upper Aurignacian, but when we come to 
regions in which the sequence is not the same, the use of these terms, 
with their chronological implications, is definitely misleading. Peyrony, 
as we have seen, proposes to retain the label Aurignacian for the culture 
so far known as Middle Aurignacian, and to group all the industries 
characterised by the blunted-back blade under the heading Perigordian. 
This undoubtedly corresponds with a first, very important distinction, 
which has been recognised for some time, but it does not go far enough. 
Perigordian, like the former Aurignacian, is made to cover too much. In 
spite of fundamental resemblances which certainly suggest relationship, 
it is doubtful if the passage from the Chatelperron to the Gravette level 
is the simple evolutionary process supposed by Peyrony. The blade 
cultures, after all, have an immensely wide distribution, and it is unlikely 
that the key to their development is to be found in southern France. 
If we take more distant regions into account it becomes clear that the 
French sequence is the result of successive immigrations, superimposed, 
perhaps, on a certain amount of local variation and development in place. 
Since, however, this sequence is so familiar, and has for so long been 


168 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


accepted as a standard, I propose to make it my point of departure, 
and to examine its various stages in the light of the evidence now available, 
trying to trace each one back to its original centre. Afterwards it will 
be possible to shift our point of observation, and taking a wider view 
of the distribution map thus plotted, to see what general pattern 
emerges. 

The first blade industry to reach Western Europe is that of the 
Chatelperron stage, Peyrony’s Perigordian I, which is the former lower 
Aurignacian. ‘The distinctive implement of this industry is, of course, 
the curved blunted-back blade, or Chatelperron point. ‘The Chatel- 
perron level—which, for convenience I shall provisionally call Chatel- 
perronian—has not so far been found in Central and Eastern Europe, 
but a similar though not identical industry occurs at the base of the 
Upper Palzolithic sequence in Palestine. This, however, is less primitive 
in appearance than that of France, and seems already to be in process 
of evolution towards something resembling the La Gravette stage. We 
have seen that the Lower Capsian, which is characterised by curved points, 
was formerly regarded as the parent of the Chatelperron industry, but 
that Vaufrey has demolished this theory by demonstrating that it is 
later in time. On the other hand, the Lower Kenya Aurignacian appears 
to be more or less of Chatelperron type, and may be in part contemporary 
with this stage in France. We thus have at the beginning of the Upper 
Palzolithic three areas which may in a wide sense be called Chatel- 
perronian, two of which, Palestine and East Africa, may have been in 
touch with each other through Arabia and across the Bab-el-Mandeb, 
while the third remains apparently isolated. ‘The problem of how the 
Chatelperronian entered Western Europe without leaving any traces on 
the way is one that awaits solution. 

Although the Chatelperronian only appears as a distinct industry at 
the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic we can trace its essential features 
much farther back than this. 'The Levalloiso-Mousterian of Palestine, 
which covers a very long period, has yielded throughout a small pro- 
portion of well-made curved points, burins and end-scrapers and in the 
Tabun cave on Mount Carmel typical Chatelperron points, end-scrapers, 
and blades with abrupt retouch were relatively abundant all through a 
well-determined zone within the Final Acheulian. In Kenya also 
Leakey has found backed blades associated with the Upper Acheulian, 
and he suggests that the so-called Lower Aurignacian—the Chatel- 
perronian—may have developed from the contact of the Acheulean and 
Levalloisian cultures, the makers of the Acheulian hand-axes borrowing 
from the Levalloisian the idea of making use of long narrow blades. 
This is not impossible, of course, but it should be noted that in the 
Upper Acheulian of Palestine, as in Western Europe, the flake industry 
which is actually associated with the hand-axes is in the Clactonian 
tradition, and the Chatelperronian tools look markedly out of place and 
intrusive, while in the Kharga Oasis, where a Levalloisian flake industry 
actually forms part of the late Acheulian, no Chatelperronian forms have 
been found. I should like to put forward the alternative suggestion that 
the Chatelperronian already had an independent existence at this time, 


H.—ANTHROPOLOGY 169 


having developed in some centre still unknown, and that it is an intrusive 
element in the Acheulian. In trying to trace this centre, we must take 
into account the fact, which seems to me significant, that the two regions 
in which the presence of backed blades in the late Acheulian is clearly 
established are precisely those in which a distinct Chatelperronian industry 
appears at the beginning of the Upper Palzolithic. If—as I am inclined 
to do—we reject the theory that the Chatelperronian developed within 
the Acheulian, we cannot accept either Palestine or East Africa as its 
original home, but must place this somewhere within reach of both. 
An Asiatic centre seems inevitable, but it is impossible at present to be 
more precise. Investigation of that region which from the point of view 
of the pre-historian still justifies its name of the Empty Quarter should 
help to prove or disprove this theory, since it supposes that one line 
of migration passed through southern Arabia. 

After the early stages of the Upper Paleolithic the Chatelperronian 
proper apparently ceases to exist. In Palestine, however, the Chatel- 
perron point reappears unexpectedly in the final stage, which must be 
roughly contemporary with the Magdalenian, and it is present in the 
Lower Capsian at approximately the same moment. Now, Vaufrey’s 
theory of the late arrival of the Capsian still leaves us in the dark as to 
its origin. In its general lines it is unlike either the Sabylian or the 
blade industries of Palestine. We have seen, however, that the Upper 
Kenya Aurignacian is a nearly typical Capsian, which seems to have 
developed in place from the so-called Lower Kenya Aurignacian. I would 
suggest that East Africa may possibly be the centre of origin of the 
Capsian, which would thus enter Little Africa already fully developed 
by way of the Sahara. The Capsian would thus derive many of its features 
direct from the Chatelperronian, though outside influences may also 
have played their part, especially in the development of the microlithic 
element. It is, for instance, unlikely that so specialised a type as the 
micro-burin should have developed independently in the Sabylian and 
the Capsian. 

As for the peculiar industry which closes the Upper Paleolithic sequence 
in Palestine, it is quite definitely Aurignacian rather than Capsian, in 
spite of the presence of Chatelperron points, and it may conceivably be 
a local development, arising on the fringes of our hypothetical Chatel- 
perronian centre and the Aurignacian province of the Near East. 

Turning back to the Western European sequence we now reach the 
Aurignacian proper, the former Middle Aurignacian. Peyrony claims 
that this does not represent a real break in the sequence, but that the 
Perigordian continued to develop in certain sites side by side with the 
neighbouring Aurignacian. The stratigraphical evidence for this is, 
however, insufficient. Even if there is a certain overlap, as is probable, 
all the known facts are in favour of a general separation of the Chatel- 
perron and La Gravette levels by the layers containing the Aurignacian. 

This industry can be traced right across Europe, through Lower Austria, 
Hungary, Rumania, the Crimea, Transcaucasia and Anatolia into Palestine, 
where it is very abundant and covers a much longer period than in the 
West. This suggests that the East Mediterranean coast is not very far 

G2 


170 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


from the Aurignacian centre of dispersion, and I would suggest tentatively 
that this should be sought somewhere in the Iranian plateau. 

It has not been possible to distinguish in Palestine the various sub- 
divisions of the Aurignacian which have been worked out for France, 
and which to some extent must represent local developments. It should 
be noted, however, that the French divisions are based in part on the 
bone tools found at different levels, and in Palestine, although animal 
bones are usually abundant, bone tools are excessively rare. A possible 
explanation of this may be that the bone tools of the West had wooden 
prototypes in the Near East. ‘The large amount of charcoal found in 
Aurignacian layers in Palestine shows that wood was still readily obtainable, 
though the fauna points to gradually increasing desiccation. 

It is an open question and a very difficult one, how far the Aurignacian 
and Chatelperronian have ultimately a common origin. Certain forms, 
such as the burin and end-scraper, are found in practically all blade 
industries, but the Aurignacian, with its use of types derived from cores 
and consequent development of a fluting technique, has distinctive features 
which point at least to independent evolution from an early date. 

The next stages in the French sequence are those of La Gravette and 
Font-Robert, formerly grouped together as Upper Aurignacian, which 
Peyrony has labelled Perigordian IV and V. ‘This industry has clear 
affinities with the Capsian, and in view of the possibility that the Lower 
Capsian may be roughly contemporary with it, the question of African 
influence must be re-examined at this point. For various reasons, 
however, I think it must be ruled out. Already in the Lower Capsian 
two very distinctive forms, the micro-burin and the microlithic lunate, 
are present, and if this industry were the parent of the Gravette-Font- 
Robert stage of Europe it would seem inevitable that these should occur 
there also. In fact, however, they enter Western Europe only with the 
Tardenoisian culture at a much later date. Again, if the Lower Capsian 
passed into France it must have been through the Iberian Peninsula, and 
we have seen that in that region Capsian influences appear only at the 
close of the Upper Palzolithic sequence. Finally, the Gravette-Font- 
Robert industry has a very wide distribution in central and eastern 
Europe, and its remarkable development in this region points rather 
to a Eurasiatic origin. If further evidence were needed, one could cite 
the complete absence in Little Africa of the very distinctive female 
statuettes which are constantly associated with this culture in Europe. 
It does not follow that there is no link between the Capsian and the 
Gravette-Font-Robert industry ; I would suggest that both are derived 
from the Chatelperronian, but that their common features are due in 
part to convergent development, certain forms, such as the Gravette 
point, being evolved almost necessarily from their Chatelperronian 
prototpyes. 

I have suggested that an Eastern origin is indicated for the Gravette- 
Font-Robert industry, and we must now examine this rather more 
closely. In France the distinction between the Gravette level with its 
typical blunted-back blades, and the overlying Font-Robert level with 
tanged and shouldered points is quite clear, but the two are nevertheless 


H.—ANTHROPOLOGY 171 


very closely related. In Central and Eastern Europe the shouldered 
point stage predominates and is associated with a distinctive decorative 
art and apparently a great development of the cult of which female 
statuettes are the expression. I would suggest for these two very closely 
related levels the names of Lower Gravettian and Upper Gravettian 
respectively, the label Grimaldian being reserved for the special develop- 
ment and prolongation of the Upper Gravettian in the Italian Peninsula. 

The theory of an eastern centre of dispersion for the Gravettian is 
based, of course, on this exceptional development in Central and Eastern 
Europe. I am influenced also by the fact that the female statuettes, 
whose close connection with the Upper Gravettian is incontestable, are 
very abundant in Russia, but occur only sporadically in Western Europe, 
where they have an unmistakably alien appearance in comparison with 
the indigenous naturalistic animal art which had already begun to develop 
in the Aurignacian. 

Assuming an Eastern origin, we cannot regard Central Europe as the 
centre of dispersion, because we have clear evidence that the Gravettian 
is there preceded by the Aurignacian proper. In South Russia it is indeed 
the oldest blade industry so far found, but the geological evidence does 
not suggest that it is necessarily very early, though it may quite well be 
contemporary with the Aurignacian of the West. I do not think, however, 
that the centre of dispersion can lie very much farther to the East, because 
the lithic industry of Malta, which must be approximately contemporary, 
is not Gravettian at all, though the presence of statuettes and certain 
decorative motifs suggests either that Siberia was reached by influences 
from South Russia or that the particular cult of which female statuettes 
were the expression came to the Gravettian from the Far East. 

We must now consider by what route an industry ancestral to the 
Gravettian could have passed into North-east Europe from our 
hypothetical Chatelperronian centre. We have seen that in Palestine 
the true Gravettian is absent, and that in southern Kurdistan it probably 
represents a relatively late migration from Russia. In Palestine, however, 
the Chatelperronian level which lies at the base of the Upper Palzolithic 
sequence already shows signs of evolution towards the Gravettian type, 
and it is possible that an industry of this character had already penetrated 
into the neighbourhood of the South Russian plain before the westward 
moving Aurignacian invasion had reached the Mediterranean coast. 

I need not dwell on the Solutrian episode, which forms the next stage 
in the French sequence, as this is already well known and understood. 
The only addition to our knowledge in recent years has been the demon- 
stration that the Solutrian penetrated farther to the east than was 
originally supposed from its Hungarian centre. 

With the Magdalenian we reach a stage when migration on a wide 
scale gives way to local variations of the cultures already in possession. 


1 At Sireuil and Brassempouy female statuettes were apparently associated 
with the Aurignacian proper, but in neither case is the evidence absolutely 
conclusive. Should the association be proved, however, these two isolated 
instances might suggest an early intrusion from an already established Upper 
Gravettian province in the East. 


172 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


Apart from the Magdalenian itself, which is undoubtedly the most in- 
teresting and the most vital of these variations, we have the Grimaldian 
in Italy, in South Russia a degenerate industry of Gravettian tradition, 
in Palestine a kind of hybrid Aurignacian which may extend into the 
Crimea, in Egypt the Sabylian, in England the Creswellian, while the 
retreat of the ice sheet in northern Europe made way for the Hamburg 
culture which is apparently derived from the Upper Gravettian. To 
round off completely the story of the Palzolithic blade cultures it would 
be necessary to pursue a number of these branches into the Mesolithic, 
but the time at my disposal makes this impossible. In any case the 
close of the Pleistocene, for general purposes, marks the end of an epoch 
in human history, and although no catastrophic change is visible, with 
the dawn of the Mesolithic a new order is already on its way. 

If we now take a last general view of this theoretical picture, we see 
the Chatelperronian, the earliest identifiable phylum of the blade cultures, 
already emerging in Lower Palzolithic times, in some as yet unidentified 
Asiatic centre. Ultimately it sends out two branches, one into East 
Africa, to give rise to the Capsian, the other into North-east Europe, 
to develop into the Gravettian. Meanwhile another stock, the Aurig- 
nacian, pushes westward, and separates these two great provinces. 
From the Aurignacian and Gravettian centres migrations pour into 
Central and Eastern Europe along the southern edge of the ice-sheet, 
and cultures which in their homelands tend to remain distinct and 
exclusive suceed and influence each other, until at the extreme limit of 
their journey we get the characteristic French sequence, which for so 
long was used as a standard for the rest of the world. Meanwhile along 
the fringes of the original provinces interpenetration necessarily takes 
place, and we find the Upper Gravettian filtering along the valleys of the 
Zagros Arc into southern Kurdistan, while the Aurignacian penetrates 
northward into the Crimea. Finally, at the close of the Pleistocene, 
migration on a large scale comes to an end, and numerous local varia- 
tions spring up all over the Paleolithic world. 

Outside all this, meanwhile, lies the still mysterious Far Eastern province, 
with its mixed flake and blade culture. In its early stages this may con- 
ceivably have played a part in the evolution of the Aurignacian proper, 
and in this connection it is perhaps significant that Gordon Childe reports 
the presence of a split-base bone point at Malta. 

The picture which I have outlined is admittedly largely speculative, 
and the most that I hope for this address is that it will ultimately stimulate 
discussion and disagreement. I am prepared to be accused of domination 
by a mirage orientale, but to that I would reply that some of my colleagues 
seem to me at the moment to be unduly influenced by a mirage africain. 
Only further discovery will make it possible to decide between us. 


SECTION I.—PHYSIOLOGY. 


THE CONTROL OF THE 
CIRCULATION OF THE BLOOD 


ADDRESS BY 
PROF. R. J. S. MCDOWALL, M.D., D.Sc., F.R.C.P. (Epin.), 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


It is now more than 300 years since William Harvey discovered the 
circulation of the blood, but we are yet far from understanding its control— 
a fact which is brought home to us when we realise that each year thousands 
of people die from failure of the circulation other than heart disease. 
Indeed it can fairly be said that certain diseases of the circulation are 
definitely diseases of civilisation and are on the increase. 

The purpose of the blood circulation is to supply the tissues with 
nourishment and particularly with oxygen, and since the different parts of 
the body vary enormously in their activity from time to time, their needs 
vary also. 

In this address I shall endeavour to indicate the various kinds of 
mechanisms which work together in order to provide adequate blood 
supply to any part of the body, whatever its activity or whatever the 
posture of the body. 

For the sake of simplicity I shall confine myself to the effects of physical 
exercise, since most of the mechanisms which I shall describe are brought 
into operation thereby, although they are also used for other purposes. 

When a tissue, say a muscle, increases its activity, it needs more oxygen 
and fuel and therefore more blood supplied to it per minute, and this increase 
is brought about in two ways: (1) by the same blood being pumped 
round the body more rapidly—that is, by increased activity of the heart, 
or pump ; and (2) by utilising blood which previously went to other less 
active and for the moment less important parts of the body—that is, by re- 
distributing the blood. This is accomplished by varying the calibre of 
the blood vessels and has two effects. It alters the resistance to the 
blood flow to any particular region, and it alters the capacity of any organ 
or part of the body, but since there is only a limited amount of blood in 
the body, it is evident that, if the circulation is to be maintained, vessels 
opened up must not exceed the capacity of those closed down. 


VARIATIONS IN THE ACTIVITY OF THE HEART. 


This I shall summarise rapidly, as much of it is sufficiently old to be 
in most of the text-books, and perhaps I should say that throughout I shall 


174 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


dwell particularly on those parts of the subject which are as yet less generally 
known. 

The heart is not like an ordinary pump which sucks fluid from one tube 
and pushes it into another. ‘The veins areso thin that any degree of suction 
would cause them to close. The heart is filled by the pressure of the blood 
which reaches it during the time it is relaxed, and adjusts the force of its 
stroke to the amount of blood in it at the beginning of contraction. The 
more blood reaching it, the more it pumps out, within limits. This is 
made possible by the fact that the force with which the heart contracts is 
increased if the heart muscle is stretched. 

The heart can also change its rate. In the past it has been usual to 
describe the heart as being under two sets of controlling nerves, one the 
sympathetic, which when stimulated makes the heart go fast, and the other 
the vagus, which makes the heart go slower. Now we know that this is 
only part of the story. The evidence is almost complete that the heart 
is really under the control of two sets of reflexes which have this function. 
The difference between these statements is that the second involves an 
afferent pathway to the central nervous system, for the sympathetic and 
the vagus are constantly carrying down impulses to the heart, and if they 
are cut off the heart goes slow or fast as the case may be. In the case of 
the sympathetic we do not know accurately as yet the exact source of the 
afferent impulses, but the fact that stimulation of any sensory nerves 
causes cardiac acceleration suggests that the source is stimulation from the 
outside world. ‘This is not necessarily conscious, for it has been shown 
that a sound may accelerate the heart of a person who is asleep but during 
waking hours the higher centres undoubtedly play a part in the accelera- 
tion. I shall refer to this further in relation to the vaso-motor centre. In 
the case of the inhibitory impulses which slow the heart the source of the 
afferent impulses is known. ‘These arise from certain sensitive regions 
within the circulation itself. These are situated in the left side of the heart, 
the arch of the aorta and the carotid sinuses, which are small dilatations at the 
bifurcation of the common carotid artery in the neck. We know these 
facts because section or anzsthesia of these nerves has the same effect 
as section of the vagus side of the reflex arc, and it can be demonstrated 
that nerve impulses which can be recorded electrically are constantly 
passing up the nerves from these regions. ‘The normal method of stimu- 
lation has been shown to be the change of blood pressure in these parts of 
the circulation at each beat of the heart. 

When exercise is taken, two changes occur: the sympathetic accelerator 
impulses increase and in particular the vagus impulses are reduced. ‘The 
evidence for this rests on the effect of exercise and other procedures on the 
heart rate before and after section of the vagi and with and without the 
sympathetic. It has been shown, for example, that if the vagus nerves 
have been cut the increase of the heart rate is, during the exercise, not 
nearly so great as it was before they were cut. It is not possible for me 
to discuss here how the change is brought about, except to say that it is 
in part due to the action of the higher centres and to a rise of venous pressure. 
The increased temperature of the blood and adrenaline liberated by the 
suprarenal gland enhance the effect of the nervous changes; but there 
is not time to go into this in detail. 

What I do want to emphasise is that the range of acceleration is deter- 


I.—PHYSIOLOGY 175 


mined by the degree of activity of the cardio-inhibitory reflexes: indeed, 
it has been recently shown in Belgium that the capability of dogs to 
withstand sustained activity is apparently enhanced by removal of the 
sympathetic. ‘The extent to which the animals have then to rely on the 
reduction of vagus activity is thereby increased. ‘This of course does 
not mean that the maximum effort for short periods is increased. ‘To show 
this it is necessary to time the running of the animal over short distances. 
It has been shown that in athletes during mild exercise the cardiac 
output is increased with a trivial increase in cardiac rate—that is, the increase 
is chiefly produced by an increased output per beat. I shall, however, 
return to this point. Meantime I should like to leave you with the 
question: The heart increases its output ; where does it get its blood ? 

Experimentally it can be demonstrated that the vagus restraint of the 
heart is extremely variable—not only in different animals, but in the same 
animal under different conditions, as may be seen if we block the vagi. 
For example, if we give an animal nitrogen to breathe, the normal vagus 
restraint can be shown to have disappeared. Or we can increase the re- 
straint by previous sensory stimulation. ‘This last experiment is of special 
interest, as it may give a clue as to how the normal vagus restraint is 
built up. We know that animals and human beings which take large 
amounts of exercise have slow hearts. How exactly this slow heart is 
produced is not yet clear. All we can say at the moment is that certain 
procedures such as sensory stimulation or asphyxia increase the heart 
rate, partly by reducing vagus activity, but that subsequently this reduc- 
tion is followed by an increase in the activity of the vagus. I would 
indeed be glad if anyone could make any suggestions on this point. 


VARIATIONS IN THE CALIBRE OF THE BLOOD VESSELS. 


As I have said, it may be taken as a general principle that in physical 
exercise the blood is distributed to the active tissues at the expense of 
the less active tissues. ‘This local dilatation of vessels, combined with a 
rise in the general blood pressure which is the result of increased cardiac 
output and constriction of vessels in less active tissues, results in an enor- 
mous increase in blood flow through the active muscles. ‘This increase has 
been measured for the vessels of the lower lip of the horse, and may be 
demonstrated in an anzsthetised animal. The dilatation is brought about 
by chemical and nervous means, and on this point an enormous amount 
of work has been carried out in recent years. 

The cause of the chemical dilatation has been a matter of considerable 
debate. It has been demonstrated that blood issuing from tetanised 
limbs has a vasodilator action. There are first to be considered the 
products of carbohydrate metabolism—carbon dioxide and lactic acid. 
Each of these has been observed to cause vasodilatation if applied in suitable 
concentrations to capillaries under the microscope. I emphasise the con- 
centration because larger concentrations have the opposite effect. It may 
be demonstrated also that, if the vessels of the hind limb of a chloralosed 
animal are perfused with the nerves intact and carbon dioxide is adminis- 
tered, the perfused vessels constrict because of the action of the carbon 
dioxide on the vasomotor centre, but the blood-pressure does not neces- 


176 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


sarily rise, presumably because there has been a compensatory dilatation 
of vessels in the rest of the animal. A number of workers, especially 
Fleisch, have demonstrated that vessels are sensitive to most minute changes 
of hydrogen-ion concentration, even that which is produced by the addition 
of the normal amount of carbon dioxide to the blood, and personally I 
think that normally this is the most important factor concerned. 

There is, however, evidence that certain substances of protein origin 
may be involved. Of these the most important is histamine. It has 
recently been shown by Anrep that the vasodilator substance which is 
liberated into the venous blood gives all the known biological reactions for 
histamine, and it is possible to demonstrate that extensive tetanisation of 
muscles may produce a state which is a very similar one to histamine 
shock. There is at the same time a constriction of pulmonary vessels 
such as is produced by histamine. ‘This liberation of histamine—if it be 
histamine—is of interest, as biochemists have reported that, compared with 
other tissues, muscles contain relatively little histamine. It is, however, 
somewhat doubtful if we are justified in considering that what happens 
during a severe artificial tetanus necessarily occurs in normal exercise. 

It has been suggested also that other substances of protein origin, such 
as adenylic acid, may be concerned. Whatever the agent it seems likely 
that some metabolic products are responsible, if not for the dilatation 
during exercise, certainly for the continued dilatation which continues 
after the exercise. 

The nervous dilatation is, judging from the work of Cannon and his 
associates, probably sympathetic. Here we see a dual function of the 
sympathetic, for its constrictor action is much better known. It has been 
known for some time that the sympathetic contained vasodilator fibres. 
Indeed, Dastre, a successor of Claude Bernard, states that, had Bernard 
chanced to use a dog instead of a rabbit for his classical experiments on 
the sympathetic, he would have been more impressed with its vaso- 
dilator than with its now much better known vasoconstrictor action. 
In order to show the vasodilator fibres in the sympathetic, it is necessary 
to paralyse first the vasoconstrictor fibres with ergotoxine (Dale), or to 
use slow rates of stimulation. In this connection it may be remarked 
that this slow rate of stimulation may be an imitation of what normally 
occurs, since presumably ordinary muscle contraction may give rise to 
similar stimuli. It is interesting to note that the dilator action is easily 
shown in the dog, but it has not been possible to show it in the cat; but 
the exact significance of the point is unknown. 

Once the exercise has begun it seems likely that local vasodilator 
reflexes, similar to Loven reflexes, are set up by afferent impulses arising 
within the muscles themselves, possibly as a result of the mechanical and 
chemical changes which take place. The evidence is somewhat scanty, 
but it is impossible to ignore any longer the possibility of the existence of 
a nutrition reflex as suggested by Hess and supported more recently by 
Fleisch. By this is meant the fact that oxygen lack in a part sets up afferent 
impulses which result in reflex dilatation. 

Capacity effects —Now it has been shown by Krogh that when a muscle 
is active an enormous number of hitherto closed capillaries open up. 
The best evidence of this is probably his well-known Indian ink experiment. 


I.—PHYSIOLOGY 177 


This opening up of vessels previously closed necessitates the provision 
of blood, and as there is only a limited amount of blood in the body, it 
must be provided from other regions, otherwise the blood pressure 
would fall and the circulation through the tissues be reduced. 

It is probable that practically all parts of the body, except possibly 
the voluntary muscles, the heart muscle and the brain, provide the blood 
necessary for the active muscles. It has been shown that any exercise, 
actual or even contemplated, causes vasoconstriction. Constriction of the 
spleen and of the intestine in animals has been observed. This was the 
subject of a presidential address to this Section by Barcroft some years ago. 
In man it has been shown that the vessels of the skin constrict under any 
emotional stress or even anticipated activity. This, indeed, was one of 
the first facts discovered by Mosso with his plethysmograph. 

In regard to the sympathetic constriction of the vessels, we are in the 
same difficulty as we were in relation to the sympathetic acceleration of 
the heart. We do not know how the actual nerve impulses which originate 
the constriction arise. For convenience we say that they begin in the 
higher centres of the brain. It is, however, probably preferable, it seems 
to me, to consider that it is a sensory stimulation from the outside world, 
which is the point in time which determines the psychical reaction which 
results in motor movement. Certainly we know that stimulation of a 
sensory nerve causes generalised vasoconstriction and commonly a rise of 
blood pressure, and that similar changes but of lesser degree may be 
recorded in a sleeping man. 

It has been usual to ascribe the shutting down of the blood vessels 
solely to sympathetic activity, just as. it was usual to ascribe cardiac 
acceleration solely to such action. In the case of the heart we have clear 
evidence that the reduction of the vagus restraint is just as important by 
increasing the range of cardiac activity and creating a cardiac reserve. It 
has now become evident that there probably exists an exactly parallel 
mechanism which increases the range of vascular activity and similarly 
enhances the reserve. 


THE MAINTENANCE OF THE VASCULAR RESERVE. 


Just as we have the restraint of the heart by the vagus, which determines 
the range of cardiac acceleration, so we have in relation to the blood vessels 
a set of reflexes which determines the magnitude of the vasoconstriction of 
the blood vessels. That is, they maintain the vessels of the body generally 
in an actively dilated state. The afferent impulses which are concerned 
in these reflexes have an exactly similar origin to those responsible for the 
vagus restraint of the heart. They arise from the cardio-aortic region and 
the carotid sinuses, and pass up the medulla by the aortic and carotid 
depressor nerves, The evidence for this statement is essentially that if 
the afferent impulses from these regions are cut off, there results a con- 
striction of practically all the blood vessels in the body. It may be 
remembered that for many years the existence of such tonic dilator control 
of the vessels was denied, but the experiments on the carotid sinus by 
Hering, Heymans and their co-workers have placed it beyond doubt. 
Like the cardio-depressor reflexes the vascular-depressor reflexes are 
operated by the intravascular pressure in these regions. 


178 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


It has been generally assumed that the primary function of this control 
of the vessels is to maintain the arterial pressure at a constant level, and 
this is quite reasonable, for a constant mean pressure is desirable to main- 
tain a steady flow of fluid at rest from the capillaries to the tissues. It 
can be shown that if these reflexes are put temporarily out of action, 
considerable variation in pressure is liable to occur because of the 
spontaneous contraction of certain vascular regions such as the spleen. 

More recently it has become evident that these reflexes may have another 
and possibly more important function. Several facts led to this suggestion : 
(1) that in physical exercise or mental stress, the blood pressure, like the 
heart rate, does rise in spite of the reflexes ; (2) that the response of blood 
pressure to posture may be normal if the reflexes are destroyed—a fact 
which shows that the maintenance of mean pressure is not wholly 
dependent on the reflexes ; (3) that as in the case of the vagus, different 
animals, or even the same animals in slightly different circumstances, 
show great variability in the activity of the reflexes—often it is possible 
to throw the reflexes out of action without affecting the blood pressure 
materially; and (4) as might almost be anticipated, the conditions 
which reduce the activity of the vagus also reduce the activity of the 
depressor reflexes. ‘Two procedures which produce most striking results 
are the raising of venous pressure by the rapid injection of fluid and the 
injection of adrenaline. It may be remembered that Bainbridge showed 
that the rapid injection of fluid into the veins causes reflex cardiac accelera- 
tion, partly by reducing the action of the vagus. This was the experiment 
which led to the discovery of the right auricular reflex usually associated 
with his name. 

Now since in exercise the venous pressure is increased and, if the stress 
of the occasion is sufficient, adrenaline is secreted, we may consider what 
happens to the circulation when the vasodepressor reflexes are thrown 
out of action. As I have said, there is a rise of arterial pressure and a 
generalised constriction of the vessels. It has become usual to consider 
that this rise of arterial pressure is the result of an increased peripheral 
resistance to the flow of blood from the arteries. Were this wholly true 
we should expect to find that there is a reduced flow of blood to the veins. 
If the animal, however, is in good condition, the reverse is the case : there 
is an increased flow to the veins. It is as if there were at the periphery a 
sponge-like reservoir which, when it is contracted, drives its store of blood 
into the veins. In this connection it is interesting to remark that Bayliss 
when investigating the aortic depressor nerve found that stimulation 
caused not only a fall of arterial pressure, but a fall also of the venous 
pressure—that is, an increased capacity of the circulation. He did not 
consider the reverse possibility, since the then unknown function of the 
carotid sinus prevented his discovery of tonic dilator impulses. 

When the depressor reflexes are cut off, the reverse, however, does not 
necessarily occur experimentally. An increased flow into the veins does 
not necessarily result in a rise of venous pressure, because at the same 
time the heart is stimulated and the increased pressure is rapidly dealt 
with. It can, as might be expected, be shown at the same time that there 
is an increased output of the heart. It is not possible to measure the 
output of the heart by the cardiometer method without there being some 


I.—PHYSIOLOGY 179 


degree of shock or permanent increased capacity of the circulation from 
the absorption of toxic products. As a result, the increased cardiac 
activity more than balances any increased flow in the veins, and the venous 
pressure may actually fall. Commonly it remains unchanged in such 
experiments. However, if the animal is not subjected to any severe 
operative procedure, a small rise of venous pressure is the rule. Perhaps 
I should say that several workers using the Fick method have shown an 
enormously increased output of the heart when the impulses from the 
carotid sinus are cut off. 

In doing such experiments we must attempt to imitate physiological 
possibilities. If, for example, we cut off all the depressor reflexes com- 
pletely and suddenly, there is such an enormous rise of venous pressure and 
arterial pressure that the heart may fail and the cardiac output be reduced. 

What we can imagine happens in exercise or emotion is, then, that just 
as the vagus restraint of the heart becomes reduced, so also the depressor 
restraint of the vessels becomes reduced, more blood is thrown into the 
circulation and is dealt with by the heart, which at the same time 
increases both its rate and its output per beat. It is to be anticipated 
that we shall eventually get evidence that the extent of the activity of the 
vasodilator reflexes varies in different animals just as the activity of the 
vagus varies. 

The sympathetic and adrenaline.—All the mechanisms which I have 
described are probably still further enhanced by the vasoconstrictor 
action of the sympathetic and the action of adrenaline, which is apparently 
secreted whenever the emotional stress of the occasion is sufficient. 
Adrenaline in physiological amounts constricts the vessels of the skin 
and splanchnic region and dilates the vessels of the muscles. Here I 
should like to emphasise that probably the physiological dose of adrenal- 
ine is minute, and may even be insufficient to raise the blood pressure. 
Certainly the dilatation of muscle vessels is not a result of the rise of blood 
pressure which may occur, for it can be shown that the dilatation occurs 
with doses which do not raise the arterial blood pressure. An increased 
blood flow through the limbs can also be shown to be brought about by 
doses which do not raise the blood pressure. In such circumstances the 
constriction just counterbalances the dilatation. Why adrenaline should 
constrict some blood vessels and dilate others is a major problem in the 
study of the circulation. Since so far as we know the vessels themselves 
have the same structure in different parts of the body, we must assume 
that the difference is due to the different environment. I had hoped by 
this time to have obtained some definite evidence on this point, but so far 
the experiments have not been completely successful. 

It is interesting to observe the effect of adrenaline on the depressor 
reflexes. If the hormone is injected it is found that some minutes after- 
wards, even after the usual rise of blood pressure has passed off, it is not 
possible to affect the heart by a degree of stimulation of the vagus which 
was previously effective, and at the same time the effects of cutting off the 
impulses from the carotid sinus are markedly reduced or completely 
abolished. ‘This, of course, is exactly what would be expected if ad- 
renaline were secreted in the same circumstances in which the action of 
the depressor reflexes and the vagus are reduced, as in exercise. 


180 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


A further corroboration of this somewhat new view of the function of 
the vasodilator reflexes comes from a study of the effect of exercise and 
of emotion on man. It is well known that when a man takes exercise 
on a stationary bicycle his systolic blood pressure goes up, but falls even 
below normal the moment the exercise stops. This fall has been explained 
by Cotton, Slade and Lewis as due to the accumulation of blood in the 
vessels of the dilated muscles, but from what I have said in relation to the 
diminution of the peripheral resistance in muscle, it is evident that the 
fall is in part due to a diminution of this resistance. Now if a careful 
comparison be made of the psychical effect of intended exercise and that 
of exercise, it has been found by Gillespie that there is no difference. In 
other words, the rise of arterial pressure in exercise is the result of psychical 
changes. If exercise could be taken without psychical zest being involved, 
we might expect the blood pressure to fall. ‘This, indeed, has been found 
to occur in the horse. In man, too, it has been found that if the exercise 
is slight, although the systolic arterial pressure rises, the diastolic pressure 
falls. ‘This means that more blood is being pumped out of the heart per 
beat, but that blood escapes from the arteries more rapidly than normally 
before the next systole. In other words, from psychical causes alone there 
is a rise of arterial pressure from an increased cardiac output per beat, 
which can only be the result of more blood reaching the heart. In 
emotion too it is known that the systolic pressure rather than the diastolic 
rises. Since we have seen from the experiments of Mosso with the 
plethysmograph, of Barcroft on the exteriorised spleen and of Florey and 
Florey on the exteriorised colon, that generalised vasoconstriction is an 
accompaniment of psychical effort, we must assume that the increased 
output of the heart is in part, if not wholly, the result of the vaso- 
constriction which calls into use the reserves of blood and thus the circu- 
lation is maintained in spite of the greatly increased capacity of the active 
muscles. 

I am afraid that as I have gone along you have gradually become aware 
of the complexity and difficulty of the problem. The difficulty is en- 
hanced by the fact that in the circulation we have so many variables, and, 
the moment we attempt to isolate one, we are at once liable to introduce 
abnormal conditions. 

In discussing changes which may occur in exercise, I have tried to give 
you an idea of the circulation as a working whole. For a physiologist the 
investigation of such questions is something interesting to do, but we must 
remember it is these same mechanisms which the body uses and develops 
for physical exercise which the body uses to defend itself against disease 
and injury. It is well that we should remember the words of the late 
A. D. Waller to this Section some years ago: 

‘Physiology must be studied for its own sake, but the physiologist 
whose immediate motive is the want to know may not deny his debt of 
service to the community of which he forms a part and whose services he 
enjoys. And the channel through which he can repay some part of that 
debt lies first of all in the service he may be able to render to the practice 
of medicine—to the knowledge and power of the physician whose immediate 
motive is the want to help.’ 


SECTION J.—PSYCHOLOGY. 


THE PATTERNS OF EXPERIENCE 


ADDRESS BY 
A. W. WOLTERS, 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


ONLY two years ago our lamented Past-President, Dr. Shepherd Dawson, 
gave an admirable summary of the contributions which psychology is 
making to the life of the modern world. As I considered the choice of 
a subject for this address I concluded that it was too early to cover that 
ground again, and I decided that it was consistent with the duties of a 
President of Section J to put forward certain of his own reflections, 
which are related to and, indeed, largely stimulated by contributions to 
the sectional programme of the previous year. While thinking over the 
Aberdeen address it occurred to me that any comprehensive review of 
psychological progress is bound to skim rather lightly over many matters 
which are highly controversial. These controversies, and the conflict 
of authorities, provide a ready weapon for the critics of psychology, of 
whom there are still too many who base their objections upon ignorance 
and prejudice. May I spend a moment of my time in a short, active 
defence of my colleagues ? 

Every natural science has as many vigorous controversies as psychology. 
The only difference is that since our science has so far had neither the 
time nor the number of workers to acquire so great a content of established 
fact as the other disciplines, the student finds himself facing controversies 
at a very early stage. But controversy is the breath of life to science. 
Is it not the case that every scholar loses interest in a topic as soon as it is 
settled ? They who value knowledge so highly, value still more highly 
the process of coming to know. Appearing in public as the high priests 
of knowledge, they worship privately at the shrine of the unknown. 
Behind my metaphor lies the distinction between science and the scientific 
text-book. Science grows by discussions, which the outside world calls 
disputes. So let us not be ashamed of our civil wars, though the smoke 
of battle may hide from the general public the solid progress which is being 
made. Now, it is a fair deduction from this, I think, that those who 
surrender themselves too completely to a ‘ school’ are wilfully fettering 
their minds. It is impertinence to suggest that the distinguished workers 
along any one line can be entirely wrong, and it is obvious that they cannot 
all be right. So a judicious and critical selection from opposing theories 
is a reasonable attitude. No doubt, however, members of each and every 
school of thought will find stinging retorts to this eclectic speaker. I 
freely grant that eclecticism can be carried too far, and that its results 
are of little worth unless pulled together by a personal point of view. I 
propose, then, to put my own point of view again, and to take as my texts 
two papers read before the Section last year at Norwich. My regard 


182 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


for them is certainly not diminished by the fact that the views they express 
closely resemble my own. But, fortunately, even if there are prejudices 
observable in this paper they will but be additional illustrations of the 
opinions expressed therein. Psychology should begin at home. 

The first of these papers is the impressive address by Prof. Rubin, 
devoted to the ‘ ways of seeing.” Summing up his important contri- 
butions to the psychology of perception, he demonstrated to us that 
perceptual cognition is shot through with suggestions of movement and 
direction which are not reducible to the geometry of the object. The 
mind contributes structural principles to its own experience. Like many 
scientific theories this was not new. Many besides Rubin, and many 
earlier than he, have suggested that the mind, at least in part, makes its 
own experience. The value of his contribution lies in the beauty of his 
experimental development of the theme, and in the detailed application of 
it. But at least one of his demonstrations at Norwich was so new to most 
of us as to be thrilling. ‘Those of you who were present will remember 
vividly how we were brought to recognise that pictures in European art 
have a definite left-to-right character, upon which their meaning and 
esthetic appeal largely depend. I reported this to Mr. Betts, the head 
of the School of Art in my university. We went through his stock of 
lantern slides, and found that in nearly every case Rubin was clearly 
right. But our most exciting moment was that in which we discovered 
a drawing in which Rembrandt had gone astray. My colleague suggests 
that Rembrandt made his sketch from a mirror, a quite usual method, 
so that having posed his model correctly—that is, as Rubin would have 
had him do—and being absorbed by the technical problems of his sketch, 
he overlooked the extraordinary and unpredictable effect of the lateral 
inversion. 

It seems clear that there are pre-established manners of seeing, and we 
must expect the same to hold in the other modalities of sense. This 
implies that the patterns of our perceptual experience are dependent 
upon the mind, in some cases, perhaps, upon its original endowment, 
in others upon acquired factors. Thus Rubin suggested that the left- 
to-right direction of European pictures was derived from reading left- 
to-right script. Mentioning this to one well known in another section 
of the British Association, Mr. Peake, I was advised to try out the theory 
on cave drawings. I have not had the leisure to do so extensively, but 
in some at least there appears to be the same suggestion, and I have not 
yet observed the contrary direction in any case. So far as this evidence 
goes, it tends to confirm my suspicion that right-handedness is among the 
determinants of perceptual direction. But whether we accept Rubin’s 
view as sufficient, or add my own suggestion to it, it appears that perception 
can be shaped by factors extrinsic to the material experienced. Under 
their influence the mind is creating, is actively patterning its experience, 
so that in some sense and to some degree (the limits being determinable 
by experiment) the mind makes the world it knows. 

If controversy be good for science, we have reached a fruitful spot. 
The objections raised by some philosophers that on our view no genuine 
knowledge of reality is possible, need not trouble us. If the facts force 
us to the conclusion that the perceived structure of the universe contains 


J. —PSYCHOLOGY 183 


an important subjective factor, we cannot be deterred by the conse- 
quences of our belief. Indeed, if the percipient mind only registered 
the objective world, could there be any important psychology of cognition ? 
However, work such as that of Katz and Thouless on colour and size 
constancies, work already brought to the notice of this Section, proves 
sufficiently how autocratically the mind can deal with its sensory material. 
The more relevant psychological questions raised by recent developments 
of Gestalt-psychology are too large to be treated incidentally. It isenough 
here to express admiration for the persevering and ingenious research 
which they have stimulated. So to speak a little dogmatically, I hold 
that the mind informs its sensory material, making the percept consistent 
with certain subjective principles. This implies that the patterns of 
experience are in some sense already latent in the subject’s mind as he 
confronts the world. Can we say how? 

Alas, not very well. We must be content for the present with a small 
but useful advance to be made along the following path. If one says that 
perceiving is a response of the organism, meaning what one says, it 
follows that the distinction between cognition and conation is not an 
ultimate one. The general utility of the traditional division is not in 
question, but in the end we have to recognise that the process of coming 
to know is an activity, a piece of behaviour linked up with and sub- 
ordinated to other behaviour. Conation must be the fundamental con- 
cept, because the first duty of every organism is to remain alive, and it” 
needs to manage and control its environment to that end. Let us look 
for a moment at other forms of behaviour. 

It is agreed that behaviour exhibits certain regularities of sequence 
which entitle us to formulate laws. In describing the phenomena the 
phrase which comes most readily to the tongue is that they exhibit 
patterns. The word has of recent years been very freely used. It 
requires no technical knowledge to understand the statement that a man’s 
business activities show a constant pattern, no matter how varied the details 
with which he has to deal at different times. Our insight into the character 
of acquaintances mainly rests upon the observation of their behaviour 
patterns. It is very difficult to describe them, and still more difficult to 
analyse them, but they are easily recognisable. They are, in fact, the 
constancies without which social life would be impossible. The out- 
standing example of patterns of behaviour is presented by the instincts. 
In them we have themes which can be recognised as essentially the same 
while the details of the activity vary thoroughly, just as the theme of a 
symphony can be recognised through its development. But to say this 
is to apply the term ‘ pattern’ as an objective description, and not as an 
explanation. Whether in this field you prefer to speak of urges and drives, 
or of fields of force and closure, is indifferent to the present argument, 
which requires only two points conceded to it: first, that these patterns 
of behaviour are observable, it being in virtue of them that the adjective 
‘instinctive ’ is applied, and, second, that the character of the organism 
is among the causes which produce them. We note that the behaviour 
of the human individual displays patterns which are similar in their 
outline to those of animals, and which, arguing from them, we must 
assert to depend upon the connate character of the organism. 


184 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


To argue the obvious a little more fully, if a pattern is observable in 
behaviour, it must be dependent either upon the detailed events themselves, 
or upon the organism. In many cases, such as the behaviour of insects 
or nest-building in birds, there seems to be no sense in the first alternative, 
and consequently we take the patterns to be determined by the nature 
_ ofthe organism. ‘This is to assert that the pattern is latent in the organism. 

But not after the manner of a blue-print. The latent pattern is not open 
to inspection. It exists, to use an old and respectable term, formally. 
There is a character of the organism which gives a distinctive pattern to 
its reactions. But there are also patterns observable in acquired activities, 
and in this case we have an everyday term to designate the quality of the 
agent which produces it. We call it a skill, and regard it as inherent in 
the subject whether he is or is not engaged in the activity at the moment. 
But once more it is not inspectable as the pattern of the activity is. All 
we can observe is that A by economical and coherent actions consistently 
achieves success in a given field, while B as consistently fails in it. Believing 
that all phenomena have a cause, we ascribe to A a skill which B lacks. 
So far as language goes, we can say either that A is skilled or that he 
possesses a skill. Both expressions are admissible, but I would suggest 
that the former is better in psychology, since we can neither observe, 
nor by deduction describe a skill in itself. When we attempt to do so we 
usually find ourselves describing again the pattern of the activity. Let 
‘us take a skill to be a character of the individual, a manner in which he 
has been psychologically shaped by racial or individual experience. 
To say that a person is skilled means that he is prepared to deal ade- 
quately with situations of a particular kind, but prepared in an outline, 
flexible manner which is sensitive to the varying details of the moment. 
Skill is in this respect on a higher plane than tropism, reflex or habit. 
The organism’s skill is displayed in controlling and organising material 
on the way to achieving a goal. 

Now we can return to our original problem of perception. No present- 
day psychologist can be content to regard perceiving as no more than 
reflecting the material world, or as a process to be studied in isolation. 
It is a preparatory reaction, prior to more far-reaching activities, its im- 
mediate goal being the organisation of sensory data into manageable forms. 
So we come to the conclusion that the predetermined ‘ ways of seeing’ 
of which Rubin spoke to us belong to the vast family of skills, and can 
be treated with the others. The range of processes in which the pattern 
of behaviour, and the pattern resulting from the behaviour, depend upon 
the mental characteristics of the agent would appear to cover the whole 
extent of human life. At the London Meeting in 1931 I read a paper 
advancing the hypothesis that what is termed conceptual thinking can 
be dealt with in terms of skill, saying that what are termed concepts are 
best considered as outline preparations for response, and not as mental 
entities. I endeavoured to show that the behaviour of animals displays 
patterns parallel with those of a higher grade in human beings. I intro- 
duced the term schematic preparation, or more shortly ‘ schema,’ as a 
name for this subjective character (1). Prof. Bartlett has also used the 
term, with greater profit than myself, and I quote from him a good state- 
ment of what the word is taken to mean. ‘‘‘ Schema” refers to an active 


J. —PSYCHOLOGY 185 


organisation of past reactions, or of past experiences, which must always 
be supposed to be operating in any well-adapted organic response. . . . 
There is not the slightest reason, however, to suppose that each set of 
incoming impulses, each new group of experiences persists as an isolated 
member of some passive patchwork. ‘They have to be regarded as con- 
stituents of living momentary settings belonging to the organism, or to 
whatever parts of the organism are concerned in making a response of 
a given kind, and not as a number of individual events somehow strung 
together and stored within the organism’ (2). This seems to me an ex- 
cellent description of the growth of a psychological organism, emphasising 
that at all moments reactions are dependent upon the integrated effects 
of experience, which determine the character of the agent when confronted 
with any emergency. I see this living, momentary setting of the organism 
as the end-product of its history, and in so far as there is continuity 
in the settings they form a skill. 

In once more advancing the views expressed in this address, maintaining 
the two points, first, that racial and individual experience results in 
schematic or outline preparation for future activity, thereby determining 
the pattern of the experiencing (for example, of cognising) and the pattern 
experienced (for example, the perceptual object cognised), and secondly, 
that these preparations or schemata are best regarded as modifications of 
the psychological organism, I do not pretend that I am stating anything 
very original, or greatly advancing science. But I am concerned to 
maintain that this line of thought is important because so unifying. In 
my earlier paper I applied it to thinking, and only hinted that the principle 
might be extended to other activities. Five years later, fortified by the 
parallel advance of Prof. Bartlett in another part of the field, I am bold 
enough to claim that our conception will cover all parts of animal and 
human psychology, pulling together into a system many heterogeneous 
- results. The second part of my address will be an attempt to apply it 
in a department which I have not yet mentioned. 

The most proper field for our study in Blackpool is obviously Social 
Psychology, and the Sectional Programme shows that the Organising 
Committee have recognised this. Can we apply the outcome of the pre- 
vious discussion here ? If not, my claims were invalid. So I was forced 
to undertake a new enterprise, passing from perception and thinking to 
a consideration of social behaviour. The term ‘social pattern’ is in 
common use, and perhaps is employed with dangerous facility. In the 
first place it appears to mean an observable system of relationships between 
individuals and their activities, constituting a unity of a higher order of 
complexity than that of any one of its members. Secondly, the social 
group is a part of the environment of each of its members and of persons 
who make contact with it from outside. It is a system of facts to which 
individuals have to adapt their behaviour. In this it is parallel to the 
inanimate environment, and since the principles of behaviour will re- 
semble those already encountered the matter may be left for a moment 
at that level. Thirdly, social groupings present a puzzling combination 
of determinacy and flux. To live in society is rather like rowing in rough 
water. Within a quite characteristic pattern of the whole there is an 
inconvenient mobility of the elements, which requires continual varia- 


186 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


bility of response. The patterns of society are determinate but dynamic, 
and to react successfully to them demands skill. To deal with this problem 
in a little more detail I turn to another paper read before Section J at 
Norwich, one by Prof. T. North Whitehead, since published in The 
Human Factor (3). A group. of five girls working at the same tasks 
came in time to form a real social group with a complex but readily 
discernible pattern. An objective record of it was obtained by study- 
ing the relations between the output of individuals, and the writer was 
able to reduce these to a clear diagrammatic form. Since conversation 
is the chief instrument of social relationship, the seating arrangements 
proved largely decisive for the pattern. When an experimental change 
was made in the seating order the social and psychological pattern was 
broken and a new one had to be formed, output being adversely affected 
during the process. I hope that the memory of my hearers can carry 
them back to the curiously exciting effect of taking a new seat in the 
class-room, and the consequent disturbance of their work. 

Prof. Whitehead’s interesting report is concerned mainly with the objec- 
tive study of the group. There are, however, important implications on 
the subjective side. In the first place, like everything else society is 
only apprehended by individuals, whose perception will be shaped in 
ways analogous to those revealed by Rubin in simpler material. ‘This is 
the common handicap of all science, and no more need be said of it than 
to remind ourselves that each person must react to society as he sees it. 
A more important matter is that society, whose dominating influence we 
realise more and more, has proper significance for psychology only in its 
impact upon individual lives. It is, indeed, only actualised in those 
moments. Its components are individuals acting, and their behaviour 
is informed by the principles studied earlier. Yet their activities form 
a system, and we have to reconcile that with individual psychology. 

A group only exists in virtue of conative tendencies developed by 
individuals in the course of accommodating their behaviour to each 
other’s. It requires skill to live socially, and I see no reason why we 
should not treat this as we did others. Social skills are predetermined 
schematic preparations for adaptive responses to situations presented by 
the presence of other persons whose behaviour forms a reciprocally inter- 
acting system, and so it is the psychological character of individuals which 
chiefly determines the social pattern. I should like to adapt a famous 
conclusion of Rousseau, and say that society becomes a topic for psycho- 
logy just because it exists immanently in the minds of its members. 
Whitehead’s subjects did not build up a real unified group merely through 
the seating arrangements. The effects of the removal of the one who 
had become the leader show this. The unity of the group broke up, 
and though her successor became even more popular it was never fully 
reconstituted. So, at least, the writer maintains. But I venture to think 
that there was formed a new and firmly integrated pattern of a kind too 
subtle and intimate to be revealed by the test of correlative fluctuations 
of output. How otherwise can we account for the odd fact that when 
the former leader came back to replace her temporary successor the group 
was entirely broken up through the newly developed hostility to her, 
formerly the outstanding member of the group? What the experiment 


J.—PSYCHOLOGY 187 


depicts is the gradual orientation of individuals to each other—in other 
words, their learning ways of living with each other. When the social 
environment is changed a new set of behaviour tendencies has to be 
established, until in the final setting an environment was found to which 
the girls could not react successfully. But they had done so at an earlier 
stage, and we must conclude that in the intervening period some change 
had occurred in the other girls. ‘The earlier objective conditions were 
repeated, but there was no unity. Can we avoid the conclusion that the 
unity had existed in the minds of the members, and those minds had 
changed to such an extent that the old reactions had become impossible ? 
An objectively observable group pattern is a product of the skill-characters, 
or behaviour schemata, of the constituent members. So a problem of 
group psychology reduces itself to one of individual psychology. 

Social patterns are largely manifested in institutions and current ideas, 
and often in combinations of the two. The English Common Law 
provides an excellent example of the last. This remarkable invention 
of our race has been maliciously described as consisting of a vast body of 
decisions and pronouncements, all readily deducible from a very few 
simple and universally accepted principles, though no one knows what 
they are. I cannot say whether this description is true, but there is no 
psychological difficulty in it. Common Law principles are the ways of 
living together developed by English people, and like all skills (for skills 
they are) they were developed in pursuit of ends which did not include 
the purpose of inspection. Pursuing a purpose and thinking about the 
pursuit are quite different processes. So for a long time, possibly always, 
they would not be amenable to analysis or description. To describe 
necessitates the development of a new skill directed to the material 
provided by the prior one. This is in essence Bartlett’s illuminating 
distinction between schemata as the instruments of reaction and schemata 
as objects to which reaction is directed. ‘The Common Law is the ex- 
pression of the directive tendencies of citizens bent on living together 
along determinate lines, though they may have never reflected upon them. 
Probably the majority of Englishmen have never heard of the Common 
Law, though it governs their lives in so fundamental a manner. It is 
quite usual to find that people who evince a great determinateness of 
behaviour are unaware of the principles which govern. them. Why 
should they pause in the process of achieving their ends, if all is going 
well, to ‘ turn round upon the schemata’ which are serving them ? 

There is a danger in any form of expression which suggests an oppo- 
sition between Social Psychology and Individual Psychology. The field 
marked out by the former term is one proper for the specialist, but it 
remains the study of individuals acting socially. It would avoid the risk 
of over-abstraction, with possibly something of mysticism arising from it, 
if we were satisfied to speak of the psychology of social behaviour. At 
bottom it is the study of the development and nature of schemata employed 
in orientation to other behaving organisms. They, too, act from schemata, 
and if they are to live together they must effect a considerable degree of 
uniformity. So the social pressure upon individuals is intensified by the 
establishment of institutions which are the outward patterns resulting 
from the psychological characteristics of the members of the group, and 
jn return a potent means of shaping the next generation. Here the vital 


188 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


problem of society resembles that of the individuals (as must be the case). 
It is that of keeping the outline preparations for adaptive behaviour 
sufficiently fluid to be sensitive to variations in the problems presented. 
The Hegelian limit of efficiency is inflexible specific habit, which is a skill 
so perfectly developed as to become a hindrance. 

Ideals as well as institutions express the developing patterns of society. 
Can we suggest a psychological treatment of ideals ? It seems to me that 
an ideal is a schema of behaviour made sufficiently inspectable to receive 
a name. Probably it is never made completely amenable to description. 
Our own difficulties in attempting to discuss our ideals, together with 
the fact that there is obviously something in us which we feel we must 
explain to others, prove that their mode of existence lies deeper than the 
level of language behaviour. But not only can few men state their ideals 
adequately and many not at all, it is not necessary that they should be 
so expressed. No one should be described as without ideals merely 
because he is not sufficiently aware of them to call them by name. It is 
more charitable, and better psychology, to deduce the ideals from the 
prevailing patterns of his behaviour. I suspect that the underlying fabric 
of ideals suffers at times from premature display or too zealous propaganda. 

Now to summarise briefly the thread of this discussion. The subject- 
matter of psychology is taken to be the activities of the individual organism 
striving to maintain its full integrity in the universe in which it lives. 
To obtain control it must organise the presented material of experience 
into patterns manageable by it, and to this end it develops skills in its 
activities. Naming these skills by a word not inconvenienced by over-' 
much usage, we have called them schemata, and the system of a person’s 
schemata embodies all his experience up to the present moment, and deter- 
mines the direction of his future experiencing. ‘The patterns of experi- 
ence are formed by them, though not independently of objective conditions. 
Thus in outline the ‘ ways of seeing’ and the ‘ ways of living ’—whether 
socially or otherwise—are reducible to a common psychological genus. 

I have already disclaimed any pretence that this view offers a great 
addition to the content of psychology, and it is at present too sketchy to 
be called a theory. I have given, as I said at the outset, a profession of 
faith, just one way of seeing psychology. Its value to me lies in its pro- 
viding a unitary point of view from which, it is hopefully claimed, one 
can survey the whole extent of psychological study. At least it may 
prevent a born eclectic, like the present speaker, from degenerating into 
a kind of scientific jackdaw. So I invite you to regard experience, in the 
fullest sense of that word, as formed in a complex of patterns largely 
made by the experiencer, patterns in some cases interlacing, in others 
forming a hierarchy of increasing generality. Or, to start from the other 
end, let us take our science to be the study of all the detailed embroideries 
upon that most common and most comprehensive of patterns, the formula 
of which runs: He was born, and strove to master his world for his own 
safety ; he mated, fought for his offspring, and died. : 


REFERENCES, 


(1) ‘On Conceptual Thinking ’ (British Journal of Psychology, xxiv, 133-143). 
(2) Remembering, p. 201. 
(3) “Social Relationships in the Factory ’ (The Human Factor, ix, 381-394). 


Ee .,—lc re 


SECTION K.—BOTANY. 


THE USES OF FUNGI 


ADDRESS BY 
J. RAMSBOTTOM, O.B.E., 


PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


IN considering a subject for this Address I was attracted by certain 
aspects of Botany which, though mentioned incidentally, if at all, in 
academic teaching, play a major part in general botanical activities. 
But, finding that I was expected to deal with Mycology, I chose a topic 
which seemed to fit in with the Council’s suggestion that some aspect 
of science should be treated which had a bearing on the life of the 
community. 

All who have paid any attention to fungi realise the vast amount of 
disease and damage which they cause. Fungal diseases of plants and 
animals, fungal damage to stored products, to timber and to food and 
the search for Hemony ‘ of sov’ran use ’gainst all inchantments, mildew 
blast, or damp, Or gastly furies apparition’ have frequently been discussed, 
but there seems to have been little consideration of how fungi enter 
generally into problems of life and existence. Every schoolboy knows 
that life as it is would be impossible without chlorophyll ; but it is often 
overlooked that unless there were also organisms without chlorophyll, 
plant and animal life would cease. The fact that fungi lack chlorophyll 
imposes on them their several ways of physiological existence which have 
results so important to man. Colourless bacteria though having a similar 
physiology do not fall within the scope of this address. 

Presumably it has always been known that some of the larger fungi 
are edible and some poisonous. In this country it is not common know- 
ledge, however, that only half a dozen or so are poisonous. The rule 
of thumb methods for distinguishing between edible and poisonous 
species are worse than useless, for Amanita phalloides, the most poisonous 
of all fungi, ‘ peels,’ does not turn a silver coin black, nor does it obey 
any of the rules which have been in common practice since classical times. 
Accidents are certain when there is indiscriminate eating of anything, 
and fungi are no exception. Though the consumption of the common 
mushroom appears to be increasing there is little sale now for any other 
species in the ordinary markets. Blewits (Tricholoma personatum and 
its allies) is sold in the north, midlands and west ; I have known it to be 
seized as poisonous when offered for sale in the south. Occasionally one 
sees Boletus edulis and B. scaber on barrows in the streets of Soho, and 


190 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


various species figure in side-dishes in the restaurants—but the customs 
of Soho are as alien as its inhabitants. 

I can find no evidence that fungi were ever eaten here so extensively 
as in many parts of the Continent, where there are special markets, with 
their own lists of edible fungi and their inspectors, some of whom have 
made valuable contributions to mycological taxonomy. But the attitude 
of a country may change in these matters. Berkeley wrote in 1857 that 
“the prejudice against Fungi is so great at Paris, that artificially raised 
mushrooms are almost the only ones of the genus that are admitted into 
the market, and in London the number is confined to about six.’ Yet 
in 16701 the French were apparently as fond of mushrooms as they are 
to-day. In Sweden, where many species are sold in the markets, the 
much esteemed Boletus edulis is called Karl Johannsvampen after Jean 
Baptiste Bernadotte, Napoleon’s Marshal who was chosen heir to the 
Swedish throne. He assumed the names Charles John, and afterwards 
became Charles XIV; he is said to have introduced fungus-eating to 
his new country and cepe was his favourite. 

Fungi form the main food of the poorer classes in the Baltic States, ? 
and in the vast tracts of marshy land in north-east Russia at certain times 
of the year, and it will be remembered that Darwin records that, except 
for a few berries, Cyttaria is the sole vegetable food of the natives of 
Tierra del Fuego. 

There are suggestions in classical writings about methods of producing 
edible fungi. One which was adopted and which has been carried on 
until the present day is the watering of old stumps of poplar to stimulate 
the growth of Pholiota aegerita. Similarly watered, the mass of earth 
compacted together with fungus mycelium—the fungus-stone, lapis 
fungifer, coveted by Pepys, and which puzzled and interested Goethe— 
produces the edible fruit-body of Polyporus tuberaster known since the 
fourteenth century and mentioned by several of the herbalists; its 
classical locality is Italy, but it doubtless is the same as the Canadian 
Tuckahoe (Grifola [Polyporus] Tuckahoe). ‘The pseudo-sclerotium, with 
its included tufa, soil or stones, is not itself edible, and thus differs from 
the true sclerotia, composed entirely of fungal mycelium, of several 
other species. Amongst these the best known are: Poria (Pachyma) 
Cocos, the Tuckahoe or Indian Bread of America, which occurs associated 
with the roots of pines and other trees apparently as a weak parasite— 
it is probably the same as Pachyma hoelen, the Bukury6é of Japan and 
Fuhling of China, used in oriental medicine for four thousand years, with 
a primitive cultivation and an export as Chinese Root of over one thousand 
tons annually ; Polyporus Mylitiae, the Blackfellows’ Bread of Australia, 
and various tropical species of Lentinus, of which the first known was the 
Tuber regium of Rumphius. 

The only larger fungi which are cultivated to any extent by man are 

1<T hoped milder physick might cure them of this French disease, of this 
inordinate appetite to mushrooms.’—The Memoirs of Monsieur du Vail. 

2 Letts are often to be seen in Epping forest, where they gather large quantities 
of almost every species and pickle them. French, Italians and Swiss met in the 


woods of the home counties are usually making special search for species of 
Boletus. 


K.—BOTANY 19 


the Field Mushroom (Psalliota campestris), the Shiitake (Cortinellus 
Shiitake) and Volvaria volvacea, but it is of interest to note that here, 
as in some other directions, the ant, regarded by some as man’s most 
serious competitor, has succeeded in cultivating many more fungi in its 
fungus-gardens ; the termite, more an enemy of man’s social progress 
than his competitor, also is a fungus-cultivator. 

The common field mushroom is cultivated in Europe and America. 
It has long been valued for its esculent properties. Horace referred to 
it—‘ pratensibus optima fungis Natura est aliis male creditur —which 
Gerard translates as ‘the medow mushrums are in kind the best, It is 
ill trusting any of the rest.’ 

When and where the cultivation of the mushroom began is unknown. 
Tournefort in 1707 writes as if it was then grown commonly in France 
and it is probable that the methods he described were of French origin. 
It is not difficult to imagine how the frequency of mushrooms in horse- 
tracks and other highly manured places led to a realisation of the requisite 
conditions of growth, but it was fortunate that the mushroom was tried, 
for no attempt since made to cultivate other species has met with 
commercial success. Without entering into details it may be said that 
the methods described by Tournefort are essentially the same as those 
followed at the present time with the exception that spawn was not 
planted in the beds as it was thought to occur spontaneously in horse- 
dung in sufficient amount. Later the practice arose of inoculating the 
beds with virgin spawn which, in this country, was usually contained 
in mushroom ‘ bricks,’ masses of dried horse-dung permeated with fungus 
mycelium. ‘The virgin spawn was obtained from highly manured places, 
mill-tracks, stables, under haystacks, or even from trenches specially 
prepared with layers of horse-droppings. Spawn-gatherers were highly 
skilled and able to distinguish mushroom-spawn by its smell and appear- 
ance from that of the numerous coprophilous fungi with which it is 
associated in natural conditions. Since the War, however, the spawn- 
gatherer of the old type seems to have disappeared almost as completely 
as the professional truffe-hunter. The chief reason for this is that 
spawn is now produced commercially by scientific methods. 

So soon as it was understood that fungi were reproduced by spores 
attempts were made to obtain spawn from them. ‘Though these efforts 
may be said to have begun with Micheli’s experiments on various fungi 
in 1729, it was not until 1894 that J. Constantin and L. Matruchot 
succeeded. ‘They patented their method and the process was carried 
out for some time at the Institut Pasteur where there was a ‘ Service des 
blancs de Champignons ’ under the direction of M. Tellier. Meanwhile 
interest was aroused in America, which was importing about 3,000,000 
pounds of canned mushrooms annually, and growers, moreover, had to de- 
pend upon foreign spawn. ‘The United States Department of Agriculture 


began experiments. M. C. Ferguson carried out research work on spore- 


germination but had little or no success except when a small piece of 
mycelium was present. B.M. Duggar, who had been in Europe studying 
methods of cultivation, described in 1905 how spawn can be obtained 
satisfactorily by making cultures from the flesh of the stipe, an application 


192 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


of a common laboratory-method of obtaining growth. It is directly 
owing to Duggar’s investigations that the mushroom-growing industry 
began its great development in America, where the annual production 
is NOW 17,000,000 pounds. 

At the present time several firms in this country produce spawn. 
This so-called pure-culture spawn may be tissue-spawn or spore-spawn— 
it is not possible to judge from some of the advertisements. Most of 
the spawn on the British market is produced either in this country, in 
America, or in France ; it is sold in bottles, cartons and other receptacles 
and very little brick-spawn is now used. All firms keep their methods 
secret, but it is said that while some germinate the spores as shed, others 
use the flesh of the stem, or gills. It may seem an anticlimax to add that 
the secret surrounding the germination of mushroom spores is simply 
a time factor, for they will grow on a wide range of media if sown fresh 
and left for from ten to fourteen days. 

By the adoption of the pure-culture method it is possible to perpetuate 
a satisfactory strain and this will remain as true as that of any horti- 
cultural plant. Thus a good deal of the former indefiniteness about 
the crop to be obtained is obviated. But judging from the displays in 
London shops there are too few strains now grown. It should be possible 
and profitable to get away from the three or four stereotyped forms, one 
at least of which appears to be American. 

With the coming of the motor-car there was immediately a fear of a 
shortage of manure for making mushroom-beds, and it cannot be said 
that the danger has decreased with the years, now that even cavalry is 
being mechanised. ‘The attention of scientific men and growers is being 
paid to the possibility of a substitute, but so far with no outstanding 
success. 

Mushroom growing is not an easy business if it is to be carried on 
year after year. ‘There seems to be a popular idea that mushrooms can 
be successfully grown only in darkness, and that sheds, tunnels,? caves 
and suchlike must be available. It is true that caves—if properly ven- 
tilated—are very satisfactory as is abundantly proved by the outstanding 
results obtained by French growers in the famous caves in the environs 
of Paris. However, it is rare to find mushrooms growing naturally in 
anything but full daylight, and a good deal of commercial growing is 
carried on in the open in the south-east of England. Indeed at the time 
of the first development of the sites of the South Kensington Museums 
the neighbourhood was well known for the mushroom crops of its market 
gardens. 

The Japanese and Chinese are great consumers of fungi, and many 
species, fresh, dried or canned, are on sale in the shops. The most 
appreciated species in Japan is Cortinellus edodes, ‘ Matsu-dake,’ and 
annual picnics are held for gathering it in the Pinus densiflora forests, 
an age-long custom frequently alluded to in poetry and in pictorial arts. 


3 The best known of these in the British Isles is the Scotland Street Tunnel at 
Edinburgh. 

4 The cultivation of mushrooms is now carried on in the caverns under Hamlet’s 
palace, Kronenberg, at Elsinore, 


K.—BOTANY 193 


One species, ‘ Shiitake ’ >—Cortinellus Shiitake—is cultivated, 2,000,000 
kilograms being produced annually, of which 700,000 kilograms are 
exported, valued at £100,000. The primitive method of cultivation, 
which is said to date back more than a thousand years, was merely to 
make a pile of logs in moist, shady places in the forest. In modern practice 
the logs are inoculated with powdered infected wood, or with spores of 
the fungus shed on the mats used during drying and mixed with sawdust, 
or with macerated sporophores. ‘These are inserted in the log and the 
holes or incisions covered with leafy branches or with wet straw-mats.® 
There are two crops a year. S. Mimura states that as a result of more 
scientific methods there was an increase of over twenty per cent. in pro- 
duction in about ten years. 

As the climate of Japan where Shiitake flourishes is much like that of 
Central Europe, H. Mayr of Munich attempted to introduce the fungus 
and its culture. Though his experiments, which began in 1903, were 
carried on for ten years or so they met with only partial success. 

More recently F. Passecker has succeeded in growing the fungus in 
pure-culture up to the fruiting stage. 

The Chinese in Formosa have long valued as food young shoots of 
Zizania aquatica (Canada rice) infected with Ustilago esculenta. The 
mycelium of the smut is perennial in the rhizome, so that when infection 
has once taken place the grass produces hypertrophied shoots each year. 
Before spore-formation the hyphal mass is white and compact, and at 
this stage is sold in the markets as ‘ kah-peh-sdon,’ ‘ white bamboo-shoot 
growing on the wild rice plant.’ Cultivation is carried out along road- 
sides and in small gardens. The ripe black spore-powder was formerly 
sold on the mainland of Japan and was used ‘to paint eyebrows and 
borders of the hair by ladies or actors and sometimes used as medicine.’ 

The third fungus mentioned, Volvaria volvacea, is widely cultivated 
in the tropics. This species occurs in Europe, but is somewhat un- 
common, being found for the most part on tan in glass-houses. It is 
rather remarkable that until a few years ago all species of Volvaria were 
_ considered poisonous, possibly owing to comparison with Amanita 
_ phalloides. ‘The wide extent of the cultivation of Volvaria volvacea is 

only now becoming realised, although Rumphius so early as 1740 men- 

tioned the fungus under the names Boletus moschocaryanus and B, sanguineus. 

In recent literature it usually appears as Volvaria esculenta Bres. (1912). 

The first detailed account of its cultivation came from the Philippines, but 

the general methods are followed also in Java, Indo-China, Madagascar, and 

West Africa. Heaps of vegetable refuse—rice-straw, sugar-cane bagasse, 

chopped banana trunks and leaves, husks of coffee and nutmegs, refuse 

from citron oil, sago or indigo manufactories—are built in shady or damp 

places in abaca and banana plantations or in old overgrown wood-lots. 

_ & ‘Shii’ is the Japanese name for Pasania (Castanopsis) cuspidata, ‘take’ 
means a fungus. The fungus grows also on Quercus and other Fagacee. 

6 There is a similar practice in the mountains of parts of Foochow. ‘ Incisions 

_ are made in the logs, liquid manure is poured over the incisions, straw is covered 

over them, and when this is well rotted the fungi spring forth.’ (J. Arnold, 

_ quoted in Philippine Edible Fungi, by O. A. Reinking). Foochow is the centre 

_ of the Chinese dried-fungus trade. 


+ H 


ae 


194 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


The heaps are not inoculated artificially. ‘They are watered, sometimes 
with brine rice-wash or the scum of sugar-cane juice and last for some time, 
usually bearing after about a fortnight. Because the fungus occurs on 
ant-hills and on fallen wood and decaying plants after rain, which is 
usually accompanied by thunder and lightning, the Philippine natives 
call it ‘ The flower of thunderbolts and lightning ’: it will be recollected 
that the Greeks similarly accounted for the formation of truffles. 

Truffles and morels have always been highly esteemed, and numerous 
attempts have been made to grow them as a crop, but so far without 
success. Some of the methods reported at different times as successful 
remind one of a belief formerly common among English farmers that 
mushrooms are produced by salt. To judge from official correspondence 
there is at present a keen interest in the possibility of growing truffles 
on a commercial basis in this country ; there would be a ready market 
for them at high prices. It seems worth noting that Pseudobalsamia 
microspora, one of the Tuberacez, is a common invader of mushroom-beds 
in America; it has recently been recorded for this country. 

From time immemorial truffles have been hunted by pigs, dogs, and 
more rarely goats. The truffles which are on sale in London shops? 
are chiefly the Périgord truffle (Tuber melanospermum) though Tuber 
brumale is occasionally seen. ‘The white truffle of Piedmont (Tuber 
magnatum) apparently is not exported. Closely allied forms, terfas or 
kames (Terfezia), are commonly sold in the native markets of north Africa, 
and one species, 7’. /eonis, is an article of commerce in south Spain an 
Portugal. 

It is now often overlooked that species of edible truffle occur in this 
country, but fifty years ago English-gathered truffles were on sale in 
Covent Garden. Dogs were used to hunt them in Wiltshire and Sussex 
until just before the War. Here it may not be out of place to mention 
that it was owing to truffles being found in Wiltshire that British mycology 
gained one of its most valuable recruits. C. E. Broome was living at 
Rudloe, Wiltshire, in 1841, when on the advice of Leonard Jennings he 
sent an alga to the Rev. M. J. Berkeley for naming and two sketches of 
moulds. Berkeley asked him whether truffles were found in his neigh- 
bourhood. Broome succeeded in finding some, and, his appetitite being 
whetted, he enthusiastically searched for them for the rest of his life, 
never being without a rake on his travels. He found several species 
new to science, and added many to our fungus-flora, being the only British 
mycologist who has had any success in this direction. He collaborated 
with Berkeley, being responsible for most of the drawings and measure- 
ments of microfungi, and from 1848 to 1886 they worked so assiduously 
that the authority ‘ B. & Br.’ is one of the best known in taxonomy. 

To round off the story, mention should be made of the use of poisonous 
fungi. ‘The intoxicating effects of Amanita muscaria and its uses in the 
religious rites of certain Siberian tribes, as well as for killing flies, are well 
known. 

The historical accounts of the poisoning of priests, poets and kings, 


? France produced 200,000 kilos of truffles in 1933 at a total value of over 
134 million francs ; 92,700 kilos were exported fresh, dried or marinated. 


K.—BOTANY 195 


do not clearly distinguish between the putting of poison into the dish 
and the presence therein of a poisonous fungus whether by accident or 
design. 

With the widespread knowledge of poisonous fungi on the Continent 
it is surprising that little criminal use appears to have been made of 
them, especially as the writers of modern detective stories have shown 
their possibilities. However, a case which aroused great interest in 
France towards the end of the War was that of an insurance agent, Girard, 
who was executed in 1918 for making use of his mycological knowledge 
and his professional opportunities as an insurance agent to get rid of a 
number of clients, the second batch by means of Amanita phalloides. 
But this was simple compared with a habit of the Watusi of the Victoria 
Nyanza region. G. Mattlet describes how, when they wish to wreak 
their vengeance on anyone, they exhume the corpse of a person who has 
recently died of pneumomycosis. They remove the lungs, dry and 
powder them, and administer this in banana beer. The fungus survives 
the treatment. 

As would be expected man has contrived to make use of the larger 
fungi in many and various ways, a few only of which need be mentioned. 
From the earliest times the sterile bases of puff-balls have served for 
staunching wounds ;* Lycoperdon Bovista is the Bovista officinalis of 
older works and ‘ summopere laudata’ as Vittadini says. Within recent 
years it has been proposed to use it as a styptic in veterinary work. 

The soft flesh of certain species of Fomes, particularly Fomes fomentarius, 
has been employed for many purposes. As amadou it was formerly used 
as tinder after beating and treatment with saltpetre ; it is still used by 
dentists for absorption and compressing, by fly-fishers to dry fly, and in 
some types of experimental pneumatic fire-syringes. Caps, aprons, picture- 
frames and such-like made from it are still common in Thuringia and 
the afforested parts of Germany. It was with this ‘Touch-wood... 
commonly call’d by the name of Spunk ; but that we meet with to be sold 
in Shops, is brought from beyond Seas’ that Robert Hooke made the first 
known observations on the microscopical structure of fungi in his Micro- 
graphia (1665). ‘The account occurs in Observation XXII—Of common 
Sponges, and several other Spongie fibrous bodies—and so is likely to 
escape notice: ‘The substance of it feels, and looks to the naked eye, and 
may bestretch’d any way, exactly like a very fine piece of Chamois Leather, 
or wash’d Leather, but it is of somewhat a browner hew, and nothing neer 
so strong: but examining it with my Microscope, I found it of somewhat 
another make than any kind of Leather . . . it consists of an infinite number 
of small filaments. . . .’ 

The luminosity of fungi is one of those strange natural phenomena 
which always arouses interest, and there are many accounts of it. 
Miss L. E. Cheesman informs me that on her recent visit to the New 
Hebrides she was bushed one night and, passing near a village, said she 
must have a light. Boys collected a luminous fungus with a glutinous 
cap which they stuck all over themselves. She could then see a column 


® Cf. Romany couplet: “Quanda mandi chivs moilee Ke vindi morripude,’ 
When a man cuts his fingers, he uses the puff-ball. 


196 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


of boys trailing through the forest. This account recalls one which 
Olaus Magnus gave in 1652 of the way in which luminous fungi and 
wood are arranged at intervals through the forests of remote countries 
of the north. Sometimes only the fruit-body is luminous, sometimes 
the mycelium also, sometimes the mycelium alone; in these last the 
wood affected also is luminous, and this caused some concern occasionally 
in the early days of the War, when townspeople had to learn to move 
about in the dark out of doors. It had its uses sometimes in the trenches 
to prevent collisions ; and Ben Jonson refers to one which does not appear 
to be practised—‘ While she sits reading by the glowworm’s light, Or 
rotten wood, o’er which the worm hath crept.’ 

G. H. Bryan in 1923 recommended the use of the ‘ inky juice’ of 
Coprinus comatus for retouching or painting out defects in photographic 
negatives. 

Hottentot ladies use the spores of Podaxis carcinomalis, which grows 
on ant-hills, as a face-powder. Miss E. L. Stephens, who told me of 
this, says that the spore-colour suits their special complexion. This is 
equalled by an account of the examination of ‘ An European Mummy,’ 
from a Roman cemetery near Budapest, which is best given in the 
original. ‘As I examined the contents of the boxes I found by 
mikroskopical way, that they contained the face powder of the women 
prepared of a mixture of rice-flower and the reddish brown spores of 
the mushroom Tolyposporium junceum added evidently with the purpose 
to diminish the white colour of the rice flour. As powder puff served a 
piece of sponge.’ 

It is puzzling to know what is behind the fact that John de Warrenna 
(ob. 1347), Earl of Sussex and Surrey, held the manor of Gymyngham 
(Gimingham, County Norfolk) by the rendering to the King a mushroom 
(campernolle) yearly. 

We are so accustomed to think that wood attacked by fungi is worthless 
that mention may be made of two or three examples to the contrary. 

The wood of birch infected with Polyporus betulinus is powdered and 
used for burnishing watches in the Swiss watch industry. The soft 
flesh of the fungus served our ancestors for making razor-strops ; ento- 
mologists use it for pinning insects. 

The well-known ‘ green wood’ of Tunbridge Ware is usually oak or 
birch (though other deciduous trees are affected) containing the mycelium 
of Chlorosplenium eruginosum. 'The mycelium, as well as the fruit-body, 
is a brilliant green and colours the wood. Thin strips of different coloured 
woods are assembled into blocks so that their ends form the pattern or 
picture required. The woods are glued and bound together under 
pressure. When set, thin slices are cut across the block with a circular 
saw. ‘The slices show the pattern, and are glued on the table, box, or 
other object to be decorated, carefully smoothed off and polished. The 
art which died out for some years in Tunbridge Wells has recently been 
revived. 

Some of the decorative wood which is occasionally seen is ordinary 
wood infected with some fungus, such as Armillaria mellea or Ustulina 

® F. Hollendonner in Magyar Botan. Lapok. XXXII (1933), 107. 


K.—BOTANY 197 


vulgaris, which forms a black line at the limit of its attack. As these 
lines bear no relation to the normal orientation of sectioning, peculiar 
patterns often result. When tempted to purchase furniture so marked 
it is always advisable to test the wood in the neighbourhood of the line 
for defect. 

The type of oak known as ‘ brown oak’ is much valued by timber 
merchants. K. St. G. Cartwright has recently shown that though the 
wood is structurally sound, the colour results from the attack of the 
common beef-steak fungus, Fistulina hepatica, and further, that the 
colour can be produced by artificial inoculation with the fungus. 

The destruction of logs by fungi is one of the important factors in the 
life of a forest. It is strange to learn of rotting wood being sold at a 
fairly high price as cattle food. On Chiloe Island off the coast of Chile 
and in eastern Patagonia the wood of various trees such as Eucryphia 
cordifolia, Weinmannia trichosperma, and species of Nothofagus is con- 
verted into a palatable food (palo podrido) by a mould, Mucor racemosus, 
in conjunction with bacteria. The smell and taste of the altered wood is 
said to resemble somewhat that of fresh mushrooms : it forms a valuable 
addition to pasturage. 

It is not surprising that fungi formerly were held in high esteem as 
cures for various ailments. Ergot (Claviceps purpurea) is the only one 
which is retained in the British Pharmacopza. It was not known to 
classical writers and the beginnings of its history are in German folk-lore. 
The fungus attacks many species of grass, but is principally known from 
tye. Periodically, but more particularly in the middle ages before the 
effects of famine were neutralised by rapid transport, outbreaks of ergotism 
caused plagues of sufficient severity to be recorded. Two main types 
of ergotism are recognised, gangrenous and convulsive. The last great 
epidemic occurred in Russia where from September 1926 to August 1927 
over 11,000 cases became known to the authorities. A mild epidemic 
was reported at Manchester in 1927 among Jewish immigrants from 
central Europe who lived on rye-bread. The use of ergot in midwifery 
began in the eighteenth century in France, Germany and Italy, but its 
entry into official medicine took place in the United States early in the 
nineteenth century. An enormous amount of pharmacological investi- 
gation has been carried out, and recently A. McCrea has shown that the 
fungus grown in saprophytic cultures produces the three chief active 
principles (ergotinine, histamine and tyramine), characteristic of the 
extracts made from natural sclerotia, in sufficient amount to be of economic 
importance. 

The two main sources of ergot are a large region in eastern Europe 
(chiefly Russia and Poland) and a smaller one in the moist north-west 
corner of Spain and Portugal, though other countries produce enough 
for their own use. ‘The size of the crop varies from year to year, the 
average for a number of years being about a hundred tons from Russia 
and seventy tons from Spain. 

From the time of classical writers Agaricum, or Female Agarick, has 
been used for many ailments. Dioscorides believed it to be the most 
efficacious of all agencies in curing disease, and gives a list of its virtues 


198 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


which reads like an advertisement of a modern patent medicine. It is 
the dry, white, friable flesh of Polyporus officinalis which grows on larch 
in subalpine regions ; it has not yet gone completely out of use. 

Similarly, yeast was prescribed medicinally by Hippocrates and later 
by Dioscorides, and it is still used for various ailments and incorporated 
in many patent medicines. 

The list of fungi employed as medicines by natives in all parts of the 
world is very long, and its chief interest lies in the beliefs associated 
with many well-known species. One of the most celebrated is Cordyceps 
sinensis, with its attached parasitised caterpillar, which is sold throughout 
China in bundles tied up with red silk. Captain Kingdon Ward tells 
me that coolies collect this in the south and east of Tibet and that his 
own men are always on the look out for it. 

One aspect of the general subject which must be dealt with very 
summarily is that of mycorrhiza. It will be well to treat of orchid- 
growing, because there we meet with the best example of a practical 
application. It has been known for almost a century that fungal hyphe 
are present in the roots of orchids as they are, as a matter of fact, in those 
of many other families. Such difficulty was experienced in germinating 
the minute seeds of orchids that for many years it was thought of sufficient 
interest to describe and illustrate any seedlings which were obtained. 
The first practical step which proved of value was that of sowing the 
seeds on the soil of the pot containing the parent plant, a method 
apparently introduced by Neumann in 1844. There were modifications 
of this method, and gradual progress was made, but what success there 
was could be attributed rather to the ‘ green thumb’ of the grower 
than to any essential difference in procedure. At the beginning of the 
century, Noel Bernard, as a result of his study of Neottia, the bird’s nest 
orchid, realised that the presence of the fungus in the root was in some 
way connected with the difficulty of obtaining seedlings, and astounded 
the botanical and horticultural worlds when he extracted the fungus 
from a root and, sowing seed with it, obtained abundant germination. 
The method has been used on a commercial basis in France, Germany 
and this country. 

Following on some experiments by Bernard, L. Knudson has shown 
that the action of the fungus can be replaced by sugars in the medium. 
This so-called asymbiotic method has also been employed in commercial 
orchid growing. Here we have the reverse of what is the common 
sequence, i.e. a fungus is proved to be necessary to bring about a desired 
end, and, as a further step, the action of the fungus has been replaced 
by chemical means. So far as my experience and observation go, the 
purely chemical method is not so satisfactory as the symbiotic method, 
though as germination in both is carried out in culture-flasks there seems 
no theoretical reason why there should be more thana temporary difference 
in the first stages. It may be added that the first orchid firm to apply 
the pure-culture method in this country has followed it for a quarter of 
a century, and for many years germination has been regarded as a routine 
requiring no scientific supervision. 

Most, if not all, forest trees have mycorrhizal roots, though the relation 


K.—BOTANY 199 


between the fungus and root is not of the same general type as in orchids. 
Trees growing under certain conditions undoubtedly benefit from the 
presence of the fungus, and forestry research-workers are investigating the 
problem of artificially infecting seedlings with appropriate fungi. Food 
obviously passes from the mycorrhizal fungi into the tree roots whether the 
food is absorbed from the fungus itself or is formed in the soil by the 
action of the fungus on substances present there. 

Fungi are able to bring about changes by means of enzymes, and it is 
surprising what veritable museums of enzymes many fungi are, e.g. from 
Aspergillus Oryze the following have been recorded : amidase, catalase, 
cytase, dextrase, diastase, emulsin, « and 8 glucosidase, glycero- 
phosphatase, histozyme, inulase, invertase, lactase, lecithinase, lipase, 
maltase, protease, rennet, sulphatase—apparently sufficient for any purpose 
here below 

It is puzzling why with such a battery of attack many fungi are not 
more nearly omnivorous ; obviously other factors in addition to enzyme 
action enter into the problem. One thing is sure—there are abundant 
species and there is abundant decay. But all decay is not destruction, 
and life—so long as it remained possible—would be odd without the 
changes brought about by fungi. 

From earliest times man has made use of the action of certain fungi 
for bringing about desired changes in food and drink. More recently 
many of these processes have been carried out under controlled conditions, 
and other fermentations-have been harnessed by man for his need, his 
pleasure, or his convenience. Fungi are rapidly becoming more important 
in this respect, and we may anticipate an increasing number of industrial 
applications of fermentation activities. There is every sign that eventually 
we shall have a great chemical fermentation industry producing many 
substances which are now manufactured by expensive synthetic methods, 
for many such substances are known to occur as metabolic products of 
micro-organisms. Regarding the formation of these products, A. J. 
Kluyver writes : ‘ Even a superficial survey of the biochemical field is apt 
to fill one with profound astonishment at the practically unlimited diversity 
of the chemical constituents of living organisms. ‘But this astonishment 
is transformed into bewilderment when we take into consideration the 
chemical processes which lead to the formation of these various products. 
For we have to accept the undeniable fact that all these substances have 
ultimately been derived from carbon dioxide and inorganic salts by a more 
or less elaborate series of biochemical processes. . . . Here we find the 
most remarkable fact . . . that a single organic compound suffices to 
ensure a perfectly normal development of these organisms, although they 
are cut off from any external energy supply. Here we find the biochemical 
miracle in its fullest sense, for we are bound to conclude that all the widely 
divergent chemical constituents of the cell have been built up from the 
only organic food constituent, and that without any intervention of 
external energy sources. ‘The chemical conversions performed by these 
organisms rather resemble witchcraft than chemistry!’ ‘The Great War 
stimulated much research in these problems, and some of the methods 
then devised have been improved and extended just as Pasteur’s studies 


200 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


on beer, undertaken as an immediate result of the misfortunes which befell 
France after the Franco-Prussian War, led to a scientific method of 
brewing. It has been said that when we can convert our evening paper 
into sugar so rapidly that we are able to eat for breakfast the albumen 
prepared therefrom, then indeed shall we have solved one of the greatest 
problems of the century. 

It is easy to suggest how some of the early important social discoveries 
in fermentation were made, but Elia has immortalised the essentials of 
all such hypotheses ; the aim of science is to confine within reasonable 
limits the stage which corresponds to the burning down of the hut. 

Most of the older processes depend upon the action of yeasts, i.e. 
fermentation in its restricted sense, the conversion of sugar into alcohol 
and carbon dioxide. ‘They make a formidable list, and it is not necessary 
to refer to any but the more important or more interesting. 

Bread has been made since prehistoric times and leavened and un- 
leavened bread were clearly distinguished in the Divine instructions 
for the first Passover. Leaven is a portion of dough left over from the 
previous baking, and French bakery had its sequence from /evain de chef 
to levain de tous points. The ‘sour dough’ was presumably the 
experienced pioneer who saved a little of his previous bake. It was a 
great step forward when brewers’ yeast was first used in baking in the 
early eighteenth century. The purpose of fermentation is the effective 
aeration of the dough by the uniform dispersion of carbon dioxide which 
must be occluded and retained by the gluten so that a well-risen loaf 
will result on baking, of required volume, texture and flavour with no 
alteration of the wheat protein. This fermentation is now accomplished 
by compressed-yeasts of pure-culture strains physiologically adapted to 
rapid and abundant gas-production in the complex environment of the 
dough. The compressed-yeast industry has gradually become more 
scientific since its introduction about 1860. For forty years or so the 
Vienna process of low aeration was practised, but this has been long 
replaced by higher aeration methods. ‘The employment of compressed- 
yeasts has supplanted the older methods of using leavens, barms, ferments 
and brewers’ and distillers’ yeasts except where special types of bread 
are required, but even here biological culture materials are coming into 
use as for the fermentation of sour-rye dough. Chemical methods of 
aeration such as by carbon dioxide under pressure, or as the result of 
reaction of substances in the presence of water, have fallen into disfavour 
except in biscuit manufacture, cake mixtures and self-raising flour. In 
ordinary circumstances it is essential that the yeast shall be used fairly 
fresh, and in England supplies are distributed to every town and village 
three times a week. During the General Strike of 1926 the Board of 
Trade had an emergency organisation which kept up the regular supply 
from Scotland and Ireland. The amount of bakers’ yeast produced in 
Great Britain in 1930 was 2,200 tons with a value of £916,000. 

The changes which take place in the juices of fruits doubtless were 
known before the fermentation of cereals. Certainly by the time man’s 
speech became coherent he sang the praises of wine as is seen in the 
numerous references in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Babylonian cuneiform 


K.—BOTANY 201 


inscriptions and the manuscripts of Greek mythology. The yeasts 
bringing about the fermentation of the grape sugar when the juice (must) 
is pressed out are present on the skins of the fruit: they winter in the 
soil. Different forms of yeast occur in different vineyards, though they 
are usually of the Saccharomyces ellipsoideus type. The character of the 
wine depends upon the kind of grape and the manner and period of 
fermentation: red wines are formed when the colour from the skins 
is extracted by the fermented liquor. Brandy or cognac is the alcoholic 
distillate from wine. 

In fermentation processes it is common to find that a practice handed 
down from antiquity was carried on in essentially the same way until 
recent times, and then there has been some method of control. Naturally 
im so important an industry as wine-making—e.g. France devotes four 
million acres to vineyards—scientific methods have been widely adopted. 
It is a little too haphazard to depend upon the naturally occurring yeasts 
on the grape skin. Consequently the skins are sterilised either by Pasteur- 
isation, or more commonly by the addition of a small amount of a dilute 
solution of sulphurous acid or one of its salts, generally potassium meta- 
bisulphite. Pure-culture yeast is added to the must as a ‘ starter.’ 

As fermentation is carried out in the open it is obvious that other 
yeasts enter the fermenting liquor. Mycoderma vini,® ‘la fleur du vin,’ is 
active in bringing about the ageing of sherries kept on ullage, by inducing 
oxidation changes and esterification. In some districts of France, 
Botrytis cinerea is allowed to infect grapes which are to be used in 
making wine of relatively high alcohol content (e.g. Sauterne), which 
usually contains some unfermentable sugar. This ‘noble mould’ 
produces no objectionable odour or flavour ; its growth merely results 
in considerable loss of water from the grape. 

The preparation of cider and perry is similar to that of wine. Formerly 
the juice of apples or pears when pressed out of the pulp was allowed to 
ferment with the yeasts occurring naturally on the surface of the fruits. 
Modern manufacturies, however, use pure-cultures of appropriate yeasts, 
which enable them to standardise their products in a manner not possible 
if reliance is placed on the mixed natural population. 

Mead is sometimes regarded as the oldest beverage of the human 
race, for it was probably brewed from the washings of emptied honey- 
combs before crops were cultivated. It is still made in English farm- 
houses, and sold to a small extent on the Continent. Water is added to 
the honey and well mixed and sterilised by boiling. As the liquid cools 
flavouring is added, and it is then fermented with brewers’ yeast. 

The general routine of beer-brewing is well known. Brewers’ yeast is 
Saccharomyces cerevisie. Many strains of this species are known ;_ they 
are generally classified as top or high yeasts, and bottom or low yeasts. 
Brewery yeast must generate certain substances possessing a characteristic 
aromatic taste or odour. It must also readily separate from the fluid, 
leaving a clear, bright liquid. This species has been studied more 
thoroughly than any other fungus. Many breweries have long had their 

i. Not to be confused with Mycoderma aceti = Acetobacter aceti, the vinegar 
plant. 
Hee 


202 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


own special yeasts for inoculating the wort. These give the slightly 
different, well-known characteristics associated with the names im- 
mortalised by Calverley : ‘O Beer, O Hodgson, Guinness, Allsopp, Bass ! 
Names that should be on every infant’s tongue!’ Pure cultures of 
bottom yeasts used for light beers are maintained fairly easily in an 
uncontaminated condition. Top yeasts are more liable to be mixed 
with foreign or wild yeasts, which are deleterious and give rise to ‘ disease,’ 
though certain non-sporing yeasts are frequently associated with the 
conditioning of English bottled beers. 

K. Kruis and J. Satava working in Czeckoslovakia in 1918 showed 
that there was an alternation of generations in yeasts and regarded 
Torula and other non-sporing yeasts as haploid forms. Little notice was 
taken of their work, but recently O. Winge, of the famous Carlsberg 
Laboratories, has independently confirmed some of their results. The 
difference in haplophase and diplophase is remarkable in some fungi, 
as for example in Ustilago laevis and U. Hordei, where the unfused conidium 
is unable to infect the host plant. We may anticipate some similarly 
distinct physiological differences among the yeasts. 

The art of distillation for the preparation of beverages apparently 
dates back as far as 2000 B.C., and St. Patrick is reputed to have taught 
it to the Irish. Whisky and gin are prepared from barley in a manner 
similar to beer. The malt, however, is left until the whole of the dextrin 
is converted into maltose, so that in subsequent fermentation by yeast 
the maximum amount of alcohol is produced. The strains of yeast 
employed have a high fermentative power. ‘ 

To turn for a moment to the fuel problem which is becoming of 
increasing significance. It has been estimated that English coal will 
be exhausted in four hundred years, and that of the United States in 
four thousand years if there is no increase in its consumption ; whereas 
if the rapid increase of the recent past is continued these periods will be 
reduced to fifty and five hundred years respectively. Although petroleum 
is an obvious substitute, the supply of this is doomed to suffer through 
modern excessive use. Consequently other fuel sources have been 
suggested, but the future doubtless lies with power alcohol to be obtained 
from plant materials, either cellulose, sugar or starch. Alcohol is one 
of the most important chemicals, and its cheap production is absolutely 
essential for the development of many new industries. In the preparation 
of industrial alcohol, sugar-beet, beet- or cane-molasses, potato, maize, 
rice or similar starchy materials are used. The old process resembles 
that for the production of potable spirit, but the ingredients are inferior. 
The propagation and culture of the yeast is the most important step in 
the process. The aim is to have sufficient active pure yeast so that the 
fermentation can proceed rapidly ; distillation is carried out so soon as 
the fermentation is complete, and this prevents the loss of alcohol—the 
yeasts tend to overgrow all other organisms so long as sugar is present. 
The carbon dioxide obtained as a by-product is now employed to prepare 
‘Dry Ice’ for refrigeration processes. 

The method of converting starch into sugar in the malting operations, 
however, is not entirely satisfactory, and recourse has been had te 


K.—BOTANY 203 


the properties of micro-organisms for bringing this about. The best 
known of these methods is the Amylo process which was introduced 
about forty years ago, and is utilised either in its original form, or in some 
modification, in almost every country in the world where the fermentation 
of starchy material is carried on. Several moulds have the power of 
converting starch into sugar, but the species first patented by Calmette 
and Boidin was Mucor (Amylomyces) Rouxii,1* which Calmette had found 
in ‘ Chinese rice,’ used in various oriental fermentations. Sterilised 
corn-mash in a closed vessel is inoculated with a very small quantity of 
fungus and filtered air is blown through the fluid for several hours. ‘The 
mould develops very rapidly and converts the starch. Pure-yeast cultures 
are added and develop in the ordinary way ; the species employed is 
Saccharomyces anamensis from sugar-cane in Cochin China. Although 
the Mucor itself is able to ferment the sugar, yeast acts more rapidly 
and gives a greater percentage of alcohol. ‘The process has been modified 
with the years and other species have since been used in place of Mucor 
Rouxit, first Amylomyces 8 (Rhizopus japonicus) and Amylomyces y 
(R. tonkinensis), and now Rhizopus Delemar.’* A similar process is that 
of Boulard in which Mucor Boulard No. 5 is employed, a species obtained 
originally from grains in the Far East. This fungus is characterised by its 
saccharifying power, and its ability to hold its own against infection ; 
consequently the process is carried out in open vats much as in ordinary 
grain distilleries. Mould and yeast are added at the same time, the 
special yeasts employed being the rapidly acting Yeast Boulard Nos, 21-30. 
Neither the Amylo nor the Boulard process has been adopted in countries 
like England where the excise laws require that the gravity of distillers’ 
wort shall be determined before fermentation by the saccharimeter, 
which is not possible where the two stages are simultaneous. Owing 
to the adaptability of these processes to high temperatures they are 
suitable for tropical and subtropical countries. 

Almost every nation has its ancient fermented drink. Kvass, the 
commonest beverage in Russia, is usually prepared by mixing barley- 
malt, rye-malt, and rye-flour in equal parts, stirring with boiling water, 
allowing to stand for some hours, diluting with more boiling water, then 
adding yeast. After incubating for two or three days peppermint is 
added for flavouring. Kvass is served out as a ration to the Russian troops. 
Similar beverages are prepared in Hungary, Yugoslavia and Roumania, 
millet or maize being used and honey or sugar added. 

Pulque, the national beverage of Mexico, is prepared by fermenting 
the juice obtained by tapping Agave, species of which are grown for the 
purpose ; several millions of capital are sunk in the business. Some of 
the juice is allowed to ferment naturally for about ten days and a small 
amount of this is added to fresh juice. Fermentation proceeds rapidly, 
and the drink is ready after a day or two. A couple of yeasts (No. 1 and 
No. 2) have been recorded as responsible for the fermentation. Alcoholic 


11 The specific epithet is often wrongly written Rouxianus. The fungus has 
also been isolated from soil from North Greenland. 

12 Several species of Rhizopus have been described from Japanese and Chinese 
foods. 


204 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


fermentation has been regarded until recently as the perquisite of fungi, 
but Lindner has isolated a bacterium from pulque, Termobacterium mobile, 
which provokes a reaction very closely resembling pure alcoholic fer- 
mentation. Pulque is very like sour milk in flavour, and is much esteemed 
for its cooling properties, though the natives also regard it as nutritious. 

Other fermented liquors which appear to owe their main characteristics 
to yeasts are Taette, a thick viscous non-coagulated milk product with 
an agreeable acid taste, known in Scandinavia from antiquity; Biti, a 
wine of West Africa prepared from the tubercles of Osbeckia grandiflora ; 
Sorgho, an alcoholic drink of Manchuria, made from Sorghun saccharatum, 
and Nigger beer of East Africa from millet. 

Probably few of the drinks prepared in a more or less casual manner 
so far as concerns the essentials of the process—though special rites may 
attend their preparation—owe their alcoholic properties entirely to one 
organism. Sometimes allied species take part in the general mass-action 
in a manner similar to that in which wild yeasts sometimes enter into the 
fermentation of beer-wort ; often doubtless some of these foreign organisms 
interfere with the normal process. 

Apart, however, from these casual associations which may work in 
harmony or antagonistically, there are several fermented drinks, some very 
ancient, which owe their properties to the regular association of two or 
more organisms. 

One of the best known of these is the old English Ginger Beer ousted 
to a great extent by the manufacturer, who either allows natural fer- 
mentation to take place, or adds brewers’ yeast: the so-called ginger 
beer of the aerated water type is entirely different. The ‘ ginger-beer 
plant,’ however, becomes widely known at times. Immediately after 
the War it was to be obtained all over the country as Californian 
Bees, American Bees—and as the generally accepted belief was that it 
had been brought home by soldiers on active service—Macedonian Bees, 
Jerusalem Bees, and so on. Professor T. G. B. Osborn tells me that 
it is often sold by pedlars in Australia. The plant is a globular white 
mass usually about the size of a pea, and is used for fermenting a sugary 
fluid. ‘The production of carbon dioxide causes the mass to rise to the 
surface of the liquid, and it settles down again after the liberation of the 
gas. ‘There is thus a constant slow up-and-down movement which 
during the last epidemic was the cause of considerable interference with 
what Peacock calls ‘the honeyed ease of the Civil Servant’s working 
day ’—at least for one. The constituents of the mass are a yeast 
(Saccharomyces pyriformis) and a bacterium (Bacterium vermiforme) ; the 
bacterium has a pellucid, swollen, glutinous sheath, and the yeast cells 
appear to be mechanically entangled in the matrix of coiled filaments. 
Other organisms are frequently present but are not regarded as essential. 
The yeast works more efficiently in the presence of the bacterium which, 
moreover, apparently also aids by preventing the products of fermentation 
from reaching the yeast, possibly by destroying some of them; the 
products are different from those when each organism acts alone—large 
quantities of carbon dioxide, lactic acid, and little or no alcohol. It is 
not unlikely that the ginger-beer plant arose as a contamination of raw 


K.—BOTANY 205 


sugar, for a similar if not identical ‘ organism’ has been found in 
Jamaica. 

Mexican Tibi also owes its production to the association of a yeast 
(Pichia Radaisii) and a bacterium (Bacterium mexicanum), which occur 
naturally on the prickly pear (Opuntia) in rounded transparent masses 
similar to the ginger-beer plant. These placed in a syrupy solution 
produce a sparkling, slightly acid drink very popular with the working 
classes.1* The yeast is unable to act in the presence of air ; the bactertum 
plays the part of keeping down the amount of oxygen. The natural 
occurrence of the ‘ organism’ recalls the fact that the sugary exudations 
from trees, known as slime-flux, constantly harbour a mass of bacteria, 
yeasts, and interesting yeast-like fungi, several of which are known only 
from this habitat. 

Another combined yeast-bacterium mass which has been distributed 
widely over northern Europe as a cure for such ailments as consumption 
is grown in sweetened tea, and forms a heavy gelatinous scum on the surface. 
G. Lindau, who obtained it from Curland, described it as a new genus 
of yeasts, Medusomyces (M. Gisevit). P. Lindner, however, showed 
that it is a mixture of organisms, but mainly a yeast (Saccharomycodes 
Ludwigii) and a bacterium (Bacterium xylinum). 

Recently what is essentially the same beverage has received considerable 
notice in the eastern tropics as Tea Cider. Ordinary tea has ten per cent. 
sugar added to it and is then inoculated with the ‘mould’ Saccharo- 
mycodes Ludwigiti—Bacterium xylinum. ‘The time for the completion of 
the fermentation is from two days upwards depending upon the altitude 
and temperature. The beverage contains up to three per cent. alcohol and 
is slightly acid, with an agreeable aromatic flavour. There has been 
a good deal of propaganda in Java which has led to its increased popu- 
larity. Its reputed medicinal qualities have also brought about an extensive 
use in Javan villages. The attempt to popularise it in Ceylon has not been 
viewed with favour by the excise authorities.. C. H. Gadd says that the 
bacterium is the essential constituent, for this gives the characteristic 
flavour and odour, and that yeasts other than Saccharomycodes Ludwigit 
will work in conjunction with it. 

As indicating how such organisms may have first entered into use 
I may mention that I have isolated a similar gelatinous mass from the 
dregs accidentally left in a teacup for a month or so. 

The fermentation of milk is deliberately arranged in many parts of 
the world with resultant beverages which go far back in the history of the 
peoples ; milk-wine according to Herodotus was known to the Scythians. 
One of these is Kephir, the effervescent, alcoholic sour milk of western 
Asia. The kephir grains which are employed in the production of the 
drink are white or yellowish irregularly shaped masses, about the size 
of a walnut, tough and cartilaginous when fresh and brittle when dry. 
The tradition is that they were a divine gift to Mohammed ; they are 
regularly sold in druggists’ shops. H. von Freudenreich isolated a yeast 

18 Pabst states that Tiby or ‘ grains vivantes’ was used in Paris about 1890 


to ferment weak sugar solutions. The name suggests a further similarity to the 
ginger-beer plant. ? 


206 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


(Saccharomyces sp.), two species of Streptococcus and a Bacillus. The 
yeast is without the enzyme lactase necessary for fermenting milk-sugar. 
This is hydrolised by one of the Streptococci, the other coagulates the 
milk; the part played by the Bacillus is not known. In other kephir 
grains, however, yeasts (Saccharomyces fragilis and Torula Kephir) have 
been found which possess lactase and so any ‘ symbiosis ’ here must be 
of a different character. 

Koumiss is another fermented-milk beverage and is one of the staple 
articles of diet of Siberian and Caucasian tribes. Mares’, asses’ or camels’ 
milk is used, and there are the customary slight differences in methods 
of preparation. A little koumiss from a previous brew is mixed with 
fresh milk in small casks or vats fitted with a stirring apparatus, or in 
leathern bottles when the tribe is nomadic. As fermentation nears com- 
pletion the liquid is transferred to strong bottles which are corked and 
wired ; the continuance of fermentation produces an effervescent drink. 
The organisms responsible for the fermentation include a yeast (Saccharo- 
myces sp.), a lactic acid bacterium and a bacterium which, in the presence 
of the other two, coagulates the mass so finely that it remains as a viscous 
fluid. Koumiss has lately been made on a commercial scale because 
of its reputed medicinal properties. 

Egyptian Leben isa similar drink. ‘The milk may be that of the buffalo, 
the cow or the goat. Here the process is begun by using dried milk from 
a previous brew to add to the boiled milk. Five organisms are said to 
play their part in the fermentation, two yeasts (Saccharomyces lebenis and 
Mycoderma lebenis) and three bacteria. ‘The yeasts are unable to ferment 
lactose, which is hydrolised by one of the bacteria. 

Mazu is a similar fermented drink of the Armenians, used both as a 
beverage and for butter-making. 

When we turn to the Orient we find that yeasts rarely act alone in 
bringing about the fermentation resulting in food and drink. The pre- 
liminary stages are most frequently associated with the activities of 
Mucorinez or species of Aspergillus. 

Arrack is. a generic name applied to a number of spirituous liquors. 
In Java it is prepared from rice-starch by the action of raggi. Raggi 
is produced by crushing together sugar-cane and galanga root-stock, 
making this into a paste with rice-meal, then drying and mixing with water 
and lemon-juice and leaving for two or three days. The liquid is poured 
off and the pulpy residue is made into flat round cakes. These are in- 
oculated by kneading into them some fresh rice-straw, or by placing them 
in rice-straw. ‘The cakes, which are articles of commerce in Java, contain 
many organisms, among which are Rhizopus Oryze which secretes 
rennet and diastase, Monilia javanensis which ferments sugars, and 
Saccharomyces Vordermanni which appears to be the principal agent 
in the production of alcohol. Fruit juices, palm juices and rice are 
fermented to produce arrack. 

In Ceylon arrack is distilled chiefly from palm-toddy, which is the fer- 
mented juice from unexpanded flower-spathes of coco-nut, date- or palmyra- 
palms ; a century ago whole forests were set apart for the production of 
toddy. Before fermentation, toddy forms the raw material for the manu- 


K.—BOTANY 207 


facture of ‘ jaggery’’ or crude sugar. Toddy serves extensively as yeast 
and no other is employed by Cingalese bakers. 

On the Indian continent, arrack is produced from palm-toddy, rice, 
and the refuse of sugar refineries, but mainly from the flowers of Bassva, 
which are rich in sugars. 

The various processes are carried out in so concentrated a liquid that 
complete fermentation rarely takes place. The ‘ferments’ are very 
impure and a high proportion of deleterious by-products occur which 
probably is responsible for many of the native ‘ drug ’ symptoms. 

Chinese Rice, Migen or Men, is a ‘starter’ similar to the Javanese 
raggi. It appears in commerce as flattened cakes about the size of half- 
a-crown. ‘The recipe for its production includes over forty ingredients, 
but no mention is made of the essential fungus included in its manu- 
facture. This is Mucor Rouxti which occurs on rice grains. Chinese 
Rice is prepared from rice rich in starch, which after being husked and 
bleached is steamed until soft and then cooled on rice-straw mats, some- 
times coated with paddy. Spores of the fungus gain entrance from the 
rice-straw or husks, and they are distributed evenly during stirring. The 
mats are placed in underground chambers for a couple of days, by which 
time the fungus is well developed. The grains are next worked up by 
hand, and exposed in the warmest parts of the cellar. The process is 
repeated twice before the Chinese Rice is ready. It is used in the pre- 
paration of rice spirit. 

Japanese Koji differs from Chinese Rice in the fungus concerned being 
a species of Aspergillus. Various kojis are known by the name of the 
fermentation process for which they are to be used. Shoyu koji is the 
‘starter’ for the soy fermentation. Soy beans (Glycine spp.) are highly 
nutritious, being rich in protein and oil though deficient in starch, and 
are a staple food in Japan and China, having been cultivated for more than 
five thousand years. The beans are soaked in cold running water and 
then cooked until they are soft and cooled and drained as rapidly as possible. 
The beans are commonly mixed with roasted and powdered wheat to 
which the spores of Aspergillus Oryze@, A. flavus or some closely allied 
species rich in proteolytic enzymes are added, and the mass is incubated 
for two or three days until each bean is covered with the fungus. The 
preparation of koji has passed from the old empiricism to a scientifically 
controlled process. 

Shoyu koji is employed in the preparation of soy sauce, a dark brown, 
salty liquid made by the fermentation of soy beans with, as a rule, some 
additional starchy component. The sauce is widely used as seasoning 
throughout Japan, China and Java, and is the basis of most European and 
American sauces, giving the characteristic flavour of the Worcestershire 
type. Though it is rare to see any reference in modern English literature 
to what J. Ovington in 1696 called ‘ Souy the choicest of all Sawces,’ 
it was otherwise formerly when Byron wrote ‘ From travellers accustom’d 
from a boy To eat their salmon, at the least, with soy,’ and cruets always 
had their soy bottle. Soy beans, having been cooked and mixed with 
prepared wheat, are inoculated with the koji and emptied into a strong 
brine, thus producing a mash. Constant daily attention is given to aera- 


208 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


tion and even distribution of the solid ingredients by stirring. Pro- 
gressive digestive changes take place over a period of from six months 
to several years, changes which are partly due to bacteria and yeasts, but 
mainly to the enzymes of the mould. The rather thick, dark brown mash 
is’ siphoned or pressed to produce soy sauce which is boiled, filtered 
and, in most modern manufactories, processed or Pasteurised. 

Tamari is another sauce made either entirely from soy beans alone or 
with rice as a starchy component. ‘The fermentation, where carried on 
empirically, is said to be due to Aspergillus Tamari. 

Miso is the general name for another series of soy-bean products 
resulting from fermenting cooked soy beans with an Aspergillus koji. 
It is one of the commonest breakfast foods for children. 

There is a wide range of oriental foods produced by fermentation with 
Aspergillus. Chinese curd, To-fu, is made from soy-bean milk fer- 
mented with mould and ripened in brine. The curd is cut into squares 
which soon become covered with fungus. They are then placed in brine 
for further ripening. The curd is canned as white or red squares in a 
salty liquid. 

The national Japanese beverage is Saké, with a history going back more 
than two thousand years. The starch of hulled and steamed rice is 
converted into sugar with selected strains of Aspergillus Oryze of high 
diastatic power known under various commercial names: the fungus 
was not isolated until 1878. ‘The sugar produced is then fermented 
by adding yeasts (Saccharomyces Sake, S. tokyo, S. Yeddo, etc.). A. 
claret-yellow liquid results which is of the same general type as whisky 
with about fourteen per cent. alcohol. ‘The sugar resulting from the 
saccharification with A. Oryze is also concentrated for use as a syrup, 
Mizaume. 

The importance of the four large industries in Japan in which Asper- 
gillus Oryze is employed may be gathered from the following figures 
which give the approximate total yearly quantities: Saké (rice wine), 
812,000 kilolitres ; Shoyu (soy sauce), 902,000 kilolitres ; Miso (soy cheese), 
1,690,000 kilograms ; Shocho (distilled alcoholic liquor), 39,700 kilo- 
litres. The annual money value of all the fermentation industries is 
approximately £40,000,000. 

Yam brandy is prepared similarly by the malting of the starch of yam 
tubers with Aspergillus Batate and fermenting this with yeast. 

Chinese Red Rice, Angkhak, is of peculiar interest. Its origin was long 
kept secret, but it is now known to be due to the fungus Monascus 
purpureus. Damp riceis spread out in caves and infected with old angkhak. 
After a few days the rice is coloured an intense purplish red by the 
Juxuriant growth of Monascus. ‘The rice is dried and crushed and prepared 
with a volatile oil. It is exported to other countries, and is employed 
for colouring all kinds of food-stuffs in a way which recalls the use made of 
cochineal insects. Monascus purpureus occurs naturally on rice grains, and 
it occasionally causes alarm when seen on rice imported into this country. 
It is frequent in silo tanks in America: I have seen it also on tallow. 

Perhaps it would surprise the music hall comedian to learn that moulds 
are definitely associated with the ripening of some kinds of cheeses apart 


K.—BOTANY 209 


from those obviously showing infection with the attendant faint, sweet 
smell of green things growing. The art of making cheese goes back to 
the beginnings of man’s pastoral life. It has been held that there is 
evidence for its preparation in the Swiss lake-villages. Cheese from 
goats’ milk is mentioned in the Iliad, and from the Odyssey it is seen to have 
played a not inconsiderable part in giving sustenance : the cavern of the 
Cyclopes had its cheese-dairy. What is said of the preparation shows 
that there has been little difference since Homeric times. From the 
fifth century B.c Sicilian cheeses were sold everywhere. J. Ivolas has 
suggested that the cheeses of Mt. Lesura which Pliny says were brought 
from Nimes to Rome were Roquefort cheese. 

Moulds of the genus Penicillium play a large part in the ripening of the 
Camembert-Brie, and the Roquefort-Gorgonzola-Stilton series of cheeses. 
Milk is first coagulated with rennet or dried calf-stomach linings ; the 
curd is then separated from the whey, drained and pressed to reduce it 
to its proper proportions. Subsequent salting modifies the flavour and 
aids desiccation, but also controls the kind of organism which develops. 
The various processes are mainly due to enzymes and to bacteria, but the 
taste of certain cheeses depends largely on the species of Penicillium which 
develops during ripening. It has always been realised that the district 
where such cheeses are made has 1 considerable influence on the finished 
product ; the local customs of ripening cheeses in special caves used from 
time immemorial has its reason in the fact that the caves are infected with 
some particular Penicillium. Thus O. Laxa has recently shown that 
Nalzory cheese owes its distinctive characters to Pentcillium nalgiovensis, 
which is abundantly present in the caves where the cheese is matured, 
but has not been found elsewhere in the locality ; he believes that the 
fungus was introduced in 1885 together with the cheese-manufacturing 
industry. Last year The Times opened its columns to an eulogy of 
Stilton. The sale of Quenby Hall was recalled in an article entitled 
‘The Secret of Stilton’—‘ The . . . etc. etc. about the “ secret ”’ of 
Cheesemaking must be taken to include the specific germ of the Stilton 
cheese. The brushing probably helps to impart that, but the woodwork 
of the dairy must also play its part. I have heard of a farmer who was so 
pleased with the results of his cheesemaking that he decided to have the 
dairy rebuilt on a larger scale, with all sorts of tiling and slate shelves. 
Thereafter his cheeses lacked their old esteemed special quality, the reason 
being that the virtue had departed with the germs in the wooden shelves.’ 4 

In making such cheeses as Stilton, Roquefort and Gorgonzola, the curd 
is so managed as to leave cracks between the particles as they are pressed 
together. ‘These cheeses show marbling of green mould on cut surfaces. 
C. Thom and J. N. Currie found that Penicillium roqueforti alone of 
twenty-one species of Penicillium was able to tolerate the low oxygen- 
content which they demonstrated in the air spaces. Thom regards the 
Penicillium in these cheeses as belonging to the same series though other 
workers have regarded them as distinct species. In the ripening of the 
thin cakes of the Camembert type of cheese, the fungus Penicillium 


14 Cf, Enlever trop souvent les poussiéres de l’étable et de la laiterie, c’est 
enlever la créme de sur la lait.—French proverb. 


210 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


camemberti covers the entire surface with a floccose, white mycelium, 
which gradually causes the cheese to take on a soft, smooth texture. 

Various strains of Penicillium roqueforti and P. camemberti have been 
isolated and in modern scientific cheese-making deliberate infection is 
now practised. For our series of blue-veined cheeses, D. W. Steuart, 
and N.S. Golding have recommended consistent inoculation by selected 
strains of the particular fungus owing to the liability of infection by 
undesirable species in English cheese factories. It is because of these 
methods that one sees advertisements such as ‘un Roquefort d’origine 
fabriqué avec du lait de brebis et affiné dans les célébres caves naturelles de 
Roquefort.’ The French government passed a decree a few years ago 
that only cheese ripened in this way was entitled to be called Roquefort. 

Every organic substance is liable sooner or later to become infected 
with some kind of mould. Even in Old Testament times we learn that 
the Gibeonites, working wilily in order to persuade Joshua that they had 
come from a far country, took care that all the bread of their provision was 
dry and mouldy ; and this, though mentioned last in the list of arrange- 
ments, was the first mentioned ‘as proof of their story. In the Lambeth 
manuscripts (1460-1470) we find ‘ Thou lettest poore men go bare, thy 
drynkis soweren, thou mouldedest metis where-with the febull myght 
wele fare.’ Robert Hooke in his Micrographia has an Observation 
‘Of blue Mould, and of the first Principles of Vegetation arising 
from Putrefaction.’ He writes: ‘ The Blue and White and several kinds 
of hairy mouldy spots, which are observable upon divers kinds of 
putrify’d bodies, whether Animal substances, or Vegetable, such as the 
skin, raw or dress’d, flesh, bloud, humours, milk, green Cheese, etc. or 
rotten sappy Wood, or Herbs, Leaves, Barks, Roots, etc. of Plants, are all 
of them nothing else but several kinds of small and variously figur’d 
Mushroms, which, from convenient materials in those putrifying bodies, 
are, by the concurrent heat of the Air, excited to a certain kind of vege- 
tation, which will not be unworthy our more serious speculation and 
examination .. .’ Malpighi (1686) also turned his attention to the 
microscopical observation of moulds growing on cheese, Cucurbita, 
lemons, oranges, wood, and bread. 

As we have seen, man has taken advantage of the natural infection of 
the juices of fruits, cereals, and so on, and after arranging for such in- 
fection to take place as he wished, has come to the stage where the infection 
is controlled and the organism most suited for his particular purpose is 
used to bring about the desired change. But modern man does not remain 
satisfied with the methods of his ancestors, or even with those of his 
immediate predecessors. It is not only that he desires to make two 
blades of grass grow where one grew before, but he wants them twice as 
big at half the cost and twice the speed. He had been going to the ant 
and considering the lilies for many centuries before he realised that moulds 
and other microscopic fungi were bringing about changes that he was 
unable to repeat without their aid. 

There is difficulty in apportioning credit for the modern application 
of moulds to industry. The first step was made by Louis Pasteur in his 
classical studies on tartaric acid when he used a mould to bring about a 


K.—BOTANY 211 


specific chemical action. It appears probable that it was this that gave 
Pasteur his first interest in ferments. ‘ If I place one of the salts of race- 
mic acid, paratartrate or racemate of ammonia, for instance, in the ordinary 
conditions of fermentation, the dextro-tartaric acid alone ferments, the 
other remains in the liquor. I may say, in passing, that this is the best 
means of preparing levo-tartaric acid. Why does the dextro-tartaric 
acid alone become putrefied ? Because the-ferments of that fermentation 
feed more easily on the right than on the left molecules.’ Pasteur called 
the mould Penicillium glaucum ; but it is still necessary to emphasise 
that this name as generally understood merely denotes a green Penicillium 
and ‘greenness has no more significance in predicting biochemical 
ability of a Penicillium than bayness of a horse in judging his speed in a 
horse race’; it is of no greater significance in taxonomy. 

The other necessary step was made also by Pasteur when in 1860 he 
used a synthetic medium with the ash of yeast as a basis. This was 
followed by the laborious work of his pupil, J. Raulin, who replaced the 
yeast-ash with salts necessary for the maximum growth of Aspergillus 
niger. 

Another of Pasteur’s favourite pupils, P. van Tieghem, studied the 
formation of .gallic acid from tannin (1867). This acid had been dis- 
covered in 1786 by C. W. Scheele in decomposing gall-nuts. In the pro- 
duction of gallic acid, gall-nuts, chiefly of Chinese origin, are powdered, 
mixed with water and left at 20° to 25° C. for eight to ten days until they 
are mouldy. Most of the tannin (gallotannic acid) is converted into 
gallic acid. Van Tieghem found that the active agent in the fermentation 
is Aspergillus niger; the high concentration of the tannin apparently 
prevents the development of other moulds. 

Calmette patented a process in 1904 for the production of gallic acid 
by fermenting clear tannin extract with ‘Aspergillus gallomyces,’ the fungus 
being kept submerged by means of a mechanical agitator and by intro- 
ducing large quantities of sterile air. 

Gallic acid is a mordant and a constituent of inks. At the beginning of 
the War it was used in the production of gallocyanine with which American 
sailors’ uniforms were dyed. 

Many fermentation reactions are not so simple as they appear at first 
sight. We know the constitution of the original substance and the final 
products. It seems certain that the intermediate stages are common 
in these reactions, but what these are is usually a matter of conjecture 
and discussion. The time-honoured equation proposed by Gay-Lussac 
for the fermentation of sugar by yeast gives the main facts but takes no 
note of possible intermediate stages, and, moreover, does not account for 
the occurrence of glycerol which Pasteur showed, so early as 1858,16 
might occur in amounts up to three per cent. of the fermented sugar. The 
uses of glycerol (glycerine) are manifold, but the chief one is in the manu- 


16 The Life of Pasteur, by R. Vallery-Radot. 

16 ‘J find that alcoholic fermentation is constantly accompanied by the pro- 
duction of glycerine; it is a curious fact. For instance, in one litre of wine 
there are several grammes of that product which had not been suspected,’— 
Letter to C. Chappuis. 


212 SECTIONAL: ADDRESSES 


facture of nitro-glycerine, the most important constituent of high explo- 
sives. The blockade of the Allies prevented the import into Germany of 
fats and oils utilised in the preparation of glycerine, and attention was 
therefore paid to the possibility of its production by fermenting sugar 
which was available as raw material. Ordinary fermentation of sugar 
takes place either in neutral or slightly acid solution, but for over sixty 
years it has been known that it can proceed in the presence of various 
alkaline salts. The fermentation reaction proceeds instantaneously and 
it is impossible to gain an insight into the mechanism of the process by 
isolating an intermediate product. C. Neuberg has given a scheme for 
alcoholic fermentation which shows methyl-glyoxal as the probable 
first stage of the process ; this is oxidised to pyruvic acid, which is in its 
turn decarbonylated to acetaldehyde and carbon dioxide. The problem 
which was tackled was whether the acetaldehyde could be ‘ trapped ’ 
before it had been oxidised or reduced. ‘Theoretically then for every 
molecule of acetaldehyde fixed a corresponding molecule of glycerol is to 
be expected. W. Connstein and K. Liidecke in 1914 began by adding a 
number of alkaline compounds such as sodium carbonate and sodium 
acetate. Infection by lactic-acid bacteria, however, occurred to such an 
extent that not only was a large quantity of sugar consumed but the glycerine 
was so contaminated that it was difficult to purify. The alkaline salts 
were next replaced by disodium sulphite, which, when added to the mash 
even in very considerable quantities, does not interfere with the action 
of the yeast, and in addition is a valuable antiseptic. This method 
was patented in 1915. Apparently it was learned in the United States 
that ‘the Germans were producing glycerine in large quantities by a 
fermentation process, sugar being the material used,’ and federal chemists 
were set to work on a similar investigation. The general theoretical 
reasoning again proved fruitful, and successful methods were worked 
out and patented in the United States, England, the former Austria- 
Hungary, Switzerland and Japan. During the War the monthly German 
production of glycerine by this method exceeded 1,000,000 kilograms and 
twenty to twenty-five per cent. of the sugar used was converted into 
glycerine. In the United States twenty per cent. glycerine was obtained 
by fermenting molasses and syrups with Californian wine yeasts. The old 
method of commercial production has now been reverted to more or less 
generally because of being the more economical. 

In recent years the use of commercial diastase (Takadiastase, Kashi- 
wagi-diastase, Digestin, Protozyme, Oryzyme, Polyzyme and other trade 
names) has spread extensively especially in America; it originated in 
Japan. ‘The diastase is of fungal origin, being manufactured from Asper- 
gillus flavus-Oryz@, the species of Japanese koji. Cultivation is carried 
out on bran (wheat-bran in U.S.A., rice-bran in Japan) or some other 
cheap, bulky, fibrous substance, sterilised, moistened and spread out on 
trays. Inoculation is made at a suitable temperature and the fungus 
rapidly extends over the mass. Growth is stopped at the time of maximum 
enzymic activity, which is soon after spore-formation, the resulting 
liquid is then pressed through percolators and filtered through infusorial 
earth or merely strained. For commercial use the extract is preserved by 


K.—BOTANY 213 


adding a disinfectant ; for food or medicinal use it is concentrated or 
precipitated by alcohol. The product is not pure diastase, but a mixture 
of enzymes—it has even been called an arsenal of enzymes—hence the 
commercial name Polyzyme. 

Takadiastase, a whitish or yellowish powder, is used in medicine where 
there is a lack of normal digestive activity, especially that of ptyalin. 
Owing to J. Takamine working in America—he went there in 1891 with 
the idea, he says, of introducing the use of Aspergillus Oryze, which plays 
such an important part in the natural economy of Japan—and taking out 
his first patent in 1894, his diastase has been largely employed there in 
industry. In the weaving of fabrics from cotton, jute and similar fibres, 
it is often necessary to oversize the warp threads to facilitate weaving. 
This extra size is removed by an enzymic solution. ‘Takadiastase is also 
employed to separate the silk fibres comprising the thread as spun by 
the silkworm. It is also used for clarifying the pectin of apple pomace 
in jam and jelly-making—the turbidity is due to starch and protein— 
and to clear sorghum syrup. Commercial diastase can replace soap in 
laundry work and is a partial substitute for yeast in bread-making. 

Investigations carried out during the last forty years on the growth 
of moulds in culture show the possibilities of the utilisation of their 
action on sugars and other carbohydrates. The work of Pasteur and his 
pupils was followed up in many countries, but progress was slow. 

In 1891 C. Wehmer began a series of researches which altered the whole 
complexion of the subject. He was the first to recognise oxalic acid as 
a definite fermentation product of many fungi—Aspergillus, Penicillium, 
Mucor. By adding calcium carbonate to a medium consisting of sugar 
and inorganic salts he showed that Aspergillus mger would give yields 
of calcium oxalate up to 120 per cent. of the sugar. The investigation 
led to no commercial result as oxalic acid can be produced more 
economically by purely chemical methods. 

Wehmer in 1892 showed that citric acid was a product of fermentation. 
He obtained excellent yields in cultures where sugar was the only source 
of carbon, with three species of Citromyces, a genus which he differentiated 
from Penicillium on rather slight morphological differences, and because 
of the citric acid fermentation. It has since been recognised that citric 
acid is one of the commonest products of fermentation by Pentctllium. 
He again used calcium carbonate to fix the acid, and patented a method 
for commercial production, which, however, was apparently not used to 
any extent partly because of the slowness of the reaction. 

Aspergillus niger, best regarded as including several closely related 
species, is one of the commonest moulds and one of the most studied. 
No mention was made, however, of its ability to form citric acid until 
1913, when B. Zahorski patented a method of producing the acid from 
carbohydrates by growing stock cultures of A. niger on increasing con- 
centrations of citric acid. In 1916 J. N. Currie and C. Thom made com- 
parative studies of oxalic acid production in a number of species of Peni- 
cillium and Aspergillus. The occurrence of a distinct lag in oxalic acid in 
relation to total acidity in some species of Aspergillus led Currie to regard 
citric acid as one of the intermediate products of the fermentation. In 


214 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


later work (1917) Currie showed that almost any culture of Aspergillus 
niger on a concentrated sugar solution will produce more citric than 
oxalic acid. He selected a strain of A. niger in which the lag between total 
acidity and oxalic acid production was greatest and by appropriate sugar 
concentration devised a method of inhibiting oxalic acid formation. The 
process was patented. Sucrose is used in solution with the addition 
of the necessary salts. In two to four days there is a continuous felt 
of mycelium, and formation of citric acid begins. ‘The fermentation is 
complete in ten days, the solution is drained off and the mycelium pressed. 
The amount of acid produced is about equal to half by weight of the sugar 
used. It was recently stated that a certain American firm, in order to 
supply the colossal amount of calcium citrate required by the American 
cheese industry alone, is maintaining nine acres of mycelium of Aspergillus 
niger in constant commission. 

Citric acid occurs in the juices of many fruits and formerly was 
obtained commercially wholly from lemon, lime and bergamot by pressing 
the fruit and concentrating the juice. It is exported either as concentrated 
juice or as calcium citrate formed by running in chalk and water or 
calcium carbonate. The chief exporting country in Europe was Italy. 
An export duty was placed on calcium citrate by the Italian government, 
and there was a manufacture tariff imposed by some countries: conse- 
quently the juice was utilised on the spot for the production of citric acid 
or the concentrated juice was exported. It is of interest that in 1929 
it was stated in America that there would probably be a shortage of 
citric acid in England because of the tendency to improve the qualities 
of Sicilian lemons to meet the demand for higher grade fruit for export. 
It was overlooked that four years previously a British patent had been taken 
out by A. Fernbach and J. L. Yuill for commercial production by using 
dark-coloured Aspergilli. ‘There are numerous patents for the production 
of citric acid by means of fungi and the processes are used on a large 
commercial scale in England, Belgium, America and Japan. Itis no longer 
considered worth while to attempt further use of fruit juice in new areas. 

M. Molliard in 1932 demonstrated gluconic acid as a product of fer- 
mentation by Aspergillus niger, and later worked out the conditions for 
the formation of oxalic, citric and gluconic acids. In 1924 W. Butke- 
witsch found a strain of A. niger which, in the presence of calcium carbon- 
ate, yielded gluconic acid almost exclusively. ‘Three years later O. E. 
May, H. T. Herrick, C. Thom and J. N. Currie made a comparative study 
of fungi including species of Aspergillus, Penicillium, Monilia and Mucor. 
No species of the last two produced appreciable amounts of gluconic acid, 
but several species of Aspergillus and Penicillium did so, the most 
productive of which were the Penicillium luteum-purpurogeneum series, 
particularly P. purpurogeneum var. rubrisclerotium. Herrick and May in 
1929 patented a process for the production of gluconic acid from sugars 
and starchy substances by fermentation with Penicillium citrinum, P. 
divaricatum and P. luteum-purpurogeneum. Following on this several 
workers showed that there was increased production when the mould 
growths were submerged. Herrick and May in collaboration with A. J. 
Moyer and P. A. Wells found that growing Penicillium chrysogenum 


K.—BOTANY 215 


mycelium submerged under increasing air pressures in commercial 
glucose solution to which calcium carbonate had been added, yielded 
from 80 to 87 per cent. gluconic acid based on the sugar originally present, 
in eight days from the inoculation with spores. ‘They have recently patented 
the process with the specification that the air contains substantial amounts 
of oxygen and agitation is effected by blowing it through the cultures. 
The same patent covers the preparation of koji acid by Aspergillus 
avus. 

- Gluconic acid was formerly characterised by objectionable features in 
its production and by high costs. It is now finding a commercial outlet 
because calcium gluconate is preferred to calcium lactate as a means of 
administering calcium to children. It can be injected into tissues 
without causing necrosis, and its injection into cows suffering from milk 
fever has given remarkable results ; it has unusual effects in increasing 
the egg shells of hens suffering from calcium deficiency. It has recently 
been incorporated in tooth pastes. . 

There are many other acids formed by moulds. Wehmer in 1918 
patented a process for the production of fumaric acid. The fungus 
employed was named Aspergillus fumaricus, but no proper diagnosis 
was given. Thom regards it as being very close to A. niger: according 
to a statement by Wehmer the fungus ten years later had lost its property 
of forming the acid. 

H. Raistrick and his collaborators working in this country have added 
a great deal to our knowledge of the metabolic products of moulds. 
From their continued investigations it seems to be becoming increasingly 
evident that compounds of almost every type known to organic chemistry 
can be synthesised. They have succeeded in obtaining sixty compounds 
never previously prepared in an organic chemist’s laboratory. It is 
suggested by P. W. Clutterbuck that ‘it is possible that a particular 
organism builds up its own particular polysaccharide and from it, by a series 
of reductions, oxidations, condensations and hydrolyses, synthesises from 
it its own characteristic metabolism products.’ An interesting point 
arising from their investigations is the production of anthroquinone 
pigments by some species of Helminthosporium. It is well known in 
the technology of dye-stuffs that such «-hydroxyanthroquinones give rise 
to excellent dye-stuffs, but are difficult to manufacture economically. 
Since the yield is good and sugar is cheap the possibility has arisen of em- 
ploying these organisms for the manufacture of «-hydroxyanthroquinone. 
Another point which shows what practical results may be expected from such 
research is that penicillin, a metabolism product of Penicillium notatum, 
is non-irritant and non-toxic, but has a strong though differential anti- 
bacterial power. Further, it was found that several species of Fusarium 
form large quantities of alcohol from glucose and it is suggested that this 
might be turned to account technically in the production of alcohol from 
waste vegetable matter. 

The romantic discovery of vitamin D led to the finding of ergosterol 
in yeasts. A vast amount of research has since been carried out, both 
with yeasts and with moulds to find the most suitable method of pro- 
duction of ergosterol, which when irradiated gives the antirrachitic 


216 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


vitamin. Most moulds are able to synthesise fats and sterols. It has 
been found that many moulds give better results than do yeasts, among 
the best being Aspergillus Sydowi and Paecilomyces Variott. In America 
ergosterol is being produced on a commercial scale by the growth of 
moulds ; in addition to a greater yield than from yeasts, the commercially 
valuable takadiastase is a by-product. 

Many investigators have studied the production of fats and proteins 
by moulds. G. E. Ward, L. B. Lockwood, O. E. May and H. T. Herrick 
recently investigated fat production in sixty-one Aspergilli and Penicillia 
and found that in ten of them more than 15 per cent. ether-soluble 
material was formed. One species, Penicillium javanicum from rotten 
tea-roots in Java, gave as much as 41°5 per cent. fat in 40 per cent. 
glucose. 

Since Delbriick’s experiments in 1910 it has been known that ordinary 
yeast can be utilised for food : for animals it is merely dried but for human 
food it is treated so that it resembles meat extract in appearance, flavour 
and composition. In Germany a portion of the excess yeast from brew- 
eries is used for making yeast extracts traded under various names. 

Marmite (known in America as Vegex) is an extract prepared by auto- 
lysis from fresh brewers’ yeast ; the ferments are killed during the manu- 
facturing process. Because of its vitamin B complex Marmite was used 
as a ration in Mesopotamia and other war areas where beri-beri was preva- 
lent. 

At the outbreak of the War the German yeast-drying factories were 
fully mobilised and produced 20,000 tons of dried yeast annually for food. 
When the government reduced the production of beer to 60 per cent. of 
its pre-war amount Torula utilis, ‘ mineral yeast,’ was used in considerable 
quantity to supplement the bread ration. This non-sporing yeast is a 
poor fermenter and was cultivated in very dilute molasses with super- 
phosphate, magnesium sulphate and ammonium sulphate with free 
aeration. No alcohol was formed but 100 grams of molasses produced 
130 grams of yeast in eight hours. 

The Russians also turned their attention to utilising yeast to help to 
supplement food-stuffs of which the War had brought about an acute 
shortage. A commission was appointed in 1917, G. A. Nadson and A. G. 
Konotine being members. Attention had been called by P. Lindner to the 
possibility of cultivating certain yeasts for the production of fat. The 
Russians used Endomyces vernalis, ‘fat yeast,’ which was originally found 
in slime fluxes of birch and hornbeam. Like Torula utilis, Endomyces 
vernalis produces no alcohol. It will grow on different sugars and first 
develops as long branched hyphe, rich in proteins, but containing scarcely 
any fat. Later the hyphe break up into oidia and the fat content 
increases, reaching fifteen to twenty per cent. of the dry weight in 
ten to fifteen days. The fat is a yellowish liquid resembling olive oil. 
Its chief constituent is triolein but free fatty acids are also present. 

Chaston Chapman in 1926 found a species of Ozdium blocking up sewers, 
which in two days formed a thick film on nutrient solution ; this film 
contained fifty per cent. crude protein and ten per cent. fat and had the 
odour and flavour of cream cheese. The possibilities attaching to such 


K.—BOTANY 217 


a fungus in times of necessity need not be stressed, for ammonium salts 
can be obtained from the air and carbohydrates from the hydrolysis of 
wood. 

Towards the end of the War, H. Pringsheim and S., Lichtenstein 
added a non-pathogenic strain of Aspergillus fumigatus to straw moistened 
with a small amount of ammonium salt in solution. The fungus grew 
well and raised the total protein content of the straw from one to eight 
per cent. The mouldy straw was dried and used for feeding sheep, cattle 
and rabbits. Fed experimentally to sheep it was found that forty per 
cent. of the protein was assimilated. 

J. R. Sanborn has recently shown that species of Oidium and Monilia 
concerned in the formation of pulp and paper-mill slimes produce doughy 
and somewhat rubbery growth with great rapidity in media rich in 
carbohydrates, and has succeeded in producing a satisfactory parchment- 
like membrane from them. R.O.Herzogm and A. Meier took out an 
American patent in 1915 for making a leather substitute by tanning 
a similar growth formed by Bacterium xylinum, B. xylinoides or Mucor 
Boidin. 

In the search for acetone to produce cordite during the War, A. Fern- 
bach and E. H. Strange patented a method for its production (together 
with acetates and pyruvates) with Mucor Rouxit. ‘The full story of 
acetone production in this country with its military, political and financial 
results is one of the romances of microbiology. 

Artificial ageing of green coffee has been attempted by a number of 
methods, many of which have been patented. F. W. Robison in 1919 
patented a method of using moulds (Aspergillus ochraceus) for this purpose. 
‘A green Java or a Brazilian Santos can be transformed in ten days 
from a characteristic high-grade rough coffee to a smooth, creamy, Java- 
like coffee.’ 

From the nuclein of yeast nucleic acid is obtained and combined with 
silver, calcium or sodium. ‘The compounds thus formed show marked 
bactericidal action on injection, together with a large increase in leuco- 
cytes and are not irritable. 

Yeasts have also been used in the manufacture of synthetic plastics, 
and for assisting the growth of organisms in sewage disposal plants. 

To turn to the opposite extreme. The enzyme invertase is prepared on 
a commercial scale from yeasts. Several processes have been devised 
to use it for inverting sucrose in the manufacture of various syrups. 
It is also used in the American candy trade because sweets made from 
fructose are more tenacious when wet and more retentive of moisture than 
when made from cane sugar. As a result of increased solubility in the 
syrup phase the growth of micro-organisms is retarded or prevented and 
thus the ‘ explosive’ fermentation which causes so much financial loss 
by bursting and shattering candy is eliminated. 

Many of the processes here outlined have been patented. It is not 
my purpose to comment on this beyond saying that a great deal of myco- 
logical and bacteriological information lies hidden in patent specifications. 
All who have tried to find theit way amongst these know how Herculean 
the task is—I have merely skimmed the surface, as may be judged from 


218 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


the fact that F. Wagner in his Presshefe und Gdrungsalkohole, 1914-1935, 
lists a little over 1,800 patents. 

And so I come to the end of my matters. Much of interest has had 
to be omitted, as for example the relation of entomogenous fungi to insect 
epidemics, and the utilisation of cellulose material, and it has not been 
possible to develop any aspect of the subject in the manner of many of 
my predecessors, who reviewed philosophically tendencies of the 
past or speculated on future progress. What of the future? Though 
a fairly large number of fungi have been investigated they form a very 
small percentage of the total, of which we have yet no idea of the probable 
limit. The possibilities for practical results are endless, and the processes 
carried out by these strange organisms are pregnant with probabilities. 
To some it is of interest to know what an organism is, to others to know 
what it does and to others how it does it. Here we have a field in which the 
taxonomist, the chemist and the physiologist can work together profitably 
in the cause of science—which is the good of humanity. 


ar. Se 


SS] 4A— 


SECTION L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE. 


THE FUTURE IN EDUCATION 


ADDRESS BY 
SIR RICHARD LIVINGSTONE, M.A., Hon. D.Litt., Hon. LL.D., 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


Our view of the future of education will depend on our view of education 
itself, but presumably we should all accept the following maxims : ‘ Every 
individual has a threefold function in the world—to make a livelihood, to 
be a citizen and to be a man’; and ‘ The duty of the state is to see that, so 
far as education is concerned, everyone has the opportunity of performing 
these three functions.’ They vary in difficulty, It is easier to make a 
living than to have the intelligence, the knowledge and the disinterested- 
ness which, ideally, every voter requires. But there is something more 
difficult still. The third function of education is to make men in the sense 
of Shakespeare’s description of us: ‘What a piece of work is man! 
How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty ! in form and moving how 
express and admirable ! in action how like an angel ! in apprehension how 
like a god! the beauty of the world ! the paragon of animals!’ ‘The task 
of education is to take the rough-hewn block which it receives from the 
quarry of nature and shape from it a human figure, to develop the faculties, 
and quicken and discipline the reason and apprehension, so that before it 
leaves the workshop there is at least a chance and a hope that it may become, 
if not a paragon of animals, at least a piece of work. The model to which 
education should work in every human being is a figure with a body, a 
character and a mind, each of which is capable of development towards 
an ideal: a body with its own perfection of physical development and 
fitness, of health, of skill of hand and precision of eye ; a character, whose 
excellence lies in the great virtues ; a mind, capable of some perception 
of what the world is, and of what man has done and has been and may be. 
That is the pattern to which education works, and which she tries to 
reproduce in a medium sometimes plastic, oftener stubborn. She is 
limited by her material. No unflawed figure ever comes from her work- 
shop. But she, or rather we, are to blame for any product in which one 
cannot discern the outline of aman. The final goal of education is not 
the capacity to earn one’s bread or to live in a community, though these are 
included in it, but the making of human beings. Body, character and, in 
the widest sense, reason, make the man. A body undeveloped, a character 
weak or debased, a mind unaware of the universe which we inhabit or 


220 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


of the achievements and ideals of mankind, proclaim the failure of education 
and walk the world as a standing reproach to it. 

It follows that education, for all men and women, for the artisan and 
labourer as well as for the “ educated classes,’ must find ample room for a 
liberal, cultural element. If its aim is to make men and citizens as well 
as bread-winners, to develop what Shakespeare calls beings of infinite 
capacity, and to help them to live intelligently in the world which they 
inhabit, then handicraft, technical skill, physical training belong to such 
an education, if the body is to achieve its perfection, and hand and eye to 
develop their powers ; but so also does science, if we are to understand 
something of the physical universe ; and so do literature, history and, in 
an untechnical sense, philosophy. Some people may feel that the cultural 
subjects are unsuitable for the masses. ‘That is a possible view. But to 
hold it is to accept the most ruthless of class systems, to say that men differ 
not only in degree but in kind, and that the majority are incapable of 
studies without which there can be no intelligent idea either of the universe 
or of the greatness of the human spirit. If a man is incapable of these 
studies, he is not, in the Shakespearean sense, a man. And if the majority 
of the electorate is incapable of them, we must either abandon democracy 
or resign ourselves to be governed by an electorate which can never 
know what a state should be. Ancient tradition and political instinct may 
preserve such a democracy from disaster, but not only will its stability 
be precarious but its political and spiritual life will be poor. The bad 
film and the betting news will be its relaxation; the bad press its. 
literature; passion, prejudice, the catchword and the slogan, will be 
its masters. ; 

To this—and it is a danger to society as great as war, if less spectacular 
—humanistic studies are the great, perhaps the only, antidote. Here are 
written all the ideals and adventures of mankind. Literature contains the 
visions which his dreaming mind has conceived in solitude ; history 
exhibits these visions applied to life and tested by fact. Here is seen man 
in a remote past climbing with stumbling footsteps out of savagery ; 
then, with progress so gradual that we hesitate to give it the name, with 
endless experiments, aberrations, collapses, false starts, surmounting the 
obstacles which Nature, his fellow-beings, his own physical and moral 
limitations put in his path ; moving on through the rise and fall of nations, 
shifts of power, changes of creed and opinion, complete failure or half 
success, making his way by rare glimpses of light or in thick darkness, and 
obstinately pursuing a good, dim to discern and difficult to achieve. The 
lesson of these studies is Sursum corda: they are a perpetual rebuke 
to the feeble vision and failing faith from which all men suffer, and 
to the selfcontented spiritual mediocrity which is a special danger 
of democracy ; without them men know neither themselves nor their 
possibilities. 


How far does our education make men and citizens? ‘The measure 
of its success defines our achievement, its shortcomings indicate what 
remains to be done. It has achieved much. Between the Forster 


L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE 221 


Education Act of 1870 and the 1891 Act the country organised elementary 
education. The Balfour Act of 1902 began a new era in the organisation 
of secondary education. In the early years of the twentieth century 
universities were created throughout the country. “Since 1889 technical 
instruction has been developed thoroughly and effectively. That is a 
great achievement. In all these fields—university, secondary, technical, 
elementary—the problem has been faced and roughly solved. Improve- 
ments and developments will come; but the main lines have been well 
laid and are not likely to be altered. We have the tools, even if we may 
often use them ineffectively. In the future they may be improved and 
elaborated, but perhaps the chief improvement necessary is that we should 
learn more of their use and purpose, and our worst failures are due to the 
fact that we drift into and through education in a mechanical, automatic, 
unthinking way, instead of clearly defining to our own minds what we 
wish education to do for us and asking whether it is doing it and, if not, 
why not. Like religion, education quickly degenerates into a routine ; 
then its meaning and its effects are lost. Still the late nineteenth and 
early twentieth centuries have done a great and solid work in it. So far, 
so good. But are we an educated nation ? 

An English officer in Italy during the war, having to give an instruction 
course to his men, set as a preliminary test a general paper in which occurred 
the question: ‘ What do you know of any of the following persons ?’ 
The persons in the question are here set out in the order indicating which 
of them were most familiar to the candidates, and the figures after each 
name show the number of candidates who identified each person : Charles 
Peace 19, George Stephenson 16, Von Tirpitz 15, Nat Gould 14, C. B. 
Fry 11, Sir H. Plumer 9, Woodrow Wilson 8, Clemenceau 7, Michael 
Angelo 6, Sir R. Borden 6, Milton 4, Havelock Wilson 4, Lord Milner 2, 
Sir Henry Havelock 1. 

There are several striking features in the result. Nineteen men had 
heard of Charles Peace to two who had heard of Lord Milner. Though 
the paper was set in the summer of 1918, when names like Wilson and 
Clemenceau were on everyone’s lips, there is a surprising ignorance of 
statesmen who played a decisive part in the war. Even the name of their 
own army commander, Sir Henry Plumer (as he then was), was un- 
familiar to his men. Yet, as the unexpected knowledge of Michael 
Angelo shows, they were quite capable of ‘ high-brow’ interests. Six, 
at any rate, of the men had during the months spent in Italy learnt some- 
thing of a great Italian. But the most interesting point for our purposes 
is the light thrown on the results of our elementary education. The 
examinees, men of a war-time regiment, were a fair sample of the average 
man. ‘They were neither half-witted nor wholly ignorant. But their 
teachers had been the cheap press, their reading its sporting news and 
murder reports, their politics learnt from its headlines. The result is 
ia adequate to an expenditure on elementary education of over seventy 
millions. 


1 Post-primary education, for instance, is likely to become, at least for the 
Many, more practical and less literary. 


222 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


That examination paper indicates the gap—the bottomless pit, I had 
almost said—in our national education and the task of the next twenty 
years. We have left the vast majority of the population without any kind 
of liberal education.” We have provided for the minority who attend 
secondary school and university. We have shown the rest a glimpse of 
the promised land, and left them outside it. Aristotle may have gone too 
far when he said that the object of education was to help men to use their 
leisure rightly. But we have treated the majority as if they were to have 
no leisure, or as if it did not matter how they used what leisure they had. 
Art, music, science, literature were for the few. The rest were dis- 
inherited from some of the purest and highest pleasures. They might 
be machines or animals ; men in the Shakespearean sense they could not 
be. That is the type of democracy with which we have been, and are, 
content, 

It mattered, perhaps, the less in the past. When the working-man had 
no leisure, why educate him to use something that he would never have ? 
The question barely arose. But to-day it is arising, and in the near 
future it is likely to be urgent. In 1900 most men had enough to do to 
earn a living. In 1940 or 1950 they will probably have the opportunity 
to be more than bread-winners. But if the leisure of the future is to be 
entirely devoted to the fils and the dogs, civilisation will not have gained 
much by it. Fifty years ago the employment of leisure was no problem 
for any but the well-to-do, who mostly wasted it. ‘To-day it is becoming 
a commonplace of education. 

What, then, would you say of a nation which believed this, and which 
then acquiesced in the greater part of its people leaving school at the age 
of 14 and being thrown straight into the deep waters of life. Would not 
the old proverb rise to your mind, Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus 
mus. In this matter our attitude has been as complacent and unthinking, 
if not as disastrous and cruel, as that of our ancestors who acquiesced in 
social iniquities which seem incredible to us. We have accepted it 
with the equanimity with which they accepted the slave-trade, child- 
labour and debtor’s prisons. For consider what a child has learnt by 
the age of 14. He can read and write and do arithmetic. He has madea 
beginning in many subjects, and received a training which enables him 
to use an opportunity of learning more. But of history, except in a 
superficial sense, he knows nothing ; of the forces that affect the fortunes 
of the country, which as a voter he will help to determine, he knows 
nothing ; economics, historical traditions, political theories are a closed 
mystery to him ; he will have opened the great book of literature but he 
has had little time to turn its pages ; of science he is even more ignorant. 
Most of my audience probably did not leave school at 14 ; many have gone 
to the University. Let them ask themselves how it would have fared with 
their intellectual and spiritual life if their education had ceased at 14. 
Would they be willing that their own children should leave school at that 
age? Yet that is the lot of the great majority of children in this country. 
And we have been singularly complacent about it. The task of the future 
is clear. It is to meet the needs of those who now leave school at 14, 15 


L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE 223 


or 16, and then say farewell to education forever. For them we have done 
practically nothing. ‘The problem has been barely touched and never 
clearly envisaged. Here, by the side of the impressive architecture of 
our elementary, secondary and university system, a few scattered buildings 
rise above the ground, watertight indeed and solid so far as they go, 
but haphazard, unco-ordinated, and inadequate to the need. The 
task of the future, I repeat, is to deal with this, our great educational 
scandal.” 


Before I make some practical proposals for its removal, I should like to 
suggest certain principles which we must observe if our efforts are to be 
successful, and to which little attention has hitherto been paid. They 
apply to all forms of education except the elementary stage, and some of the 
weaknesses of our existing system are due to their being overlooked. The 
first of these principles is that education must be adjusted not only to the 
natural capacities of the pupil but also to the stage of development which 
his brain has reached ; that certain forms of study are appropriate to 
certain ages. ‘That is a platitude. What need then to stress a principle 
which everyone accepts. Yet, if accepted, is it remembered by an age 
which has acquiesced in the idea that most of the population should leave 
school at 14, and is now comforted by the thought that in future they 
may not leave it till a year later? At the ages of 14 or 15 the mind 
cannot cope with, if it can conceive, the subjects which compose a liberal 
education and are vital to the citizen. A boy reads literature—Hamlet or 
King Lear—and should read them. But what can the profound scepti- 
cisms of Hamlet, the passion and agony of Lear mean to him? He reads 
history. Can he form a true conception of Charles and Cromwell, 
Bismarck and Napoleon III? At 18 we may scan the surface of history 
and literature, but we cannot see below it. Those waters are very deep 
and only the adult mind can swim in them. Still more does this apply 
to the political questions on which an elector has to express an opinion. 
Unless you believe that these subjects are not meant for the masses and 
that the voter needs no further education for his duty than experience of 
life, the newspapers, and the speeches of political candidates, you are 
admitting the absurdity of an education which stops at 14 or 15. The 
Hadow Report spoke of giving ‘a humane or liberal education’ through 
the schools which they proposed. It is one of those phrases sounding, 
seductive, but untrue, into which all of us are at times betrayed. The 


2 It may be argued that I have exaggerated the position, and said nothing 
of Junior Technical and Commercial Schools, Junior Evening Institutes, etc., but 
their nets catch only a small number of the fish. The following figures are 
instructive : 


(a) 476,590 children left P.E. Schools in 1934-35, being 71-9 per cent. of the 
total number of leavers. 

(b) Of these 6,647, i.e. 1-4 per cent., left for further full-time instruction. (The 
majority of pupils who leave P.E. Schools for full-time instruction leave at an 
earlier age.) 

(c) In the same year there were 75,993 pupils aged 15-16 in Evening Institutes 
and Evening Courses at Technical and other Colleges. 


224 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


thing is impossible. It is impossible because ‘a humane or liberal 
education ’ includes subjects which a fifteen-year-old is not sufficiently 
adult to grasp. 

I have been urging the truism that if we wish to teach a subject, we must 
teach it at an age when the mind can digest it. Otherwise we shall be like 
mothers who feed their babies on beans and bacon. But there is another 
principle, if not more important, even more commonly ignored. The 
fruitfulness of education, at least in some subjects, depends on experience 
of life. That is true of the majority of the subjects which are most 
important to us as men and citizens—literature, philosophy, history and 
politics. We may study them in books and enjoy them; we shall not 
appreciate their full significance till we have seen enough of life to have 
met the things which historians, philosophers and poets are talking about. 
That is where the so-called humanistic subjects differ profoundly from 
science and mathematics. Physical science and mathematics need no 
experience of life to be understood. Their laws are independent of time 
and place, of human nature, 


Based on the crystalline sea 
Of thought and its eternity. 


For their comprehension a mind sufficiently clear and powerful to grasp 
them is required; knowledge of life and of the world is unnecessary. 
Hence the child mathematical genius ; hence Mozart writing a concerto and 
playing in the Hall of Salzburg University at the age of 5. It is doubtless 
rare to find the mind sufficiently adult at an early age for such achieve- 
ments. But, given precocious mental development, the grasp of these 
abstract relations, whether of number or harmony, presents no difficulties. 
But such infant prodigies are not found in historical or literary studies. 
It is necessary to know life itself, to have seen something of human 
nature, before either achievement or understanding in these fields is 
possible. 

That is the meaning of a famous passage where Newman, with character- 
istic fineness of perception and beauty of language, points out that full 
appreciation of literature depends on knowledge of life. ‘ Let us consider, 
too, how differently young and old are affected by the words of some classic 
author, such as Homer or Horace. Passages, which to a boy are but 
rhetorical commonplaces, neither better nor worse than a hundred others 
which any clever writer might supply, which he gets by heart and thinks 
very fine, and imitates, as he thinks, successfully, in his own flowing 
 versification, at length come home to him, when long years have passed, 
and he has had experienée of life, and pierce him, as if he had never before 
known them, with their sad earnestness and vivid exactness. Then he 
comes to understand how it is that lines, the birth of some chance morning 
or evening at an Ionian festival, or among the Sabine hills, have lasted 
generation after generation, for thousands of years, with a power over the 
mind, and a charm, which the current literature of his own day, with all 
its obvious advantages, is utterly unable to rival.’ ' 

‘When he has had experience of life.’ Read Horace and Homer by 


L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE 225 


all means, says Newman; feed ear and mind with their language and 
music; but do not expect to know their full meaning before you 
are 40. 

This truth, which Newman expresses in his exquisite prose, was well 
known to Aristotle. ‘One may enquire why a boy, though he may be a 
mathematician, cannot be a metaphysician or a natural philosopher. 
Perhaps the answer is that Mathematics deals with abstractions whereas 
the first principles of Metaphysics and Natural Science are derived from 
experience: the young can only repeat them without conviction of their 
truth, whereas the formal concepts of Mathematics are easily understood.’ 
And again, ‘ the young are not fit to be students of politics, for they have 
no experience of life and conduct, and it is these that supply the premises 
and subject-matter of this branch of philosophy.’ * The countries where 
students, not content with the theory of politics, take a hand in its practice, 
have a bitter knowledge of Aristotle’s meaning. But it will also be 
appreciated by those who have watched our own undergraduate students 
of philosophy playing a game of intellectual ping-pong with the 
Absolute. 

If you doubt the thesis that the humanistic subjects need experience of 
life for their full appreciation, contrast, in respect of life, of the sense of 
reality, history as written by those, from Thucydides onwards, who have 
lived in the political world, and by those who know it only from a study. 
Again, would not most university teachers agree that their most interesting, 
I do not say ablest, pupils are those who come to the university not direct 
from school, but from the army or business or some other occupation 
where they have seen at first-hand something of the subjects with which 
literature, philosophy and history deal? Again, which of us has not 
said in his thirties or forties, ‘I wish I could have my education over 
again’? If you analyse that wish, is it not another way of saying, ‘ I was 
not old enough to profit by my education, when I had it’? And if you 
analyse that statement in turn does it not mean, ‘ When I was at school 
and university I did not know enough of life fully either to value my 
- education or to understand what it dealt with’? Perhaps students of 

science or mathematics would not feel this. If so, it confirms my thesis 
_the more. But I suspect that nine-tenths of those whose studies were 
humanistic would in later life wish to have their education again, and would 
ene that in the early twenties they were not mature enough to profit 
y it. 
- Iam here raising a question which I have no time to discuss, but which 
needs more discussion than it gets. What does a pupil of the age of 14, 
15, 16, 17 get from the study of history, for instance? In secondary 
schools it is a favourite subject for specialisation after the School Certificate. 
How much of it can a schoolboy grasp? I suspect that the right answer 
is suggested by the comment of an examiner on the work of a member 
of an ‘Economics Sixth Form’ at a public school. ‘These boys are 
excellently taught and interested in the subject ; they read and reproduce 
the best books persuasively ; and they have no real understanding of most 
8 Eth. Nic. VI. 8.6. I. 3. 5. 
I 


226 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


of it, because they do not know at first-hand the subject-matter which 
it studies.’ Ao&écopo. &vtt copy yeyovétec, ‘They have the appear- 
ance of wisdom but not its reality,’ as Plato said of these who absorb 
information from books without digesting it. 


However this may be, if we accept the two principles which I have 
been stressing and agree that a certain maturity of mind is necessary for 
humanistic studies and that full understanding of them is impossible 
without experience of life, some practical conclusions follow. The first 
is that an education which ends at the age of 14 is not education at all. It 
might be plausibly argued that nearly all the money spent on elementary 
education is wasted, because the system is, on the face of it, absurd. If 
you taught a child the letters of the alphabet and then stopped you would 
probably consider that you had thrown time away in teaching him the 
ABC. Yet that is what we do in our elementary education. Elementary 
education is not complete in itself. It is preparatory. It prepares the 
pupil to go on to something else, and puts his foot on the first step of the 
ladder of knowledge. But in fact the vast majority go on to nothing else, 
they never climb higher on the ladder than the first step. How many pupils 
whose education ceases when they leave an elementary school maintain 
afterwards anything that can be called intellectual interest ? How many 
think with any real seriousness about the problems of politics on which as 
electors they are expected to decide? How many read books worth 
reading? How many read books at all?* And if not, what have they 
gained adequate to the vast sums spent on them? The chief uses of our 
present elementary system are to enable a minority to proceed to further 
education, and the rest to read the Daily Mail, Express and Herald. 1 
am not criticising our elementary schools or their teachers, or denying 
the necessity of elementary education for all. But unless it leads on to 
something else, it is as useful as a ladder which has no rungs beyond one 
or two at its bottom or as a railway from London to Blackpool which ends 
at Bletchley. To cease education at 14 is as unnatural as to die at 14. 
The one is physical, the other intellectual, death. 

But the defects of our present system will not be remedied by raising 
the school age to 15, orevento16. Death at these ages is still premature. 
The pupil will still be unripe for the studies without which an intelligent 
democracy cannot be created. I am not arguing against the raising of the 
school age. It may help our economic difficulties by reducing the supply 
of children in the labour market. It will keep children longer under 
influences of discipline and guidance with which they can ill dispense at 
14. But the value of the raised school age is moral and economic rather 
than intellectual. The mind will gain something from it. The character 

4 It is not easy to draw inferences from the statistics of public libraries. The 
following figures of books issued in a year per head (approximately) of the popu- 
lation by the Urban Libraries of certain counties are characteristic but not en- 
couraging : Cornwall 3, London (Metropolitan Boroughs) 5, Glamorgan 6, Lanark- 
shire 5. One must, ofcourse, allow for children under 16 and for those who possess 


adequate libraries of their own, but also remember that many of these books were 
novels. 


L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE 227 


will gain more than the mind. Even at 16 intellectual education, in any 
but a quite elementary sense, is only about to begin. Nobody who has 
seen the results of compulsory education to the age of 16 in the U.S.A. 
will be under the delusion that it produces an educated nation. If they 
compare these results with those obtained in France, where education is 
compulsory only till the age of 13,° they will be still further disillusioned 
about the intellectual advantages gained by raising the school age. If 
such a change is preparatory to an education continued into the adult 
years, well and good; if not, it will leave our problem still unsolved. 
What is the solution ? 

It will not be found in secondary education about which this age is, I 
think, over-credulous. The hard fight for its development has caused us 
to exaggerate what it can do. We must keep our faith in it, but temper 
faith with scepticism. Secondary education is only one part of a great 
picture ; we need to stand back a little and see the canvas as a whole. 
I do not wish to minimise the importance of the secondary school. 
Economic reasons suggest that the earlier years of life should be given to 
education. That is the time when the parents are most capable of earning 
money, and the children least capable of it. Further, it is the best age 
for learning such subjects as foreign languages, for memorising facts and 
for tolerating and even enjoying what to an adult is drudgery. But I 
doubt if any candid person, who has been a teacher ora pupil in a secondary 
school, feels that the returns correspond to the labour, time and money 
spent. How should they? You are teaching pupils in whom no in- 
tellectual faculty except that of memory and possibly imagination is fully 
developed, who have not, and cannot have, a full perception of the purposes 
and value of education, and whose eyes—and their teacher’s eyes—are 
apt to be fixed not on its real business, but on School or Higher Certificates 
or Matriculation or Scholarships. Some take their educational food with 
a healthy appetite ; others attend conscientiously at meal-times ; others 
are compelled to swallow. But forcible feeding is not education. In 
every point except the economic one adult education has the advantage 
over secondary education. It is given to students, who desire it, who have 
the mental development to receive it, and who have the experience of life 
necessary to value and interpret it ; whereas secondary education is given 

_to pupils whose faculties are not fully developed, and who have not seen 
enough of life fully to comprehend what education is or what it can do for 
them. Secondary education will always be necessary for the small class 
who are capable of high achievement in mathematics, science, historical 
or literary study. It is so firmly established in our national system that 
its position is not likely to be weakened. But it would be well if we became 
less confident that the best thing for any boy who can afford it is to stay 
at school till 18, and if we realised that the education of the masses can 
never be achieved through secondary education. Let anyone compare a 
class in a secondary school or even in a university, where the whole time is 
devoted to acquiring knowledge, with a Workers’ Educational Associa- 


5 Children who obtain the Certificat d’études primaires élémentaires can leave 
a year earlier. 


228 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


tion class, whose students snatch for study a few hours a week from the 
strain and fatigue of bread-winning. Which is real education? Which 
yields the greater return ? 


What, then, should we do? If welived in Utopia and could reconstruct 
education without regard either to its past evolution or its present condition 
or the needs of the practical world, the ideal plan might be for everyone 
to leave school at 15, and pass into a system, where a part of the week was 
allotted to school, part to earning the living in some practical occupation, 
the proportions of each varying with the intellectual abilities of the pupil 
and the demands of the subjects which he was studying. Such a contact 
with the practical world would both sharpen the appreciation of the value 
and purpose. of education, and, especially in the humanistic subjects, 
make their real meaning far more intelligible. ‘Theory would be illumin- 
ated by practice, and practice by theory. At present the two are nearly 
always divorced. We lead a life of action without thought ; or we think 
in a vacuum, without contact with the realities and problems of the world. 
Neither form of isolation is satisfactory. 

A revolution of this kind could be made in a Platonic—or a Communist 
—state. Itisimpossibleinourown. The small section of the community 
which proceeds through the secondary school, and thence, reduced in 
numbers, to a University degree, will continue to follow that beaten path. 
Their studies will still suffer from ignorance of life. The only possible 
improvement for them is that some of them may interpose a layer of 
practical experience between school and university by going into an office 
or doing some practical job for a period when they leave school ; as is 
now done sometimes by engineers. 

Meanwhile there remains the problem of the greater part of the nation, 
who in future will leave school at 14 or 15. Unless we establish a com- 
pulsory part-time continuation system which will carry them on to 18, 
the education of the earlier years of the youth of the nation will still be 
largely wasted. If we can establish such a system, they will remain in 
contact with those subjects to the rudiments of which their elementary 
education has introduced them, carrying them on to an age when the mind 
is growing sufficiently mature to begin to appreciate their value and grasp 
their meaning. Our next step, therefore, should be to retain those who 
leave school before the age of 18 under some educational control—not 
involving whole-time school attendance—to that age. We shall thus 
escape their abrupt and untimely expulsion from educational influences, 
and we shall take them to the threshold of adult education, where the 
solution of our educational problem must be found. So long as the 
education of the vast mass of the population ends at the age of 14 or 15 or 
16, or even of 17 and 18, so long we shall have, as at present, an uneducated 
electorate. 

Much has been talked, and something has been done, in adult education. 
The Handbook of Adult Education, or the second volume of Mr. Yeaxlee’s 
Spiritual Values in Adult Education, give an idea of the large number of 
bodies concerned in it. Its great success in Britain is the Workers’ 


L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE 229 


Educational Association, whose history shows what a clear aim, pursued 
with faith and wisdom, can create in a region without form and void. In 
1935 there were 59,000 students in W.E.A. classes. The figure is remark- 
able, till we remember that there are forty-three millions in this island, 
and that the crowd at a Cup Tie Final is twice as large. The W.E.A. 
is not to blame for that ; nor indeed are the masses. It provided for their 
intelligentsia, and wisely concentrated on this need, instead of frustrating 
its own work by pursuing a variety of inconsistent aims. But necessarily 
it has left untouched the vast mass of the population. ‘A liberal estimate 
gives 500,000 adults at the very most as the total influenced in any direct 
way by any kind of organised educational activity.’® If so, here is a 
sparsely populated territory, like America before the pioneers crossed the 
Alleghanies, with territories of unexplored wealth waiting to be 
cultivated. 

It may of course be true that the vast mass are not only untouched but 
untouchable, destined for ever to be the helots of the nation, exiles by 
nature from all but the outermost court of education. We should 
hesitate to adopt so pessimistic a conclusion. But we might feel that it 
was true if the experience of Denmark had not shown it to be false. I 
have no time to dwell on the Danish Folk High School. Sufficient to 
remember that 30 per cent. of the small farmer and working-class population 
in that country attend, voluntarily and in part at their own expense, these 
adult schools, where the course lasts for some-5 months, and the education 
is humanistic in the sense that it is neither technical nor utilitarian. The 
Danes have been successful with the very classes with whom we have 
failed—those for whom the W.E.A. does not provide. If they are capable 
of this, why not we? If 30 per cent. of their working classes demand a 
humanistic education, there is plenty to be done here. Their achieve- 
ment is the measure of our failure and the indication of what can be done. 
Why have we not done it ? 

My concern is to urge the indispensability of adult education, not to 
produce a programme of it. This would be a fitting work for the 
Consultative Committee, which has done so much to shape the earlier 
stages of national education. The first task would be to review what is 
being already done, in order to harmonise, develop and complete it ; to 
define clearly what adult education should be ; and to consider in what 
forms it can be best digested by those for whom it is meant. I make a 
few suggestions on two of these points. 

I believe that the Danes have a better understanding of the technique 
of the education of the average man. We have taken too narrow and rigid 
a view of it. Education for the masses has been conceived as an extension 
of the existing higher education to the working-man. ‘That was excellent 
for the intelligentsia of the working-class, but for the majority it was too 
academic, too ‘ highbrow.’ ‘The Extension Movement and the W.E.A. 
have carried University studies and methods to a wider public. So far, 
so good, They reached a certain public, and gave it something which it 
needed and was capable of assimilating. But in so doing they limited 


§ The Handbook and Directory of Adult Education (1929), p. 29. 
12 


230 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


themselves. Invaluable as their subjects and methods were, they pleased 
not the million ; twas caviare to the general. But the general, the million, 
need food no less than the élite ; and in giving it their tastes and digestions 
must be considered. To nourish them we must enlarge our conception 
of adult education. Music, drama, handicraft, gardening, and many 
other subjects are a part of it no less than history, politics, science and 
literature. The festivals, held so successfully in the small towns of Ulster, 
where crowded audiences come to listen not only to musical competitions 
but to verse-speaking, show what a large public can be interested by such 
things ; nor is it only in the houses of the educated that the Symphony 
Concerts of the B.B.C. are listened to with delight. Subjects like these 
may well take a large place in the adult education of to-morrow. Not that 
the academic, book, subjects will be absent. But they too may take a 
rather different form. Studies of the W.E.A. type will continue. But 
for the ordinary man, history and literature need to be treated differently. 
They must be brought into connection with his outlook, interests, mind. 
History as the Bible conceives it or as Herodotus conceived it, rather than 
as Thucydides or Acton or Ranke or even Macaulay and Gibbon conceived 
it: history, not as a study of economic laws or high policy, but as concrete 
moral philosophy, as scenes from the most romantic of all dramas splendidly 
staged and greatly acted, as a study of human nature at its highest reach 
and lowest descent. It is difficult for us, disciplined in different methods, 
to accustom ourselves to such conceptions; and one of the reasons perhaps 
why so little progress has been made in adult education is that the teachers 
have mostly been men with honours degrees who brought to their work 
the methods and outlook of their own education. At any rate, whoever 
the teachers are, they need to look elsewhere for models than to W.E.A. 
classes and Extension Lectures. If we are feeling after adult education 
for the million, we may be helped by studying the Women’s Institutes. 
That is an institution which embraces almost every type of person. You 
will find in them domestic servants, cottagers’, doctors’, landowners’ 
wives, farmers’ daughters, the village postmistress, the village school- 
mistress. 

For adult education to be successful, the intellectual digestion of the 
masses must be studied. If scholars sniff disdainfully at such popular- 
isation, they should be asked to remember the dream which St. Peter had 
at Joppa. I also think that we shall not succeed, unless—again following 
the Danes—we make our adult education more social. Even in education 
man remains a social animal. Consider how often education has burned 
most brightly at acommon hearth, where men gathered togetherin company 
to warm their hands at its flame : in antiquity, Socrates in the market-place 
and gymnasium, the great classical schools of the Academy, the Lyceum, 
the Stoa, the Museum of Alexandria ; in the Middle Ages, the Universities, 
culminating in the residential university, recognised, at least in the Anglo- 
Saxon world, as their ideal form; in our own day, the Danish Folk High 
School and its descendants. These examples may teach us something. 
No doubt the lamp of wisdom can burn in solitary shrines and even in 
dismal lecture halls. But for the many its right place is in the simple but 


-L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE 231 


pleasant buildings of a Danish High School, with its gardens, its pictures, 
its music, its corporate life. Few Women’s Institutes are so well housed, 
but there is in them that social, corporate element, which exists in a 
residential university and which both educates and makes education 
attractive. Here also this country has the germ of the future in Summer 
Schools, and in such institutions as Woodbroke, Fircroft, Coleg Harlech 
and Newbattle. ‘These are pointers to the adult education of to-morrow. 

The arguments for adult education are overwhelming ; its difficulties 
will be great. The Danes have had a comparatively easy task. An 
agricultural people with seasonal work and slack periods have more 
opportunities for adult education than an industrial country. In Denmark 
the small holder or farm-worker can escape from his work for a winter. 
In England a man who leaves his job will probably lose it, and while he 
holds it finds his time and energies fully occupied. The Danish Folk 
High School, so successful in the country, has been a comparative failure 
in Copenhagen. In fact, unless we really believe in adult education, 
there will be convincing reasons for doing nothing. If we do believe, we 
shall remember that Continental nations do not hesitate to take two and 
three years of their citizens’ lives for military service, and we shall be 
capable of a lesser effort in a greater cause. 


The future, if we are wise enough to see it, lies with adult education. 
_ In this paper I have spoken of its importance to the masses. But it has 
other, hardly less important, possibilities. At present life is so arranged 
that most of us do our thinking in youth at an age when we are not best 
fitted for it, and having left the University think, systematically, no more. 
What wonder that middle life finds so many men unaware of recent progress 
in their own field, unapt for new experiments and ideas, deeply embedded 
in their rut, while progress waits impatiently for their death and the 
arrival of the next generation! The time, I believe, will come when men 
will return to the Universities in middle life, to study systematically the 
newer developments in their own field, to review and revise their own 
attitudes and habits of thought. That, incidentally, will be very good for 
the Universities. These revenants will bring their practical experience 
from the world of action to the world of theory and knowledge ; and both 
theorist and practical man will gain by the contact. It is not so Utopian 
as it sounds. Doctors, in the busiest of all professions, find time for 
“refresher courses.’ Teachers do the same; and a former Principal 
Secretary of the Board of Education once said that in his opinion the outlay 
on these courses gave the best return of any money spent by the Board. 
The Colonial Office second men from their Service for study at the 
Universities. There is no reason why the same should not be done for 
Members of the Home, Indian and Municipal Services—to mention no 
others. Politicians, too, might take the opportunity for systematic 
thought about their problems. If they did so, they would be following 
the advice of Plato, whose statesmen were alternately retired from political 
life for study, and returned to govern their country in the light of their 
studies. Plato was the first to see that the work of education was not com- 


232 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


plete at the age of 18 or 21, but must continue in a systematic, methodical 
form into late life, (Even after the age of 50 his ruling class were to 
continue their studies.) This truth, like his doctrine of the essential 
equality of the sexes for the work of the state, slumbered forgotten for 
more than 2000 years: or rather, we have slumbered. It is time to 
awake. 


i oe il 


es Ge 


— a OC rl rh Tt 


SECTION M.—AGRICULTURE. 


SOIL SCIENCE IN THE TWENTIETH 
CENTURY 


ADDRESS BY 
Pror. J. HENDRICK, 
PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION. 


Ir is now about a quarter of a century since Agriculture was constituted a 
full Section of this Association, and during that time many distinguished 
leaders in Agricultural Science have occupied the office which I have the 
high honour to fill this year, and among them have been several agricultural 
chemists, the names of some of whom have been closely identified with 
research into the soil and its fertility, but I do not think that any of them 
has ever chosen the fundamental subject of the soil for his presidential 
address. I have ventured to take this as the subject of the remarks I 
propose to make this morning, and while I cannot claim that it has any 
special relevance to the place of our meeting, to most of the visitors to 
which the sea and the sand are of more interest than the soil, I dare to 
hope that the importance of the subject may render it not unworthy of the 
consideration of a section whose very name means culture of the soil. 
While none of my predecessors has specifically chosen the definite 
subject of soil knowledge for his Presidential Address, soil science is so 
fundamental that it was not possible to avoid it in treating of such subjects 


-as the History of Agriculture, Crop Production and its Problems, or 


Chemistry and Agriculture, the subject of a very recent President. In 
fact it is not too much to say that hardly any presidential address on 
Agriculture can avoid touching on soil science at some point. 

It is not necessary for me to labour the importance of knowledge of the 
soil not only to those interested in agricultural science and research but 
to the whole community. From the earliest times of civilised human 
history the soil has played a controlling part in the life of the community, 
it has been prominent in its literature, law and art as well as in the daily 
occupations of ordinary men. Even at the present day if we look beyond 
the narrow confines of our own country, where the overwhelming presence 
of industry and commerce have to some extent blurred our sense of pro- 
portion, to the wider world beyond, we find that the soil and its cultivation 
is still the most important as well as the most fundamental of human 
occupations and interests. Agriculture is still the ‘ Fair Queen of Arts, 
from Heaven itself who came.’ 

The soil is not an asset which is wasted by use, but wisely used, it 
increases rather than diminishes in value. Coal and oil and the ores of 


234 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


metals when used cannot be replaced. They can be exhausted, as has 
already happened with coal seams, oil-fields and iron ore deposits, but 
there are soils which have been used for thousands of years, some of them 
probably since man first passed from the food gathering and hunting stage 
and began cultivation, yet they are still fertile. Of course by neglect or 
wasteful treatment, such as has taken place both in ancient and modern 
times, a soil can be lowered in fertility and value and become what is called 
exhausted, but this is a very different use of the word ‘ exhausted’ from 
its application to an oil-field or a coal seam. The exhausted soil can by 
skilful treatment, or even by being left alone for a time, be brought back 
to fertility, but the oil or coal once used is irreplaceable. 

The soil is the source of most of our food, of our clothing, and, directly 
or indirectly, of most of our possessions. Its products are the most 
important materials of commerce and industry. Even with all the 
increased powers of production of the last century which have released so 
many from essential work like soil cultivation, and enabled them to live 
by the production of articles of luxury,—or without doing anything of use 
or service for the community at all—nevertheless, from a world point 
of view, soil cultivation remains overwhelmingly the most important of 
industries, and many of the other important industries depend directly 
upon its products or are engaged in producing articles for the use of the 
husbandman. It is as true in Blackpool to-day as it was in the Garden of 
Eden, that man is ‘ made of the dust of the ground.’ It is necessary in a 
community like ours, where we are apt, among towns and factories, to lose 
sight of the soil, that we should be reminded from time to time that man is 
dependent on the soil, and that all flesh is grass ; that land is not merely 
a playground for the city dweller, it is the fundamental producer, and the 
tiller of the soil is more necessary to the community than the cinema 
operator or even than the coal miner. 

There has been a great advance during the present century in our 
knowledge of soils and in our views of their nature and structure. So also 
our views on manures and on the fertilisation of the soil, and on the whole 
meaning of fertility, have been widened, while on the manufacturing and 
commercial side something amounting almost to a revolution has taken 
place in the fertiliser industry. 

The soil, owing to its primary importance, has naturally been a subject 
of interest and thought since the earliest times—-Greek philosophers and 
Latin poets have formed their theories about it, and written of the art of 
cultivation. A great mass of lore about it and its cultivation has been 
built up by many generations of peasants and farmers and some of my 
predecessors have already dealt with this subject. In particular the first 
President of the Section, Sir Thomas Middleton, in his address in 1912 
dealt with ‘ Early Associations for Promoting Agriculture and Improving 
the Improvers.’ With his great knowledge of the early history of Agri- 
culture and of early writers on the subject, his address is a mine of informa- 
tion on the building up of agricultural knowledge before the days of the 
modern scientific period, when definite search after knowledge, and 
experiment to increase knowledge, began to replace the slow and uncertain 
processes of gathering knowledge by practical experience, handed down 


M.—AGRICULTURE 235 


largely by oral tradition or by theories spun out of men’s heads, untested 
by experiment. 

Most of our scientific knowledge of the soil has been built up during 
the past century. It was only with the development of modern science 
and especially of chemistry and geology, that such knowledge could 
advance, and it was about a century ago that our early knowledge of the 
chemical composition and mineral constitution of the soil was ‘built up. 
This knowledge has been advancing ever since but with particular rapidity 
during the present century. 

The oldest and most famous station for research in soils and soil fertility 
is Rothamsted and in its early days, nearly a century ago, before national 
systems of agricultural education and research were started in other 
countries, Britain largely through Rothamsted, which was a private 
institution financed by its owner, John Lawes, and also through the work of 
Agricultural Societies and private persons, played a not unworthy part in 
the development of soil science. But during the latter half of the century 
agricultural research institutions and teaching institutions, in which much 
research was carried on, founded with State support increased rapidly in 
other countries both in Europe and America, while Britain was left with 
Rothamsted alone, a private institution depending on the public spirit and 
scientific enthusiasm of an individual. ‘Towards the end of the century, 
consequently, in spite of all that Rothamsted could do, this country was 
playing a very small part in the development of agricultural science. This 
can be easily verified by anyone who cares to look up the agricultural 
literature of the period and note the scientific output of this country 
compared with, say, France, Germany or America. If I may become 
reminiscent for a moment, I would say that I belong to that old genera- 
tion whose scientific training took place in the latter part of last century. 
It is difficult for a younger, and more fortunate, generation to realise the 
conditions of those days. ‘There was practically no agricultural research 
except at Rothamsted, a private institution with a small staff, and there 
was almost no education in agricultural science, except the limited supply 
to be obtained at Cirencester in England and Edinburgh University in 
Scotland. Those of us who wished to learn anything of agricultural 
science and research were practically bound to go to Germany, and there 
were no Government Scholarships, or research grants, or agricultural 
Scholarships of any kind, to assist a poor student to get there. 

The beginnings of an improvement came in 1890 when the Govern- 
ment of the day finding itself with a considerable sum of money which 
had been ear-marked for the compensation of dispossessed publicans, but 
unable, owing to parliamentary exigencies, to use it for that purpose, 
threw it over to the local authorities with a recommendation that they 
should use it for technical, including agricultural, education. In this 
casual British manner started our system of national agricultural education. 
This developed rapidly in the first quarter of the present century to the 
system we now know, and though no specific provision was yet made for 
research, naturally, it began to grow, till with the foundation of the 
Development Commission in 1910, definite provision was made for that 
also. But this is not my subject. I am merely sketching in a background 


236 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


against which to show the state of soil science at the beginning of the 
present century. Besides this history of agricultural education and re- 
search in the latter years of last century and the early years of this one, was 
the subject of the presidential address of the late Prof. T. B. Wood, 
before this section at Birmingham in 1913. 

Soil science in this country was in a comparatively stagnant state at the 
beginning of this century. Britain had done much in the development of 
the fertiliser industry, though even in this, while other countries were 
advancing rapidly, we had been falling somewhat into the background 
during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. 

When the revival of agricultural science began after 1890 one of the 
chief lines of investigation which was undertaken at first—perhaps because 
it was the easiest and most obvious—consisted of field experiments on the 
action of fertilisers on crops. 

This was natural. The classical work of Rothamsted consisted largely 
of fertilisation experiments made upon field plots. This had done much 
to build up the foundations of our knowledge of crop requirements and 
soil fertility. ‘The numerous experiments carried out with fertilisers all 
over the country at the end of last century were partly intended as demon- 
strations of this old knowledge and partly intended to extend it in details. 
Besides the resources financial and otherwise of the new agricultural 
teachers left much to be desired. As a rule they had no experimental 
farms and they had very limited opportunities for laboratory work, but 
it was possible with their very limited financial resources to make field 
experiments with the help of farmers and fertiliser manufacturers. Of 
fundamental research on the soil there was little or none, the resources in 
time and money, and perhaps also in knowledge, of teachers rapidly 
recruited to carry out the new agricultural teaching schemes, were not 
such as to enable them to do much of the more difficult work which 
requires properly equipped research laboratories and experimental fields. 

A comparison of the text-books on Agriculture and Agricultural 
Chemistry of the beginning of the century with those of the present day 
will illustrate the great change in our outlook on soil science. There 
were no British text-books on soil science in 1900. Any text-books on 
this subject in English were American. The information on the soil in 
our text-books on Agriculture and Agricultural Chemistry was derived 
largely from Geology and Mineralogy, or was information about soil 
composition and analysis and the use of fertilisers, with a little soil know- 
ledge which had filtered through from foreign sources. Our knowledge 
of what was being done by soil investigators abroad was not extensive, of 
what was being done in Russia we knew nothing. Even up to the out- 
break of the great war we were still comparatively ignorant of the great 
movements in soil science which were taking place abroad. We looked 
upon the soil almost entirely from the point of view of its fertility and use- 
fulness as a medium for the growth of plants, and any study of the soil 
itself apart from its use as a medium for the production of crops, was 
almost non-existent. 

Britain is a comparatively small country falling within ten degrees of 
latitude, with a climate which is in all parts temperate and humid and with 


M.—AGRICULTURE 237 


a rainfall which is well distributed throughout all seasons of the year and 
which varies from moderate to high. The soils of Britain had not been 
studied even over the whole limited range of the country, but almost 
entirely in a small region in the south-east and mainly at Rothamsted and 
Woburn. ‘These were looked upon as typical soils and all others were 
supposed to be more or less similar. If that was not definitely stated, it 
was tacitly assumed. It may be said that till the present century, and 
even till the second decade of the present century, our view of soils was 
narrow and insular. All others were expected to conform to ‘ This 
blessed plot, this earth, this England,’ and it was a most blessed plot of 
the south-east of England which was the standard. Even in England 
itself there are soils which differ very considerably in nature and com- 
position from those of the Rothamsted and Woburn districts. I remember 
my own state of doubt and confusion when, having been brought up in the 
true faith as it existed in the nineties, I was transferred to the granitic 
drift soils of Aberdeenshire and could not make them fit in with my 
preconceived notions, and had to start to revise many of my beliefs, I was 
therefore more prepared than some of my generation to open my eyes to 
the new light which has poured in upon us during the past twenty-five 
years from Russia, Hungary, Holland and Germany, and from America. 

We did ourselves no good service from an imperial point of view by 
taking such a narrow and insular view of soils. While Britain is a small 
country of limited latitude and climate the British Empire exists in every 
latitude and every kind of climate. In agricultural science and not least 
in soil science, great sections of the British Empire, not merely Canada, 
but Australia and South Africa as well, came to look to the United States 
rather than to Britain for information and guidance. 

Something of the same kind of constriction of vision is noticeable in 
other countries. All are apt to judge by the conditions which prevail in 
their own country and to look at others through their own spectacles. 
This is of course natural. But there are two great countries which, 
unlike Britian, extend through wide ranges of latitude and climate. These 
are Russia and the United States. Russian territory extends from Arctic 
tundra to the subtropical, and embraces every kind of climate from warm 
humid and cold humid to arid and desert. The same is true of the 
United States, especially if we include Canada, which, in this respect, is in 
very close association with the United States whose workers keep in view 
the soils of the whole North American continent. Here, again, we have 
a range of latitude from Arctic to subtropical, and of conditions varying 
from the humid of the Atlantic and Pacific slopes to the arid conditions of 
much of the interior. Both the humid and the arid climates vary greatly 
in temperature conditions ranging from the Arctic to the subtropical. 
In both these vast countries, as in little Britain itself, there are great 
Variations in Geological conditions, and in all three there are soils derived 
from a great variety of rocks, igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. 

The scientific work of the United States is published in English and is 
therefore always easily accessible to us. The work of Hilgard and the 
Californian School, and of Whitney, Schreiner and other soil investigators 
of the United States Department of Agriculture, became known to us 


238 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


early in the present century and began to influence seriously our views on 
soils. The work of Hilgard in particular introduced us to arid and alkaline 
soils which, though they do not occur in Britain, are well known and of 
great importance in India, Australia, South Africa and other parts of the 
Empire, and we began, though only slowly, to take notice and to learn 
something of what was going on in the United States. Russia, on the other 
hand, is cut off from us by the barrier of a language which few can read, 
and the still more remarkable soil work which was going on in Russia and 
which has now produced such a great change and widening of the views of 
soil investigators throughout the world, was unknown in this country 
till after the great war when it began to filter through to us from America, 
Germany and other countries. Works published in this country before 
the war make no mention of the great Russian soil scientists such as 
Dokuchaev, Glinka and Gedroiz. At the present day it would be im- 
possible to write a book of any significance on soils without giving some 
account of the work of these men and of the great effect it has had in 
stimulating study and research on soils throughout the world. 

I suppose there is no better known agricultural manual in the English 
language than ‘Soil Conditions and Plant Growth,’ by our former 
President, Sir John Russell, the first edition of which was published in 
1912. A very valuable feature of this work, which has been continued and 
improved in all subsequent editions, is the extensive bibliography which it 
gives. In the first edition there are 323 entries in this bibliography but 
not one of them refers to any of the leading Russian soil investigators. In’ 
the text no reference is made to the Russian system of classifying soils and 
dividing them into zones according to the climate. There are, it is true, 
one or two slight references to climate and its effect on the soil and on the 
interpretation of soil analysis, but these are not developed or given more 
than a passing notice. ‘The same is true of the new edition published in 
1915 and it is not till the fourth edition, 1921, that references to the great 
Russian workers begin to be made. The references to them are still 
slight and their system is not described. In the fifth edition the references 
to the Russian work are somewhat greater but even yet there is no detail, 
and it is not till the sixth edition, 1932, that the Russians come into their 
own and that a considerable amount of space is given to them and to a 
description of their system of climatic classification. 

I have mentioned this particular text-book at some length because it is 
an outstanding English text-book on soils and because it is in great demand 
and has passed through a number of editions, so that we can trace in it the 
gradual growth of recognition in this country of the Russian School and 
its work. 

In this country we remained almost completely ignorant of the Russian 
and of much other foreign work till after 1920. ‘The most important and 
valuable agency in spreading among soil scientists of the world a know- 
ledge of one another’s work, and especially of the work of the Russians, 
and thus widening the outlook of them all, is the International Society of 
Soil Science. This Society was founded in Rome}in 1924. It grew out 
of some previous ,International Conferences which had been held before 
and after the great war. The first was held in Budapest in 1909 and was 


M.—AGRICULTURE 239 


called the International Conference of Agro-Geology. At it Britain, so 
far as I am aware, was not represented. ‘The Conference was called 
mainly because of a division of opinion in Central Europe as to whether 
soils should be mapped and classified on a geological system or on the 
Russian system, which was already becoming known in countries bordering 
on Russia. The Russians were represented by Glinka, and his arguments 
in favour of treating soils as an independent subject of study and of naming, 
mapping and classifying them entirely in accordance with soil genetics, 
independently of geology, produced a great impression, as did also his 
statement of the view that climate was by far the most important factor 
in producing different types of soil. 

It was decided to hold another agro-geological conference in the 
following year in Stockholm at the same time as, but independently of, 
the International Congress of Geology. At this conference further 
discussion took place and a number of different sections, or commissions, 
was founded. ‘The outbreak of the world war prevented the holding of 
further international meetings for a time and the next was not held till 
1922 when it met at Prague. The fourth and greatest of all was held in 
Rome in 1924, where this country was represented by a number of leading 
soil workers. ‘The Rome conference was much more largely attended than 
its predecessors and there the International Society of Soil Science was 
formed and it was decided to hold the first International Congress of the 
new Society in Washington in 1927. The United States Government 
took an interest in the matter and, through the President of the United 
States, invitations were issued to foreign governments to send delegates 
to the Congress. At this great Congress a strong party of Russians, 
headed by Glinka, was present, and the discussions which took place with 
them in Washington and their demonstrations of their views on the soils 
of America during a journey right across the continent from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific by a southern route and back again by a northern route, 
including a large section of Canada, did more to open the eyes, and to bring 
the meaning of the new soil philosophy to the knowledge of the large 
number of soil workers who were present from many countries, than 
anything that had gone before. A strong British party was present at 
this Congress and to many of us it was a new education in soil science, 
and not the less so because we found that many of the leaders in soil 
science in America as well as those from several European countries were 
in distinct sympathy with the Russians on many of the new views which 
they were advocating. I would not like to make you think that there 
were no differences of opinion among the Russians themselves. There 
were. There were also differences of view between them and other 
leaders in soil science in America and elsewhere. But these international 
discussions and differences only made the whole congress the more 
stimulative and thought-provoking, and those of us who were present 
came away with our minds clarified and knowing much more definitely 
than before what was this fresh viewpoint in soil science of which 
we had been reading and hearing more or less garbled accounts for a few 
years previously. 

Out of these international congresses and conferences and the renewed 


240 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


interest in soil science a number of new scientific journals arose. The 
Internationale Mitteilungen ftir Bodenkunde was founded as the official 
journal of the Agro-Geological Conferences, and, after the foundation of 
the International Society of Soil Science, was continued as the Proceedings 
of the International Society, while as a supplement a new journal, called 
Soil Research, was also started. In America there has been published 
since 1916 a journal called Sozl Science. ‘These journals, like the inter- 
national meetings, did much to make known widely the new movements in 
soil science. 

What'are these fresh views which we all sat at the feet of the Russians 
to learn? First of all I would like to point out that they are not revolu- 
tionary, they are not an overturning of old knowledge but an extension and 
restatement of it froma fresh viewpoint, and with additions. The Russians 
have been largely cut off from Western Europe and America by linguistic, 
geographical and political barriers, and, since the latter part of the 
nineteenth century, have been thinking out the subject for themiselves. 

They treat the soil as an independent natural object worthy of study 
for its own sake and not merely as a useful medium in which to grow 
crops, or as a subsidiary branch of Geology or Chemistry or any other 
science. The branch of science which deals with soils they treat as an 
independent branch, which they call Pedology. Many people in this 
country and in America have now adopted this term and prefer to be 
pedologists, a word you will not find in the dictionary, rather than soil 
scientists. _My own preference is for a term which is readily understood’ 
by ordinary people, for I venture to think that it is very important that 
science should have, as far as possible, the sympathy and understanding 
of ordinary non-scientific people who are apt to be repelled by the un- 
necessary and pedantic use of unknown terms. As that Nestor of Science 
and master of virile English, Professor H. E. Armstrong, says, with his 
usual emphasis, in a recent letter to Nature: ‘The world of scientific 
workers is clearly prepared to work in harmonious co-operation and even 
to mix with the public on equal terms ; jargon, not language, alone forbids ; 
this must be stamped out ; its use is due to conceit and to lack of thought ; 
knowledge has to be made the common property of the world.’ 

Next, the Russians insist that the soil is the natural product of a number 
of soil-forming factors of which the most important is climate, and that its 
nature is not determined by its geological origin. Their great primary 
classification of soils is into a number of climatic zones. The most 
notable feature in the whole Russian philosophy of soils is the insistence 
on the importance of climate as a soil-forming factor. Climate plays the 
central part in their system of soil classification. This recognition of 
climate is not entirely a new idea. Hilgard in America, and others, had 
already shown that climate has a great effect on the nature and composition 
of soils. On the other hand, in this country we had been accustomed to 
think of all soils as being somewhat similar to those of our temperate 
humid climate and though brought into contact with the very different 
soils of India, Australia, etc., had never critically examined the nature 
and causes of the differences in the soils produced in these very different 
climates. 


M.—AGRICULTURE 241 


In the old Russian Empire, and the modern union of Soviets, there are 
soils which have been produced in a great variety of climates in Russian 
Europe and Asia. The Russian soil workers set themselves to collect 
these and to examine them critically, and came to the conclusion that soils 
produced from a geological formation in a cool climate were very different 
from those produced from the same geological formation in a hot climate, 
and that those produced in a moist climate were very different from those 
produced from the same parent materials in an arid climate. They 
showed indeed that very different soils may be formed from the same rock 
in different climates and that, on the other hand, similar soils may be 
produced from different rocks in similar climates. That, for example, 
our granitic soils, produced in the cool humid climate of Scotland, would 
have been very different if produced in a hot humid climate in tropical 
Africa, and that if produced in a hot arid climate in Asia they would have 
been different both from those produced in cool humid Scotland and ina 
hot humid African climate. In fact they showed that soils cannot be 
classified and characterised on a geological basis. Possibly some of them, 
and still more some of their enthusiastic converts in other lands, go too far 
in excluding geological origin altogether as a factor in soil formation. 

The next great feature of the Russian system is the classification of soils 
according to what is found in the soil profile. ~The profile, as is now well 
known to all of us, though that was not so twenty years ago, is a section of 
the soil from the surface down to the parent material. If such a section is 
examined it is almost invariably found to consist of a number of different 
layers, called horizons, which are generally easily distinguishable from one 
another. When a great many such profiles are examined from different 

parts of the world it is found that they fall into a number of definite types 
characteristic of the different types of soil. The profile is an expression 
of the results of the different soil-forming factors and therefore characterises 
the different types of soils as produced by the action of these factors. This 
is expressed by saying that the profile is the resultant of the pedogenic 

processes. ‘The modern soil surveyor studies morphology of soil profiles 
and classifies his soils accordingly. 

This is in outline very simple, in practice it is often very difficult and is 
apt to give rise to differences of opinion, especially when those accustomed 
to the profiles of one part of the world are introduced to a new region with 
conditions different from those to which they are accustomed. It will be 
seen, too, that this scheme of a profile made up of horizons is a develop- 
ment of the old division of the soil into soil and subsoil. But there is an 
important difference, the terms soil and subsoil were applied to cultivated 
soils mainly, and the soil was, generally speaking, the layer which had been 
mixed and influenced by the implements and processes of cultivation, 
while the subsoil was the layer which was not touched by instruments of 
cultivation. Such a division is of no use to the modern student of soil 
morphology and genetics. The processes of cultivation have turned 
over and mixed the surface layers and have also modified those below the 
region reached by the plough. The modern soil investigator, therefore, 
insists that the profile must be studied in undisturbed soil which has 
existed in its natural condition for a long period of time. To him the 


242, SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


profile is the soil unit which must be studied as a whole, unmodified by 
artificial operations of man. This of course introduces difficulties in old 
settled countries of dense population, like our own, where most of the soils 
which are worth cultivation have been broken up and cultivated at one 
time or another. In the extensive, lightly populated areas of Russia or 
North America there are plenty of natural soils, but in applying modern 
methods of soil study to the soils of much of Western and Southern 
Europe and other regions of ancient civilisation, modifications have to be 
introduced to allow for the influence of cultivation which, in many cases, 
extends over long periods of time. 

There is another difficulty which, it seems to me, has not received the 
consideration it deserves. Soils are divided in this system into mature 
and immature, called by those who rejoice in using Greek words unknown 
to the vulgar, Ektodynamomorphic and Endodynamomorphic soils 
respectively. A mature profile is one which has attained its full develop- 
ment, while an immature profile has not attained its full development. 
But when is this full development attained ? Certain of the soil-forming 
processes require a very long period for their full development, others a 
much shorter period. Some processes require periods of geological time, 
others can take place in a few years or a few centuries. 

The late Mr. George Newlands and myself studied a few years ago the 
mineralogical composition of certain Scottish soils, and found that our 
granitic soils, for instance, are largely composed of the minerals of the 
original granite in an unweathered or only slightly weathered condition. : 
Much of the ‘ fine sand,’ technically particles of approximately 0-2 to 0-02 
millimetres in diameter, consists of almost unweathered particles of 
orthoclase, muscovite and other compound silicates and not merely of 
quartz. ‘These are found not only in the parent material a few feet below 
the surface but in the surface layers which have been undergoing chemical 
processes of weathering as long as the soil has been there. 

The parent material of these soils is glacial detritus powdered down by 
ice and left behind when the ice melted after the last glacial epoch. How 
long is that ago? I leave that question to be answered by Section C. 
At any rate it is a long time ago, before human history started in Scotland. 
But as the pedogenic processes in these soils are not complete in this 
respect, the profiles, ex hypothesi, cannot have attained their full develop- 
ment and therefore are still immature. But many of such soils have 
profiles which are treated as mature. 

Soil organic matter, on the other hand, is subject to rapid change and 
decay especially in a warm climate. Even in our cool climate humus is 
rapidly formed under suitable conditions. So far as the organic matter 
of the soil is concerned it rapidly comes into a condition of equilibrium 
with the conditions prevailing, and so far as it is concerned the pedogenic 
process is completed in a comparatively short period of time, though a 
change in the conditions may throw it out of equilibrium again for a time. 

The whole of the processes of soil formation are very complex and require 
much more study before we can hope to reach, I will not say a final, but a 
sound system of soil classification. The soil itself is, from every point 
of view, a very complex and variable material and our present methods 


M.—AGRICULTURE 243 


for its study and classification, though a great advance on what went 
before, are of very recent origin and no doubt further great progress will 
be made as a result of the intensive studies to which soils are now being 
subjected in many lands. 

In the above sketch I have merely referred to one or two features of the 
Russian soil philosophy which appear to me to be outstanding and have 
not ventured to tax your patience with details which can be found in 
modern text-books. With the new enthusiasm for soil study and research 
we have a new crop of books on the subject. At the beginning of this 
century there was hardly a text-book on soils to be found in English, now 
there are many both by English and American authors, and in the past 
ten years there have been quite a number in which the modern views of soil 
formation and classification are given, and more are constantly appearing. 
Much of the Russian soil science is at present remote from agricultural 
practice. It is curious that in spite of their theories of Government and 
of five-year plans for the rapid practical improvement of the condition of 
the people, the Russians are the champions of pure soil science, of the 
view that our study of soils should proceed without reference to any use 
that may be made of such knowledge for the service of agricultural 
practice, or for the production of wealth from the soil. It is difficult for 
British and Americans to dissociate soils from their agricultural use and to 
regard them are a pure subject of scientific research studied solely for the 
increase of abstract knowledge. Still, it is no doubt the correct method, so 
long as it is not carried to extremes, and we are greatly indebted to the 
Russian School for giving us a fresh start and new methods of attack. 

The fundamental importance of soil moisture has been known for ages. 
Without water crops cannot grow, and with excess of moisture we get 
marsh or swamp and our ordinary crops are drowned out. A proper 
supply of moisture is more important to crops than all the fertilisers put 
together. In the modern theory of soil formation and classification the 
important part played by water is recognised. The two important 
factors in climate, those which do most to determine what the soil is to 
be, are the supply of water and the temperature. In considering water 
supply it is not sufficient to consider the rainfall—the humidity, the 
distribution of the rainfall and the topography all enter into the picture. 
A rainfall which is sufficient to wash through the soil and leach away 
soluble constituents in a cool humid climate, may all be re-evaporated and 
leave nothing to wash through the soil in a warm climate with a dry 
atmosphere. Again, if all the rain falls at one season of the year a part of it 
may seep through the soil and escape as drainage water, while if the same 
rainfall is distributed throughout the year so much may be re-evaporated 
that there will be none to escape as drainage. 

Considering the importance in soil formation of water which passes 
through the soil, and of the amount and nature of materials in solution 
and suspension which are washed away by such water, or removed by it 
to lower layers of the soil, and the importance to soil fertility of the rela- 
tions of the soil to water, and of the economic importance of drainage in 
connection with the loss of nitrogen, lime and other manurial constituents 
from the soil, it has always been a matter of surprise to me that more use is 


244 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


not made in soil studies of drain gauges or lysimeters, or instruments of a 
similar kind. 

The first drain gauges, so far as I am aware, were made by Lawes and 
Gilbert at Rothamsted over sixty years ago. They were designed to study 
evaporation and percolation in relation to depth of drainage, and were 
therefore of different depths, 20, 40 and 60 inches respectively. They 
were also used to study the amount of nitrogen washed away from un- 
cropped and unmanured soil. The blocks of soil enclosed in these drain 
gauges were never broken up, they were built with as little disturbance as 
possible into the water-tight structures which enable the drainage to be 
measured. They consist therefore of real soils which have been formed 
by a long course of natural soil-forming processes. Similarly the drain 
gauges which I have had built at Craibstone, near Aberdeen, have been 
formed by enclosing, without disturbance, in water-tight boxes of Caithness 
slate, blocks of natural soil which have never been broken up. My drain 
gauges are intended to study the changes which take place in cultivated 
soil, and the losses which take place in the drainage water during ordinary 
processes of cropping and manuring. 

Such drain gauges are not easy to construct. I suppose that is why this 
method has been so little used in the study of soils. It is much easier, 
and cheaper, to build a water-tight box and fill subsoil and soil into it, than 
it is to enclose a block of natural soil, weighing several tons, in a water-tight 
structure. If the easier method is adopted, as has been done to a large 
extent in America and elsewhere, its limitations must be recognised. The. 
soil, once it is broken up and filled into a lysimeter, is no longer a natural 
soil and it is difficult to say how long it will take under the influence of the 
soil-forming processes of the locality to become once more a real soil such 
as is provided in nature. Had Lawes and Gilbert, for instance, filled the 
soil into their drain gauges they would have defeated the object they had 
in view, for such a broken up soil would have allowed water to run through 
it quite differently from a natural soil for its structure would have been 
destroyed, while the breaking up and aeration of the soil would have rendered 
useless their studies of the loss of nitrate, for the nitrification in such an 
artificial soil would have been quite abnormal. 

Artificially filled drain gauges have certain uses. I have used them 
myself in studying the limits of fixation of manurial substances by the soil, 
but we must always recognise that they are artificial and that results 
obtained from them do not necessarily apply, or may only apply with 
modifications to natural soils. They are in a similar position to pot 
experiments as compared with field experiments. Pot experiments can 
be very useful, and this method of experimentation has yielded most 
valuable results, but we have always to recognise that it has its limitations 
and that it is very difficult to find a formula which will enable us to apply 
the results obtained by it with any degree of certainty to field conditions. 

The development of our knowledge of soil colloids and base exchange 
during the present century is second in importance only to the advance 
which has been made in the science of soil formation, structure and 
distribution. As you know, the beginnings of our knowledge of this 
subject can be traced back to the middle of last century when Way 


M.—AGRICULTURE 245 


showed that the ammonium of ammonium sulphate, or the potassium 
of potassium sulphate, was retained by the soil while an equivalent amount 
of calcium went into solution and could be washed away as sulphate. He 
also showed that this power resided in the finest mineral part of the soil, 
the clay, and he regarded the action as an ordinary case of double de- 
composition between clay and the soluble, neutral salt in solution. Though 
there was much discussion about these phenomena, which were regarded 
as of the greatest practical importance because they showed that valuable 
manurial bases when applied in a soluble form could be absorbed and 
retained in the soil, and though soil investigators of last century were 
- divided into two camps, one regarding this fixation of bases as a chemical 
precipitation by double decomposition and the other looking upon it as a 
physical process of absorption, little further advance was made till the 
present century. By that time considerable advance had been made in 
our knowledge of colloid chemistry and we also knew that there were two 
types of colloid complexes found in soils, one mineral and the other organic. 
The mineral colloid material, sometimes known as the alumino-silicic 
complex, is found in the clay fraction of the soil, while the organic colloid, 
known as the humus complex, is found in the decomposed vegetable 
matter or humus matter of the soil. The soil and these colloid consti- 
tuents of the soil were studied by the methods of colloid chemistry late 
in last century and early in this one by the Dutchman, van Bemmelen, 
and later by his fellow countryman, Dr. D. J. Hissink, by the late Professor 
G. Wiegner of Zurich, whose recent death at the height of his powers we 
all deplore, and by the famous Russian worker, the late K. K. Gedroiz, 
whose very valuable work in this subject became generally known only 
after the great war. 

We now know that this process of base exchange is a colloid phenomenon, 
and follows the laws of colloid chemistry. It is not confined, as Way 
supposed, to the fine mineral matter of the soil but is a property of the 
organic colloids also. ‘The old controversy as to whether this is a chemical 
or a physical phenomenon is thus cleared up and both sides are shown to 
be right or both wrong, according to your taste, for both sides knew nothing 
of that border-line field of colloid phenomena where Physics and Chemistry 
blend, and, in the best modern manner, tend to become indistinguishable. 

We are now on firmer ground than we were a few years ago as to the 
nature and properties of soil colloids, both mineral and organic, and the 
new knowledge has shed fresh light on certain matters of great practical as 
well as of great scientific importance, which were wrapped in gloom at the 
beginning of this century. We can now not only estimate with a high 
degree of accuracy the degree of intensity of soil acidity, or alkalinity, 
as well as the amount of such acidity or alkalinity, but we have also a sound 
theoretical picture of the nature of that acidity or alkalinity. 

It was a common statement in our text-books till quite recent years that 
a supply of calcium carbonate was necessary in a healthy soil. It was 
useless to point out that there are fertile soils in which no recognisable 
amount of calcium carbonate can be found. It had to be there. We now 
know that the part which was ascribed to calcium carbonate is played by 
the exchangeable bases of the soil, and that in our fertile soils the principal 


246 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


exchangeable base in combination with the soil colloids is lime. Other 
bases, magnesia, potash and soda, are also present in smaller amount. 
When a base is required to combine with any acid or to exchange with and 
fix other bases these are the ones primarily drawn upon, and the exchange 
with other bases or the combination with acids which takes place is primarily 
the settling of an equilibrium between these bases and the acids present, 
the electro-negative clay and humus colloids themselves acting as acids. 

I would like to suggest that some of our methods of soil analysis require 
revision in the light of this new knowledge of exchangeable bases and the 
constitution of the clay colloids of soil. Our old methods, or certain of 
them, were based on the view that calcium carbonate was essential to the 
soil and that it or the ‘ lime requirement,’ which meant calcium carbonate 
requirement, were among the more important things to determine in a soil 
analysis. It seems more important nowadays to set up standard methods 
of determining exchangeable bases and the requirement of the soil for these. 

Our knowledge of the chemistry of humus, in spite of the great amount 
of work which has been done upon it in recent years by workers in many 
countries, is still in a state of doubt and darkness, but in the last few years 
we have learned a great deal of the chemical structure of clay. The 
application of X-ray methods of analysis has shown that much clay 
material exhibits a definite lattice structure, and that there are several 
different minerals, showing at least two different types of lattice structure, 
to be found in clays. Some light has also been thrown by this work on 
the nature of the base exchange capacity of clay and on the great differences 
in base exchange capacity which are found in different types of clay 
substances. 

The X-ray method has supplied us with a very valuable new method of 
attacking the problem of the structure of clay, and taken along with other 
methods is clearing up many of the gaps in our knowledge of clay. There 
is a great deal of work still to be done on this subject but it seems we are 
now well on the road to success. J may point out that a valuable summary 
of recent research on the structure of clay has been given by our Recorder, 
Dr. E. M. Crowther, in The Annual Reports on the Progress of Applied 
Chemistry for 1935. 

One cannot give so hopeful an account of the progress of our knowledge 
of humus. We have not yet found any clear method of unravelling the 
structure of humus and of showing what is the nature of the colloid mole- 
cules which build up the main part of this very important soil constituent, 

Both the clay colloids and the humus colloids are acid substances 
which, when uncombined with bases, render the soil acid, and require to be 
combined with bases before they can be neutralised and produce a neutral 
soil, while when fully saturated with strong bases they are alkaline in 
reaction and can produce a soil of alkaline reaction. ‘To the chemists of a 
generation ago it would no doubt have appeared rather shocking to apply 
to indefinite substances of large, undetermined and variable molecular 
structure the name of acids, but the evidence cannot be otherwise explained, 
and the recent X-ray work is supplying, in the case of clay at any rate, 
further evidence of a complex molecular structure which justifies the views 
which have gradually gained acceptance as to the constitution of these 


M.—AGRICULTURE 247 


most important substances, on which the nature and properties of the 
soil depend to such a great extent. 

In many other directions fundamental soil science has made in this 
century, and is making, marked advances. But I have already kept you 
long enough. There is, however, one other subject on which, if you will 
bear with me, I would like to offer a remark before I stop. Fertilisers we 
may class along with the soil for they are substances used to increase the 
productivity or make up the deficiencies of the soil. From small begin- 
nings a century ago the fertiliser industry has grown to be one of the 
world’s greatest chemical industries. In the early days of the industry 
this country played a notable part, but in the latter part of last century and 
the early part of this one, when the whole of our soil science was in a some- 
what backward position, our fertiliser industry also fell into the back- 
ground. We have recently seen a great revival consequent upon this 
industry again becoming scientific instead of depending merely upon 
commercial and business ability. For this change and improvement we 
may, I think, give much of the credit to Imperial Chemical Industries, who 
are now our greatest fertiliser manufacturers, and who make the manu- 
facture of manures an important section of their business. The older 
type of fertiliser manufacturers may have employed a few works analysts, 
but they did not pay for the best scientific brains to help them to introduce 
new processes and to improve oldones. ‘That has been changed by I.C.1I., 
and we have a new spirit in the fertiliser industry and we are regaining some- 
thing of the great position we once held in that important branch of 
chemical manufacture. It is to be hoped that this will continue. If we 
are not to fall back into the old state of lethargy we must continue with 
long-range research, as the Germans and Americans are doing, carried 
out by educated and competent persons. That is the only way if we are to 
continue to advance and keep in the front. 

Physics is not the only branch of science in which revolutionary changes 
have been made in the twentieth century. Even in soil science we have 
seen a structure built up which the agricultural chemists of a generation ago 
would find strange. In the British Isles at the beginning of the century 
there was almost no soil science, now we are taking our due part in building 
up and nurturing this branch of knowledge. We have now not only the 
great station at Rothamsted but also the Macaulay Institute at Aberdeen, 
which is engaged in the study of soils of different types from those of the 
south-east of England and is approaching soil study from a somewhat 
different angle. There are also in our Universities and Agricultural 
Colleges quite a number of soil investigators of distinction who are dealing 
with the soils of many other parts of the country. 

At the same time I think it is true to say that in Britain the fundamental 
attitude towards soil study remains the same. It is difficult for us to 
achieve the complete detachment of the Russians and study soils entirely 
apart from any practical agricultural applications which our studies may 
have. Purely scientific study of the soil is being made in this country also, 
but we always find it difficult not to remember that the good brown earth 
is primarily of interest to us for crop growth. It is right that it should be 
so. It is right to keep pure and applied science in the closest touch with 


248 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES 


each other. They should not be studied apart, but together as parts of a 
great whole. Each gains thereby. Nor can we detach soil science 
completely from those other branches of science like Chemistry, Physics, 
Geology and Biology, on which it is founded and out of which it grew. 

But to what are we heading ? Of what use is it all? Are we only in- 
creasing sorrow by increasing knowledge? Our increased knowledge should 
give us increased power to use the soil, and that surely means increased 
production. We are told there is already over-production and that what 
is required is restriction of production. We read in our papers of crops 
being destroyed because they cannot be used, or because it does not pay 
to harvest them. In the United States, and elsewhere, the growth of 
fundamental food crops, like wheat, has been restricted. In our own 
country arable land is decreasing while at the same time the import of 
food-stuffs is being restricted. 

Has everybody in this country, and in every other country, too much, 
or even enough, food? Do we not at the same time as we are crying out 
about over-production, hear an equal outcry about malnutrition and 
under-feeding even in this comparatively prosperous country ? The two 
things do not fit together. They cry out against one another. They 
cannot both be right. But we all know that there are many people, 
forming quite a large section of the population, who have not over- 
abundance, who have not even enough. This, which is true of this 
country, is, unless we are strangely misinformed, true in a much higher 
degree of the world at large. This is not a problem of soil science, but a 
problem for the statesman, the social reformer and the economist. ‘The 
soil scientist can safely go on and increase our knowledge of soils, and 
hope, that in the long run, it will increase production and lessen labour. 
Increased wealth, especially in the essential things produced from the 
soil, is a blessing not a curse, and if it can be obtained more easily, and 
more certainly, through the power and control provided by increased 
knowledge, that is all to the good. 

The solution of our difficulties must be looked for by the increase of 
impartial scientific knowledge in other directions. It is not for us to 
offer any advice to a section so much our senior as Section F, but this 
difficulty is much more their problem than ours. It is our social organ- 
isation, our statesmanship, our economic system which are at fault when 
the abundance which is produced cannot be brought to the many who are 
in need of it. Social and political sciences and even economic science 
are no doubt applying themselves to this problem, and let us hope they 
will be able to remove it from an atmosphere of social prejudice and party 
bias to the calm, truth-seeking atmosphere of pure scientific investigation. 
Agricultural science can go forward fearlessly to increase knowledge in 
the good hope and belief that increased knowledge will be in itself a 
blessing. 


REPORTS ON THESTATE OF SCIENCE, 


Ere: 


SEISMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS. 


Forty-first Report of Committee on Seismological Investigations (Dr. F. J. W. 
WHIPPLE, Chairman; Mr. J. J. SHaw, C.B.E., Secretary; Miss 
E. F. Betiamy, M.A., Prof. P. G. H. Boswett, O.B.E., F.R.S., Dr. 
A. T. J. Dotiar, Prof. G. R. GoLpsBroucu, F.R.S., Dr. WILFRED 
Hatt, Mr. J. S. Hucues, Dr. H. Jerrreys, F.R.S., Mr. Cosmo Jouns, 
Dr. A. W. Lez, Prof. E. A. Mitne, M.B.E., F.R.S., Mr. R. D. 
O.pHaM, F.R.S., Prof. H. H. Prasxett, F.R.S., Prof. H. C. 
PLummer, F.R.S., Prof. A. O. RANKINE, O.B.E., F.R.S., Rev. J. P. 
Row anD, S.J., Prof. R. A. Sampson, F.R.S., Mr. F. J. Scrase, 
Dr. H. Suaw, Sir Frank Smiru, K.C.B., C.B.E., F.R.S., Dr. R. 
SToNELEY, F.R.S., Mr. E. Tit.otson, Sir G. T. Watxer, C.S.I., 
F.R.S.). 


Forty-first Report of Committee —The Committee met once during the year, 
on November 29. The annual grant of £100 from the Caird Fund and the 
special grant of £50 from the same fund were allocated to the maintenance 
of work on the International Seismological Summary. The Committee also 
voted the sum of £50 from the Gray-Milne Fund for the same purpose. 
It will be necessary to make like provision for the coming year. 

A large metal sphere for use in the determination of epicentral distances 
has been made by Messrs. C. F. Casella & Co. for the Committee. The 
diameter of the sphere, which is cast in brass, is 18 in., the weight 68 Ib. 


_ After the sphere had been machined the positions of seismological observa- 


tories were marked by holes and finally the sphere was chromium-plated. 
The cost of engraving the positions of the stations was borne by the Uni- 
versity Observatory, Oxford, and Mrs. H. H. Turner generously provided 
the greater part of the accessories which are to be used for the determination 
of epicentral distances and azimuths. 

The income of the Gray-Milne Fund is still suffering from the lapse of 
the dividends due from the Canadian Pacific Railway. 


Gray-Milne Trust Account. 


LCR AGE Duin Gens 

Brought forward . - 203 5 4 . (International Seismo- 
Trust Income . . 46 14 10 logical Summary gaesOu Oo 

_ Bank Interest . ? I o 2. Operation of Seismo- 
graphs . P sam fEOr si perl 
Milne Library . Jb iw sy 1O 
Fire Insurance . I5 0 


Sphere for determina- 
tion of  epicentral 


distances ; 21 45 iourG 

Postage, etc. : ay gi 3uESee 

Balance carried forward 139 18 5 

£251 0 4 £251 0 4 


K 


250 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


Seismographs.—The six seismographs belonging to the British Association 
have remained on loan to the seismological stations at Oxford (2), Edinburgh, 
Perth (W. Australia) and Cape Town (2). 

A happy sequel to the efforts of the Committee to further the establish- 
ment of a seismological station at St. Louis Observatory in Jersey is to be 
reported. M. E. Rothé, Director of the Institut de Physique du Globe 
at Strasbourg, has been so good as to lend a Mainka seismograph to St. 
Louis. ‘The station, which is being maintained by the Rev. C. Rey, S.J., 
should prove of great value in studies of the minor earthquakes which are 
not uncommon in the neighbourhood of the Channel Islands. ‘The nearest 
existing seismograph stations are Kew and Oxford, about 300 km. away, and 
Paris, about 330. 

At Kew Observatory a second Wood-Anderson seismograph has been 
taken into use. It may be noted that the two Wood-Anderson seismographs, 
which record on one drum, were run for a time with a period of about I sec. 
It was found, however, that no significant records were obtained and the 
instruments were then adjusted to the period of 2:3 sec., enabling distant 
earthquakes to be recorded clearly. A new seismograph house has been 
constructed at Kew. It is hoped that the effects of wind which have 
marred the records of the Galitzin seismographs in the basement of the 
Observatory will be avoided. 

Mr. Shaw reports that the Milne-Shaw seismograrh on order for Brisbane 
has been delivered. A second component has been supplied to Helwan, 
Cairo. This instrument was equipped with a recording mechanism giving 
15 mm. traverse of the film per minute. A duplicate recording unit has 
been sent to Colaba, Bombay, and a timing clock (second regulator) is being 
constructed for use with the seismograph at the Upper Air Observatory, 
Agra, Bombay. Mr. Shaw is also constructing a Milne-Shaw seismograph 
for the Exhibition of Instruments at the forthcoming meeting of the Union 
of Geodesy and Geophysics at Edinburgh. 

British Earthquakes.—There was no considerable earthquake in the British 
Isles during the year, but small disturbances were reported as occurring 
on the following dates: 


1935. September25 . . Channel Islands 

1935. October 24 : . Leigh, Lancashire 

1936. March8 . 5 . Glenmoriston, Inverness-shire 
1936. March 11 : . Comrie, Perthshire 

1936. Aprili2 . : . Strathcarron, Ross-shire 

1936. May 4 : : - Donnybrook, Dublin 

1936. Mayi13 . : . Strathcarron, Ross-shire 

1936. Juneio . : . Kinlochewe, Ross-shire 

1936. Juneig . , . Derrynane, Cahirciveen, Kerry 
1936. Juneig . : - Donnybrook, Dublin 

1936. June2r . : . Derrynane, Cahirciveen, Kerry 


Dr. Dollar has undertaken to collect observations of any earthquakes 
which may occur in the British Isles in future. Dr. Dollar is also hoping 
to publish the collected records of the earthquakes which have occurred in 
these islands since the Hereford earthquake of January 1924, the last 
earthquake which finds a place in Dr. Davison’s History of British 
Earthquakes. 


SEISMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS 251 


Montserrat—The earthquakes in the island of Montserrat having con- 
tinued, a small expedition to the island was organised by the Royal Society, 
Mr. A. G. MacGregor being the geologist and Dr. C. F. Powell the physicist. 
Prof. Jaggar of Hawaii and Sir Gerald Lenox-Conyngham also visited the 
island. Dr. Powell has installed a Wiechert horizontal seismograph as 
well as a number of Jaggar shock-recorders which were made at Kew 
Observatory for the expedition. Seismic activity has been much less during 
the first half of 1936 than during the previous two years. 


THE INTERNATIONAL SEISMOLOGICAL SUMMARY. 


A Note by Mr. }. S. Hughes. 


The preparation of the International Seismological Summary for 1931 has 
been completed. The sections for the first two quarters of the year have 
been distributed and the other two sections are with the printer. As was 
anticipated in the last Report, 1931 proved a very heavy year seismologically. 
The number of epicentres identified was not exceptionally large, but the 
earthquakes were more generally observed. For the first six months of 
1931 the number of pages required in the Summary was 283 as compared 
with 197 in the previous year; the earthquakes dealt with numbered 297 
in 1931, 284 in 1930. It is remarkable that after unusual seismic activity 
on November 2, 1931, mainly connected with South Japanese shocks, there 
was a sudden lull, and the spell of reduced activity lasted for about three 
months. 

The only shock occurring in 1931 which calls for special mention, although 
there are many well-determined earthquakes in the year, is that of August 10. 
The epicentre 46°-9 N. 90°-o E. (near the Great Altai Mountains, Mongolia) 
is that used in the Seismological Summary of the British Association for the 
earthquakes of 1917, July 31 and November 28, but was adopted only after 
a separate calculation had shown the position accurate within o°-tr. 

The P observations show very good fit with the determination made, but 
the S readings are nearly all uniformly too large by 30 sec. This means 
that in the preliminary calculations, when a T,) dependent on S—P was used, 
the Japanese and European stations gave separate epicentres with the same 
time at origin. According to the old routine when it was customary in the 
Summary to keep the balance of S and P residuals at all costs, the shock 
would probably have been entered as having a Ty of 2th. 18m. 25s. with 
a positive or high focus correction of 0-030 or so, leaving the interpretation 
of the abnormality to seek. Now the abnormality is shown in a different 
way. In a review of the International Seismological Summary, ‘ Nature,’ 
January 4, 1936, it was stated, ‘ It is interesting to notice that there were no 
earthquakes to which it was found necessary to allot high focus. It appears 
that with more reliable observations and more reliable standard tables the 
anomalies which led ‘Turner to assume high foci for certain Earthquakes 
do not occur.’ Here we have this anomaly turning up in a very pronounced 
form ; had the differences been of the opposite sign there would have been 
no hesitation in assuming considerable focal depth. 

It is always rather a question whether shocks occurring in the same 
neighbourhood successively should be regarded as originating at the same 
epicentre or whether the small differences which can sometimes be deduced 
from the residuals have a real significance. An interesting case is that of 
1931 October 3 and the succeeding days, in which 21 shocks occurred 
near the Solomon Islands, round about 10° S. 162° E. In making the 
determinations of these shocks, six separate epicentres were adopted, 


252 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


although in the case of some of the smaller shocks it may be that more 
grouping could have been effected. However, the determinations have 
been made separately, and only those which prove themselves to be repeti- 
tions have been adopted as such. 

Another series of shocks occurred on 1931 November 1 and 2 off Shikoku 
Island, Japan. There were three large shocks, but the waves of the smaller 
shocks are difficult to allocate to definite epicentres ard have been listed 
under the stations which recorded them. 

Work on the data for March 1932 is now in hand, but a number of 
stations have not yet sent in reports for that year. ‘This is much to be 
regretted. Even if the reports arrive in time for the observations to be 
inserted before the copy goes to press the dilatory stations do not pull their 
weight in the determinations of the epicentres and times of the earthquakes. 


TRANSMISSION ‘TIMES. 


By Dr. Harold feffreys. 


The revision of the tables mentioned in the last report has now been 
published by the Bureau Central de Séismologie. In later work based on 
the same data, supplemented by estimates of the thicknesses of the upper 
layers from deep-focus earthquakes and surface waves, and by earthquakes 
well observed at short distances, I have obtained a formal solution for the 
times of P so long as it does not cross the 20° discontinuity, and by combining 
this with the times beyond 20° I have found an estimate of the depth of the 
discontinuity, which is 483+ 17 km. below the outer surface, 42 km. of. 
this representing the adopted thickness of the upper layers. Times of P 
have been calculated for focal depths down to the discontinuity. 

The work is now being extended to S and SKS. The difficulty about 
these pulses is that about 20° and beyond 70° the residuals do not fit the 
normal law of errors even approximately, and the correct method of treat- 
ment is uncertain. At these distances various published tables differ by 
10 or 15 secs. A test has been obtained from the deep-focus earthquakes 
discussed by Scrase and Stechschulte, additional Japanese observations 
published by Wadati being used in both cases. These give satisfactory 
series of S observations for rays that have not crossed the discontinuity, 
and show that up to 20° the times in the Jeffreys-Bullen Tables can be 
trusted to about 2s. To convert into actual travel times from a surface 
focus the times of P need to be increased by about gs., and those of S by 
about 14s. Beyond 70°, however, a substantial decrease of the times of S 
(with respect to those up to 20°) is indicated by these deep-focus earth- 
quakes and a number of normal ones; the same applies to SKS, the 
difference reaching about ros. Other material is being incorporated, but a 
satisfactory separation of the various movements that are read as S cannot 
be obtained unless the epicentre can be fixed with a standard error of 0: 1° 
or so; and it is not often that a suitable epicentre is associated with a good 
series of S observations. 

Times of pP, sP, sS, and sSKS have been calculated; comparison with 
observation, however, suggests that the above estimate of 42 km. for the 
total thickness of the upper layers is about 6 km. too great. 

The rise in the velocity of P or S at the 20° discontinuity is about 9 per 
cent.; Bullen, using the theory of the figure of the earth, finds that an 
increase of about 10 per cent. in density is also necessary. A suitable 
material to agree with these values is hard to find, but Dr. J. D. Bernal has 
suggested an explanation based on the properties of magnesium germanate, 


SEISMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS 253 


which is chemically very similar to olivine. At ordinary pressures the 
germanate exists in two forms found by Goldschmidt, a rhombic one 
analogous to olivine, and a cubic one analogous to spinel, the latter being 
the denser and therefore likely to predominate at higher pressures. The 
silicon atom, being smaller than that of germanium, will interfere with the 
further compression of the oxygen lattice of olivine at a higher pressure, 
but the next stage can be inferred by analogy, and it appears that the material 
between the 20° discontinuity and the core is likely to be a cubic form of 
olivine. 

K. E. Bullen, following up his work on the density, is calculating the 
effect of the ellipticity on the times of transmission. It is smaller if geo- 
centric latitudes are used instead of geographical ones, the difference in 
extreme cases reaching about 2s. for P; apart from this the effect never 
reaches 1s. ‘The whole effect does not exceed 0-4s. up to 30°. When this 
work is complete it will be necessary to correct the present tables to adapt 
them to a spherical earth, but this will not be difficult. 

A comparison of the accuracies of seismological stations has been carried 
out by means of the P residuals for the best observed earthquakes in the 
I.S.S. from January 1930 to March 1931. The bulk of the best stations 
appear to attain a standard error in routine observation of 2s. or a little over. 
This accuracy is reached in Great Britain only by Kew and Oxford. Some 
of the apparent standard error is due to errors in the epicentres, but not 
much ; most of the J.S.S. epicentres indicated by the marks N. 1 and 
R. 1 appear now to be accurate to 0-2° or less, the probable errors as given 
being too high. In some earthquakes, however, average standard errors 
at all stations as low as 1-3s. have been found ; I think that this is due to 
special clearness of these shocks in comparison with others. In the North 
Sea earthquake of 1931 June 7, for instance, I have redetermined the epicentre 
from the J.S.S. data, obtaining 53°-95 +0°-05 N., 1°°55 +0°:06 E.; 
this makes the P residuals at five of the eight British stations equal to o or 
+ Is., two equal to + 2s., and one equal to —3s. Thus they can attain 
high accuracy in favourable conditions. The general comparison, however, 
is useful in selecting stations for a preliminary determination of an epicentre 
and in adjusting the weights of doubtful observations ; for bad observations 
can occur at even the best stations. 


VERY LoNG SEISMIC WAVES. 
An Editorial Note. 


In examining the records! of the great submarine earthquake which 
occurred in the South Pacific (long. 156° E., lat. 57° S.) on June 26, 1924, 
W. C. Repetti and J. B. Macelwane noticed certain long waves which they 
denoted by X and U. The X wave had an enormous amplitude at the 
nearest stations for which the records were available. At Wellington, 19° 
from the epicentre, there was an oscillation taking 18 mins. At Sydney, 
23° from the epicentre, the oscillation took about 9 mins. ; the amplitude on 
the Wiechert seismograph was several centimetres. At Uccle, 162° from 
the epicentre, there were trains of about seven waves with a period of a 
minute. ‘These waves, which had an amplitude of less than a millimetre 
on the Galitzin records, were judged to have passed 1} and 2} times round 
the globe. Repetti found for the velocity of the X waves 4:51 km. per 


} W.C. Repetti, S.J., Bull. Seism. Soc. Amer., 17 (1927), 207; J. B. Macelwane, 
S.J., Gerlands B.z. Geophysik, 28 (1930), 165. 


254 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


second. In his paper Macelwane expresses some doubts as to the X waves. 
He asks ‘ Have we then a single wave group with an enormously rapid 
decrease in period ? Or are we dealing with two or even three distinct wave 
types all having the same velocity ?’ 

Macelwane himself found evidence for the wave which he denoted by U 
to which he attributed the velocity 7-5 km. per sec. and thought that this 
wave was recorded at Eskdalemuir after travelling more than 23 times 
round the globe. Repetti’s X wave is discussed in the following note by 
Dr. Stoneley. 

It is to be hoped that further attention will be given to the records of the 
South Pacific earthquake ; the results of an examination of the records from 
Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth which were not seen by Repetti 
and Macelwane would be of great interest. It would be worth while to 
inquire whether this submarine earthquake was accompanied by an 
exceptional tunami, or so-called tidal wave. 


SURFACE WAVES. 


By Dr. R. Stoneley. 


The recent investigation by Dr. Jeffreys of the constitution of the earth 
down to the discontinuity that corresponds to A = 20° in the transit of P 
has an application to the question of the velocity of propagation of surface 
waves of long period ; the 480 km. of rock above the discontinuity corre- 
sponds roughly to a single surface layer, so that estimates can be made of 
the velocities of Love waves and Rayleigh waves associated with this surface 
layer. This admittedly crude representation requires for Love waves a 
minimum group-velocity of 4:6 km./sec., corresponding to a period of about 
160 sec. ; this is of the order of magnitude of the period of the long waves 
studied by Fr. Repetti, and the velocity is not far from the 4:51 km./sec. 
of Repetti’s waves. ‘The problem is being further investigated with allow- 
ance for continuous variation of elastic properties in the layer; it is, 
however, desirable that the nature of the Repetti waves should be settled 
decisively from seismograms. 

For Rayleigh waves, the formula developed by Jeffreys by the use of 
Rayleigh’s principle was employed. There is a minimum group-velocity 
of about 4:0 km./sec., corresponding to a period of 250 sec. ‘There is no 
mention of these waves in F. J. Scrase’s paper on the deep-focus shock of 
1931 February 20, although one would expect an earthquake of this focal 
depth to be favourable to the generation of surface waves of the kinds under 
consideration. Special search was made, in fact, by Scrase for surface 
waves, and their absence is as interesting now as their presence would have 
been had they been found at the time that this earthquake was under 
consideration. 

The problem of Love waves in a triple surface layer has also been investi- 
gated ; although, as would be expected, it is decidedly more complicated 
than the problem of a double surface layer, no new theoretical difficulty 
arises. It was hoped in this way to allow for the presence of a sedimentary 
layer over the continents. The granitic and intermediate layers were taken 
to be 14 and 28 km. thick, respectively, and the rigidities of these layers, as 
well as of the underlying material, were inferred from the velocities of Sg, 
S* and S given by investigations on near earthquakes. The corresponding 
densities were taken as 2-65, 2°85 and 3-4 gm./cm.*. Wave velocities of 
Love waves of various periods were obtained by integration from the ob- 
served group velocities. The data for the sedimentary layer are much less 


SEISMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS " 256 


certain: the velocity Ss was taken as 2-9 km./sec., and the corresponding 
density 2:5 gm./cm.*. On these assumptions the thickness of the sedi- 
mentary layer can be calculated. The value of the thickness found, nearly 
4 km., is double the thickness that Jeffreys estimates from the denudation 
needed to account for the sodium in the ocean. 

Dr. Jeffreys has pointed out to me that, according to the work of the 
Geophysical Laboratory at Washington, the rate of increase of the bulk- 
modulus with pressure is very much greater for pressures less than 2 X 10° 
dynes/cm.? (corresponding to a depth of about 8 km.) than for greater 
pressures ; a corresponding increase in the rigidity probably goes with the 
increase in the bulk-modulus, and if so, it may not be appropriate to take 
for the upper part of the granitic layer the elastic constants determined from 
near earthquakes for that layer as a whole. It may well be that, so far as 
the velocity of surface waves is concerned, the upper part of the granitic 
layer has to be reckoned as part of the sedimentary layer. Further, the 
sedimentary layer almost certainly does not approach homogeneity, and 
there is considerable doubt as to the density and the elastic constants that 
should be chosen to represent it; as the method is rather sensitive to 
changes in the elastic constants, at any rate for the wave-periods used in 
this investigation, an accurate determination of the thickness is not to be 
expected. 


Tue BarFIN BAy EARTHQUAKE OF 1933, NOVEMBER 20. 


By Dr. A. W. Lee. 


This earthquake was chosen for study because the epicentre was in such 
a position that the records at the numerous seismological stations of Europe 
and America would provide material for determining more precisely the 
travel-times for distances of the order 40°. 

A detailed investigation has now been completed and will be published 
shortly. The records of ninety-nine observatories were collected and 
examined at Kew Observatory ; over two-thirds of these observatories are 
at epicentral distances between 25° and 50°. 

The epicentre is located as in latitude 73°-3 N., 70°-2 W., and the focus 
at a depth of about 10 km. ; the time of occurrence of the shock is taken as 
23h. 21m. 31°5s. G.M.T. 

Comparisons have been made between the observed travel-times for P 
and S and the times calculated from various tables. ‘The best representation 
of the travel of the P waves from 25° to 50° is given by a table based upon 
one published by Gutenberg and Richter ; in this modified table the apparent 
velocity is uniform for epicentral distances from 25° to 40° and again from 
45° to 50°, the velocity changing by 17 per cent. from 40° to 45°. There 
are discrepancies between the observations of S and the tables of travel- 
times ‘hitherto available. A new table for S at distances from 25° to 50° 
has been computed from the travel-times for P on the assumption that 

-Poisson’s ratio is constant for the rocks traversed by the waves. The 
agreement between the observations and this table is satisfactory. 


REAPPOINTMENT OF THE COMMITTEE. 


The Committee asks for reappointment, for the continuation of the normal 
grant of {100 from the Caird Fund and for a special grant of £50 for the 
maintenance of the International Seismological Summary. 


256 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


MATHEMATICAL TABLES. 


Report of Committee on Calculation of Mathematical Tables (Prof. E. H. 
NEVILLE, Chairman; Prof. A. Lopce, Vice-Chairman; Dr. L. J. 
Compiz, Secretary; Dr. J. R. Atrey, Dr. W. G. Bickiey, Prof. 
R. A. Fisuer, F.R.S., Dr. J. HENpERson, Dr. E. L. INcg, Dr. J. O. 
Irwin, Dr. J. C. P. Mitier, Mr. F. Roppins, Mr. D. H. SapLer, 
Dr. A. J. THompson, Dr. J. F. Tocuer and Dr. J. WisHarrt). 


General Activity—Seven meetings of the Committee have been held, 
in London. 


The grant of £200 has been expended as follows: Le aiswed. 
Re-interpolation of K,(x) and K,(x) for x = 


2-00(0-01)5-00 . : : . F il 2aOMye 
Completion of calculation of functions ¥,(x) to 

F a9) ’ sof 93« : E : ont T4cSALG 
Calculation of functions k,(x) to Rgo(x) for the 

rangex=otox=5 . : : ; =) 25 4wO 
Calculations connected with the functions k,(x) 

to kyo(x) for the range x = 5 tox = 20 . a Se OMMO 
Calculations connected with the functions J,(x) 

to I,(x) 3 3 P : : F Pe) ese 
Miscellaneous Bessel function calculations . ; | (69% Seno 
Secretarial and miscellaneous expenses : ce eo 


Publication of Parts—In order to avoid the delay that would occur if 
small tables were held over till a volume of reasonable size could be issued, 
it has been decided that some of the future volumes shall be published in 
parts. These parts will be available separately in paper covers. After 
the printing of several parts, it is intended that they shall also be made 
available in cloth-bound volumes. 

Factor Table-—This volume, containing all the factors of all numbers 
up to 100,000, was published in December. It constitutes the third volume 
published at the expense of the Cunningham Bequest. 

Table of Powers—The Committee has been very fortunate in receiving, 
as a gift from Mr. H. J. Woodall, a stereo proof of a table showing all the 
powers up to the twelfth of all numbers up to 1000, prepared by J. W. L. 
Glaisher. This table was first mentioned in the Committee’s Report for 
1873, but for some reason that is not known was never published. A single 
copy was lent to Cunningham (see Messenger of Mathematics, vol. xxxv 
(1905), p. 22), and passed, on his death, to Mr. Woodall. This is the 
copy now in the possession of the Committee, and is probably the only copy 
extant. Inspired by the gift of Glaisher’s power table, the Committee has 
obtained Council authority for the publication of a table of powers, at the 
expense of the Cunningham Bequest. ‘The proposed contents are x", 
where: 

(a) x = 1-49, n = 1-30(5)50 
(b) x = 50-119, nm = 1-20(5)50 
(c) x = 120-249, n = I-20 

(d) x = 250-1049, n = I-12 


The work of new calculation and preparation of printer’s copy has been 
begun, under the supervision of Dr. Miller. 


MATHEMATICAL TABLES 257 


Bessel Functions —The completion of Volume VI, containing the four 
principal functions of order o and 1, has been unavoidably delayed. It is 
expected that it will be published before the end of the year. 

Work on the preparation of a second volume, to contain higher integral 
orders (up to 2 = 20), has continued. Values of 7,(x), up to x = 25, 
and of Rn(x), i.e. x"K,,(x), up to x = 5, have been completed, under the 
supervision of Dr. Comrie. Various fundamental values of K,,(x) and In(x) 
have been computed by Dr. Miller and Dr. Bickley, and further work is 
being supervised by them, and by Dr. Henderson, Dr. Thompson and 
Mr. Sadler. 

Airy Integral—In the Report for 1934 it was stated that the calculation 
of this integral had been begun, and that the tabular values would be in- 
cluded in the second volume of Bessel functions. In view of requests for 
earlier publication, it has been decided to complete the calculations as soon 
as possible; the Council has authorised the separate issue of these tables. 
The greater part of the work has been done, by Dr. Miller. 

Elliptic Function Tables —Several manuscript tables of elliptic functions 
have been presented to the Committee by the executors of the late R. L. 
Jones. Dr. Bickley, who examined the tables, reported that they were 
not suitable for publication by the Committee, as values of the complete 
elliptic integrals K and E to ten decimals at interval 0-001 in k? are available 
in tables by Hayashi, while the remaining functions were simple combina- 
tions of K and £, of rather limited application in electrical standards work. 
The tables were, therefore, deposited with the National Physical Laboratory, 
oo was already in possession of other allied tables computed by Mr. 

ones. 

Sheppard Tables—A number of tables prepared by Dr. W. F. Sheppard 
have been handed to the Committee, and have been examined by a sub- 
committee consisting of Prof. Fisher, Dr. Irwin and Dr. Wishart. The 
main table is one giving the ratio of tail area to ordinate of the normal 
(Gaussian) curve up to ro standard deviations by tenths, to 24 decimals, 
together with Taylor series coefficients up to the sixteenth, for interpolation. 
It is proposed to publish this and some other allied and derived tables. 

Legendre Functions —In the Report for 1932 tables of the Legendre 
functions that had been prepared were described. These consist of 
7-figure values of P,(x) and their differences up to n=g for x= 
©-00(0-01)I-00, up to m = 12 for * = 1-00(0-01)6-00 and up to n=6 
for x = 6-0(0-1)11-0. Authority for the separate publication of these 
tables is being sought. 

Reappointment —The Committee desires reappointment, with a grant 
of £200, with which it is hoped to complete the calculations for the next 
volume of Bessel functions. 


K 


to 


258 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS. 


Report of Committee appointed to investigate the direct determination of the 
Thermal Conductivities of Rocks in mines or borings where the tempera- 
ture gradient has been, or is likely to be, measured (Dr. EZER GRIFFITHS, 
F.R.S., Chairman; Dr. E. C. BuLtarp, Dr. H. Jerrreys, F.R.S., 
Dr. E. M. ANpersoN, Prof. W. G. FEarnsives, F.R.S., Prof. G. 
Hickiinc, Prof. A. Hotmes, Dr. D. W. Puttiirs, Prof. J. H. J. 
POOLE). 


NoTE ON RADIOACTIVITIES OF IGNEOUS ROCKS. 


By Haroip JeFFreys, F.R.S. 


RADIOACTIVITIES of rocks of the same type are far from uniform. The avail- 
able determinations have been rediscussed in the hope of improving 
estimates of the mean radioactivities of the crustal layers and obtaining 
criteria of their accuracy. The general increase of Ra and Th with silica 
content has been confirmed, but at the same time the variability increases, 
not only absolutely, but in comparison with the mean. Only the plateau 
and Pacific basalts show such an approach to uniformity as would entitle 
us to infer that they have any resemblance to a uniform parent rock. For 
rocks of the same type from different regions the means vary by much more 
than can be attributed to random sampling, but the ratio of the standard 
(mean square) departure from the mean to the mean itself is as nearly 
constant as we could expect. It appears therefore that this variability 
relative to the mean can be regarded as a property of the rock type. Like 
the mean it increases for the sequence dunite—plateau basalt—basalt— 
granite ; though the agreement between the dunites may be accidental. 
The frequencies agree closely with the hypothesis that the chance of a 
radioactivity in a range dx for a rock of given type for a given region is 
proportional to 
xb e (b+ 1)4/b dx 


where # is a constant for the type, but 5 varies with the region. For granites 
p = 2:6, basalts, etc., 5-0, plateau and Pacific basalts, 30. “The mean for 
the region gives the best estimate of 6. The following table gives some 
estimated means with their standard errors, which are to be regarded as 
minima, as some of the results are got by combining regions that may 
turn out to differ systematically when more data are ready. ‘The units are 
10-12 g/g for Ra, 10-5 g/g for Th. i 


Granites. 

Finland: Ra 4:66 +0°40; Th2:80 + 0:24. 

Alps: Ra 4:43 + 0:68; Th 3-30 40°50. 

Scotland, Ireland, N. America: Ra 1-59 + 0:12; Tho-81 +0°08. 
Granodiorites. 

California: Ra 1-77 £0°49; Th2°35 40°45. 
Gneisses. 

Alps: Ra 3:26 0:28; Th1-75 40:25. 


1 Gerlands Beitvage zuy Geophysik, vol. 47, 1936, pp, 149-170. 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 259 


Basalts, etc. . 
Scotland, Ireland, N. America: Ra 0-96 + 0:06; Tho-98 + 0°08. 
England, Germany, France, Hungary: Ra1:30 + 0:13; Tho:88 +o:10. 
Pacific Islands: Ra 0:90 + 0:03; Tho:46 + 0:03. 
Plateau Basalts. Rao-:73 40:03; Tho-52 + 0:02. 
Dunites. Rao-40 + 0:043; Tho-33 40:035. 
Eclogites and peridotites, in comparison with the mean, are as variable 
as granites, or more so. 


The results are consistent with granites and basalts being successive 
stages in differentiation from plateau basalt or something still more basic ; 
but the variability of eclogites and the origin of the known dunites are 
inconsistent with these rocks being actual specimens of such a parent. 

The granites from Cornwall and Hungary are intermediate between the 
Scottish and Finnish types. The mean radioactivity of the granitic layer 
is therefore open to considerable doubt ; reasons are given in the paper for 
provisionally preferring the Scottish value. 


REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON GEOTHERMAL METHODS. 


Compiled by Dr. D. W. Puituips, from the Geophysical Abstracts, 
U.S. Bureau of Mines, to whom acknowledgment is due. 


GEOTHERMAL MEASUREMENTS IN THE BOREHOLES (IN RUSSIAN). 
By S. Kraskovsk1. 


Transactions of the Central Geological and Prospecting Institute, Leningrad, 
no. 8, 1934, PP. 1-43. 

In the first chapter the author states in chronological order the results of 
geothermal measurements in boreholes in Europe, beginning with Erman’s 
investigations (dated 1832). Describing further the results of experiments 
in boreholes Paruschowitz V and Chuchow (Upper Silesia) he dwells upon 
Dunker’s investigations (1896) and a compendium of all former observations 
on the subject by Prestwich (1884-85 and 1895). Concerning the measure- 
ments of temperature in the upper strata of the earth’s crust J. Koenigs- 
berger’s works are particularly valuable. He was the first to draw 
attention to the great practical importance of geothermal measurements ; 
he had such material based on facts and arranged it so that the relationship 
between the magnitude of the geothermal degree and the geology of the 
region under investigation became obvious. 

An excellent example of this kind is given by the reports of the American 
investigators, especially by C. E. van Orstrand, whose works are mentioned 
in the article. Data obtained by the American Petroleum Institute and 
interpreted by K. Heald deserve also special attention. 

In making thermal maps of the region under investigation van Orstrand 
applied, probably for the first time, the graphic method to elucidate the 
relation existing between the reciprocal gradient and geological structures. 
At present we already may in some cases contour a stock of salt or an occur- 
rence of petroleum by geothermal measurements. Of great interest are 
the investigations in the United States showing anticlinal structure of the 
oil-fields. 

Instruments and apparatus adapted for geothermal measurements in 
deep borings are described in the third chapter. The fourth contains a 
detailed description of methods of measurement and enumerates a number 


260 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


of factors by which the exact results are presented. The last chapter 
deals with indications of the methods of calculating geothermal gradient 
and geothermal degrees. A table of geothermal degrees taken from B. 
Gutenberg’s book (Handbuch der Geophystk, vol. 2, pp. 1-7, Berlin, 1931) 
and a list of sixty-four books of reference are added. 


In these abstracts the geothermic gradients are differently expressed and 


the following table will be useful for converting from one standard to another. 


GEOTHERMIC GRADIENTS. 


(Conversion Table.) 


°C./km.| °C./foot. | Metres/1°C. | Metres/1°F.| Feet/1°C.| Feet/1°F. 
5 ©*00152 200 ‘00 II1I‘10 656-18 364.°54 
6 ©°00183 166-66 92°58 546°82 303°78 
7 000213 142°86 79°36 468-70 260-39 
8 0:00244 12500 69°44 410°1I 22784 
9 0*00274 III‘II 61°72 364°54 202°53 
10 0*00305 100°00 55°55 328-09 182°27 
II ©°00336 go-go 50°50 298-26 165°70 
12 0:00366 83°33 46°29 273°41 151-89 
13 0-°00397 76:92 42°63 252°38 140°21 
14 000427 71°43 39°68 234°35 130°19 
15 0-00458 66-66 37°03 218°73 121-51 
16 000488 62:50 34°72 205-06 113 ‘92 
17 ©-00519 58:82 32°67 192°99 107°22 
18 0'00549 55°55 30°86 18229 101 '26 
19 0:00580 52°63 29°24 172°68 95°93 
20 0:00610 50°00 Shah) 164°05 Q1l‘14 
22, 000672 45°45 2525 149°I3 82°85 
24 ©:00732 41:66 23°15 136-71 75°95 
26 000794 38-46 21°32 126-19 70°11 
28 0°00854 35-71 19°84 117°18 65°10 
30 ©:00914 28533 18-52 109°37 60-76 
32 0-00976 21725 17°36 102°53 56-96 
34 001038 29°41 16-34 96-50 53°61 
36 0-01098 27°77 15°43 QI°15 50°63 
38 0:o1160 26-32 14°62 86-34 47°97 
40 001219 25°00 13°89 82-02 45°57 
45 0°01373 22°22 12°34 72°91 40°50 
50 0-01524 20°00 I-11 65-62 36°54 
60 001829 16-66 9:26 54°68 30°38 
70 002134 14°29 7°94 46-87 26-04 
80 002438 12°50 6°95 41°O1 22°78 
go 0'02743 II‘I1 6-17 30°45 20°25 
100 003048 10°00 5°55 32°81 18°23 
200 006096 5°00 2°78 16°41 Q:II 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 261 


GEOTHERMAL MEASUREMENTS IN THE CiTy OF Moscow (IN RussIAn). 


By S. KRaskKovsk1. 


Transactions of the Central Geological and Prospecting Institute, Leningrad, 
no. 8, 1934, Pp. 45-51. 

Geothermal measurements in two artesian boreholes on the territory of 
the City of Moscow were made by the author from July 15 to September 1, 
1932. ‘The purpose of these measurements was to find the approximate 
value of the geothermal degree and to elucidate the influence of casings on 
the distribution of temperature along the vertical line of the borehole. The 
results of measurements have shown that one single column of casings does 
not produce a marked influence on the distribution of temperature. 

A value equal to 38-4 m./°C. was obtained for the geothermal degree. 
This figure is below the normal value and may be explained by the cooling 
influence of a water-bearing horizon found at a depth of 721 m. 


NorMAL GEOTHERMAL GRADIENT IN UNITED STATES. 


By C. E. van ORSTRAND. 


Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, Okla., 
vol. 19, no. 1, 1934, pp. 78-115. 

The objects in compiling this paper have been, first, to prepare a brief 
summary of the gradients deduced from recent geothermal surveys in the 
United States ; and second, to discuss the data thus summarised from the 
standpoint of a normal geothermal gradient. 


THE 'THERMOCOUPLE PROVES USEFUL ON A GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY. 


By J. N. A. vAN DEN BouwHUIJSEN. 


Engineering and Mining Journal, New York, vol. 135, no. 8, 1934, pp. 342- 
344- 

The flow of heat from the earth’s centre toward a fixed point close to its 
surface depends on the heat conductivity of the rock formations between 
the centre and the point and on the thickness of the different layers. 'There- 
fore, according to the author, a shift in the location and a variation in the 
thickness of the layers would result in differences in temperature when 
measured across the structure at the same depth. 

Thus the horizontal gradient of the temperature in a layer close to the 
surface should supply some evidence as to the structure of the underlying 
formations. ‘To prevent the influence of the variations of the atmospheric 
temperature it is sufficient to measure the temperature at a depth of 1-5 m. 
Holes drilled for the measurements were about 1} inches in diameter. 

The experiments were made with thermocouples of special construction, 
connected to a galvanometer of high sensitivity and sturdy enough to stand 
‘transportation in the field. 

To determine the value of the new method (thermo-electric method) the 
author made experiments over two profiles which had previously been well 
determined by torsion-balance work by Mekel, near Winterswijk, Holland. 
The results agreed most remarkably with those got by the gravity method. 
Plans showing the results of temperature measurements and of torsion 
balance survey are given. 

Approximately $200 would buy all of the instruments. The reading 


262, REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE,“ETC. 


requires only a few minutes and the crew consists of only two men, one to 
drill the holes and one observer to take the readings. 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS. 


By H. A. NANCARROW. 


Physical Society of London, Proceedings, vol. 45, May 1, 1933, 
Pp. 447-461. 

The rock specimens are turned as circular cylinders 5 cm. in diameter 
and 2 cm. high and are bisected by a cut made perpendicular to the base 
along one diameter. The top of the cylinder is heated and the temperature 
gradient in the specimen is measured by means of thermocouples held in a 
mica holder inserted in the cut. The temperature distribution and heat 
flow in the specimen are each shown to be represented by a series containing 
Bessel and hyperbolic functions. Constants involved in the arguments of 
these functions are shown to be dependent upon the loss of heat from the 
hot surfaces exposed to the air in the apparatus. The determination of 
these surface heat losses is described. Observations and results are given 
for four specimens. 


GEOTHERMAL METHODS (ON THE DETERMINATION OF THE ‘TEMPERATURE 
IN THE IMMEDIATE PROXIMITY OF THE EARTH’S SURFACE IN CON- 
SIDERATION OF TECTONIC INVESTIGATIONS). 


By W. C. SaLm. : 
Beitréige zur angewandten Geophysik, Leipzig, vol. 4, no. 1, 1933, pp- 116-1 18. 


Salm reviews in this article the paper concerning the measurements of 
the horizontal temperature over the southern border of the Winterswijk 
horst in Holland, published by Dr. van den Bouwhuijsen. 

The nine chapters deal with: measurements of the temperature 
near the surface ; description of the instrument ; methods of measure- 
ment; the conditions of the area under investigation ; the results of 
measurements ; the correlation of the observations ; considerations on the 
temperature of the ground ; the theory of the distribution of the tempera- 
ture on both ends of the horst; the determination of the internal 
conductivity of heat in various rocks ; and finally with the verification of 
the theoretical conclusions by observations. 

According to the author, the results obtained agree well with the gravi- 
metric gradients known for this region, as well as with the geological 
profiles determined by drilling. 


Some PossiBLE APPLICATIONS OF GEOTHERMICS TO GEOLOGY. 


By C. E. van ORSTRAND. 


Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Tulsa, vol. 18, 
no. I, 1934, pp. 13-38. 

The generation and dissipation of heat are important factors in earth 
history. The present distribution of temperature down to the level of 
isostatic compensation can probably be determined with more accuracy 
than has heretofore been obtained by making use of the observations of 
temperature in tunnels or across mountain ranges, 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 263 


Recent geothermal surveys show that relatively high temperatures are 
generally associated with faults, salt domes, sand lenses, and anticlinal 
structures of both large and small closure. 

Radioactivity and thermal condition through oil-bearing strata are shown 
to be possible sources of temperature variations. 

Generation of heat by the oxidation of petroleum appears to be of minor 
importance as a heat source. The most potent source of heat is to be found 
in the hot rocks immediately beneath uplifts. 


TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS IN BOREHOLES IN THE VICINITY OF HAMBURG. 
By E. Kocu. 


Mitteilungen aus dem Mineralogisch-Geologischen Staatsinstitut in Hamburg, 
vol. 14, 1933, Pp. 53-80. 

Thirty-two temperature measurements made in the boreholes in the 
vicinity of Hamburg are described in detail. From the results of measure- 
ments the geothermal gradient for this region was calculated to be 29 to 
39 metres, or a mean value of 34 metres per 1° C. 

Smaller values (down to 18-93) were found in the region of an oil-bearing 
salt dome ; higher values (up to 65-24) were explained by the effect caused 
by ground waters. The temperature measurements in the Lieth borehole 
near Elmshom from 1872 to 1878 are discussed. 


GEOTHERMAL MEASUREMENTS IN ARTESIAN BOREHOLES IN KHARKOV AND 
Moscow DURING THE SUMMER OF 1932. 


By S. KraskowskI. 
Beitrdge zur angewandten Geophysik, Leipzig, vol. 4, no. 1, 1933, pp. 76-87. 


In the summer of 1932 the author made a number of geothermal observa- 
tions in the artesian wells in Kharkov and in Moscow. ‘The purpose of the 
measurements in Kharkov was to investigate the distribution of the tempera~ 
ture in boreholes which penetrated the whole series of Cretaceous layers, 
the depth of the latter reaching about 550 metres. At the same time, it 
was desirable to know to what extent the course of the temperature curve 
was affected by the structural changes in the layers. 

The measurements in Moscow were made in one borehole in the yard of 
the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy and in the borehole of the city 
slaughterhouse. 

From the temperatures obtained it was possible to calculate the geo- 
thermal gradient for Moscow and to establish the influence of the tubes 
inserted in the holes upon the distribution of the temperature. 

The difference of the temperature readings in the holes with tubes and 
without them did not exceed + 0:2° C.; that is, the limits of the mean 
error for ordinary temperature measurements were not surpassed. 


CONTRIBUTION TO THE HISTORY OF THE GEOTHERMAL GRADIENT. 


By H. GEILer. 
Gesch. d. Math., d. Naturwiss. und d. Techn., vol. 13, 1931, pp. 352-358. 


A historical outline and explanations of the earth’s heat are given based 
on the study of publications by Kayser, Koenigsberger, Sieberg and others. 
Factors influencing the geothermal gradient are assembled. 


264 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


Rock 'TEMPERATURES AND SOME VENTILATION CONDITIONS IN THE 
MINneEs OF NORTHERN ONTARIO. 


By RaLtpH H. CLELAND. 


The Canadian Mining and Metallurgical Bulletin, Montreal, no. 256, 1933; 
PP. 379-407. 


This paper is a resumé of a brief survey of rock temperatures made by 
the Ontario Department of Mines during 1932. Present temperatures 
were recorded, and the geothermal gradients that now exist were determined. 

The geothermometer used is described, and details of instruments for 
measuring rock temperatures are shown in a diagram. 

Geological summaries and temperature conditions in the following 
districts are given: (1) Porcupine district; (2) Kirkland Lake district ; 
and (3) Sudbury district—Frood mine. 

Excerpts from various articles showing rock-temperature conditions in 
other places are given. The two last chapters deal with the geothermal 
gradient variations and the underground air conditions. 


THE SIGNIFICANCE OF UNDERGROUND 'TEMPERATURES. 


By M. W. STRONG. 
The Petroleum Times, London, vol. 30, no. 758, 1933, Pp. 132- 


The author discusses in turn the factors governing underground tempera-- 
tures and draws a number of conclusions from his studies. 

He next discusses chemical action, such as oxidation, hydration, pyritisa- 
tion, etc. The conductivity difference of rocks is shown to be a major 
cause of varying gradients, while the effect of diffusivity difference of rocks 
is important where rapid changes are taking place. 

Rapid denudation tends to increase gradients, especially at the surface, 
while rapid deposition in geosynclines tends toward lower gradients. 
Squeezing out of incompetent strata also tends to give high gradients. 
Thrusts and the tectonic piling-up of strata both tend to lower the gradient 
by burying large masses of rocks at low temperature. As to the upward 
movement of rock, intrusive salt plugs and igneous masses will increase 
the gradient. This effect should be sought for only in the late Tertiary 
strata, unless very large masses have been involved. The effect of late 
emergence of strata after a long period beneath the sea is that the gradient 
may be lowered if emergence is in a warm region. ‘The effect of direction 
of flow of underground waters is determined by topographic, stratigraphic, 
and tectonic factors, while Quaternary climatic changes may have an 
important effect on underground temperatures by altering the mean surface 
temperature. 

Special factors are: (a) The loss of heat due to gas escape and oil seepages 
from oil-fields, and (6) replacement of oil by incoming water. As to (a), 
this refers to loss by old seepages extending over geological time, and 
appreciable amounts of heat may be lost in this way whose effect will vary 
with the porosity and size of the reservoir. As to (6), if the influx is large 
and from below, increasing temperatures might accompany it; if slow 
and coming in laterally, this effect might be masked. : 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 265 


‘TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS IN BOREHOLES IN THE VICINITY OF HAMBURG. 
By E. Kocu. 


Mitteilungen aus dem Maineralogisch-Geologischen Staatsinstitut Hamburg, 
Heft XIV, 1933, pp. 53-80. 


The results of thirty-one temperature measurements carried out by the 
author since 1920 are discussed. Maximum thermometers manufactured 
by Carl Kramer of Freiburg-i.-Br. were used. 

The results of measurements are divided into three groups, according to 
the geothermal gradients : 

1. From 29 to 39 m. per 1° C. 
2. Less than 29 m. per 1° C. 
3. More than 39 m. per 1° C. 


TAKE TEMPERATURE OF WELL IN JACKSON Gas AREA. 


(EpiTor1aL NOTE.) 
The Oil Weekly, Houston, vol. 69, no. 13, 1933, p. 61. 


The article gives the readings taken recently by Dr. C. E. van Orstrand 
in a well in the Jackson (Miss.) gas field, which had gone dead. 

The well is Cleve Love et al’s Muse-Cotton 1, located 1,360 ft. north 
and 770 ft. west centre, section 14-5n-1e, Rankin County, south-east part 
of the field, which is practically on top of the Jackson igneous plug and 
at the point of maximum magnetic force. The temperature readings were 
as follows : 


Feet ns Feet ae 
100 66°4 1,250 99°5 
250 70°8 1,500 106-6 
500 78°1 1,750 113°7 
750 84°2 2,000 120°6 
1,000 93°1 2,250 126°7 


SoME COMMENTS ON THE MEASUREMENTS AND INTERPRETATION OF DEEP- 
EARTH ‘TEMPERATURES. 


By C. E. vAN ORSTRAND. 


Gerlands Beitrdge zur Geophysik, Erganzungshefte fiir angewandte Geophysik, 
vol. 3, no. 3, 1933, pp. 261-281. 

A brief description is given of the apparatus used by the United States 
Geological Survey and the American Petroleum Institute in conducting 
recent geothermal surveys. 

As a result of tests in 700 wells located chiefly in producing oil fields, 
instances have been found in which the isogeothermal surfaces rise in 
passing over salt domes, faults, sand lenses, and structures of large and 
small closure. In central Oklahoma, there is in addition to the local 
variations a regional variation that seems to be determined largely by the 
depth to the granite. 


UNDERGROUND TEMPERATURE ON A HILL Top. 
By Yosio Kopatra. 
The Geophysical Magazine, Tokyo, vol. 5, no. 1, 1932, pp. 89-95. 


The present paper contains the results of mathematical investigations on 
the underground temperatures observed on a hill top and of those at the 
same depth in a level tract of land. 


266 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


GEOTHERMIC MEASUREMENTS IN WELLS. 


By D. CHAHNAZAROFF. 
Petroleos y Minas, Buenos Aires, vol. 13, no. 141, 1933, Pp. 5—-7- 


Geothermic measurements in wells can be made by various methods 
depending on the purpose of observation. 

If a thermal survey, by which the thermic horizons of the well are to be 
determined during one day, is required, an apparatus with automatic 
registration of temperature should be used; in this case the accuracy of 
temperature obtained may be equal to 1 to 13° C. 

If an accuracy of }° to 4° C. is desired, maximum thermometers or 
open-tube thermometers without a graduation scale must be used; the 
latter are constructed on the principle that each drop of mercury which 
flows out of the open end of the thermometer corresponds approximately 
to #° C.; the maximum thermometers are less convenient as more time 
is required for carrying out the observations. If an accuracy equal to 
35° C. is sought, the thermoelectric method, which is now sufficiently 
improved, is rapid, and gives accurate results, should be applied. 


THE GEOTHERMIC GRADIENT IN LIMAGNE. 


By G. GRENET. 


Comptes rendus de l’ Académie des sciences, Paris, vol. 195, no. 25, December 5, 
1932, pp. IIOO—IIO1. 


A 200-metre boring was used for determining the geothermic gradient 
at Macholles, near Riom. The temperature was measured at a depth of- 
192:2m. ‘The geothermic gradient was found to be equal to 14-16m./°C. 
The result was in good agreement with the earlier observations at Macholles, 
confirming the hypothesis that the geothermic degree over the greater part 
of Limagne is of the order of 14. m./°C. 


ON THE FLow oF HEAT FROM A RocK STRATUM IN WHICH HEAT IS BEING 
GENERATED. 


By C. E. vAN ORSTRAND. 


Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Baltimore, vol. 22, nos. 20/21, 
1932, PP. 529-539. 

A mathematical discussion of the question under the assumption that 
the earth is a cooling globe and that the strata are parallel to the horizontal 
surface of the ground is given. ‘The results of calculations are represented 
in curves and tables: 


GEOTHERMAL GRADIENT AT GRASS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA. 


By W. D. JounstTon, Jr. 


Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Washington, vol. 22, no. 10, 
1932, pp. 267-271. 

Johnston gives in this article the results of temperature observations 
carried out by him in the gold quartz mines at Grass Valley, California, 
during 1930 and 1931. The depth-temperature curve, shown in a figure, 
is slightly concave toward the depth axis. ‘Temperature gradients at the 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 267 


Empire-Star mine, Grass Valley, Nevada County, are given in a table. 
According to this table the following values of the reciprocal gradients were 
established : 


From 500 to 1,280 ft., 1° F. for every 168-6 feet 

10123400) |,,)°T) Ee sity tones Mey 

£0'35200 5) De TSO kes; 

£013. 7005,) t 7b “A 189°8 ,, 
A comparison of temperatures in various deep mines is given in another 
table, according to which the thermal gradient at Grass Valley is in close 
agreement with the thermal gradient at the Mother Lode, California, 
slightly exceeds the gradient in the Rand, South Africa, and is much less than 
the gradient in the Michigan copper mines and in the St. John del Rey 
mine, Brazil. 

In a footnote Johnston says, ‘ In A. Knopf’s article, ‘‘ Mother Lode System 
of California”? (U.S. Geol. Survey, Prof. Paper 157, pp. 22-23, 1929), a 
gradient of 1° F. for 150 ft. is given. These data have been recalculated by 
the method of least squares by H. C. Spicer, who obtained a reciprocal 
gradient of 192°3 ft. per degree Fahrenheit from observations between the 
depths of 1,575 and 4,200 ft. Knopf’s values for the Central Eureka and 
the Kennedy mines apparently are based on an assumed value of the mean 
annual temperature Y of the air.’ 


GEOTHERMAL GRADIENT OF THE MoTHER Lope BELT, CALIFORNIA. 


By ApoLeH KNOPF. 


Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C., vol. 22, 
no. 14, 1932, pp. 389-390. 

In this article Knopf offers the following objections to the conclusions 
contained in W. D. Johnston’s article ‘Geothermal Gradient at Grass Valley, 
California ’ (see the previous article), pointing out two fundamental errors 
made during the recalculation of the geothermal gradient at the Mother 
Lode, made by Spicer: ‘ In the first place temperature observations from 
two mines (the Plymouth and the Kennedy) situated ten miles apart were 
used to compute a gradient, but this procedure is not permissible, as the 
gradients at the two mines are most likely to be different. In the second 
place it was assumed that the collars of the shafts of the two mines are 
at the same altitude; the collar of the Kennedy shaft is approximately 
1,430 ft., whereas that of the Plymouth shaft is about 1,100 ft. above sea level.’ 

A reply in explanation of his conclusions is given by W. D. Johnston in 
an article published in the same number of the Fournal of the Washington 
Academy of Sciences, pp. 390-393- 


GEOTHERMAL MEASUREMENTS IN THE BOREHOLES OF THE DONETZ BASIN. 


By S. KraskKowskgI. 


Gerlands Beitrdge zur Geophysik, Erganzungshefte der angewandten Geophysik, 
Leipzig, vol. 3, no. 1, 1932, pp- 9-28. 

In the autumn of 1931 the Central Scientific Institution of Geology and 
Geophysical Prospection in Leningrad carried out an experimental thermo- 
survey in the deep drill holes of the Stalin district in the Donetz Basin. 

The apparatus used by the geothermical section of the institution was 
constructed by members themselves and consisted of a winch with steel- 


268 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


wire and tripod, steel thermometer tubes, and a set of maximum thermo- 
meters. ‘The distribution of the temperature was investigated in five drill 
holes. ‘Two of these holes belonged to the region of the future ‘ shaft 100,’ 
where mining will take place at a depth of 1,200 m. (4,000 ft.) ; thus it 
was very important to determine the temperature in advance. The in- 
fluence of the water in the hole on the normal distribution of the temperature 
was determined by preliminary observations in two drill holes : the gradient 
of temperature did not exceed 0: 39° C./m.in the first hole ando-26° C./m.in 
the second hole. ‘The temperature curves deviated very little from a straight 
line ; these anomalies could be explained by the influence of water layers, 
thermal conductivity, convection currents, etc. 

The importance of the analysis of the temperature curve in geothermic 
investigations is very great; therefore it is imperative to determine the 
thermal conductivity of the rock samples in addition to the thermometric 
observations. 


RECENT GEOTHERMAL MEASUREMENTS IN THE MICHIGAN CopPER DISTRICT. 


By James FiscuHer, L. R. INGERSOLL AND Harry VIVIAN. 


The American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, New York, 
Technical Publication No. 481, 1932, 11 pp. 


Considerations of heat conduction guided the measurements made to 
determine the actual virgin temperatures at the ‘ temperature stations.’ 
Holes in which were inserted one or more thermometers were drilled a 
few inches back from the breast. Mercury-in-glass thermometers were 
chosen, mainly because of their simplicity and reliability. Two, and. 
sometimes three, thermometers were inserted in these holes, and were 
read at 2-hour intervals until three or four readings had been taken. This 
proceeding was repeated over a number of days. It was found that 
reliable readings were obtained without waiting until some days after 
drilling and in spite of nearby blasting. 

The conclusions drawn by the authors read as follows : ‘ Temperature 
measurements in eight special drill holes in the Calumet and Hecla mines, 
together with one in an old hole which has suffered no appreciable tempera- 
ture change in ten years, all fall very nearly on a straight line. The 
temperatures range from 74° 75° F. at 3,562 ft. below the surface to 95°31° 
at 5,679 ft. When taken in connection with Lane’s value of 43° for the mean 
surface temperature, these give an average temperature gradient of 1° F. in 
108-5 ft., or 1° C. in 59°5 m., which is only about one-half of the Kelvin 
average for the whole earth (1° in 27:76 m.). The gradient at an average 
depth of 4,500 ft. is 1° F. in 103-1 ft. 

“The data are not sufficient as yet to allow any positive conclusions as to 
the time and extent of the glacial epochs, but point strongly to a value at 
least as large as 30,000 years as the time which has elapsed since the last 
epoch.’ 


MATHEMATICAL THEORY OF HEAT FLOW IN THE EARTH’s CRUST. 


By Davip OTTo EHRENBURG. 


University of Colorado Bulletin, Boulder, vol. 32, no. 12, May 1932; The 
University of Colorado Studies, vol. 19, no. 3, 1932, pp. 327-355. 


In the introduction to the mathematical discussion of the theory of heat 
flow in the earth’s crust given in this article, the author refers to Ingersoll 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 269 


and Zobel’s application to physical geology of the mathematical theory of 
heat conduction in homogeneous media, and calculation by them of a 
number of curves for the cooling of lavas and laccoliths. Ehrenburg 
continues : 

‘ Unfortunately, their results are based on the narrowing assumption that 
the thermal constants of the cooling mass are identical with the constants 
of the underlying or surrounding rock. However, the shape of a cooling 
curve depends not only upon the configuration of the bodies between which 
the heat transfer occurs and their initial temperature difference, but also 
upon the relative values of conductivity, density and specific heat. The 
writer believes that the difference in thermal constants is an important 
factor in modifying the character of a temperature curve; and in this 
paper is proposed a new method of treating the flow of heat in two hetero- 
geneous solids in contact, and also is demonstrated its application to several 
particular cases similar to those treated by Ingersoll and Zobel.’ 


RaTE OF TEMPERATURE CHANGE. 


(Epiror1aL Note.) 


The Oil and Gas Journal, Tulsa, vol. 31, no. 3, 1932, p- 109. 


In this article temperature gradients for a series of measurements are 
enumerated. In certain wells in Pennsylvania the temperature gradient 
indicated an increase of 1° F. for each 58 to 64 ft. of depth, and in California 
an increase of 1° for each 52 ft. is often observed. Other temperature 
investigations show that in some districts the temperature rises at an even 
faster rate, often at 1° for each 40 ft. 

In the Salt Creek field in Wyoming well temperatures at a depth of 100 ft. 
ranged from 51-4° to 65-27° F., and at 2,000 ft. they ran from 79° to 98-4°. 
Temperature measurements in a well in the Teapot Dome field, Wyoming, 
showed 71:6° at 1,000 ft. and 125° at 2,867 ft. In another well in the same 
field the temperature at 25 ft. was found to be 76°, but at 2,790 ft. it was 
124°5°. Acompletely dry well in the Teapot Dome field showed a tempera- 
ture of 52° at 100 ft. and of 101° at 2,000 ft. In wells in California the 
temperature at 4,000 ft. varied between 150° and 170°. A thermometer 
run to the bottom of a well 4,050 ft. deep in the Wellington-Fort Collins 
area of Colorado recorded 157°. This was 3° higher than that registered by 
a well 7,900 ft. deep near Kane, Pa. 

Temperature measurements made by E. M. Hawtoff, of the Bureau of 
Economic Geology, in a well in the Big Lake field in Reagan County, Tex., 
showed the following temperatures at depths below 5,000 ft.: At 5,700 ft., 
me. P.; 6,500 ft., 135° ; ‘7,000 ft., 152° ; 8,000 ft., 161 ; 8,300 ft., 170°. 


TEMPERATURE OF FORMATION OF AN EPI-THERMAL ORE DEPOSIT. 


By H. C. BoypbeE tt. 


Bulletin of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London, nos. 331 and 
332, 1932, pp. 1-43 and 25-39. 

This paper was presented at the seventh ordinary general meeting of the 
forty-first session of the Institution, held on April 21, 1932. In this article 
a discussion of the paper is given. 

The present paper provided a striking example of a problem in mining 


270 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


geology attacked by the mathematical method, and in that respect it was 
not only novel but almost unique. 

The paper inquired into ‘ The extent of temperature rise produced by a 
lava flow on underlying rock, and the influence of such heating on an ore 
deposit formed there.’ 

An actual example, namely the Camp Bird gold mine in south-west 
Colorado, had been chosen by Boydell for his investigations. 

The Camp Bird deposit is briefly described. In the summary given by 
the author, Boydell enumerates the conclusions drawn from his investigations. 


RESULTS OF WELL TEMPERATURE TESTS IN WYOMING. 


By Bravity TayLor. 
The Petroleum Engineer, Dallas, 'Tex., vol. 3, no. 8, 1932, p. 64. 


The author gives a brief description of a series of experiments carried 
out by the State oil and gas inspector of Wyoming relative to the temperatures 
obtained in wells in that State. 

The description of the apparatus used to obtain temperature measure- 
ments in wells with the accuracy required for a study of this nature is 
accompanied by an illustration. 

The operation of the apparatus is explained. 

The average run of well-bottom temperatures in Wyoming has been 
found, according to the experiments, to be between go° and 180°. It has 
been found that the time element in taking temperatures is a very important 
one. The deepest well in Wyoming, at 8,725 ft. in the second Wall Creek 
sand, was found to have a temperature of 140°. 


RELATION OF EARTH 'TEMPERATURES TO GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 


By JoHn A. McCurTcuin. 
The Oil Weekly, Houston, vol. 65, no. 2, 1932, pp. 21-26. 


The purpose of this research has been to determine the possibility of 
using temperature data for the location of future oil pools, particularly in 
areas where the generally used geological and geophysical methods meet 
with little success. 

Detailed temperature surveys have been made by the author in over 
300 wells located in forty oil-fields of Oklahoma and Kansas. While the 
relations in any field in these areas are practically the same, the relations of 
earth temperatures to geologic structure in the Dilworth field of Kay 
County, Okla., have been chosen to illustrate the possibilities of using earth 
temperatures to locate oil-fields. A brief history of the study of earth 
temperatures and a description of method and apparatus are given. 
According to two parts of a plate added to the article, a marked relation 
between geologic structure and the present observed position of the isothermal 
surfaces in the south dome of the Dilworth field is shown. 

The author concludes: ‘ The results of the temperature observations 
made in the Dilworth field and in many other fields of Oklahoma and Kansas 
indicate that this problem has commercial possibilities as a new geophysical 
method of locating buried structure. It is to be remembered, however, 
that all these observations have been made in proved fields and abandoned 
wells and until the method has been tried in a new area, either by making 
temperature observations in core drill holes or drilling wells, it will remain 
as a possibility and not as a proved fact.’ 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 271 


ReEPoRT OF Four YEARS’ STuDY OF EARTH TEMPERATURES IN WELLS. 


By Cuares E. Kern. 
The Oil and Gas Fournal, Tulsa, vol. 29, No. 33, 1931, pp. 54 and 104. 


This report, made to the American Petroleum Institute, covers four years 
of work to indicate a possible method for assisting in the location of oil 
domes. 

The recording of earth temperatures undertaken with the financial support 
of the American Petroleum Institute has been under the general supervision 
of van Orstrand, who initiated, about ten years ago, the geothermal method 
for locating oil domes. 

Temperature tests taken in approximately 350 oil wells in Texas, Okla- 
homa, California, and New Mexico have served as foundations for drawing 
maps and diagrams. ‘They show the relation between temperature and 
structure in many instances. 

The difficulties in interpreting thermal readings are discussed. 


‘THe CooLING AND 'TEMPERATURE OF THE EARTH. 


By B. GUTENBERG. 


Sonderdruck aus dem Handbuch der Geophysik, vol. 2, 1929, 35 pp. Gbriider 
Borntrager, Berlin. 


This special reprint from the Handbook of Geophysics, vol. 2, contains 

two chapters dealing with the temperature phenomena of the earth : 
Chapter 1. Facts based on observations. 
Chapter 2. ‘Theoretical considerations. 

The following items are discussed in chapter 1. 

1. Measurement of temperature inside the earth’s crust—Means of 
measurement are explained and figures showing the results of a series of 
measurements are given. 

2. The geothermal degree—Tables showing the geothermal degrees in 
various countries and at various depths are given, and the causes of the 
variation of these degrees are discussed. 

3. Heat conductivity of rocks—Two tables, one showing the heat con- 
ductivity as a function of humidity and amount of, pores in the rocks and 
another giving the figures for the heat conductivity of several rocks, as 
established by various authors, and curves showing the dependency of the 
heat conductivity on the temperature (according to Wolff) are added. 

4. Specific heat of rocks —Figures for a few rocks are given. 

5. Melting temperature and melting heat—A table with figures for the 
constants of melting curves, according to Wolff, and a melting curve for 
helium, according to Simon, are given. 

6. Temperatures of lavas ; transformation-temperatures—Lava tempera- 
eS according to Perret, Day, Jaggar and Shepherd are collected in a 
table. 

7. Radioactive substances and the production of heat by them—Two 
tables showing (1) the production of heat according to the amount of Ra, 
Th, and K in rocks, and (2) showing the radioactivity of Vesuvius lavas 
according to Joly are given. In chapter 2, ‘ Theoretical considerations,’ the 
author discusses : 

8. The cooling of the earth during the pre-geological epochs. 

9. The cooling of the crystalline earth crust and the temperature resulting 


272 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


fram this.—Melting curves according to Wolff ; curves showing the cooling 
of spherical bodies of various substances representing the earth, in one 
million years, starting with a temperature of 100°, according to van Orstrand ; 
and curves of the temperature inside the earth’s crust according to Jeffreys, 
Adams, Wolff, and Gutenberg are given. 

10. The temperature of the earth’s crust based on statical observations — 
As a final conclusion the author gives the following probable figures for the 
temperatures inside of the earth: 


Depth, km. . i aliZo 100 200 500 6,370 
‘Temperature - 600° 1,400° 1,600° 1,800° 2,000-5,000° 


GEOTHERMAL METHOD OF PROSPECTING. 


By C. L. ALEXANIAN. 


Extract from Traité pratique de prospection géophysique (Practical treatise on 
geophysical prospecting), by C. L. Alexanian. Librairie Polytechnique 
Ch. Beranger, 15 Rue des Saints-Péres, Paris, 6. 


Values of geothermal gradients are given by the author for the following 
countries : t 


Metres 
Pribram (Czechoslovakia) . ; : E “167 
Sabountchy (oil region near Baku, U.S.S.R.) . St IS 
Machélles (Limagne) ; ‘ : : mene: 
Pechelbronn (Alsace) : ; : : - 14to 21 
Los Angeles (California) . . : i nel A 
Kutzenhausen (Alsace) , : ; : eit) 


According to Koenigsberger the normal geothermal gradient in case of 
horizontal layers is about 34 m./° C. This value varies greatly in case of 
inclined or vertical layers. ; 

The possible reasons for the great local anomalies of the geothermal 
gradient are given by Alexanian as caused by : 


1. Deposits originated by heat processes or of volcanic origin. 

2. The distribution of heat due to the displacement of various substances 
in the earth’s crust, such as hot springs, mineral waters, and gas. 

3- Deposits produced by heat caused by chemical reactions or deposits 
containing radioactive substances. : 

4. Thermal conductivity of rocks and tectonic displacements (heat 
produced by friction). 


A list of thermal conductivities of rocks is given. 

The last two paragraphs of the article contain a brief description of 
methods for measuring the temperature of the soil and a method for 
calculating the temperature gradient. 


GEOTHERMAL VARIATIONS IN COALINGA AREA, FRESNO CouNTY, 
CALIFORNIA. 
By ANDERS J. CARLSON. 


Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Houston, Tex., 
vol. 15, no. 7, 1931, pp. 829-836. 

Variations of isothermal elevations with respect to structure are developed 

from temperature measurements in fifty-six wells of the Coalinga area. 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 273 


The comparative trend of isotherms, geologic strata, and ground surface is 
shown on two vertical sections through the anticlinal structure of the 
Eastside field. ‘The results indicate that rock temperatures in this vicinity 
are controlled chiefly by surface topography and thickness of sediments. 
Definite correlation between relative temperatures and the oil-bearing 
structure is not evident. 


RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE GEOTHERMAL DEPTH GRADIENT AND THE HEAT 
CONDUCTIVITY OF ROcKs. 


By H. Borcer. 
Gluckauf, Essen, vol. 67, no. 17, 1931, pp. 545-551. 


The article is divided into two chapters : (1) investigation of the influ- 
ence of the heat conductivity of rocks upon the geothermal gradient, and 
(2) heat conductivity of various rocks. 

From the investigations on the relationship between the heat conductivity 
of rocks and the geothermal gradient the author draws the conclusion that 
geothermal gradients have different values in different rocks deposited in 
layers and that their ratio depends on the heat conductivity of the different 
kinds of rocks. 

The numerical value of the geothermal gradient inside a certain type 
of rock depends not only on its capability of conducting heat, but also on 
the ratio of magnitude of rocks overlying one another. 

The author gives examples showing that in rocks, the geothermal gradient 
of which is high owing to their good heat conductivity, the temperature 
may be unusually high if the deposits overlying them have a lower heat 
conductivity. ‘The differences in heat conductivity of single types of rocks 
are sufficient for the explanation of the unusually high temperatures often 
observed in salt mines and coal mines, without the necessity of assuming 
the existence of special sources of heat. 

The article is illustrated by four figures. 


GEOTHERMIC MEASUREMENTS NEAR SURFACE. 


By A. G. R. WHITEHOUSE. 
The Colliery Guardian, London, vol. 142, no. 3655, 1931, pp. 210-211. 


The object of the present observations was to study the relation of surface 
air temperature to earth temperature at depths up to 30 ft., and to examine 
the possibility of a more reliable datum for strata-temperature calculations. 

The observations were made at Edgbaston in the grounds of the University 
of Birmingham at a point 453 ft. above Ordnance Datum. The earth 
thermometers at depths of 1, 4 and 7 ft. were in gravel, the 30-ft. earth 
thermometer being in soft sandstone. : 

In Tables I and II are shown: Air and earth temperatures, annual means 
for the six years, 1924-1929; and annual ranges of temperature of the 
thermometers, respectively. 

From the results of this investigation the author shows that change in 
mean earth temperature, with increasing depth near the surface, may be 
distinctly erratic, and that mean air temperature shows no general relation- 
ship to mean earth temperature near the surface. ‘The author concludes 
that, therefore, the only practical datum in this country for calculations of 


geothermic gradient is the mean air temperature at the surface taken over 


a long range of years, and that this datum is at the best a very rough one. 


274 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


GEOTHERMAL PHENOMENA AND GEOLOGICAL HIsTORY WITH SPECIAL 
REFERENCE TO OLD STRUCTURES IN GEOTHERMAL EQUILIBRIUM. 


By M. W. Srrone. 


Journal of the Institution of Petroleum Technologists, vol. 16, no. 86, 1930, 
pp. 889-901. 
Geothermal phenomena are discussed in this article under the following 
headings : 


1. Introduction—Thermal conditions to be expected in old structures 
are considered first. Investigation is continuing with reference to these 
conditions in young structures where thermal changes may be expected to 
be still continuing. 

2. Some factors affecting geothermal distribution —The conductivity of the 
rocks and of their fluid contents are the dominant factors determining the 
thermal conditions. Topographic irregularities must also be taken into 
consideration. Effects due to the underground movement of water, oil, 
and gas must be analysed specifically in each case in which they arise. 

3. Conductivities of rocks——Approximate conductivities of various rocks 
and substances are given. 

4. Influence of thermal conductivity of strata on isogeotherms—The 
distribution of heat in and around masses of relatively good and bad 
thermal conductivity placed in a medium through which heat is flowing is 
examined by the aid of some diagrams. 

5. Buried hills or anticlinal structures —These are considered on the sup- 
position in each instance that the structure is old enough for geothermal 
equilibrium to have been attained. z 

6. Faults and unconformities—The distribution of isogeotherms in the 
neighbourhood of a fault which has thrown badly conducting strata against 
strata of higher conductivity is considered. 

7. Buried faults and unconformities—The thermal distribution above a 
buried fault by which beds of different conductivities have been brought 
into contact, the whole lying buried beneath a thick overburden, is 
considered. 

8. Importance of conductivity determination—Determination of the con- 
ductivities of the beds should be one of the first objectives of a geothermal 
survey, as they are the controlling factors determining the geothermal 
distribution. 

9g. Note on topography and isogeotherms.—The static distribution of 
temperature under hills is illustrated in a figure. It is shown by the 
diagrams that in homogeneous horizontal strata topographic irregularities 
alone would give rise to irregularities of the isothermal contours. 

10. Factor for elevation with respect to sea-level—The necessity of 
measuring the mean surface temperature is mentioned. 

11. Influence of dip on conductivity—In some sandstones, especially if 
micaceous, and in slates and some laminated shales, the conductivity per- 
pendicular to the cleavage may be only about half that parallel to the cleavage 
so that in some districts allowance must be made for this additional factor. 

12. Some general remarks on static thermal fields are given. 

13. Presentation of geothermal data.—It is evident that for the elucidation 
of geothermal data the data must be presented in the form of isogeotherms 
drawn on a geological section, together with information regarding the 
lithology of the several beds. 

14. Gradients and their significance-——Wide variations in the values of 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 275 


gradients assembled from temperature measurements in boreholes show 
the necessity of studying their significance. 

15. Applications of geothermal methods to the study of structures —Detailed 
application of diagrams showing the kinds of thermal fields to be expected 
must be worked out in each district separately, having regard to local 
structural and lithological conditions, and no general rules can be given for 
their use. 

The author concludes that with regard to locating oil sands in a given 
structure by means of temperature there are at present insufficient data on 
the conductivity of oil-bearing beds in comparison with the conductivity 
of the same beds when waterlogged or barren, and until these experimental 
data come to hand geothermal data must be regarded as of use only in so 
far as they are indicative of structure. 


GEOTHERMIC GRADIENTS. 


By J. G. FInray. 
South African Mining and Engineering Journal, vol. 41, part ii, no. 2051, 
1931, pp. 509-510. 

The following brief description of Dr. Haldane’s ‘ Calorometer ’ suggested 
for obtaining a standardised method of measuring rock temperature is given : 

The calorometer consists essentially of a brass tube about 1 in. in diameter, 
containing a glass tube about 4 in. in diameter. ‘The space between the 
glass and brass tubes is packed with dry felt, and the bottom and top of 
the tube are secured as shown in a sketch. The glass tube is filled with 
distilled water, a rubber plug is inserted, and the apparatus closed by means 
of a brass cap. ‘The calorometer is then placed in a bore hole and kept 
there for say 18 to 24 hours, when it is quickly withdrawn, unscrewed, and 
the temperature of the water taken. 

An average of over several hundred observations in Europe and America 
gives what may be called a normal geothermic gradient of approximately 
1° F. per 72 ft. descent. 

Great departures from this normal figure (Comstock Lode in Nevada, 

° F. for every 33 ft. descent; Lake Superior copper mines, 1° F. per 
250 ft. descent) led to the conclusion that the geothermic gradient is in- 
fluenced mainly by the following factors : 

(a) Lithological character of strata—According to investigations by Dr. 
Pirow it was found that the temperature gradient was steeper in the shales 
than in the quartzites and that, generally speaking, the gradient was approxi- 
mately proportional to the mean conductivity of the rocks. ‘The following 
table shows conductivity as given in the British Association Report : 


Rock. Conductivity, calories/cm. per sec. 
Granite . : : : : » ©°'0055 
Basalt 0*0055 
Quartzites 0*0095 
Slate 0*0030 
Shales 0*0020 
Gneiss 00051 


(6) Active chemical processes of decomposition.—Under such circumstances 
the gradient tends to become steeper. 

(c) Relief of strata.—It has been demonstrated on several occasions that 
when observations are taken on high ridges and mountains the gradient is 
much flatter. 


276 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


(d) Presence of large bodies of cool water, adjacent to the strata—This 
factor serves to demonstrate the cooling effect of a large body of water (five 
miles from the Lake Superior copper mines the gradient is 1° F. per 95 ft. ; 
close to the lake, only 1° F. per 250 ft.). 

The author concludes that in any part where observations are taken there 
are many conflicting factors which have to be considered, and the difficulties 
attendant on arriving at any definite conclusions will be obvious. 


DESCRIPTION OF APPARATUS FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF TEMPERATURES IN 
DerEp WELLS; ALSO, SOME SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD TO THE OPERATION 
OF THE APPARATUS, AND METHODS OF REDUCTION AND VERIFICATION 
OF THE OBSERVATIONS. 


By C. E. vAN ORSTRAND. 


American Petroleum Institute, Bulletin 205, 1930, pp. 9-18. 


In a brief introduction to the article van Orstrand says that of the various 
methods that have been proposed for the measurement of temperature in 
deep wells, two only, the electrical resistance thermometer method and the 
mercury maximum thermometer method, have yielded results of sufficient 
importance from the standpoint of efficiency and accuracy to justify their 
use in making an extended temperature survey. 

‘These two methods are described in this article. 

The advantages of the electrical resistance thermometer method over the 
mercury maximum thermometer method are, according. to the author, so 
great that it will undoubtedly come into general use as soon as the main 
obstacles—the initial expense of the necessary equipment and the difficulty’ 
of constructing leads that will remain intact after being immersed in a 
mixture of crude oil and salt water—are overcome. 

The results of the tests carried out by this method are shown in a depth- 
temperature curve of a deep well, E. IT. Price No. 9, South Penn Oil Co. 
From this figure the minute details of the temperature distribution are 
put in evidence. A brief description of the apparatus is given. 

The mercury maximum thermometer method has the disadvantage of 
being slow and tedious. Its chief advantages are minimum initial expense 
and the certainty of obtaining an accuracy of rather less than 0:3° F., regard- 
less of the fluid contents of the well. The two methods of handling maximum 
thermometers : (1) by means of the bailer and (2) by means of a hand- 
operated machine, are described. ‘Thermometer holder and containers, as 
well as other pieces of apparatus, and several views of the hand-operated 
machine are given in a series of pictures. 

The second part of the article deals with some suggestions in regard to 
the operation of the temperature apparatus: (a) Tests with the oil well 
machinery, and (d) tests with a hand-operated machine. The operation is 
explained and the elimination of the chief sources of error in handling the 
thermometers is mentioned. 

The last chapter of the article deals with some suggestions in regard to 
the correction and verification of the observed temperature data. The 
possibility of accurate location of the isogeothermal surfaces owing to the 
difficulty of obtaining a correct answer whether the well is in temperature 
equilibrium or not is discussed. 

In conclusion the author makes statements in regard to the accuracy with 
which the isogeothermal surfaces can be determined; he says: ‘ That 
they are smooth uniform surfaces before the drill penetrates the pay sands 


Wit te 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 277 


cannot be denied. The real problem, therefore, is the location of these 
surfaces in their undisturbed condition. Barring the perturbations produced 
by flowing fluids previously discussed, there remains the instrumental 
errors of observation.’ 

The errors in depth to the isothermal surface resulting from instrumental 
errors are estimated. 


RESULTS OF DEEP WELL TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENTS IN ‘TEXAS. 


By E. M. Hawror. 
American Petroleum Institute, Bulletin 205, October 1930, pp. 62-108. 


This paper presents a summary of the work of the writer carried out 
between the dates March, 1927, to January 1, 1929. During this period 
temperature measurements in deep wells were made in each of the oil 
yielding provinces of Texas, including the Gulf Coast salt dome province, 
the interior salt dome province of East Texas, the Luling-Mexia-Powell 
fault zone province, the Bend Arch, the Panhandle, the Permian Basin of 
West Texas and South-West Texas. 

A general picture of the geothermal conditions has been secured, which 
should not only justify certain preliminary conclusions, but should also 
permit effective planning and conduct of further and more detailed work in 
selected areas. 

Equipment.—The apparatus used in making temperature surveys was 
modelled on that described by Van Orstrand. Photographs of the apparatus 
are given. 

Stem correction for maximum thermometer.—All tests were corrected using 
the stem correction given by the U.S. Bureau of Standards. This correction 
may amount to as much as 1° F. in deep tests, although it is commonly 
much less. 

Difficulty in securing suitable wells owing to their usually unsettled condi- 
tions is noticed. 

Geological conditions dealt with—The wells in which temperatures were 
taken ranged in depth from less than 1,000 to more than 8,000 ft.; thus a 
wide range of different structural types was covered by the work. Some 
idea of the regional structural conditions is given in a map of Texas showing 
by structural contours the writer’s interpretation of the structural conditions, 
the location of wells that yielded results of particular interest, and the 
number of feet of depth which, in each of the wells indicated, resulted in an 
increase in temperature of 1° F. 

A series of maps, cross sections and depth-temperature curves illustrate 
the article. 

Original field notes and temperature tests carried out during this work, 
showing the country, field, company, well, name and number are given in 
an appendix. 


GEOTHERMAL CONDITIONS IN OIL-PRoDUCING AREAS OF CALIFORNIA. 


By ANpDErRS J. CARLSON. 
American Petroleum Institute, Bulletin 205, October 1930, pp. 109-139. 


This report is a summary of work done in the Santa Fé Springs and 
Long Beach fields of the Los Angeles Basin. The results are particularly 
significant only in respect to relations between earth temperatures and local 
anticlinal structure of the Santa Fé Springs and Long Beach types. 


278 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


The apparatus used was patterned after that designed by van Orstrand 
with some changes made to facilitate operation of the equipment. A 
depth of 5,000 ft. has been reached. Under favourable conditions a 4,000-ft. 
survey could be completed in one day. 

The reliability of measurements with this type of apparatus was demon- 
strated by the re-survey of some wells after a lapse of several months. ‘The 
comparative average temperatures obtained by the author and by van 
Orstrand for one well are shown in a table. ‘This check made with different 
sets of thermometers is so close as to show that satisfactory results can be 
obtained by this method. 

All tests were corrected using the stem correction formulated by the 
U.S. Bureau of Standards. 

Factors affecting measurements are discussed. 

In an attempt to determine whether or not a relationship exists between 
earth temperatures and geologic structure, the author has compared both 
isogeothermal surfaces and the distribution of reciprocal gradients with 
geologic structure. He concluded that in general the work in California 
indicated that the isothermal depth was a more reliable medium of com- 
parison than the reciprocal gradient. ‘This is explained by the fact that 
shallow temperatures seem to be more seriously affected by artificial condi- 
tions than do deep temperatures, and this would tend to affect the gradient 
of a well to a greater degree than it would the depth of the 100° isotherm. 

Geological conditions under which the measurements were made and 
the types of wells used are described. ‘Temperature determinations in 
thirty-three wells in the Santa Fé Springs fields were made. ‘The depth- 
temperature curves for these wells are shown in figures 9 to 41. A table 
showing the geothermal data is given. 

Geothermal data for forty-three wells in Long Beach Oil Field are shown 
in a table. 

Conclusions from the study of the data presented, for both the Santa 
Fé Springs and Long Beachil O Fields, are drawn. 


PREDICTION OF TEMPERATURE INSIDE MOUNTAINS. 


By Marto Bossorasco. 
Erganzungshefte fiir angewandte Geophysik, vol. 1, no. 2, 1930, pp. 149-155. 
After a few remarks on the practical value of different methods for the 
prediction of the temperature of rocks inside mountains, the author 
mentions the importance of the position of the strata for the solution of 


these problems and explains by this the high maximum temperature which 
was found in the Simplon Tunnel. 


He shows that the normal course of the geo-isotherms cannot be affected 


in a sensible way by hot springs. This is in contradiction to a confirmation 
made previously. 


GEOTHERMAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE STEBNIK 1 WELL. 


By STANISLAW ZyYCcH. 


Institut de Géophysique et de Météorologie de l’Université de Lwow, vol. 4, 
Communication no. 44, 1929, pp. 844-848. 


Temperatures measured on December 2, 1927, at different depths in the 
Stebnik 1 well (near Boryslaw) are given in a table. 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 279 


The increase of temperature with the depth is small and distributed 
regularly. For differences of depth of 50 m. the increase varies between 
0-75 and 0-85° C. The mean geothermal degree is 63-4 m. 

By comparing this value with those obtained in Boryslaw and Kalusz for 
the same differences in depth, shown in another table, it was established 
that the depth temperatures in the Stebnik well are considerably lower. 
This seems to be related to the fact that salt layers and potassium salt 
layers are crossed by the wells at a depth from 116 to 859 m._ In Kalusz 
the smallest increase was also observed in the salt layers—that is, between 
174 and 261 m. of depth. 


PREDETERMINATION OF TEMPERATURE OF Rocks INSIDE 
MountTain-MassIirs. 


By K. PREsSEL. 


Zeitschrift des Vereins deutscher Ingenieure, vol. 73, no. 5, 1929, pp. 126-164. 

The author discusses the important question of determining the tempera- 
ture of rocks inside mountains. An attempt was made to solve this 
problem by mathematical calculations. Pressel describes methods in 
which the experiments are carried out on models. Possibilities of thermal 
and caloric model experiments are mentioned briefly. A third model 
experiment, an ‘ electric’ one, is described in more detail. Its usefulness 
was proved by observations made in two well-known tunnels (Gotthard, 
Simplon). ‘The results of the latter examination are given. 

The following items are discussed: (1) importance of temperature deter- 
mination ; (2) literature on temperature determination ; (3) influences 
upon the temperature inside mountains; (4) thermal model experiment ; 
(5) caloric model experiment ; (6) electrical model experiment. 


GEOTHERMAL VARIATIONS IN OIL-FIELDS OF Los ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. 
By ANDERS J. CARLSON. 


Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, vol. 14, no. 8, 
1930, Pp. 997—-I01T. 

Data obtained from temperature measurements in oil wells of the Los 
Angeles basin are presented, and some causes of abnormal temperature 
conditions and factors affecting the interpretation of geothermal data are 
noted. The relations of geothermal gradients and isothermal depths to 
structure are discussed for the Santa Fé Springs, Long Beach, and Torrance 
Fields. Variations in the geothermal constants are considered with respect 


to the geology of the region, and the possible correlative value of temperature 
data is suggested. 


THE COURSE OF THE TEMPERATURE IN SANDY SoIL. 


By R. Sutrine. 
Zeitschrift fiir Geophysik, vol. 6, nos. 4-7, 1930, pp. 285-291. 

In this article the author gives some information on the diurnal course 
of the temperature in the upper strata, as well as on the yearly temperature 
distribution at greater depths. The question is discussed under the 
following headings: (1) the diurnal temperature exchange between the 


280 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


surface of the earth and the depth of 1 m.; (2) the yearly course of 
the temperature down to 12 m. of depth; (3) temperature variations 
at greater depths. 

In his résumé the author says : 

‘In representing the diurnal course of the temperature in the upper 
strata of an almost homogeneous sandy soil it is proved that the distribution 
of the heat is not as uniform as could be expected. In connection with this 
the author points out that the vertical temperature gradient in the soil 
shows several changes during the greatest part of the year; these changes 
must probably be attributed partly to the distribution of the underground 
waters and partly to the after-effects of greater air anomalies occurring in 
the deep strata.’ 


DETERMINATION OF GEOTHERMAL GRADIENTS IN OKLAHOMA. 


By Joun A. McCutTcuin. 


Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, vol. 14, no. 5, 
1930, Pp. 535-555. 

This paper deals with the data of geothermal gradients collected from 
temperature surveys carried on since June 1928, in approximately 150 wells 
located in twenty-four separated fields in Oklahoma and Kansas. The 
purpose of this investigation is to determine the possibility of using the 
temperature data for the location of oil pools. 

Description of methods and apparatus——The van Orstrand method has 
been closely followed in the collection of data. A brief description of the 
method is given. : 

Wells suitable for temperature tests—As a rule, the wells that have been 
drilled with rotary tools are the most unsatisfactory wells in which to make 
temperature observations because the circulation of the rotary mud in the 
wells so disturbs the temperature distribution in the formations surrounding 
the hole that the hole must remain idle for a considerable time (about 30 days) 
before reliable temperature data can be obtained. 

Temperature tests can be made in wells drilled with standard tools at 
any time the tools are out of the well. ‘Temperature observations should not 
be made near the bottom of drilling wells as the action of the drill may 
produce an abnormally high temperature at this point. 

Depth-temperature curves—An example of a depth-temperature curve 
taken from a deep well in the Tonkawa field is shown. Depth-temperature 
curves representing wells in temperature equilibrium may, for all practical 
purposes, be considered as straight lines. However, when a close examina- 
tion is made the curves are seen to be slightly curved at the shallower depths, 
the curvature increasing with increasing depth. 

Shallow temperatures——The most important temperature data in a well 
are to be obtained from the first 1,000 feet. As the shallow temperatures 
act as a guide to the reliability of the data from the entire well, they should 
be given careful consideration by those endeavouring to correlate temperature 
data from well to well or area to area. 

Explanation of cross sections —Variation in depth to the 80°, 90° and 100° F. 
isothermal surfaces for several places are shown in two figures. ‘The gradient 
ranges from 1° in 107°0 ft. for the wells located near Oklahoma City to 1° 
in 36°5 and 40:0 ft. for the wells located near Tulsa and Okemah. Several 
possibilities as to the reason for this difference are suggested. 

An explanation of the table showing the variations in the gradient com- 


7. ee eee ret 


ae 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 281 


puted in terms of feet per degree F. for the fields where tests have been 
made is given. 

An explanation is also given of several figures on which are drawn 
contours on 80° F. isothermal surface for wells of the Garber field, contours 
on 100° F. isothermal surface for a portion of the Cromwell field, gradient 
depth to 100° F. for three wells located on the Haverhill, and contours for 
100° F. isothermal surface for wells in the Eldorado, Kansas, field. 

Variations in Oklahoma and Kansas fields: —Temperature observations 
have been made in twenty-four fields in Oklahoma and Kansas. Since 
the only wells available for testing happened to be temporarily abandoned 
when the fields were visited, the data from most of these fields are too 
meagre for conclusions to be drawn regarding the variation of temperature 
with geologic structures. However, it is interesting to note that in only 
two or perhaps three fields the data collected tended to disagree with the 
findings of van Orstrand’s previous work in Wyoming and California (‘Some 
Evidence on the Variation of Temperature with Geologic Structure in 
Wyoming and California Fields.’ Economic Geology, vol. 21, no. 2, 1926). 

Other uses for temperature data—New and important uses for the 
accurate temperature data that are being collected in Oklahoma are 
mentioned. 

Conclusions—As a whole, the results obtained in Oklahoma to date on 
the temperature problem are neither consistent nor inconsistent enough to 
justify any general conclusions. ‘The results indicate, however, that the 
problem is not simple and that it will probably be solved by the collection 
of additional accurate data in the fields and in non-productive areas, 
supplemented, perhaps, by some careful work on the heat-conducting 
properties of sedimentary rocks in a well-equipped laboratory. 


MEASUREMENTS OF TEMPERATURE IN BOREHOLES. 
By G. FRIEDEL AND V. Makowsky. 
Le génie civil, vol. 45, no. 23, 1929, pp. 568-569. 


Owing to the fact that the use of medical or other types of maximum 
thermometers at depths over 1,000 or 1,500 m. requires their inclosure 
in strong steel boxes and that the indications of the thermometers are 
to be corrected for high and very uncertain pressures, the use of open- 
tube thermometers without a graduation scale is proposed. ‘The tube of 
such a thermometer is cut obliquely at its upper end at an angle of about 
45° or a little more to the axis of the tube. ‘The reservoir and the tube are 
filled with mercury so that the latter may rise to the orifice at a temperature 
which is certainly below that expected at the point of measurement. 

Two or three thermometers prepared in this way can be lowered, pro- 
tected by a simple sheet-iron box filled with clear water, as the pressure 
will not have a notable effect on the open tube. The thermometers should 
be left in the borehole for about 24 hours. 

At a depth fixed for the measurements the mercury will rise above the 
open end of the tube and one part of mercury will escape. After the removal 
of the thermometers they are heated side by side with a graduated thermo- 
meter until the mercury rises again up to the orifice ; this moment will 
show the temperature measured in the hole at the desired depth, and its 
amount can be read from the graduated thermometer. 

Temperature curves obtained from measurements made with this type 
of thermometer in the potassium mines in Alsace and in the saliferous basin 

L 


282 © REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


of the Upper Rhine differed from those obtained previously. The curves 
showing the distribution of the temperature at depths exceeding 1,000 m. 
were almost straight lines, the geothermal degree being almost constant 
and equal to about.25 m. 


NotTE ON TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS IN THE PERMIAN BASIN. 


By WALTER B. LANG. 


Yournal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, vol. 20, no. 7, 1930, 
pp. 121-123. 

Lang discusses the temperature tests made in one of the wells in New 
Mexico (Transcontinental-McWhorten No. 1, Sec. 6, T. 3, S., R. 22 E., 
De Baca County) and notes the influence of halite and anhydrite sediments, 
which are characteristic for this region, on the temperature gradients. 

The varying behaviour of the isogeotherms of any region can be explained 
by differences of rock conductivity. Owing to the fact that critical data 
of the sort necessary to determine the influence of rock conductivities in 
general upon temperature gradients do not exist, the author proposes that, 
in order to solve the geothermal problem, as many data as possible on the 
thermal conductivity of rocks as they exist under natural conditions be 
collected. ; 


THE INTERNAL TEMPERATURE OF THE EARTH’S CRUST. 


By FRANK M. GENTRY. 
Science, vol. 70, no. 1814, 1929, pp. 332-334- 


Taking into consideration that the linear gradient of 1° F. in 55 ft. is not 
satistactory because it leads to large errors even at shallow depths, and that 
Kelvin’s equation, although of considerable theoretical background, does 
not take account of internal heating which may arise from causes other than 
the original molten conditions (such, for example, as those of radioactivity, 
chemical activity, etc.), Gentry discusses in this article the possibility of 
obtaining equations to represent the average temperature gradient of the 
earth’s crust. 

According to the author the calculations of temperature in the earth’s 
crust made with equations derived by him check exceedingly well, on the 
whole, with the temperature measurements that have been made by van 
Orstrand, Hallock and others on the world’s deepest wells. He adds that, 
of course, care must be exercised in applying the formule to oil and 
artesian wells, unless the depth of the source of flow be accurately known, 
for, if the seepage is from a greater depth than the bottom of the well, the 
temperature of the discharge will be far higher than the computed quantity. 
On the other hand, if the well taps a fissure short of the bottom, the tempera- 
ture of discharge will be less than the computed value. Departures from 
the computed values may be attributed also to variations in the thermal 
conductivity of the rock. 


GEOTHERMAL DETERMINATIONS IN THE WELLS TeEspP IV IN Ka.usz (IN POLISH) 
By S. Zycu anp A. Tasor. 


Institut de Géophysique et de Météorologie de l’ Université de Lwow (Poland). 
Communications, vol. 3, no. 32, 1928, pp. 886-892. 


The authors give a table showing the temperatures at different depths 
according to observations made in wells Tesp IV in Kalusz. The figures, 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 283 


as compared with those obtained in the petroliferous region of Krosno, 
Boryslaw, and Bitkow, are of great interest. 

The mean geothermal degree in Kalusz is 31°5 m., a figure which is 
almost identical with that established by Daly for some other parts in 
Europe. 

In comparison with the temperatures in the wells Kornhaber II, in 
Boryslaw, an increase of from 2:6° at a depth of 200 m. to 56° at 1,000 m. 
has been observed. 

The authors established that, if compared with temperatures measured 
at Paruszowice, in Silesia, those at Kalusz are higher at depths greater 
than 770 m., while at smaller depths the difference is not significant. 
Prof. Arctowski explains this difference by isostasy. 


GEOTHERMAL GRADIENTS IN ALFOLD. 
By Joser V. SUMEGHY. 


Jahrbuch der Kéniglichen Ungarischen Geologischen Anstalt, vol. 28, no. 3, 
1929, pp. 276-370. 


In the brief preface of this work Sumeghy draws the attention of the 
readers to the fact that unfortunately not all of the territory of Alféld (the 
great Ungarian Plain) could be investigated. The geothermic gradients in 
the Croatian and Slavonian parts of Alféld, as well as in the Banat and 
Bacska, were not determined. ‘This is especially regrettable owing to the 
fact that these parts have the greatest number of deep wells, thus the data 
obtained there would be of great value. 

The work is divided into the following chapters : 


1. Calculation of the depth stages. 
2. Enumeration of the deep wells examined. 
3. Reasons for the differences of the geothermal gradients in Alféld. 
(a) The different heat conductivities of the rocks. 
(6) The effect of tectonic causes. 
(c) The effect of heat produced by the decomposition of organic 
substances. 
(d) The effect of the occurrence of gas. 
(e) The effect caused by the air. 
(f) The effect caused by radium emanations. 
(g) Other less important effects. 
(h) The influence of deep water. 
4. The geothermal depth zones of the Alféld. 
(a), The first geothermal depth zone. 
(b) The second geothermal depth zone. 
(c) The third geothermal depth zone. 
(d) The fourth geothermal depth zone. 
5. Relation of the geothermal gradients to the structure of the Alféld. 
(a) The normal geothermal gradient of the Alféld. 
(6) The higher and lower gradients. 
(c) The directions and breaking of lines which can be proved to be 
based on the lower gradients. 
(d) Transition zones. 


A tectonic map of the Alféld and a large number of diagrams and tables 
are given. A list of 151 titles of the literature used is added. 


284 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


DETERMINATION OF GEOTHERMAL GRADIENTS. 
By K. C. HEAatp. 
The Oil and Gas Journal, December 5, 1929, pp. 90, 91, 191, 192. 


This paper is a report of progress made in determining the relationship 
between variations in earth temperatures and oil-field structures. 

The research has been undertaken by the American Petroleum Institute 
in order to determine whether or not chemical reactions between petroleum 
and other substances really are the causes of abnormally high temperatures— 
a theory which has been popular with many European students. 

Different types of structures have been considered, such as the gentle 
folds of Oklahoma, the faulted monoclines of the Balcones fault zone of 
Texas, the compressed and crumpled strata of the California fields, as well 
as the extreme deformation that occurs around the salt domes of Texas and 
Louisiana. 

The work, which has been in progress since 1927, has been centralised 
in areas where results will be most significant to the petroleum industry. 


Oklahoma. 


Temperatures were measured in wells extending from about 18 miles 
east of the town of Okemah to Oklahoma City. A temperature of 100° F. 
has been observed in a hole less than 1,500 ft. deep near Okemah and at a 
depth of 4,100 ft. near Oklahoma. The author notes, although it may be 
- pure coincidence, that the rocks slope in the same direction as the 100° 
temperature line, at a rate only slightly more abrupt. Future work is 
necessary to establish or disprove this relation. 

Local structure —The work in Oklahoma offered an opportunity to learn 
whether local structures—anticlines and synclines—in gently folded rocks 
are reflected by the temperatures in those rocks or not. Heald is of the 
opinion that van Orstrand’s earlier work in Wyoming and particularly on 
the Salt Creek anticline has been substantiated by McCutchin’s work in 
Oklahoma, leaving no doubt that in steeply tilted beds such a reflection 
can be detected in many cases. 

Chemical action—The work in Oklahoma has not yet progressed far 
enough to justify any definite statements on the theory that temperatures 
higher than normal will be found above oil-fields because of heat released 
through chemical reactions involving oil. 

Water circulation The regional picture seems to. support the conception 
that waters deeply buried in a syncline would move up the dip and would 
result in making the temperatures in the ‘ up-dip’ areas somewhat higher 
at a given depth below the surface of the ground than are those in the 
syncline whence the waters came. 

Effects of unconformities——No particular study of unconformities has 
been made in Oklahoma, but conditions there are suitable for determining 
whether or not unconformities can be detected by temperature measure- 
ments. 

Effect of strong faulting —Whether the faulting activity may be detected 
by temperature measurements cannot be determined by the Oklahoma 
work, since conditions there are not particularly favourable. 


Texas. 
Stratigraphic conditions —Measurements now available almost, if not 
quite, justify the conclusion that the age of the sediments has nothing to do 
with the temperature conditions. 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 285 


Period of cooling —It would seem reasonable to believe that the tempera- 
ture of the rocks that had been exposed to cooling would be less than that 
of rocks that had never been exposed. No decisive opinion is yet justifiable. 

Problem of unconformities—This problem is mentioned by the author as 
being a complex one and requiring more study. « 

Relation of earth temperature to structure. — A regional picture con- 
structed to show about half the State indicates a belt of comparatively high 
temperature along the Balcones-Mexia-Luling fault in which the tempera- 
ture increases with depth at the rate of 1° F. for about 43 ft. In the central 
region that temperature increases 1° F. for each 50 to 60 ft. Farther west 
and north-west the average rate of increase is less than 1° F. for about 100 ft. 
The few data available for the great basin of west Texas show that the basin 
cannot be outlined merely by studying the temperature conditions in wells 
drilled in and near it. For example, in two wells about 25 miles apart, 
the temperature in one increased at the rate of 1° F. for every 84 ft., and in 
the other 1° F. for every 137 ft. 

Big Lake field——The structure of Big Lake field is clearly reflected by 
the temperature measurements. 

Salt domes studied—Four domes (three of them in the Gulf Coast 
region) were observed. The work has shown that, in so far as this type of 
structure is concerned, the presence or absence of oil has no determinable 
effect. General outlines of salt domes can, of course, be located by measure- 
ments in very shallow drill holes. 

Concentration of heat—In neither area has the work been done in 
sufficient detail to justify conclusions as to the probable conditions re- 
sponsible for temperature variations. 

Regional metamorphism.—The idea that the amount of pressure to which 
a region has been subjected should be reflected in the temperature is not 
supported by the work in Texas. 


California. 


Geologic conditions —The rocks involved in the California measurements 
represent a very short period of geologic time. In comparing the results 
of the California work with those obtained in the other States, the author 
expresses his preliminary impression that time is not a factor having an 
important influence on temperature variations in the earth. 

Plan of work.—The Santa Fé Springs field was chosen for exploration, 
and more than thirty wells have been measured in that field. ‘The data 
secured in California must be considered dependable, as some of the 
measurements have been repeated ; they were also retested by C. E. van 
Orstrand, who used different instruments from those employed by A. J. 
Carlson. 

Results—A report giving details of the work has been prepared by A. J. 
Carlson and is in process of publication by the American Petroleum 
Institute. 

Relation of temperature to petroleam—The work in California has so 
far contributed nothing to help to decide whether or not petroleum itself 
is directly or indirectly responsible for abnormal earth temperatures. 

Relation of temperature to circulating waters—Although some of the 
fields of the San Joaquin Valley have been studied in detail so that it is 
possible to outline with reasonable accuracy areas in which certain sands 
contain waters that are moving downward from the outcrop and other 
areas where the waters are either standing still or are moving up towards 
the outcrop, no temperature work has been done in these areas as yet. 


286 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


NOTE CONCERNING THE TAKING OF MEASUREMENTS OF 'TEMPERATURE 
IN BOREHOLES. 


By I. ATANASIU. 


Annales des mines de Roumanie, nos. 7-12, July-December, 1928, 
Ppp. 219-225. 

The purpose of the present article is to discuss the conditions under 
which the temperature measurements can be used as a means of determining 
occlusions produced by cementation. 

The author divides the article into the following sections : 


1. General considerations on the variation of the temperature in the 
ground. 
2. What can be obtained by taking the measurements of temperature in 
the boreholes. 
3. Conditions which the thermometers must satisfy. 
4. Proposals for applying the measurements of temperature in bore- 
holes. 
In section one, Atanasiu gives a formula according to which a geothermic 
degree—that is, the number of metres to which the thermometer must be 
lowered in order to reach an increase of temperature of 1 degree—can be 


calculated: Gr = Here Gr is the geothermic degree, h the depth at 


t — to 
which the temperature is measured, ¢ the temperature obtained, and fo the 
mean annual temperature of the ground. 
In section two the author gives a table of measurements taken at different 
depths, which are given in metres in the table : - 


Depth of Geothermic 


Oil Fields B Temperature Remarks 
orehole degree 
1. Filipesti . ; 886 Byn4an 32°6m. Without oil 
2. Campina . : 831 37°4° 30:5 m. In boring 
3. Moinesti . 3 goo 33°79" 36:4m. Gas, water 
4. Luncacesti-Zames 480 2 Tae 38:4m. Surface water 


If the occlusion is not good the water coming from above, which is colder, 
will lower the temperature, and the geothermic degree calculated will 
accordingly be higher than the normal one for the region. 

This is plainly shown in the table in the case of Luncacesti-Zames. 

Temperature measurements may be useful for the determination of the 
origin of water appearing in the boreholes. For example, if the occlusion 
is no longer perfect, it is often difficult to be sure whether the water is 
originally in the deposit itself or comes from above. 

By introducing a thermometer the source of the water can be established 
with certainty, for the temperature will remain constant or be higher in the 
first case and will drop in the second case. 

Section three deals with the construction and protection of thermometers 
for use in measurements at great depths. ‘The author proposes to manu- 
facture the following types : 

Type I. Witha scale of from 10° to 30° for depths up to 500 m. 
Type II. With a scale of from 25° to 45° for depths from 500 to 1,000 m. 
Type III. With a scale of from 40° to 60° for depths from 1,000 to 1,500m. 

In the last section Atanasiu proposes that temperature measurements be 
made obligatory ; if taken as often as possible they will furnish valuable 
material which may serve for generation orientation. 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 287 


DETERMINATION OF GEOTHERMAL GRADIENTS IN OIL STRUCTURES. 


By THE AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE. 
Oil and Gas Fournal, November 14, 1929, pp. 105-106. 


This paper is a report of the research division of the American Petroleum 
Institute on the progress toward determining geothermal gradients in oil- 
fields. 

The report concerns the Oklahoma, Texas, Santa Fé, and Long Beach 
fields. 

Oklahoma.—One of the most outstanding facts in connection with earth 
temperatures in Oklahoma is the apparent agreement of the dip of the 
isothermal surfaces and the formations. 

The reciprocal gradients vary widely from area to area, but show small 
variations within the same area. ‘The lowest gradient found was 1° F. in 
149 ft. (Healdton) ; the highest, 1° F. in 363 ft. (Glenn Pool). 

Data collected in two fields, Haverhill, Kansas, and Glenn Pool, Okla., 
indicate that the temperatures are higher at corresponding depths in wells 
located in the producing area than in wells located outside the producing 
area. 

Texas.—Temperature measurements were obtained from wells in all 
parts of the State. A complete report on the results of the work has been 
submitted to the American Petroleum Institute. The relationship between 
the normal rate of increase of temperature and the structure is especially 
noteworthy in salt domes and in anticlinal structures carrying much under- 
ground water. 

Temperature measurements obtained in salt domes were especially 
interesting. The following results were obtained in the Humble Salt 
Dome, Harris County : 


1. At equal depths temperatures are higher on the top of the dome than 
on the flanks. 

2. Rate of increase in the temperature with depth is relatively greater on 
top of the dome than on the flank. 

3. The difference in temperature at the same depth and the greater 
temperature gradient on top of the dome are found not only near the 
salt, but also above the salt (at depths of 100 and 250 ft.). 

4. Drill holes on top of the salt domes have approximately the same 
temperatures at equal depths. 


Santa Fé Springs field—Fourteen wells were measured, bringing the 
total number tested to thirty-three. The following conclusions were drawn 
from the computed data : 


I. ra im temperature relations are irregular as compared with other 
elds. 

2. Shallow temperatures vary within rather wide limits. "Temperatures 
at a depth of 100 ft. range from 65-9 to 74:9° F. 

3. The elevations at which a temperature of 100° F. occurs define an 
irregular isothermal surface. 

4. Reciprocal gradients computed over the depth interval 100 to 2,000 ft., 
vary from 47-5 to 56-6 ft. per degree. 

5. Reciprocal gradients recomputed over the same depth interval after 


eliminating certain abnormal temperatures, show a less pronounced 
irregularity. 


288 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


6. The lack of a satisfactory relation between geothermal conditions and 
structure in this field may be attributed to the following three factors : 


(a) The variation of the gradients within the narrow limits of only 
a few feet per degree of temperature ; 

(5) The unusual conditions of development and production in- 
volving the very close spacing of wells and the flow of large 
quantities of gas and oil under high pressure ; and 

(c) Natural conditions of ground-water circulation causing the 
establishment of abnormal shallow temperatures. 


Long Beach field——Nineteen wells were measured in this field, making 
a total of forty-three completed. ‘The total variation of depth to a 100° 
isothermal surface is about 200 ft. and of reciprocal gradients about 8 ft. 
per degree. ‘The mean isothermal depth is 1,534 ft. and the mean reciprocal 
gradient about 53 ft. per degree Fahrenheit. 


‘TEMPERATURE GRADIENT IN THE PECHELBRONN OIL-BEARING REGION, LOWER 
ALSACE: ITS DETERMINATION AND RELATION TO OIL RESERVES. 


By I. O. Haas anp C. R. HorrMann. 


Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, vol. 13, no. 10, 
October, 1929, pp. 1257-1275. 


The authors summarise their experience in making temperature measure- 
ments in oil wells and consider whether it is possible to ascertain the 
existence of petroleum on the basis of a smaller or a larger temperature 
gradient. 

The article is divided into the following paragraphs : 


. Description and discussion of thermometers used. 

. Possible sources of error in temperature measurements. 

. Carrying out of temperature measurements. 

. Calculation of temperature gradient. 

. Criticism of results obtained. 

. Application of results obtained. 

. Attempt at an explanation of temperature variations. In the abstract 
of the article given by the authors they say : 


SAN BPW NH 


‘Numerous temperature measurements have been made during the 
last 10 years in the Pechelbronn oil-bearing region, to aid in the search for 
petroleum deposits. 

“However, the results of the study of approximately 500 measurements 
clearly show that the isogeotherms are influenced primarily by the 
tectonic structure of the Rhine Valley graben. They show a nearly 
regular rise from the edges to the central part of the graben; also not 
uncommonly they approach one another. Such increase of temperature is 
especially marked in the fault zones. 

“Seemingly the isotherms are not influenced by larger or smaller oil 
accumulations ; therefore, the presence of oil cannot be looked upon as 
the cause of the relatively elevated temperature. 

‘It is perhaps possible to explain the rise of temperature toward the 
central part of the graben by a gradual change in the nature of the deposits. 
Coarse-grained sandy beds of the graben edges are gradually replaced 
toward the centre by increasingly finer sands, and finally by finely 
laminated marls. It is possible that these finest deposits act as a sort of 


THERMAL CONDUCTIVITIES OF ROCKS 289 


protective cover against the loss of heat. This suggestion would also 
explain the increase of temperature and the accumulation of heat along 
the faults as it is possible to suppose a stronger increase of temperature 
in the direction of the dislocation in the strata. This suggestion is 
strengthened by the fact that the especially high horsts are characterized 
by temperature maxima on the isothermal map.’ 


A map of the Northern Pechelbronn oil-fields showing the temperature 
curves at a depth of 400 m. and their relation to productive oil zones, as 
well as three cross sections of the oil-fields showing underground tempera- 
ture curves, are given. 

A list of publications on temperature measurements is attached. 


THE TEMPERATURE OF DEEP WATERS IN THE REGION OF Paris. 


By P. LEMOINE AND R. NASSANS. 


Bulletin du muséum national d’histoire naturelle, series 2, vol. 1, no. 4, May 
1929, pp. 264-280. 


In this article the authors sum up a series of data obtained on thermo- 
metric measurements of deep waters in wells bored in the region of Paris. 
They consider these data to be of interest, notwithstanding the lack of 
certainty that the temperatures taken are sufficiently accurate. 

After a brief description of the process by which the geothermic degree 
(Dg) should be calculated and the influence of the possible errors on its 
value established, the authors give some data concerning the variations of the 
geothermic degree in different places, as determined by the following 
scientists : 

Gensanne, who made experiments in 1740 near Belfort, found, according 
to Becquerel : 


At a depth of 1o1 m. : i bi Sm 
% 206 m. : ; . 13°1° Dg. (101-206) = 17°5 m. 
ig 308 m. : ‘ . 19° Dg. (206-308) = 17:6 m. 
“ 433 m. . . - 22°7° Dg. (308-433) = 33°8 m. 


De Saussure (1785), who took measurements in Switzerland in wells 
bored in searching for rock salt, obtained these measurements : 


At a depth of 108 m. : : : ‘ EA AG 
Os 183 m. : : : ; 536" 
3 220 m. : : : ‘ sy es 


Corder calculated the geothermic degrees (Dg) given for the following 
places :. 


Cormeaux . ; ; : : , = Dos — cnn. 
Littry ; : 2 ; , : = De arorm. 
Decize ; é : : : ‘ 2 Dg— a5) mm. 


By comparing a series of data taken in the wells in Paris and its vicinity, 
the authors found the mean value of the geothermic degree for the basin 
of Paris to be 34 m. 

Great anomalies were observed in Pressagny-l’Orgueilleux. The tem- 
peratures of waters at a depth of 70 m. were found to be 17°, although 
their normal temperature should be about 13°. 

_ The authors note especially that, by assuming one geothermic degree to 
be equal to 34 m., the waters of a temperature of 17° should be at a depth of 
L2 


290 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


about 204 m., but none of the wells situated in the region to the north-west 
of Pressagny was so deep as that. 

Whether this anomaly can be explained by the quick rising of deep waters 
flowing from the region of Paris to Pressagny remains unsolved, and the 
conclusion of the authors that the waters in Pressagny are supplied from 
south and east seems to be the most probable one. 

Anomalies observed in several other wells were less important. 

In several places waters of a temperature lower than the normal one have 
been observed. The authors, who called these waters ‘ hypothermal ’ 
waters, could not find any explanation for this hypothermality. 

A long list of authors giving data for the temperature at different places 
is added to the article. 


INTERNAL HEAT OF EARTH IS STUDIED TO ASCERTAIN FACTS ON WHICH TO 
BASE GEOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES. 


By C. E. vAN OrSTRAND, Geophysicist, Geological Survey. 
The United States Daily, Washington, D.C., February 15, 1929. 


The question of the internal heat of the earth has been studied almost 
from the time of the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1879. 
In 1920 a report on geothermal data, based generally on the observations 
made by placing a thermometer in the water flowing from the mouth of a 
well, was published by N. H. Darton. In this report it was noted that in 
certain areas in eastern South Dakota the rates at which the temperatures 
increase from the surface downward vary somewhat uniformly from about 
1° F. in 20 ft. to approximately 1° F. in 45 ft. But this method of making 
temperature tests has proved to be unsatisfactory ; therefore the author of this 
article undertook the task of designing and constructing the apparatus 
necessary for more accurate measurements. ‘Two different types were 
developed, one of which was based on the electric resistance thermometer, 
and the other on the mercury thermometer of the maximum type. It has 
been necessary to abandon the electric method for the present, owing to the 
fact that the cable that will meet the requirement of withstanding the 
dissolving action of oil and salt water must be of relatively large diameter, 
possibly one-half or three-fourths of an inch; it becomes of such weight 
and proportions that it cannot be manipulated in a deep well without the 
aid of powerful machinery. 

The machine which is being used to- day for lowering mercury thermo- 
meters into a well by means of a piano wire consists of a steel frame and 
reel, a standardised wheel for accurately measuring depths, and a cylindrical 
cam which distributes the wire on the reel and thus prevents the trans- 
mission of impacts to the thermometers as a result of the slipping of the 
coils of wire on the reel. No power, other than hand-power, is needed. 
It is a remarkable fact that a machine weighing 58 pounds, exclusive of the 
piano wire, which weighs 2:7 pounds per 1,000 ft., can be used to sound 
wells to depths of more than 4,500 ft. 

Concerning the question of the value of temperature tests scientists are 
not yet able to give a definite answer. 

It has been assumed ordinarily that during the millions of years of the 
earth’s existence its outer layers have gradually cooled to depths of about 
200 miles. In contrast to this hypothesis is the comparatively recent 
supposition that practically all of the heat of the earth is due to the dis- 
integration of radium. There are at present wide differences of opinion 


TEACHING GEOLOGY IN SCHOOLS 291 


with regard to the causes of the irregular distributions of heat in the outer 
layers of the earth’s crust. Thus, it has long been known that the tempera- 
tures at the same depths in different localities are not the same. For example, 
at Fairmont, West Va., a temperature of 170° F. was found at a depth of 
7,500 ft.; while at Longmont, Colo., a temperature of 212° F. exists at a 
depth of only 6,600 ft. In general the rates at which the temperatures 
increase with the depth vary from the extremely rapid rate of 1° F. in 
20 ft. (the value found in some of the oil-fields in Wyoming) to 1° F. in 
200 ft. (gold mines at Johannesburg, South Africa). No serious attempts 
had been made to explain these variations in the temperature of the rocks 
at the same depths until the U.S. Geological Survey found in some oil- 
fields in Wyoming and California that the temperatures of the rocks at 
given depths were higher than the temperatures found at the same depths 
in the rocks immediately surrounding the fields. 

The peculiar distribution of heat existing in these oil domes is attributed 
to the radioactivity, or possibly to the chemical reactions within the oil 
itself. Other investigators sought the explanation in deep-seated intrusive 
masses, conduction of heat in the rocks, and the migration of waters in 
deeply buried sands. It is impossible at present to render a final decision 
as to the merits of all these hypotheses. 

Most intensive investigations are conducted to-day in the United States, 
as a result of co-operation of various organisations, and the author believes 
that a precise geothermal survey will ultimately provide the facts on which 
certain fundamental principles of geology may be established. 


TEACHING OF GEOLOGY IN SCHOOLS. 


Report of the Committee appointed to consider and report on questions 
affecting the teaching of geology in schools (Prof. W. W. Watts, F.R.S., 
Chairman; Prof. A. E. TRueMaN, Secretary; Prof. P.G. H. Boswe tt, 
O.B.E., F.R.S., Mr. C. P. CuHatwin, Prof. A. H. Cox, Miss E. Dix, 
Prof. G. Hickiine, F.R.S., Prof. W. J. Pucu, Mr. J. A. STEERs, 
Dr. A. K. WELLs). 


ALTHOUGH geology as a school science subject has never been taught so 
widely as some other sciences, for instance botany or chemistry, its position 
in the educational system has recently become far worse than in the past. 
Whether geology be looked upon as an essential part of a liberal education 
or as part of the training of those who will be concerned with education or 
research, the present outlook can only be regarded with grave disquiet. 

Systematic inquiries made by the Committee reveal the following facts : 

There are scarcely twenty secondary schools in England and Wales 
where geology is taught, even to small numbers of pupils, as a full science 
subject. 

At a few elementary schools a certain amount is taught, but chiefly where 
inspired by personal interest or where special facilities and encouragement 
are afforded by a museum in the locality. 

In only a very small proportion of training colleges is the subject included . 
in the curriculum for the Teacher’s Certificate, and thus very few teachers 
receive any training in it. 

When contrasted with the great expansion of science teaching generally, 
this neglect becomes more disturbing to the geologist than it would have 


292 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. } 


been a generation ago. There is now real danger that, apart from those 
preparing for careers as miners or engineers, there may be very few students 
in geology at most Universities within the next generation. ‘The reaction 
of this upon the progress of the science in this country, upon thought, 
research, and teaching must be disastrous, for it is essential that a science 
with such wide applications should be kept in growth and vigour by the 
maintenance of advanced studies and by the recruitment of its exponents 
over as broad a basis as possible. 


CLatms OF GEOLOGY AS A SCHOOL SUBJECT. 


For any educated person some acquaintance with the outlines of geology 
is essential, for some of the most profound changes in thought have resulted 
from the growth of geological knowledge. This is especially true in relation 
to the history of life on the earth. While, however, the implications con- 
cerning the age of the earth and the antiquity of man are appreciated by the 
scientific world and by educated laymen, it is probably true to say that the 
historical background of most people does not extend beyond a few thousand 
years. Yet the material bases of this knowledge—the land on which people 
live, the varied scenery which surrounds them, the distribution of soils and 
of water supplies which control so many of their activities—are matters of 
daily moment. The distribution of mineral wealth, with its repercussions 
on the history of mankind and its influence in international affairs, is of 
fundamental importance in many studies. Such topics, therefore, as the 
broad outlines of the history and evolution of the earth and of life upon it 
ought not to be excluded from a general education. 

Geology has an appeal to which many students, even quite young ones, 
readily respond, and an interest then roused and stimulated almost invari- 
ably outlasts school-days. It gives a definite practical outlet, takes them 
out of doors, and provides a pursuit which can be followed in school journeys, 
in the leisure time of holidays, and through the opportunities afforded by 
travel. ‘The field of investigation is almost unlimited, and for this reason 
progress in certain directions must still be closely related to the activity of 
amateur workers. ‘There is probably no science where the amateur, and 
even the beginner, have such opportunities for making valuable observations, 
and in the past the science has been much advanced by them. 

There are few parts of Britain which do not afford notable and varied 
examples of geological phenomena; indeed, many rural areas may be 
described as natural geological laboratories. It is deplorable that so many 
scholars learn little of these surroundings. Geology has also the advantage 
that its materials and equipment are inexpensive, and effective teaching can 
probably be carried out with less cost than in any other science. 

Geology has contacts with every other science, and its study may be 
advantageously linked with courses in chemistry, biology and geography. 
It might well be used as a starting-point in the study of science generally. 

It is widely recognised that in some sciences taught in schools, parti- 
cularly in those with very extensive subject matter, the teaching has become 
narrowly specialised and even dogmatic ; there is a danger that a pupil at 
the end of his science training may have acquired a great body of information 
but may have had little chance to develop the scientific outlook which is 
more likely to make him a useful member of the community. Geology 
probably affords the best chance of encouraging that outlook in pupils even 
if they do not carry the study of science to a higher stage. 

It has been argued that geology, not being a ‘ fundamental ’ science like 
physics and chemistry, is unsuitable for work at the school stage. This 


TEACHING GEOLOGY IN SCHOOLS 293 


view, however, loses sight of two important factors. Geology is a typical 
‘ observational ’ science and is much the most easily applied of such sciences. 
Almost every locality affords facilities for quickening the observing faculties 
by the collection of significant facts and the drawing of definite conclusions 
from them. Further, an intelligent interest in the nature of the crust of 
the earth, its phenomena and their causes, generally comes early, and unless 
this curiosity can be satisfied it tends to be lost or crowded out by other 
interests. It is important also that students, while still young, should have 
an opportunity of realising the existence of sciences other than the so-called 
fundamental ones, of weighing their attractions, and of considering the 
possibility of devoting themselves to one or other of them. If attracted to 
such an extent they will readily and even eagerly face the necessary pre- 
liminary work on such subjects as physics, chemistry, biology or others 
required for the proper pursuit of their own work. 

While, on the grounds stated, it may reasonably be urged that geology 
should form an essential part of any scheme of liberal education, its special- 
ised study at a later stage provides openings for a limited number who 
desire to make it their profession, as surveyors and prospectors in Britain, 
in the Empire and in foreign countries. In addition, owing to its numerous 
practical applications in mining and quarrying, in engineering and in 
problems of water and oil-supply, etc., some knowledge of geology is of 
considerable value to boys taking up many different types of career. 


RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE. 
General. 


The Committee are strongly of the opinion that geology should occupy 
a more prominent place in science teaching in schools. They believe that 
this would be in the interests of scientific education. ‘They also consider 
that it is a necessary step if geological study and research in this country are 
to retain the position which they have already gained and to which they are 
entitled. 


Elementary Schools. 


The Committee consider that simple geology should be included with 
other sciences in the curricula of elementary schools of all types, and 
hold that no course in general science is complete without it. They 
regard it as no more difficult to introduce than chemistry or physics, and 
consider that it is specially suitable for introduction in senior schools in 
many areas. For this reason and to provide competent teachers they would 
welcome its inclusion in the courses at training colleges. 


Secondary Schools. 


In secondary schools the position of geology may be considered (a) as 
regards courses leading up to the First School Certificate examination, and 
(b) as regards courses leading to higher examinations. 

(a) First Certificate Stage—In the schedules of some of the authorities 
examining for School Certificate, geology appears as a full science subject 
and is taken with conspicuous success at a number of schools. While the 
Committee view this course with approval, they recognise that an over- 
crowded time-table or other impediments may make it difficult for many 
schools to introduce full courses of geology before the School Certificate 
stage. As an alternative they are anxious to see some geology included as 
part of a general elementary science syllabus in the First School Certificate 
course. 


294 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


A course in general science at the School Certificate level, recommended 
by the investigators appointed by the Secondary Schools Examination 
Council, has been instituted by several bodies and is under consideration 
by others. In some cases the scheme involves three sciences—physics, 
chemistry and biology ; in others only two of these. Some of the schemes 
already approved give geology a place. The Committee agree that the 
syllabus in general science should not be divided into compartments corre- 
sponding with the component sciences, but they strongly support the view 
that it should cover a unified scheme in which physics, chemistry, biology 
and geology should figure. They recognise the difficulties of designing 
any suitable course in such a subject as general science, and they appreciate 
that for some time the syllabuses must be of an experimental character. 
They believe, however, that the inclusion of some geology in such experi- 
mental syllabuses would be of much service, as it would be very helpful in 
building up a synthesis of the other sciences. 

(6) Higher School Certificate and other Higher Courses—The Committee 
are strongly of the opinion that the introduction of more formal geological 
teaching after the First School Certificate stage is a matter of still greater 
urgency. This is particularly true in the case of students who may expect 
to proceed to the University. For while the First School Certificate or its 
equivalent was formerly the basis of matriculation for the great majority 
of University entrants, most students now stay at school for two further 
years, covering work which was formerly done in the Intermediate or First 
Year course at the University. Their choice of subjects is thus made at 
school, generally from a more limited range than is available at the Univer- 
sity ; owing to the high standard to which these subjects are carried, students 
usually find it impracticable to take up any subject with which they have 

not already made acquaintance. ‘Thus the fact that geology is rarely taught 
' at this stage in schools practically excludes it from the range of subjects 
from which choice can be made on entering the University. If this higher 
work is to be done at school, the Committee feel that it is the duty of the 
schools to provide their pupils with a selection of subjects comparable to 
that which is available to them at the University. 

If, as is suggested in some quarters, the scope of the Higher Certificate 
examination is made wider, and courses in four subjects are required, these 
considerations will apply with even greater force. Similarly, if the qualifica- 
tions for University matriculation are raised and a special examination 
of a higher standard than that of the First School Certificate is introduced, 
it is very desirable that geology should be made available as an optional 
subject, both by the schools and the examining bodies. 


Supply of Teachers. 

While it is no doubt true that any great immediate increase in the teaching 
of geology would be to some extent limited by the lack of suitable teachers, 
it is not likely that the position would be worse than was the case when other 
sciences were first introduced ; many teachers with geological training are 
at present teaching geography or other sciences. 


Relation of Geology to Geography. 

While the teaching of geology as such has diminished, the Committee 
recognises that its physical side in many cases has been well taught in the 
geography classes. ‘They regret, however, that the growth of geographical 
studies has not led to some corresponding growth in geological teaching. 
It is true, of course, that many of the most successful teachers of geography 
have received a training in geology, but the Committee understand that 


GLACIAL DEPOSITS OF BRUNDON 295 


many teachers of geography are now being trained without an adequate 
knowledge of geology. The Committee greatly regret that the close rela- 
tionship between these two subjects is not more generally acknowledged. 

As regards school courses in geography, the Committee recommend that 
the physical side of geography should be well taught in the First School 
Certificate classes ; the correlation of this teaching with the geological part 
of a general science course should be of great value. In the Higher School 
Certificate also, geography should normally be linked with some work in 
geology. 


In conclusion the Committee wish gratefully to acknowledge the assistance 
which they have received in the preparation of this report. In reply to 
inquiries, a considerable amount of information has been supplied by a 
number of schoolmasters, inspectors, education officers, museum curators 
and others. 


GLACIAL DEPOSITS OF BRUNDON. 


Report of Committee appointed to investigate the bone-bed in the glacial deposits 
of Brundon, near Sudbury, Suffolk (Prof. P. G. H. Boswe i, O.B.E., 
F.R.S., Chairman; Mr. Guy Maynarp, Secretary; Mr. D. F. W. 
BapDEN-PowELL, Mr. J. P. T. BuRCHELL, Prof. W. B. R. Kine, O.B.E., 
Mr. J. Remp Morr, Mr. K. P. Oakey, Dr. J. D. SoLomon, Sir A. 
SmitH Woopwarb, F.R.S.). 


EXAMINATION of the bone-bearing level in the gravels at Brundon Pit, 
Sudbury, Suffolk, on the south side of the Stour Valley, has been carried 
out under the supervision of Mr. J. Reid Moir during the past eight months, 
by permission of Mr. P. H. Jordan, who is conducting commercial excava- 
“tions for gravel on the site. A considerable number of bones and teeth 
of the larger Pleistocene Mammalia, as well as flint implements closely 
associated with them, have been recovered. On May 24, 1936, a visit 
was paid to the pit by some members of the Committee, there being present 
Profs. P. G. H. Boswell and W. B. R. King, and Messrs. K. P. Oakley, 
J. Reid Moir, D. F. W. Baden-Powell and G. Maynard. The grant made 
from the Bernard Hobson Fund in October 1935 has been expended in 
the employment of a specially instructed workman in clearance of the level 
at which the bones are found and in transport expenses necessary for the 
inspection of the work, and it was unanimously agreed, in view of the im- 
portant character of the site and the finds made, to ask for reappointment 
and a further grant of £30 to enable the work to be continued. Mr.J.P.T. 
Burchell was co-opted as a member of the Committee. 


296 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


REPTILE-BEARING OOLITE, STOW. 


Report of Committee appointed to investigate the reptile-bearing Oélite near 
Stow on the Wold, subject to the condition that suitable arrangements, 
be made for the disposal of the material (Sir A. SmirH Woopwarp, 
F.R.S., Chairman; Mr. C. I. Saeed Secretary ; Prof. S. H. 
REYNOLDS, Dr. W. E. Swinton). 


REPTILIAN bones, first observed by the secretary in 1935, are found in two 
quarries in the Chipping Norton Limestone (Inferior Odlite, fusca and 
zigzag hemerz) near Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire. 

The bones occur in a hard, cream-coloured limestone which is worked 
for road metal. Fossils other than reptilian remains are not common, but 
among those from the New Park quarry was Parkinsonia Neuffensis (Oppel), 
kindly determined by Mr. J. W. Tutcher. 

The two quarries are the New Park quarry, about 24 miles north-west of 
Stow on the Wold, and the Little Rollright quarry, which lies about a 
mile west-north-west of Little Compton. 

From the Little Rollright quarry a Theropod Dinosaur is represented by 
an ilium, a pubis, a sacrum, a coracoid, a tooth and a metatarsal. This is 
probably a Megalosaurus. 

From the New Park quarry the bones obtained are more varied and 
interesting. They include remains of : 

Steneosaurus.—Two examples of the posterior part of the cranium; an 
upper jaw and the adjacent parts of the cranium ; a small portion of the 
upper jaw with well-preserved teeth ; several fragments of the lower jaw ; 
six vertebrz and a large scute. 

Cetiosaurus ?—A well-preserved rib, considerably larger than the mid- 
dorsal ribs of the big Megalosaurus in the Oxford museum, is probably 
that of a Sauropod dinosaur (? Cetiosaurus). Several large fragmentary 
bones may also be those of Sauropods. 

Stegosaurus—The most interesting finds were two dorsal plates of 
Stegosaurus. ‘These specimens were most skilfully extracted from the 
hard limestone by the preparators in the British Museum (Natural History), 
Messrs. Barlow and Parsons. ‘The committee is much indebted to them. 
It also wishes to thank the Keeper of the Geological Department for per- 
mitting this work to be done at the Museum. Other specimens remain to 
be worked out. 

The collection is being studied by Prof. S. H. Reynolds, who proposes to 
publish a description of the more important discoveries. It will then be 
divided between the British Museum (Natural History) and the Stroud 
Museum. The whole of the grant of £20 has been expended on the collection 
and preparation of the fossils. 


CLIMATIC CHANGE—ZOOLOGICAL RECORD 297 


CLIMATIC CHANGE. 


Report of Committee appointed to make recommendations to the International 
Geological Congress for the formation of a Committee to consider 
geological evidence of climatic change (Dr. W. B. WricHT, Chairman ; 
Mr. M. B. Cotswortu, Secretary; Prof. E. B. Battey, F.R.S., 
Prof. W. N. Benson, Prof. J. K. CHaRLEswortH, Sir Lewis L. 
Fermor, F.R.S., Dr. G. W. GrasBHam, Dr. E. M. Kinpoiez, Dr. 
Murray Macecrecor, Dr. A. Ratstrick, Dr. S. W. WooLpRIDGE). 


(DRAWN UP BY THE CHAIRMAN.) 


Tue Committee appointed in 1934 has, largely through the energy of its 
Secretary, assembled from the British Dominions a series of articles on the 
evidences of climatic change, which it now presents with this report. 
These contributions, and a consideration of such portions of a widespread 
literature as it has been possible to consult, suggest that much good might 
result from an international symposium on the subject. ‘There has been no 
attempt at such a symposium since the meeting of the International Geo- 
logical Congress in Stockholm in 1910. Your Committee are of opinion 
that the volume (Die Verdnderungen, &c.), published at that meeting has 
been a great stimulus to research, and consider that the coming meeting 
at Moscow in 1937 is a peculiarly opportune occasion for repeating the 
effort, since we may hope for the presence there of many of the Russian 
workers on the subject. More especially we hope that many of those by 
whose efforts the science of soil geology has so effectively been given a 
climatic basis, may have something quite original to contribute. 

At the same time the Committee consider that the contributions assembled 
by their secretary contain many original and valuable observations, besides 
indicating the trend of thought in various parts of the world. It would 
like to see at least some of these published, but this might well be done 
through the agency of the International Geological Congress. 


ZOOLOGICAL RECORD. 


Report of Committee appointed to co-operate with other Sections interested 
and with the Zoological Society, for the purpose of obtaining support 
for the ‘ Zoological Record’ (Sir StpNey Harmer, K.B.E., F.R.S., 
Chairman; Dr. W. T. Caiman, C.B., F.R.S., Secretary; Prof. 
E. S. Goopricu, F.R.S., Prof. D. M. S. Watson, F.R.S.). 


Tue grant of £50 was paid over to the Zoological Society on May 3, 1936, 
as a contribution towards the cost of preparing and publishing Volume LXXI 
of the Zoological Record for 1934. ‘The statement of the ‘ Record Fund’ 
in the report of the Council of the Zoological Society for 1935 shows that 
the balance was practically the same as at the end of the previous year, the 
sums received from the contributing societies being just sufficient to meet 
the loss on Vol. LXXI. It is clear that the continuation of the Zoological 
Record is only made possible by the support given to it by the Zoological 
and other contributing Societies. The Committee accordingly asks for 
reappointment, with the renewal of the grant of £50. 


298 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


ARTEMIA SALINA. 


Report of the Committee appointed to investigate the progressive adaptation 
to new conditions in Artemia salina (Diploid and Octoploid, Partheno- 
genetic v. Bisexual) (Prof. R. A. FisHer, F.R.S., Chairman; Dr. K. 
Martue_r, Secretary; Dr. J. Gray, F.R.S., Dr. F. Gross, Dr. E. S. 
RussELL, O.B.E., Prof. D. M.S. Watson, F.R.S.). 


OwING to the appointment of Dr. F. Gross elsewhere the work has been 
carried on at the Galton Laboratory by Miss S. B. North under the super- 
vision of Dr. K. Mather. 

The work of last year showed, among other things, that different parallel 
families within strains had different powers of resistance to sodium arsenite 
poisoning. Consequently it was considered advisable to concentrate atten- 
tion on families within one strain. The strain chosen was the diploid 
bisexual form from the Western U.S.A., most of the material coming, in 
fact, from California. Various substrains were explored and some interesting 
differences were found, as will be shown below. 

The technique of testing the resistance of the young nauplii has been 
improved. Previously it was the practice to test the whole of each brood 
in one concentration of arsenite solution. It was, however, found that 
different broods of the same parents often had different powers of resistance. 
The revised testing technique was designed to overcome this difficulty. 
Fifteen solutions of arsenite were made in such a way that their strengths 
went up in geometrical progression, with the eighth just twice as strong as 
the first, and the fifteenth twice as strong as the eighth. These were 
lettered A to O, A being the weakest at a strength of N /40 and O the 
strongest at N/r1o. 

Each brood is subdivided into six or eight groups, the groups being 
subjected to the range of testing solutions considered appropriate for 
them. All the broods of each set of parents are dealt with in this way 
and the average of their behaviour over the range of solutions employed 
is taken as a measure of their resistance. ‘This method clearly reduces 
the inter-brood differences. 

In other respects the method of testing the nauplii was the same as 
before. 

The technical difficulties of failure of breeding, or the production of 
eggs in the place of nauplii, by some of the pairs, were again encountered 
to a rather severe extent, in spite of precautions. Hence the testing has 
not taken place as regularly or extensively as was hoped. 

Of the lines tested C2 has shown itself to have a much higher resistance 
than any other. In test solution N it showed practically complete survival 
and in test solution O, the strongest, the death rate was only 50 per cent. 
Stronger concentrations of arsenite are readily available in strengths fitting 
the chosen series by a slight modification of the testing technique, and so 
it will be easy to test this line in higher concentrations. The line C1 
had an extremely low 50 per cent. survival level (D—E) but the remaining 
three lines all showed this point in the region covered by test solutions F—H. 

The lines C4 and C5 have been selected for one and two generations 
respectively, and, as the Table shows, in C4 the resistance has not increased 
to a noticeable extent. ‘There is, however, a suggestion of increased 
resistance following selection in Cs, but the data are at present scanty, 
particularly for the second selected generation. ‘The apparent effects of 
selection are smaller than last year’s. 


eee 


ARTEMIA SALINA 


299 


Now that the method of testing has been stabilised it is proposed that 
selection for increased resistance to sodium arsenite should be carried out 
in four lines, including the extremes C1 and C2. 

The Committee asks to be reappointed with a grant of £20. 


Ci 

Solution. unselected. 
ai) — 
By BSF 
She gS 3s 
Poh (et By week 
Cc 7 4H 37 
D 7 aie e! 
E 15 ee ee 
F 21 5 24 
G 35 TEOMA 
Blah se.) 35 3 9 
I 28 2 7 
J 28 3 II 
K 20 I 5 
L 9 ° ° 
M cate ald a 
N a = a, 
Orsi: — — — 

Tested 205 
4 

Solution. unselected. 
#2 ge ss 
20 OEE See 
Cc 8 8 100 
D 30 27 go 
E 35 30 86 
F 35 23 66 
G age a4. 69 
H 35 rae? “49 
I 35 1a: 
J Ey 4 24 
K pati gibt et 
ia gi ae ran 
M sae fat we 
N Ds faba) that 
O pris ea a 


TABLE 
C2 
unselected. 
Bein Bane 
g2 HS. sts 
ze o2ae @ 
30 30 ~+=100 
30 28 93 
43 42 98 
43 41 95 
59 55 93 
59 52 go 
29 29 100 
29 28 100 
29 27 99 
16 415 =~ 94 
16 16 +100 
16 13 81 
16 8 50 
415 
C4 
selected. 
s eB Og 
a2 q> ass 
Bee alas oF 
68 60 88 
68 58 85 
227 160 70 
242 148 61 
BOP) 92) 34, 
267 89 == 33 
267 62 23 
267 57 21 
160 2I 13 
ae 23). 2h 
25 ° ° 
1951 


C3 


unselected. 


Number 
survived 


Lani 


HoH 
Dw 


LI Il loouan 


300 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


C5 Cs Cs 
Solution. unselected. selected rst. selected 2nd. 

s HF oF 4, Fo 4, OE OF 

Bee eee Be eee A eee HS BE 3c 

Bea Mee, yy eee p fe zi 28 
Cc 20 17 85 —— — = — — — 
D 20 16 80 = — = — — — 
E 20 17 85 — == = — — — 
F 20 19 95 a = = = = = 
G 35 4) 2%.) 49 6 4 67 args tas 
H 35 23 66 12 5 42 5 I 20 
I 35 16 46 12 a7 58 5 3 60 
J 35 13 37 12 3 25 5 I 20 
K 25 8 32 12 6 50 5 2 40 
L 15 3 20 12 2 17 5 I 20 
M — — — 6 2 33 5 I 20 
Near — — — — — —_— — — — 
Os 5s — — — — — — — — — 
Tested 260 72 30 


| 
| 


FRESHWATER BIOLOGICAL STATION, WINDERMERE. 


Report of Committee appointed to aid competent investigators selected by the 
Committee to carry out definite pieces of work at the Freshwater Bio- 
logical Station, Wray Castle, Windermere (Prof. F. E. Fritscu, 
F.R.S., Chairman; Prof. P. A. Buxton, Secretary; Miss P. M. 
Jenkin, Dr. C. H. O’DonoGuue (from Section D); Dr. W. H. 
PEARSALL ( from Section K) ). 


Tue British Association table has been occupied by Mr. R. Misra (Univer- 
sity of Leeds) and Dr. M. Rosenberg. ‘The former has carried out ecolo- 
gical investigations on the higher aquatic plants (principally Potamogeton) 
and has studied the chemical features of the muds on which they grow. 
Dr. Rosenberg has continued pure culture work with a number of desmids 
and other alge and has commenced investigations under natural conditions 
on the plankton algz in Windermere and in the streams which feed it. It 
is anticipated that these investigations, if carried out throughout the year, 
may afford much information on the origin and causes of temporary 
abundance of plankton alge and that they may be as fruitful as similar work 
already carried out in the sea. 


SOIL RESOURCES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE 301 


SOIL RESOURCES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 


Report of Committee appointed to co-operate with the Staff of the Imperial 
Soil Bureau to examine the soil resources of the Empire (Sir JOHN 
RussELL, O.B.E., F.R.S., Chairman; Mr. G. V. Jacks, Secretary ; 
Dr. E. M. Crowruer, Dr. W. G. Occ, Prof. G. W. RoBINson, 
Prof. C. B. Fawcett, Mr. H. Kine, Mr. C. G. T. Morison, Dr. 
L. D. Stamp, Mr. A. STEVENS, Dr. S. W. WooLpRIDGE) 


No meeting of the Committee has been held since September 7, 1933, during 
the Leicester Meeting of the British Association. At that meeting the 
climatic and ecological maps already prepared were exhibited, and it was 
agreed that they (and others to follow) should be transferred to the Imperial 
Bureau of Soil Science, where they could be consulted by, and if necessary 
forwarded to the authorities responsible for soil survey in the different 
countries of the British Empire. Subsequently the Bureau received rainfall 
maps of East Africa (Prof. L. Rodwell Jones) and of India (Mr. Williamson), 
and rainfall and vegetation maps of New Zealand (Mr. R. O. Buchanan). 
At the request of Mr. G. Milne, the soil chemist at Amani, Tanganyika, 
Prof. Rodwell Jones’s map was sent out to him and utilised in preparing the 
provisional Soil Map of East Africa, a copy of which has been now deposited 
with the Soil Bureau. During the latter part of 1934 and 1935 the Soil 
Bureau was not in a position to undertake work on behalf of the Committee 
as it was fully engaged in preparing for the Third International Congress 
of Soil Science. This Congress, however, which took place at Oxford in 
July and August, 1935, brought together the chief soil surveyors of the 
British Empire and afforded an opportunity to learn their views on the 
Committee’s project. 

It was apparent that a considerable amount of soil survey work was in 
progress and provisional soil maps had already been published in several 
countries. Among the earlier maps were those of the soils and vegetation 
of Australia prepared by Prof. J. A. Prescott under the auspices of the 
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, and the soil map of Sierra 
Leone by F. Martin and H. Doyne. A very tentative (geological) soil map 
of South Africa had been published by the South African Government, at 
least two tentative soil maps of India had been prepared by independent 
workers, and the sub-committee on Asiatic soils of the International Society 
of Soil Science is also correlating Indian soil data with a view to incorpora- 
ting them in a map. Work on these maps was already completed, or far 
advanced, before the Committee was constituted. Since then, considerable 
progress has been made with other soil maps of British countries, and 
several are approaching completion. ‘The most extensive is probably the 
genetic soil map of Canada prepared under the direction of Prof. A. H. Joel 
and later of Prof. J. H. Ellis. Mr. G. Milne’s soil map of East Africa, 
already mentioned, introduces a new principle of cartography, and is perhaps 
the most extensive piece of soil mapping yet attempted in the Tropics. In 
New Zealand, steady progress has been made with soil survey by Mr. L. I. 
Grange of the Geological Department, and several detailed maps of small 
areas have been published. The survey, which is based primarily on 
geology but incorporates many features of modern American and European 
practice, is intended ultimately to cover the whole country. In Nigeria, 
the Geological and Agricultural Departments are collaborating in soil 
survey, but under present conditions work can only proceed slowly and 


302 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


little progress has yet been made. In the West Indies and British Guiana, 
our knowledge of the soils, particularly from the economic standpoint, has 
been further enriched by the work of Prof. F. Hardy and his collaborators, 
though no occasion has arisen for mapping the soils. It is probable that 
national soil survey will become one of the chief objects of the newly 
formed (1935) Indian Society of Soil Science. 

It will thus be seen that there are few parts of the Empire where soil 
survey in one form or another is not engaging the attention of the authorities. 
A soil survey is not, however, the object of the Committee, whose terms of 
reference were ‘ to examine and report on the soil resources of the Empire.’ 
To fulfil this purpose, the Committee proposed to relate the external 
environment (especially climate and ecology) with the available soil data. 
Unfortunately it appeared that where one set of data (e.g. the environmental) 
was available, the other (soil) usually was lacking. Thus, for Canada, 
where a general soil map is now being prepared, the Committee has not 
received from its collaborators any climatic or vegetation maps. For New 
Zealand, on the other hand, Mr. Buchanan has prepared vegetation and 
rainfall maps for the Committee, but extensive soil data are lacking. Prof. 
I. B. Pole Evans has recently (1935) left with the Soil Bureau a copy of his 
new vegetation map of South Africa, but circumstances have prevented 
Prof. Plummer (Pretoria) from preparing a rainfall map, and practically no 
real soil survey work, except for irrigation purposes, has been done. Mr. 
Williamson has mapped the existing rainfall data for India, but the various 
soil maps are admittedly largely hypothetical and there is little agreement 
as to which approximates most closely to truth. Australia, on the other 
hand, has a rainfall map prepared for the Committee by Prof. Rishbeth 
and soil and vegetation maps previously prepared by Prof. Prescott. 
No data have been collected by the Committee for the colonies and de- 
pendencies, except East Africa (Prof. Rodwell Jones). It must be admitted 
that East Africa is the only instance in which the Committee has been able 
to make useful contact with the ‘ man-on-the-spot ’ (see above). 

The man-on-the-spot is, indeed, both the essential link and the greatest 
difficulty in the Committee’s project. His co-operation is imperative, as 
he alone can verify soil descriptions and data. But he is usually, if not 
overworked, at least involved in so many different problems that he is 
unable to give attention to matters outside his ordinary duties. If he is 
engaged on soil survey, his methods are likely to be prescribed not so much 
by standard scientific principles as by the economic requirements and 
agricultural policy of his country. There is no likelihood at present of 
securing any uniformity of outlook or execution in soil surveys. At the 
same time it seems probable that at least provisional soil maps of most 
countries in the Empire will be available within the next decade. In view 
of these facts, the Committee might consider the advisability of continuing 
to compile its geographical data independently of the actual soil surveyors, 
aiming at being in a position, as and when soil surveys are published, to 
utilise the latter in conjunction with the geographical data to produce on a 
more or less uniform basis something analogous to a and classification survey. 
In this connection it may be mentioned that the International Society of 
Soil Science proposes that land classification, as opposed to soil classification, 
should be one of the chief subjects for discussion at its next international 
congress in 1940. ‘The Committee might explore the possibilities of pro- 
ducing, for presentation to this congress, a scheme and examples of land 
classification in the British Empire based on the material it has collected. 


CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD CRISIS—KENT’S CAVERN 303 


CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD CRISIS. 


Report of Committee on Chronology of the World Crisis (Prof. J. H. Jones, 
Chairman ; Dr. P. Foro, Secretary ; Prof. G. C. ALLEN, Mr. H. M. 
Haciswortu, C.B.E., Mr. R. F. Harrop, Mr. A. Raprorp, Prof. 
J. G. Smits). 


(1) It was resolved (a) that a comprehensive survey be made of the 
economic position of Great Britain, as shown by evidence of a general 
character, and that a sub-committee be appointed to be responsible for the 
preliminary draft ; (b) that further chapters be prepared for the following 
groups of industries, the persons named to be invited to undertake responsi- 
bility for the work. 


1. Agriculture . : Messrs. C. S. Orwin, A. W. Ashby. 


2. Fuel, Power and Chemicals . Prof. J. H. Jones and colleagues. 

3. Metals and Shipbuilding . . Messrs. McCallum, E. Allen. 

4. Transport, including shipping . Mr. Hallsworth, Dr. K. G. Fene- 
lon. 

5. Textiles F : é - Messrs. Jewkes, A. N. Shimmin, 
and Prof. Daniels to be con- 
sulted. 

6. Finance ; : ‘ - Prof. J. G. Smith. 

7. Distribution . i . Dr. P. Ford. 


Persons responsible for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 have accepted. 


(2) The members of the sub-committee to be responsible for the 
preliminary draft: Prof. Jones, Chairman ; Profs. J.G. Smith, G. C. Allen, 
Mr. H. M. Hallsworth. Dr. Fay to be asked to serve if he wishes. Prof. 
Jones to make the first draft and to circulate. 


KENT’S CAVERN. 


Report of Committee appointed to co-operate with the Torquay Antiquarian 
Society in investigating Kent’s Cavern (Sir A. Keitu, F.R.S., Chair- 
man; Prof. J. L. Myrss, O.B.E., F.B.A., Secretary; Mr. M. C. 
BurkiTT, Dr. R. V. Favett, Miss D. A. E. Garrop, Mr. A. D. 
LACAILLE). 


THE following report has been received from the excavators : 


“ This season, between October 28, 1935, and May 11, 1936, thirty-three 
days have been occupied in digging out the central part of the “‘ Vestibule ”’ 
of Kent’s Cavern, thus continuing work commenced in 1932. A depth 
of 21 ft. 6 ins. below the original stalagmitic floor has been arrived at, and 
it is hoped that exploration will proceed from that point next season, for 
there still appears plenty of cave earth mixed with limestone fragments, in 
which artifacts and other interesting finds are likely to be discovered. 
From the fairly even distribution of teeth and bones it is evident that the 
introduction of cave earth was slow, for otherwise probably they would 
have been found massed together, if they had been subjected to frequent 
inrushes of water. 

“ As lower levels are being reached, so the quantity of specimens seems to 


304. REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


diminish, but it is encouraging to note that each find obtained lower down 
becomes of greater value, as each foot down suggests a more remote period. 

‘A great quantity of rock and loose fallen stone has had to be removed, 
and as these cover more than three-quarters of the area at the bottom of 
the excavation, the work of removal, and sorting, is necessarily rather slow. 

“ Fallen blocks are so numerous and compact that the possibility of great 
subversion of contents of the cavern is ruled out, but crevices may have 
existed through which a flint could slip down to a lower level than one 
would expect to find it, in the same way that complete bones are sometimes 
found which must have fallen between rocks, and have escaped the attentions 
of the hyena. 

‘ Flints were not numerous this season, but fortunately there were more 
Mousterian than Aurignacian, some of the former being fine specimens, 
and new forms for Kent’s Cavern. 

“The usual cave fauna has been found in fair abundance. Messrs. Powe, 
the proprietors of the cavern, have recently much improved the lighting 
conditions throughout, which incidentally has made exploration work more 


efficient and agreeable. 
‘ FREDERICK BEYNON, ARTHUR H. OGILVIE.’ 


The Committee asks to be reappointed, with a further grant. 


EARLY MINING SITES IN WALES 


Report of Committee appointed to investigate early mining sites in Wales 
(Mr. H. J. E. Peake, Chairman; Mr. Oxiver Davies, Secretary ; 
Prof. V. Gorpon CuiLpg, Dr. C. H. Descu, F.R.S., Mr. E. Estyn 
Evans, Prof. H. J. FLeure, F.R.S., Prof. C. Daryt_ Forpe, Sir 
Cyrit Fox, Dr. F. J. Nortu, Mr. V. E. Naso WILLIAMS). 


THE majority of the mines in Wales suspected of being exploited anciently 
have been visited with a view to more detailed examination next year. In 
some cases, such as Halkyn Mt., recent work has completely destroyed 
traces of earlier periods, but in most a few remains can be found, while 
some of the ancient mines of central Wales have been little disturbed. 

Apart from the Roman state-mines at Dolaucothy, which fall into a 
different category, there appears to be a fairly unified group of early workings 
in north and central Wales. These seem normally to have sought copper 
ore, even in districts where lead abounds. They cannot at present be 
dated, but they are characterised by the use of stone hammers for pounding, 
while the rock was probably broken by fire-setting. "The hammers, which 
may still be picked up in large numbers, are selected pebbles from beach 
or stream-bed, usually rather long so that they could be grasped safely, 
as notably at Cwm Ystwyth; rarely they are provided with a rough rill 
for the attachment of a handle, like one found at Nantyreira and several 
in Chester Museum from Alderley Edge. The relation of these shapeless 
rilled stones to those with finely polished groove in several of the North 
Wales museums is at present uncertain. 

The early workings can stylistically be distinguished from their successors. 
In North Wales Roman influence was strong, so the use of an adit guided 
by a shaft at Llandudno or a pick-cut shaft at Talargoch need not surprise. 
The mining area of central Wales was opened up by the road from Wroxeter 
to Caersws and Aberystwyth, but was hardly affected by Roman civilisation. 


EARLY MINING SITES IN WALES 305 


In this part the mines were restarted in the early sixteenth century, but 
little developed until the reigns of Elizabeth and her successors. The 
German advisory engineers of that time had a developed mining technique ; 
at some of the early mines, such as Cwmsymlog and Gwestyn, there are 
rows of pits 3-5 yds. apart, like those in Central Europe. Hammer-stones 
were not employed (though the large crushing and sorting dumps on the 
top of Halkyn Mt. cannot yet have used mechanical power), the rounded 
glacial pebbles found on tips show no marks of use. The tips themselves 
are large and well defined. The vein-outcrops were attacked by wide 
horizontal opencasts, and adits were driven for drainage and haulage from 
the bottoms of the valleys. The exploitation was by superposed levels 
20-30 ft. apart (Stockwerkbau). It is probable that the stoping out of 
the lodes was mainly in an upward rather than a downward direction. 

The stone-hammer people grubbed out their veins with small opencasts, 
which they worked downwards to water-level. These workings have no 
drainage ; they are usually 20-30 yds. long, as at Nantyricket Nantyrarian 
and Ogof Widdon, 4-10 ft. wide according to the width of the vein, and 
stop almost perpendicularly at each end, seldom continuing underground 
with galleries. Haulage was therefore to the surface with a rope, and not 
horizontally with a hand-car, probably a German invention of which a 
specimen is said to have been found at Rhiw-rugos. If propping was once 
used it has disappeared, and the removal or fall of the breccia has caused 
the walls of the working to stand firm. Such work is obviously primitive. 
The discovery of ore-bodies was haphazard ;. the workings are always 
situated where there was little detritus or boulder-clay, but save at 
Nantyreira seem not to have been revealed in stream-beds, which were 
perhaps overgrown. Normally one vein out of many, often a subsidiary 
as at Nantyricket, was discovered ; the ancients had no geological sense 
to seek for others or for its continuation. 

Another form of ancient working, known at Llanymynach Newtown 
and in Monmouthshire, is an irregular cave following a small outcrop 
on the hillside ; from this there branch off small winding galleries, which 
grubbed out all ore within reach. 

It has not yet been possible to discover ancient smelting-places. ‘Those 
reported at Trefeglwys appear to be bloomeries, perhaps of the seventeenth 
century, but information has been received about others near Bow Street 
and Yspytty Ystwyth. It is particularly important to find slag-heaps, and 
excavation at them should yield valuable information about primitive 
furnaces. They must usually have been situated in the woodland near 
the mines, though smelting was sometimes carried out also on settlements 
such as Rhostryfan, Din Llugwy, etc. The slag is probably covered by 
humus, but any information regarding it would be especially welcomed. 

In central Wales the distribution of hilltop and promontory camps in 
the mining area is striking. These seldom, however, contain evidence of 
metallurgy, and it may be doubted whether there is any necessary connection 
between them and the mines. Detailed work with distribution maps will 
be carried out later. 

The committee asks for a grant for next year to carry out excavations 
and analyses of metal objects believed to be derived from Welsh mines. 


306 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


BLOOD GROUPS. 


Report of Committee on the Blood Grouping of Primitive Peoples (Prof. 
H. J. FLeure, F.R.S., Chairman; Prof. R. Ruccres Gates, F.R.S., 
Secretary ; Dr. J. H. Hutton, C.1.E., Mr. R. U. Sayce). 


DuRING the past year progress has been made in blood grouping various 
primitive peoples, especially in Canada, India, Tibet and Kenya. Serum 
for testing the Eskimos was sent to a Canadian Government expedition two 
years ago, and from a radio message recently received at Ottawa it appears that 
185 Eskimos belonging to several tribes west of Hudson Bay, including the 
Caribou Eskimos, show a very high percentage of B. This unexpected 
result can only be interpreted when the full data are received. In September 
1935, 98 Micmac children were tested in an Indian school at Shubenacadie, 
Nova Scotia, and Prof. Ralph P. Smith has recently tested 100 Micmacs, 
chiefly adults, at the Whycocomagh Reserve in Cape Breton Island and 
67 at the Barra Head Reservation. These three sets of tests appear to be 
comparable and a full account will be published later. Arrangements 
have also been made for blood grouping the Ojibway and Iroquois Indians 
at various reservations in Ontario and Quebec. 

In Kenya serum has been sent to Dr. J. W. Vint of Nairobi, who is 
typing various native tribes, but the results are not yet complete. 

A short paper on Tibetans has been published (Man, p. 147, 1936) 
giving the results of testing 187 natives chiefly of Gyantse. The results, 
14°9 per cent. O, 47°1 per cent. A, 13:9 per cent. B, 24:1 per cent. AB, 
are of extraordinary interest as they show a higher percentage of AB com- 
bined with a lower percentage of O than almost any other racial group. ° 
This is especially significant when contrasted with the American Indians, 
which the Tibetans resemble in some respects. 

In India Mr. A. Aiyappan has carried out tests of the pre-Dravidian 
Paniyans of Wynaard, which show 20 per cent. O, 62-4 per cent. A, 7:6 per 
cent. B, 10 per cent. AB. The very high percentage of A is in marked 
contrast to the Hindoos and confirms the relationship of these pre-Dravidian 
people to the Australian aborigines. A short account of this work is in the 
press for Man. Sera for all the Indian work have kindly been donated by 
the Haffkine Institute of Bombay, whose sera were first tested with samples 
sent from England and found to be the same. Dr. Eileen W. Macfarlane 
has tested various groups in Cochin, South India, including Dravidians, 
pre-Dravidians, Syrian Christians and the so-called White Jews and Black 
Jews. ‘These tests are being combined with anthropometric measurements, 
which will add much to their value. A full report is being prepared, and a 
preliminary note had been published (Current Science, vol. 4, p. 653, 1936). 
The White Jews of Cochin number scarcely a hundred. The fifty adults 
typed gave 18 per cent. O, 62 per cent. A, 20 per cent. B. The Black Jews 
number about 800, of which 106 were tested, giving 73:6 per cent. O, 
10°4 per cent. A, 16 per cent. B. In such small communities inbreeding 
probably has an important effect in producing aberrant blood group 
percentages. 

In the Naga Hills, Assam, blood grouping tests are being made by Dr. 
C. Vieyra and Dr. S. S. Kundu, and the results are being correlated with 
racial and language studies by the Deputy Commissioner, Mr. J. P. Mills. 
At Srinagar, Kashmir, Dr. James Flower has taken up blood grouping tests 
in addition to anthropometric measurements on the peoples in this region. 


DERBYSHIRE CAVES 307 


DERBYSHIRE CAVES. 


Fourteenth Interim Report of Committee appointed to co-operate with a 
Committee of the Royal Anthropological Institute in the exploration of 
Caves in the Derbyshire District (Mr. M. C. Burkitt, Chairman ; 
Dr. R. V. FAvELL, Secretary; Mr. A. Leste ARMSTRONG, Prof. 
H. J. Freure, F.R.S., Miss D. A. E. Garrop, Dr. J. WILFRID 
Jackson, Prof. L. S. Parmer, Mr. H. J. E. Peake). 


Creswell Crags.—Mr. Leslie Armstrong, F.S.A., reports as follows : 

* Pin Hole Cave-—When my last report was presented a section of the lower 
deposits of the cave left undisturbed in the 1873 excavations was in course 
of examination. ‘This was situated between the entrance door and the point 
23 ft. distant at which my excavations commenced in 1924, and of this 
length 13 ft. had been dealt with. ‘This work has been continued and the 
whole remaining portion of the deposit systematically examined, thereby 
finally completing the excavation of this cave from the entrance door to the 
position beyond the main chamber, where the Committee decided work 
should cease and the type section of the whole series of the deposits be 
preserved in situ. 

“As stated in the 1935 report, the Mousterian (1) and (2) occupation 
levels were found to be intact and undisturbed by the earlier excavations. 
Between ro ft. and 13 ft. indications were observed of the Mousterian 
(3) level also, slightly disturbed superficially at first but diminishing in 
degree; from 13 ft. to 23 ft. it proved to be entirely undisturbed and 
was covered to an average depth of 12 ins. by a remnant of the upper 
cave earth. Traces of occupation by man and animals became more 
abundant as the excavation advanced and included a small hearth in the 
Mousterian (2) level, with remains of charcoal and wood ash and remnants 
of split animal bones around it, some of which show traces of burning. 
A quartzite implement, a stone pounder and split quartzite pebbles were 
found on the same horizon. The Mousterian (1) level yielded the largest 
flint flake found in the cave during the whole course of the excavations. 

Judged by type and technique this artifact might be classified as Clactonian. 
It exhibits the characteristic oblique striking platform and pronounced 
bulb of the Clacton culture and bears evidence of use, but, in view of the 
fact that only one small flake at all comparable has been found previously, 
it probably represents a chance product of the normal Mousterian industry 
of the Pin Hole, or an importation. 

‘The remnant of upper cave earth overlying the Mousterian (3) level and 
of Upper Aurignacian Age, yielded several artifacts of flint, including a 
typical angle burin and a long blade. No additions were made to the fauna 
already recorded. The work was completed on June 6 last, thus bringing 
the excavations which have been proceeding systematically and regularly 
in this cave since September 1924 to a final conclusion. 

“T am gratified to be able to report that the Pin Hole Cave and Mother 
Grundy’s Parlour have now been. scheduled by H.M. Office of Works as 
Ancient Monuments, in accordance with the recommendation of the Com- 
mittee, supported by the Council of the Association at the Norwich Meeting: 
also that the Keeper of the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities 
at the British Museum has offered to provide facilities during the coming 
autumn for a special exhibition at the Museum of the whole of the objects 
discovered during the course of these excavations. 


308 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


‘ Boat House Cave-—Work is now in progress here and the material over- 
lying the relic bed is in course of removal. ‘This averages 6 ft. in thickness, 
two-thirds of which is stiff red clay, introduced as puddling when the em- 
bankment of the adjoining lake was formed and which occupies the whole 
of the front and extends to the rear of the visible portion of the cave. At 
the time of writing, the position of the relic bed has been defined over a 
small area, but no attempt will be made to excavate this until the whole of 
the ‘‘ dead ’’ covering has been removed over a large portion of the cave 
floor. 

‘A grant of £25 is earnestly requested for the continuation of this new work.’ 


SUMERIAN COPPER. 


Seventh Interim Report of Committee appointed to report on the probable 
sources of the supply of Copper used by the Sumerians (Mr. H. J. E. 
PEAKE, Chairman; Dr. C. H. Descu, F.R.S., Secretary; Prof. H. 
Ba.rour, F.R.S., Mr. L. H. DupLey Buxton, Prof. V. GorDoN 
Cuiipe, Mr. O. Davirs, Prof. H. J. FLeure, F.R.S., Sir FLINDERS 
Perrig, F.R.S., Dr. A. Ratstrick, Dr. R. H. Rastat). 


(REPORT BY THE SECRETARY.) 


FuRTHER analyses on behalf of the Committee have been carried out in the 
Metallurgy Department of the National Physical Laboratory. ‘The speci- 
mens received during the past year have included an important series from 
Troy, and other specimens from N. Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. Micro- 
chemical methods have again been used, when only small quantities of 
material have been available. As in previous years occasional specimens 
of iron, gold and lead have been examined as well as the copper and bronze 
with which the Committee is mainly concerned. 

The specimens from Troy were received from Prof. C. W. Blegen, and 
represented all levels except Troy IV. 

Specimens 1 and 2 were so much mixed with earthy matter that the 
original composition could not be calculated, and the proportion of arsenic 
found is certainly higher than in the unoxidised copper. ‘The remainder 
were either uncorroded or corroded so uniformly that the analyses could be 
safely recalculated to 100 per cent. 


Copper Tin Arsenic Nickel Lead 


1 Troy Rapa - 14°94 — 1:98 0°04 — 
2 PR Ly: “36500 — 2°20 0°09 — 
aha Tyas . 98-8 — ee o-1l _ 
Avinlity; Lk a ae Nose7 — I-l 0-18 — 
Bis dings ce ~ » 96-7 2:18 0°97 o-ll — 
Ig. DET S TeO50 2° I°5 roy G1 0°47 
Tags; WLBT se O70 — Beg 0°03 — 
OWE VER wy) 90-4 9°6 — — — 
7h ais SVilivas. 2A VOl-9 8-0 — 0°05 —_— 
The yt WI <i: - 99°9 trace trace — — 
16 probably VI . MS 27 NreteriT o°2I = = 
8 Troy VI-VII . PRS 7513) (CELIDS I°2 — = 
Of: hy Waa: OIC 9:0 — — — 
ie yemtaaee Vili Peon, 8-2 0°55 — — 


SUMERIAN COPPER 309 


The compositions thus fall into two groups, indicating distinct sources 
for the copper in the earlier and later periods. Objects from the earlier 
levels, I-III, are of copper containing a relatively large proportion of arsenic 
and some nickel, three only containing a little tin. Objects from the higher 
levels, V—VII are mainly true bronzes, with little or no arsenic and no 
nickel, but include one specimen of pure copper. 

Only a single object from Ur was received from the British Museum, this 
being fragments of a bronze vessel labelled ‘ Kassite period.’ The analysis 
gave: 


Copper . : ; : - 92°5 per cent. 
Tin , . . . . . ‘Tatas ” 
Arsenic . : : : Ae NOLZOW, i etrss 
Nickel . . . . O'l3 5, ” 


Mr. Mallowan sent a copper bead from Chagar Bazar in N. Syria, found 
in association with Tell Halaf pottery, and stated to be the oldest piece of 
copper yet found in Syria. It was completely corroded, but gave 63:31 
per cent. of copper and 8-71 per cent. of sand with a little iron (possibly 
derived from the soil) but without any trace of arsenic, tin, nickel or sulphur. 
It is thus an exceptionally pure specimen of ancient copper, the deficiency 
from 100 per cent. representing oxygen and carbon dioxide only. 

Specimens from Tell Ajjul in Palestine were received from Sir Flinders 
Petrie. ‘The copper objects gave the following results : 


Copper Tin Arsenic Nickel Iron 


Adze, unnumbered 93:80 — 2°17) 0°03 I‘51 
ey ee P BIS TE 57 = 0°86 003 0°19 
in". : OZ -28 — 1°68 0°03 — 

Coil of Wire -  QI°20 — 0:88 o-19 0°27 


A lead rod, numbered 954, gave 


Lead Copper Iron 
97°63 0:26 trace 


and a bar of solder was found to contain 


Lead Antimony Tin Copper Bismuth Iron 
38-87 3°05 57°74 0°23 trace trace 


One more dagger was examined from Mr. Starkey’s finds at Tell Duweir, 
supplementing the analyses given in the last report. The analysis showed 
98-5 per cent. of copper and 1-2 per cent. of iron with a trace of sulphur, 
but no tin, arsenic or nickel. 

Mr. A. Lucas sent three miniature tools from the tomb of Tutankhamen, 
and a copper ribbon of the XII Dynasty. All these specimens were quite 
free from corrosion. 


Copper Tin Arsenic Nickel Iron Sulphur 


Model Adze 98 +4 trace trace 073 0'5 — 
5, \Hloe 97°6 nS} trace (0\0k) 0°3 trace 
» Yoke 96:8 1°8 trace One Cam o°3 
Ribbon State fyaths, — 1°48 0°03 O-I5 orl 


Mr. Lucas also submitted several samples of gold. It had been stated, 
from an old analysis by Gladstone, that gold from the II Dynasty of Egypt 
contained tellurium, and might therefore have come from the Carpathian 
region. ‘The specimens now received were fragments of gold foil covering 
a coffin of 6-ply wood from the step-pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara, and of 


310 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


gold rivets used to attach the foil. The fragments were examined spectro- 
graphically and proved to be free from any trace of tellurium. Silver and 
copper were present in considerable proportions with, rather unexpectedly, 
an appreciable quantity of tin, especially in the rivets, with traces of iron, 
lead and antimony. A Transylvanian origin is therefore ruled out. A 
specimen of gold quartz from the Eastern desert showed silver with traces 
of iron, and lead and copper, but no tin, antimony, or tellurium. 

Mr. Lucas also sent a sample of copper ore from the ancient Abu Seyal 
mine in the Eastern desert, which proved to consist mainly of oxide of 
iron, but with 5-48 per cent. of copper and 0:33 per cent. of nickel, and a 
piece of malachite from a tomb, probably pre-dynastic. This contained 
34°30 per cent. of copper, 0°67 per cent. of iron, and, unexpectedly, 2:41 
per cent. of zinc, with much sand and insoluble matter. 

It has not been possible to obtain further samples of copper or tin ores 
from sources likely to have been used by the early metallurgists. Two 
slags from ancient copper-smelting sites on the Iranian side of the 
Baluchistan frontier were sent by Dr. J. V. Harrison. They proved to be 
typical ferrous silicate slags, containing 0:66 and 0-74 per cent. of copper 
oxide respectively, with no tin, arsenic or nickel. 

In view of the interest attaching to the early smelting of iron, every 
opportunity of examining fragments of corroded iron has been taken. Mr. 
Lucas sent a minute fragment of a thin blade of iron, inserted into a small 
silver amulet in the form of a sphinx’s head, now in the Cairo Museum, 
No. J. 47314. It is of the XI Dynasty, and was found by Mr. H. E. 
Winlock at Deir el Bahri. A micro-analysis showed that iron and nickel 
were present in the ratio of about 1: 10. ‘The iron is therefore undoubtedly 
meteoritic. 

On the other hand, two fragments of oxidised iron found by Mr. Mallowan 
at Chagar Bazar, dated by the pottery as not later than 2700 and perhaps as 
early as 3000 B.C., proved to be entirely free from nickel, and must be of 
terrestrial origin. Manganese was absent. 

The numerous analyses of objects from Thermi made for the Committee 
have now been published in full. 

Too late for inclusion in this report, a further series of specimens from 
Troy has been received from Prof. Blegen and others from Mr. Mackay’s 
excavations at a new site in Sind. 

The work of the Committee having become known, the Secretary is 
frequently asked by excavators and by museum curators to undertake 
analyses of objects of archeological interest. The recent Reports have 
contained analyses of objects only indirectly connected with the Sumerian 
problem, and the special technique which has been developed proves to be 
of value in the solution of archzological problems. It is evident, however, 
that the small grant from the British Association will not allow of extensive 
work in this field. With the co-operation of the Department of Scientific 
and Industrial Research, the scope of the investigation could be widened. 
It is suggested that an organisation might with advantage be set up, having 
as its object the analytical and metallographic examination of objects con- 
nected with the early use of metals, and the comparison of their composition 
with that of available ores. A sum of £100 a year would provide for a 
considerable number of analyses, and could perhaps be provided by a 
committee representing the interests of excavators, museums, and 
archzological societies. 


1 Excavations at Thermi in Lesbos. By Miss Winifred Lamb. (Camb. Univ. 
Press.) 


ROUTINE MANUAL FACTOR 311 


ROUTINE MANUAL FACTOR. 


Report of the Committee appointed to develop tests of the routine manual 
factor in mechanical ability. (Dr. C. S. Myers, C.B.E., F.R.S., 
Chairman; Dr. G. H. Mites, Secretary ; Prof. C. Burt, Dr. F. M. 
Eare, Dr. Lit. WYNN Jonss, Prof. T. H. Pear.) 


CONTENTS. 


I, RESUME OF WORK CARRIED OUT DURING PREVIOUS YEARS. 


A. On the Nature and Measurement of Manual Skill. 
B. On the Nature and Measurement of Mechanical Aptitude. 


II. WorK CARRIED OUT DURING THE CURRENT YEAR. 

A. The Further Analysis and Development of Manual Tests. 
1. Application of Test in a Factory. 
2. Improvement in the Eye-board Test. 
3. Norms of Performance. 

B. The Further Analysis and Development of Mechanical Tests. 
1. Improvements in certain of the Tests. 
2. Norms of Performance. 


III. THe FurTHER ANALYSIS OF MECHANICAL TESTS. 

IV. CoRRESPONDENCE AND DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION. 
V. PROPOSED FURTHER WORK. 

VI. RENEWAL OF GRANT. 


I. RESUME OF WoRK CARRIED OUT DURING PREVIOUS YEARS. 
A. On the Nature and Measurement of Manual Skill. 


THE results of extensive research into the nature of the factors involved in 
assembling work have been summarised in previous reports of the Committee. 
Among the more important conclusions were: (i) that assembling work 
divides broadly into (a) ‘ mechanical ’ assembling work, and (6) ‘ routine’ 
assembling work; and (ii) that ‘mechanical’ assembling work involves 
a mechanical group-factor, together with specific manual factors, whereas 
in ‘ routine ’ assembling work the mechanical factor is replaced by a manual 
group-factor of fairly wide range. 

Attempts to measure the manual group-factor led to the devising of four 
new manual tests, viz. (i) the pin board—a board 12 in. square in 
which are inserted 84 brass pins over which the subject is required to 
wind string in a prescribed way ; (i) the pin-stick—a 12-in. length of wood, 
of # in. square section, in which are inserted 40 brass pins around which 
the subject is required to wind string with one hand while rotating the 
stick with the other; (iii) the eye-board—a board 15 in. square con- 
taining 90 eyes and 20 clips, in which the subject is required to thread 
laces through the eyes and then clip them under the clips ; and (iv) a test 
in which the subject, using the same board, alternately threads the lace 
through a bead and then an eye. 

Inter-correlations of these tests and the original routine assembling 
Operations indicated the presence of the same manual group-factor in these 
tests as was formerly observed in the routine assembling operations. 
Statistical analysis of the inter-correlations showed the eye-board to be the 
most highly saturated of the tests (0:80) and it was therefore decided to 


J 


312 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


determine the norms for this test with various age groups and for different 
types of subject. 

The need for exploring other aspects of manual skill, as expressed in 
many industrial operations which are not of the assembling type, has also 
been stressed in previous reports of this committee. 


B. On the Nature and Measurement of Mechanical Aptitude. 


Alongside the above described work on routine assembling went an 
extensive investigation into the factors involved in mechanical assembling. 
The mechanical factor found in these operations was demonstrated to be 
the same as that previously discovered by Dr. Cox in his original mechanical 
aptitude tests. ‘There were, in addition, various specific factors, but the 
manual activities involved in these operations were found to have little in 
common with the manual group-factor in the routine operations. 

In view of the range and importance of the mechanical factor it was 
decided to determine norms for the mechanical aptitude tests for various 
age groups. 

It was also decided to explore further aspects of mechanical ability by 
(i) devising tests suitable for younger children, and (ii) investigating the 
nature of the factors in other kinds of mechanical work. 


II. WorK CARRIED OUT DURING THE CURRENT YEAR. 


A. The Further Analysis and Development of Manual Tests. 


1. Application of Test in a Factory—The manual tests referred to above 
were administered as individual tests, the score being the time taken to do a 
given quantity of work. The eye-board test has now been -modified to 
permit of its use as a group test, the score being the number of eyes threaded 
in a given time. In this form it was given to 66 factory workers engaged 
in various kinds of assembly work. At the same time the testees were 
assessed for ability at (a) fine assembling work, and (b) coarse assembling 
work, by a foreman well acquainted with their work. The correlation be- 
tween the test and each of these assessments indicated a fairly close corre- 
spondence between the,test and coarse assembling (0-75) and a much lower 
correlation with fine assembling (0-30). A careful inquiry was subsequently 
made into the nature of the operations which had been classified as “ coarse ’ 
and ‘ fine’; whence it transpired that the ‘ coarse ’ was mainly concerned 
with fitting or screwing pieces together, or inserting screws into holes, 
whereas the ‘ fine’ assembling work consisted of winding various coils of 
wire. It was thus seen that this test selects well for those kinds of operations 
(assembling the electric lamp holder) upon which it was based, but that 
further tests are needed where operations of the coil-winding type are 
concerned. 

The need for further research into other kinds of manual work is thus 
again exemplified in the results of this investigation, for this distinction 
between ‘ fine ’ and ‘ coarse ’ assembling is evidently a realone. The latter, 
under the name of routine assembling, has already received much attention 
in our previous reports, whereas the former calls for closer study than it has 
hitherto received. 

The experiment suggested in our last report, in which it was proposed 
to compare ability at routine assembling operations with ability at tests 
involving larger muscular movements, was begun at a Central School at 
Edmonton. Owing to lack of financial support, however, this work has been 
considerably delayed. It is hoped to continue the experiment next year. 


il i i 


. 


9 


ROUTINE MANUAL FACTOR 313 


2. Improvement in the Eye-board Test——After considerable enquiry and 
correspondence, a firm has been found who are prepared to make clips of 
the necessary size and shape from spring steel, at a reasonable cost, if 
required in sufficient quantities. Clips made from this material are more 
durable and require less supervision than the older kind of clip, and so 
enhance the practical value of the test. 

3. Norms of Performance—The work of establishing norms of performance 
at the eye-board manual test has continued. Percentile scores for half- 
yearly age-groups are available for the various groups described in our last 
report, and for the above-mentioned group of factory workers. 


B. The Further Analysis and Development of Mechanical Tests. 


1. Improvements in certain of the Tests—With a view to rendering the 
administration of these tests easier and more uniform, new selective versions 
of the tests have been devised together with a special form of chart on which 
the testee records the responses. This method of administration makes the 
task of scoring entirely automatic and easy, and has been applied to tests 
of the ‘ Models,’ ‘ Diagrams’ and ‘ Mechanical Explanation’ type (cf. 
Mechanical Aptitude, Methuen & Co.). 

2. Norms of Performance-——The work of determining norms for various 
groups at various ages has continued during the current session. The 
selective version of the Models Test (M1) has been given to 242 secondary 
school boys, aged 14-17 years and the calculation of percentile scores for 
each age group is nearly completed. 

The selective versions of the Models Test (M1), Diagrams Test (D), 
and Mechancial Explanation Test (E) have also been given during the past 
year to 145 boys aged 13+ seeking entry to Technical Schools and the 
percentile scores for this group are now available, in addition to those 
for Secondary, Technical and University students referred to in our last 
report. 


Ill. THe FurTHER ANALYSIS OF MECHANICAL TESTS. 


With a view to extending the application of mechanical tests to a wider 
age-range, two new tests of the ‘ Models’ type were drawn up and given 
to two groups of elementary school boys aged 10-14 years. To bring out 
any differences that might be caused by the introduction of the selective 
method, the tests were given in both the selective and the inventive forms. 
In addition to these, tests of general intelligence and two new paper-folding 
tests were also given. The scoring of the mechanical and general 
intelligence tests has been completed and that of the paper-folding tests is 
in progress. It is hoped to continue the work of analysis next session. 

A programme of work directed towards the further investigation of factors 
in types of ‘ mechanical’ work not hitherto explored has been drawn up, 
but owing to lack of financial support it has not been possible to start this 
yet. 


IV. CorRESPONDENCE AND DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION. 


As the result of inquiries arising out of this Committee’s work, which 
have been received from persons interested in the application of manual 
and mechanical tests for educational and vocational guidance, a fair amount 
of correspondence (including two meetings with investigators in Birmingham) 

describing the tests and results so far achieved has been undertaken during 

the current year. The reprint of an article entitled ‘The Bearing of 

Recent Researches into the Nature of Mechanical Aptitude and of Manual 
M 


314 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


Skill on the Problem of School Organisation ’ has been sent to interested 
persons. 


V. PRoposeD FURTHER WoRK. 


The need for exploring other aspects of manual skill and of mechanical 
aptitude has been indicated above. The difference there observed between 
‘coarse’ and ‘ fine’ assembling afford but one illustration of the practical 
value and urgency of such work. Although a good deal of ground has been 
covered by the work supported by this Committee, there remain many 
industrial operations, both ‘manual’ and ‘ mechanical,’ about which our 
psychological knowledge is meagre and unsystematised: Work in these 
directions has already been started, as indicated above. As progress is 
made in the discovery of the special abilities involved in these activities, so, 
it is hoped, tests for their measurement in individuals may be developed 
and standardised. 


VI. RENEWAL OF GRANT. 


In order that this work may be carried out, and the work already in pro- 
gress may be allowed to continue, it is requested that the grant be renewed. 
In view of the fact that the grant allocated by the Association for last year’s 
work was not paid owing to an oversight regarding the date of application, 
and funds which have hitherto partly supported this work are now exhausted, 
it is hoped that the grant may be substantially increased. 


PERSEVERATION. 


Interim Report of Committee on the nature of perseveration and its testing 
(Prof. F. AveLINc, Chairman; Dr. WM. STEPHENSON, Secretary ; 
Dr. M. Co tins, Dr. P. E. VERNON, Prof. J. DREVER). 


Tue Committee, confining itself for the present to cognitive processes, 
notes that the items of activity, concepts, or descriptive processes listed below 
have been variously described as perseverations, or perseveration, and 
recommend that for the present the word perseveration should be given a 
wide connotation, being best regarded as a classificatory term embracing 
the items so listed. It is in no way claimed that these items are exclusively 
defined ; and the list is put forward without prejudice to other items which 
may be added to it later. 


(1) Perseverative Tendency (Muller and Pilzecker). 

(2) General inertia (Spearman). 
(Distinguishable from the clearness variation of ‘ attention ’ by its 
apparent independency of will or effort.) 

(3) Secondary function (O. Gross). 

(4) Motor Interference. 
(A thoroughly habituated activity is considered, because of its 
after-effect, to interfere with another closely resembling it.) 

(5) Perseverations. 
(The apparently free and spontaneous recurrence of ideas, thoughts, 
tunes, etc.) 

(6) Psychiatric perseveration. 
(The abnormally persistent repetition of a word, or words, etc., 
or motor action, in spite of attempts by the observer to stay the 


PERSERVERATION 315 


repetition and in spite of desire by the subject not to perseverate. 
It is to be distinguished from stereotypy and motor automatisms 
by the relative independency of the latter upon fatigue.) 

(7) Disability in switching the mind from one topic of thought or mode 
of work to another. 


The Committee observes that experimental work has already been directed 
towards determining the extent, if any, to which these various activities or 
processes obey any general laws, and notably whether individual differences 
with respect to them vary in proportion to one another in populations of 
normal, and abnormal, persons. It suggests that further experimental 
work should be directed along these same lines. 

The Committee notes that although large numbers of tests have been 
described, there are apparently wide differences in the precise methods used 
in scoring and in applying them. With the object of making results more 
directly comparable, and as a guide to others who may wish to work on 
problems connected with perseveration, the Committee puts forward the 
following recommendations : 


A. Foreword. 


In many p-tests two essential parts are involved, (i) an initial activity not 
critically effected by perseveration, (ii) a subsequent activity in which 
perseverative effects are expected to be critical. The score in (i) is repre- 
sented usually as X, and the activity as X-activity, while those for (ii) are 
designated Y and Y-activity, respectively. 

In so far as it is hoped to examine purely cognitive processes, the quality 
of the work done by subjects should be similar in X- and Y-activities, except 
for any changes occurring in Y-activity due to perseverative influences, and 
every attempt should be made to ensure that temperamental or other 
incidental influences do not enter critically into Y-activity (relative to X), so 
confusing the matter at issue. It is not doubted that temperamental or other 
influences of a non-cognitive kind may enter critically into Y-activity, and 
that these are worth investigating, but for the present purpose they are 
matters for control. It is probable that different techniques could be used 
for the same tests, were it intended to examine such influences and not the 
purely cognitive ones under consideration. The Committee, for this reason, 
have incorporated several recommendations in the testing procedures 
described below, directed towards the above objective. 


B. Classification of p-Tests. 


The following classification of tests is convenient for descriptive purposes, 
and points to certain considerations of theoretical interest :— 


(1) Tests involving alternation of a thoroughly habituated and well- 
established activity with a new one closely resembling it. 
(Examples: The SS-writing test (Bernstein); the hh-writing 
test (Wolters) ; the ee, ZZ, ww, 99, 55, 66, 22, aa and similar tests 
(Stephenson).) 

(2) Tests involving breaking away from a thoroughly habituated and 
well-established activity, but without alternation. 

(Examples : Mirror image test (Jones) ; Saying Colours (Stephen- 
son) ; IT test (Jones).) 

(3) Tests involving alternation, but between more or less equally old- 
established, or between non-habituated, activities. 

(Examples: Adding and Subtracting (Bernstein); Brackets 
({ } Wolters) ; Writing atb2c3 .... (Pinard).) 


316 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


(4) Tests involving ‘ carry over’ from X-part to Y-part. 
(Examples: Cancellation (Bernstein): Increase Induction 
(Stephenson).) 


C. General Instructions. 


Where it is possible, the following instructions may be given, or the follow- 
ing directions followed :— 


(i) Use 4-in. squared paper, with instructions that each symbol should 
fill one square. 

(ii) Give clear instructions as to the sequence in which reverse or mirror- 
wise symbols have to be written, and emphasise that all such symbols 
have to be written in that, and no other, way. 

(iii) Give pauses to allay local muscular fatigue. 

(iv) Give instructions that as many symbols as possible have to be 
written in the given time, but with good quality, which must be 
maintained throughout. 

(v) Allow a short fore-practice trial, so that instructions will become 
familiar, and so that the fair trials can proceed with a minimum of 
disturbance from beginning to end. 


D. Standard Times for Tests of Class I. 


Using the SS-writing test as an example, the testing might proceed as 
follows :— 


(i) Fore-practice trial : 


a. Writing SSSSSS 30 seconds 
bigrery sg @ GQ G@ Shaws xGOuluas 
Cc. ” S e Ss e Ss e ae 30 ” 


(As much time as necessary is spent in giving instructions prior to 


a, b and c.) 
(ii) Fair Trial : 


a. Writing SSSSSS 30 seconds. 
b. a eceeea 30 3 
c oh 5S'5'S°S'S RIBEGO “ 
d ye rere tear" aM tia, 
€ ” SSSS ss ci hes 3 oo ” 
f. ” eceaeeee 30 » 
g. ” SeSeSe go ” 


(Allow 10 seconds pause between a-b, b-c, c-d, e-f, and f-g, and 
20 seconds between d-e. Directions for subsequent activity are given 
during this pause.) 


Two such fair trials are recommended. 


E. Scoring for Tests of Class I. 


(1) Some attempt should usually be made to apply suitable and con- 
sistent corrections, where necessary, to the writing in (g), if it 
differs markedly in quality or size from that in parts (a) to (f). 

(ii) Scores a, b, c...g are the numbers of correctly and adequately 
written symbols in the respective parts. Corrections made by the 
subject to symbols in part (g) are counted as errors, even though 
the final correction may have resulted in a correctly formed symbol. 


ee 


PERSEVERATION—SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY 317 


(iii) It often happens that perseverative or other disturbances enter 
into parts (b), (d), (f), destroying any orderly sequence of output 
in these activities. Where any one or two of these activities is 
grossly affected, as shown by the fact that their outputs are small 
compared with the others of the same kind, only the activity with 
greatest output should be used for purposes of X-score, the output 
being increased two-fold or pro rata, so as to bring it up to what 
might have been expected for a total of 90 seconds writing. 

(iv) X-score =a+b+c+d-+e+f 
Y-score = 2g 

(v) For research purposes p-score is taken to be p = (X — RY). 

(Where & is a value such that rx(x — kv) = 0). 

(vi) X, Y, and p-scores should be placed on record. 

(vii) Where a test is applied twice, as suggested above, p-score is 
calculated for each separately. 


F. Standard Times for Tests of Class II. 
(All tests of Class I can be used, the part (g) being omitted for scoring 
purposes. Whereas in the scoring’ procedure, correction is made for 
any inherent difficulty in parts (b), (d) and (f) of Class I, no such 
correction is possible in tests of Class II.) 


(Times as in Class I for tests of that class.) 


Fore-practice: X-activity .. 30 seconds. 
Y-activity e206 He 
Fair Trial : a. X-activity .. 60 x 
b. X-activity .. 60 5 
c. Y-activity .. 120 ie 


(Give twice.) 

(Make pauses as for Class I.) 

(Score as in Class I, for X =a-+b 
Yo =e) 


G. Times, etc., for Classes III and IV. 

The directions, etc., for Classes III and IV are the same as those, 
respectively, for Classes I and II. 

The Committee recommend that tests should be tried, following the above 
procedure, and reported upon in due course. 

It is hoped to issue a full report in September, 1937. 


SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. 


Report of Committee to consider definite lines of research in Social Psychology 
(Prof. J. DreveR, Chairman; Mr. R. J. Barter, Secretary ; Prof. 
F, AveELING, Prof. F. C. BARTLETT, F.R.S., Prof. C. Burt, Dr. Mary 
Cotuins, Mr. Eric Farmer, Miss E. J. LInpGREN, Dr. C. S. Myers, 
C.B.E., F.R.S., Prof. T. H. Pear, Dr. R. H. THoutess, Mr. A. W. 
WOLTERS). 


Wiruin the wide field of Social Psychology the Committee, without claiming 
to give an exhaustive classification, would select as in pressing need for 
solution problems that fall into the following four groups : 


318 REPORTS ON THE STATE OF SCIENCE, ETC. 


I. Problems involving, and dependent upon, the distribution in the 
community of sensory, motor, and intellectual capacities. 

II. Problems of temperament and character, involving the exploration 
of the possibility of developing satisfactory tests for temperament and 
character traits, and applying these tests under standard conditions. 

III. Problems involved in the study of the factors and influences deter- 
mining failure on the part of individuals—children or adults—to adjust 
themselves satisfactorily to the conditions of social life. 

IV. Complex and important problems in the border country lying between 
psychology and sociology on the one hand, and psychology and anthropology 
on the other, and in many cases involving economics in addition. 

In the investigation of the problems of Group I it will be necessary to 
test representative samples of the population with sensory, motor, sensori- 
motor, intelligence, and mechanical ability tests. ‘The samples should be 
taken from different social, economic, and geographical environments, and 
should comprise, if possible, not only children, but the children’s parents. 
The results of such testing should be examined with the object of discovering : 


(a) The manner in which the qualities measured by the respective tests 
are distributed throughout the population. 

(6) How far parents and children resemble one another. 

(c) To what extent any differences are traceable to known environmental 
influences or to more remote hereditary influences. 

(d) To what extent different social or occupational groupings tend to 
develop qualities known to be important for industrial proficiency. 

(e) What part the qualities measured by the tests play in industrial 
proficiency in the various occupations taken up by the children, or 
in which the parents are engaged. 

(f) How far present methods of selecting elementary school children for 
technical or higher education are effective in selecting those best 
qualified to benefit from such education. 


In the investigation of problems of Group II it will be necessary : 


(a) To study present methods of estimating personality—in particular 
the interview—with the object of ascertaining the reliability of the 
results obtained. 

(6) To develop tests for emotional, temperamental, and volitional 
characteristics. 

(c) To determine the reliability of such tests. 

(d) To investigate the part played by emotional and temperamental 
characteristics in adjustment to the conditions of occupational life. 


In the investigation of problems of Group III it is desirable to study : 


(a) To what extent maladjustment in children or adults is due mainly to 
psychological characteristics or to environmental causes. 

(6) How far such maladjustment can be rectified or its effects diminished 
by change of environment or other possible action. 


Moreover, ‘ maladjustment’ ought to be understood widely, and its 
study ought to include the study not only of temporary maladjustment 
resulting from sudden changes, as from school to work, from work to retire- 
ment, and the like, but also of the maladjustment frequently found in the 
case of the adopted child, the illegitimate child, and the step-child, and of 
the still wider maladjustment resulting from institutional education, or 
from environmental or other conditions affecting adult social groups. 


SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY—TRANSPLANT EXPERIMENTS 319 


The problems belonging to Group IV fall into several sub-groups, such 
as: 


(a) Problems involved in the interrelations of social groups, national, 
economic, religious, etc. 

(6) Problems involved in the social influences of changes in economic 
conditions, environmental factors, and the like, and conversely the 
economic influences of social changes bringing about changes of 
outlook, attitude or interests. 

(c) Problems of socially determined motives and incentives. 


' Problems belonging to this Group are exceedingly complex, and their 
study in any adequate way by the psychologist has hitherto been largely 
neglected, although in some cases a good deal of work has been done by 
anthropologists. A large part must necessarily be played by field-work 
and observational methods. An immediate problem would seem, therefore, 
to be the devising and refining of a technique which will yield reliable 
results and the training of investigators. 

These investigations can only be undertaken through the co-operation 
of a large number of workers. It is desirable that there should be a repre- 
sentative Committee charged with the task of co-ordinating the work of the 
different investigators, so far as this is possible, so that isolated pieces of 
work may be brought into touch with the main body of research. 

This Committee would, therefore, make the following recommendations : 


1. That the Council of the British Association for the Advancement of 
Science set up the necessary co-ordinating Committee. 

2. That the functions of this Committee be, on the one hand, to make 
and maintain ‘contact with the various bodies or individuals carry- 
ing on investigations in the different fields, and, on the other hand, 
to take such steps as may be possible to stimulate and encourage 
investigation. 

3. That this Committee include representatives of Anthropology, 
Economics, Education and Psychology, and possibly Physiology and 
Zoology. 

4. That this Committee report at regular intervals to the General 
Committee and that its reports be printed. 


TRANSPLANT EXPERIMENTS. 


Report of Committee on Transplant Experiments (Sir ARTHUR HILL, 
K.C.M.G., F.R.S., Chairman; Dr. W. B. Turrity, Secretary ; 
Prof. F. W. OLiver, F.R.S., Prof. E. J. Sarispury, F.R.S., Prof. 
A. G. 'TANSLEY, F.R.S.). 


THE experiments are being continued along the lines laid down by the 
British Ecological Society. A fourth biennial report, bringing the details 
of the experiments up to date to December 31, 1935, has been prepared 
and has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Ecology, February 
1937. 

It is requested that the above Committee be kept in being for another 
year and that £5 be granted towards the cost of continuing the experiments. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS. 


SECTION A. 
MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 


Thursday, September 10. 


Discussion on The evolution of the Solar System (10.0). 
Sir James JEANS, F.R.S.—The evolution of the Solar System. 


Hypotheses as to the origin of the Solar System may be classified accord- 
ing to the number of stars which were concerned in the birth of the planets. 
Pre-eminent in the category of solitary-star theories is the Nebular Hypo- 
thesis of Laplace, which is now out of favour because it fails to satisfy certain 
numerical tests. To the category in which two stars are involved belong 
the Planetesimal Hypothesis of Chamberlin and Moulton, various forms of 
tidal theory, and the collision theory of Bickerton which has been recently 
rejuvenated by Jeffreys. In the three-star category comes the recent theory 
of Lyttleton, according to which the planets resulted from an encounter 
between a single star and a binary. 

These various theories can be checked and tested by the general principles 
of dynamics, particularly that of ‘ conservation of angular momentum,’ 
as also by certain principles of an even more general kind. 


Prof. ARTHUR HoLmes.—Geological time and former glaciations in 
relation to the evolution of the Solar System. 


The work of Paneth on the helium-ratios of iron meteorites suggests an 
age of the order 2,800 million years for the solar system. Of the rocks of 
the earth’s crust the oldest so far recognised have been found in South 
Dakota (Black Hills) and Manitoba (east of Lake Winnipeg). The down- 
ward sequences, with ages determined by the lead-ratio method, are as 
follows : 


Biack HiLis, SoutH DAKOTA. 


Harney Peak Granite (1,500 + 40 
million years). 

(?) Leap SysTEM. 

Game Lodge Granite (1,820 + 70 
million years). 

Estes SysTEM: Quartzite and con- 
glomerate with iron-formation, 
slate and green schist. 


SouTH-East MANITOBA. 

Peridotite — Appinite — Granite — 
Pegmatite Intrusions (1,750 mil- 
lion years). 

RicE LAKE SYSTEM : 

Wanipigow phase: Quartzite, grey- 
wacke, arkose, slate. 

Beresford Lake phase: mainly vol- 
canic. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—A. 321 


Unconformity. Manigotagan phase : Quartzite, con- 


Nemo System: Quartzite, grey- glomerate, greywacke, slate. 
wacke, arkosic conglomerate, iron 
a Base not exposed. 

Granite and granodiorite (pebbles 

g p 


Base not exposed. in Manigotagan conglomerates). 
Granite (source of Nemo arkose, etc.). 


From these records it may be inferred (a) that the age of the earth is not 
less than 1,900 to 2,000 million years, and (5) that the conditions of tempera- 
ture and rainfall controlling the weathering responsible for the raw materials 
of these oldest sediments probably fell within the range of present-day 
climatic conditions. A further indication that there has been no secular 
variation of climates during geological time is provided by the distribution 
in time of former ice-ages : 


Million 
Years. 
o-I Pleistocene. 
200 Permo-Carboniferous—South America; South and Central 
Africa; India; Australia. 
500 Eo-Cambrian.—Spitzbergen ; Greenland ; Scandinavia ; South 


Australia. (?) Yangtse, China. 
600-700 ~3=6 Transvaal- Nama-Katanga—_S.W. Africa; Angola; Congo; 
Rhodesia; Transvaal. (?) Simla, India. (?) Broken Hill, 
N.S.W. 
800-900 Huronian.—Cobalt, Ontario. (?) Witwatersrand, Transvaal. 
1000-1100 Bothnian.—Finland. 
(?)> 1100 Damara. Chuos district, S.W. Africa. 
(?)>1650 (Unnamed).—Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming. 


The characteristics of the Pre-Cambrian varved clays so closely resemble 
those of the Pleistocene as to leave no doubt that they were formed under 
seasonal variations as marked as those of to-day. In the older examples, 
as in other ancient sediments, iron is largely ferrous, indicating an atmos- 
phere poor in, or free from, oxygen. 

Geological evidence indicates that for nearly 2,000 million years there 
have been no astronomically significant changes in the thermal and dyna- 
mical relations between the earth and the sun. There is a hint of large- 
scale periodicity in the recurrence of terrestrial glaciation (though the data, 
as yet, are far from complete), and this may point to a corresponding 
periodicity in the fluctuations of solar radiation. 


Prof. E. A. Mitne, F.R.S.—The evolution of the Solar System: 
dynamucal aspects. 


In recent papers the author has derived the forms of the laws of dynamics 
and of gravitation from purely kinematic considerations based on the 
analysis of the description of motion in terms of the individual observer’s 
awareness of a temporal experience. The laws thus derived differ in a 
significant way from the usual empirical formulations of these laws, more 
especially in the occurrence in them of the kinematic time-variable t. It 
is now possible to show that these rationally derived laws pass over into 
the exact form of the local empirical Newtonian formulations on transform- 
ing from kinematic time t to dynamical time t, where t= ty log (t/t)) + to, 
where f, is the present value of ¢ obtained from the expansion of the universe. 

M 2 


322 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A. 


A position-vector P measured by light-signals using the kinematic time- 
scale is equivalent to a position-vector II measured on the dynamic time- 
scale, where P = II (t/t). A problem first formulated explicitly by de Sitter 
is thus solved, and his conjectural solution verified, by the process of the 
identification of inductive laws of nature with laws reached deductively. 
Reckoned on the kinematic time-scale, the age of the solar system is a small 
multiple of 10° years. But reckoned by dynamical events, such as the 
number of swings of a macroscopic pendulum, the number of rotations of 
the earth or the number of revolutions of a planet, the age is infinite. 
The ‘ short ’ and the ‘ long ’ time-scales are thus in principle reconciled by 
fundamental reasoning. 


Prof. W. H. McCrea.—R. A. Lyttleton’s binary star hypothesis 
concerning the origin of the Solar System. 


GENERAL Discussion on The evolution of the Solar System. 


Dr. H. Jerrreys, F.R.S.—A summing up of the discussion on the 
evolution of the Solar System. 


Dr. W. Bowte.—The importance of isostasy in earth studies (12.20). 


During the past few decades isostasy has advanced from a purely theo- 
retical concept to a very practical phase of earth sciences. By means of 
geodetic data the ideas advanced in the last century by Pratt, Airy, Dutton 
and others have been proved to be an actual physical characteristic of the 
earth. While we cannot now say that isostasy has been proved beyond 
question for the entire earth’s crust, yet for those areas in which there are 
abundant geodetic data and where the isostatic investigations have been 
made, it has been found that, in its general aspects at least, the crust of the 
earth is quite in conformity with the idea of isostasy. 

The isostatic reductions that have been made for deflection-of-the-vertical 
and gravity stations give us a measure of the degree to which isostasy exists. 
Necessarily in making the isostatic reductions of the geodetic data, a set 
of very simple assumptions had to be made. The closeness with which 
the theoretical and observed geodetic data can be brought into agreement 
is the measure of the degree to which isostasy exists according to the 
assumptions made. 

It is believed by many that the so-called isostatic anomalies for the de- 
flection-of-the-vertical and gravity stations do not necessarily represent _a 
deviation of a large section of the earth’s crust from normal mass. These 
anomalies are due rather to a heterogeneous distribution of mass in the 
outer portions of the earth’s crust. It is this concept that is employed by 
geophysicists and others in searching for buried geological structure that 
has significance in locating ores, petroleum, natural gas and salt. It is only 
when, for extensive areas, the gravity and deflection stations are very close 
together, that one is justified in making any definite assumption as to the 
dimensions of a block of the earth’s crust that may be considered in equili- 
brium independently of other portions of the crust. 

With isostasy proved, at least in its general aspects, we have a new start- 
ing-point for geological research designed to unfold the history of the geo- 
logical past and to discover the forces and processes that have been involved 
in changes in the elevation of the earth’s surface and the horizontal shifting 
of rock. It is becoming evident to students of the earth that there must be 
a wide application of physical and chemical methods in geological research. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A. 323 


Friday, September 11. 


PRESIDENTIAL ApprEss by Prof. A. FERGUSON on Trends in modern physics 
(10.0). 

In the course of the address the President remarked that, through the 
kindness of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., he had been able, in 
collaboration with his colleague, Mr. Cockett, to obtain preliminary esti- 
mates of the specific heat of heavy water at different temperatures. ‘These 
values were obtained by experiments made on a sample of 375 gm. of heavy 
water of 99°2 per cent. purity, lent by Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd. 
The results, which are expressed in terms of the 20° calorie, are shown 
in the table given below. It will be seen that the specific heat is 
consistently higher than that of ordinary water, and that a minimum 
is indicated at about 41° C. The results for ordinary water were obtained 
by the same method as that used in the experiments on heavy water. 


TABLE. 
Temp. ° C. H,O D,O 
15 I‘OOIO I *00Qy 
20 I ‘0000 I ‘007 
25 0-9991 I 0054 
30 0:9986 I °004, 
35 0°9984 I '003¢ 
40 0-9984 I +0039 
45 09986 I+ 003g 


Discussion on Elastic and absorptive properties of fibres (11.10). 


Dr. W. Astaury.—Elastic protein fibres. 


Certain natural protein fibres, in particular the hairs of mammals, are 
endowed with long-range elastic properties recalling those of rubber. The 
effect is shown by X-ray and related studies to be due to combinations of 
polypeptide chain-molecules which are normally in a regularly folded con- 
figuration, from which they may be pulled out straight by the application of 
tension, and to which they return when the tension is released. By suitable 
modification of the state of cross-linkage of these polypeptide chains both 
the elastic range and the driving force of elastic recovery may be varied con- 
siderably. Animal hairs, for instance, may actually be contracted to a length 
only half their natural length. The chief muscle protein, myosin, both from 
the X-ray and physical elastic point of view, is closely analogous to one 
of the forms of the hair protein, keratin, and there is apparently some funda- 
mental type of molecular fold common to both. The crystalline proteins, 
which are built from ‘ globular ’ molecules, have now also been shown to 
be based on folded polypeptide chains. The latter are liberated from their 
special configuration by the change known as ‘ denaturation,’ the resulting 
insoluble mass being often highly elastic like keratin and myosin. X-rays 
show that this elasticity is again to be referred to groups of folded poly- 
peptides which may be drawn out into straight chains just as keratin and 
myosin may be so drawn out. By this means artificial protein fibres may 
be prepared from originally globular molecules. 

The detailed interpretation of the deformation of folded protein chains and 
their long-range elasticity presents one of the most difficult and fascinating 
problems in molecular mechanics. 


324 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A. 


Dr. M. Matuitu.—The X-ray cinematography of a simple fibre re- 
action. 


Cellulose fibres are transformed into trinitro-cellulose when exposed to 
gaseous nitrogen pentoxide at ordinary temperature. By using an X-ray 
tube with rotating anticathode it is possible to take diffraction photographs 
of such fibres every two minutes or so, since an exposure of one minute is 
sufficient for each photograph, and so to follow easily the evolution of the 
new structure. 

The regularity of the original structure first gradually disappears in the 
direction of the fibre-axis, until a stage is reached when there remain only 
equatorial reflections and the pseudo-period corresponding to the length 
(5°2 A.) of a glucose residue. The molecular chains then move further 
apart and slide over one another so as to leave the effective residue thickness 
unaltered, whereupon the (101) reflection of nitro-cellulose appears. After 
this, little by little, the molecular chains fold and take up their stable 
configuration, and the fibre period of 25:1 A., which characterises trinitro- 
cellulose, can be observed. 

The whole process is completed in an hour and serves as a simple and 
striking example of how physical and chemical transformations can now be 
followed in detail with the aid of a powerful X-ray tube. 


Dr. J. SPEAKMAN.—Some chemical aspects of the elastic properties of 
the keratins. 


The keratins consist of parallel peptide chains bridged by cystine and salt 
linkages, and the configuration adopted by the structure under any circum- 
stances represents a balance between the tendency of the peptide chains to 
fold into six-membered rings and the resistance to folding offered by the side 
linkages. The reactivity of these side linkages depends on their state of 
strain, which, in turn, depends on the configuration of the structure. In 
consequence, the properties of each type of linkage in keratin influence 
those of the remainder. For example, the reactivity of the cystine linkage 
in strained fibres is frequently at a maximum under conditions where the 
salt linkages are most stable. Similarly, the elastic properties of chemically 
modified fibres present many features of unusual interest. 


Dr. E. Grirritus, F.R.S., and Mr. J. H. AwBery.—Apparatus for 
maintaining constant humidity. 


The need for maintaining constant humidity is experienced in many 
industrial processes, such as paper making, textile spinning and weaving, 
as well as in the laboratory. 

Two forms of apparatus suitable for laboratory work have been devised, 
one for supplying a stream of air at constant humidity, and the other for 
maintaining the atmosphere in a chamber at a fixed humidity. 

In both forms, the result is attained by mixing dry and moist (nearly 
saturated) air in suitable proportions. This method has many advantages 
over the methods in which salts or solutions are used to attain the desired 
humidity directly. 

In the apparatus for providing a stream of air at known humidity, air is 
drawn through the apparatus, and branches into two streams, each pro- 
vided with a flowmeter. One stream passes through water towers, and the 
other over silica gel. The streams are then reunited, a dew-point hygro- 
meter being inserted in the combined stream. 

The advantage of the type of controlled chamber now described is that 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A. 325 


the streams of air are not running continuously, and thus the desiccating 
agent is conserved for long periods. A strip of gold-beater’s skin in the 
chamber itself (which is provided with a fan for stirring the air) carries 
electrical contacts which complete circuits when the length of the strip 
deviates in either direction from the desired length. The circuit which is 
completed when the gold-beater’s skin becomes too short, operates a fan 
driving a stream of moist air into the chamber ; similarly the other circuit 
drives dried air into the chamber. 


AFTERNOON. 
Visit to Stonyhurst College and Observatory. 


Monday, September 14. 


Discussion on The production and technical applications of high voltages 
(10.0). 


Dr. T. E. ALLIBONE.—The production and application of high voltages. 


The paper reviews the many types of generators at present in use in 
engineering and physical laboratories for the production of high alternating, 
direct and impulse voltages, with special reference to the purpose for which 
each generator is constructed. 

In electrical engineering such generators are used for the testing of insula- 
tion, and details of the A.C. and impulse voltage tests on insulating material 
and on assembled apparatus are given. In the physical laboratory such 
generators are used for the most part to produce swift moving electrically 
charged particles such as electrons or positive ions for the generation of 
X-rays or neutrons or for investigations on atomic structure. Details of 
the apparatus most commonly used for these purposes are given. 


Dr. G. W. C. Kayes, O.B.E., and Mr. W. Binxs.—-The ionisation 
measurement of short-wave radiation. 


The success and safety of cancer treatment by X-rays and radium, 
whether singly or combined, largely depend upon the accurate measurement 
of the quantity or ‘ dose ’ of radiation administered. "The most satisfactory 
method available is a physical one involving the determination of the 
ionisation produced in air by the electrons liberated by the radiation. 
For X-radiation the air-ionisation unit of quantity called the réntgen has 
been accepted internationally, but the difficulties hitherto encountered in 
measuring very short-wave radiation, such as the y-rays from radium, have 
given rise to doubts concerning the feasibility of expressing X-ray and 
radium measurements in a common unit, a procedure admittedly desirable. 
The difficulties of realising the réntgen in the case of y-rays are due to the 
long ranges of the electrons liberated in air (up to 10 or 12 ft.). ‘The authors 
show that these difficulties can be overcome by the use of a very large 
parallel-plate ionisation chamber, of effective dimensions about 12 ft. by 
10 ft. By this means the unification of X-ray and radium dosage measure- 
ments has been effected. Such a chamber, while serving its purpose as 
an ultimate standard of reference, is of course quite impracticable for medical 
purposes. The present results, however, establish the fact that for every- 
day practice small ionisation chambers having appropriately thick walls of 
‘ air-equivalent ’ material—a type already in use for X-ray measurements— 
can be successfully employed for y-rays. 


326 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A. 
Prof. W. M. 'THoRNToN.—Measurement of voltage by spark gaps. 


(1) The sphere gap asa voltmeter. Order of accuracy attainable. Differ- 
ences of calibration, causes of differences. Jons in gap, spread of 
field, corona on high tension system, oscillations on applied wave as 
affecting peak value. Formule proposed. Sphere gap must be 
regarded as an empirical voltage indicator and not as a substandard. 

(2) Sparking in uniform fields between parallel plates with rolled edges. 
This can be regarded as a standard voltmeter. It is fundamental, 
consistent and accurate to more than I in 1,000 at all voltages. A 
limiting gap for each diameter. This gap has no spread of field, 
random ionisation in a much larger volume of air, irregularities are 
eliminated. It is not affected by strong fields and can be used 
without shielding. 

(3) Method of calibration —Ellipsoid voltmeter found to be more reliable 
standard. Capacitance divider method used as an additional check. 
Order of accuracy obtained is individually 1 in 10,000 and is entirely _ 
consistent. 

(4) Voltages of order of 100-200 kv. can now be measured to the same 
degree of accuracy as the ampere and standard cell. 

(5) Measurement of impulse voltages——The sphere gap has a serious time- 
lag, which may give more to an impulse ratio of 6. (See Allibone, 

JI.E.E.) Theoretically the parallel plates have a negligible time- 
lag, 10°8 sec. 


Mr. R. Davis.—The breakdown of dielectrics under transient electrical 
stresses. 


The experimental study of the breakdown of gaseous, liquid, and solid 
dielectrics has been greatly aided by the development of the impulse gene- 
rator, and the high speed cathode ray oscillograph. With high voltages 
some form of voltage divider for use in conjunction with the oscillograph is 
required, and the precautions to be taken in using the resistor type are 
discussed. Errors in recording are introduced chiefly through the capaci- 
tance to earth of the high voltage arm of the divider. 

The breakdown of air is considered with reference to different electrode 
systems, including the special case of a solid dielectric located between the 
electrodes in parallel with the air path. Examples of the former are sphere 
gaps, and of the latter, the insulators used in high voltage transmission 
systems. Experimental laws are discussed, and the generalisation made, 
that breakdown occurs most easily when the stress at the positive electrode 
is greatest. The implications of this are considered in relation to polarity 
effects in measuring gaps and flash-over of insulator systems. Reference is 
made to the impulse strength of liquid and solid dielectrics, and, in the case 
of the latter, to the part played by the immersing medium. 


Dr. S. WHITEHEAD.—Some aspects of the electric strength of dielectrics. 


The general principles on which depend the ability of a gas to remain an 
insulator under the application of a high voltage or electric stress are known, 
but solid dielectrics present a more complex problem. Although the im- 
mediate and best-known difficulties are those arising from heterogeneous 
composition and structure, it is interesting to consider the ultimate limita- 
tions which would apply even to a uniform dielectric. Firstly, there is the 
liability of a dielectric to thermal instability which can be assessed by the 
magnitude of the maximum voltage which can be applied, so as to produce 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A. 327 


a uniform (electrical and thermal) field, however great the thickness. This 
voltage might be regarded asa constant of the material. Secondly, the con- 
ception of ionisation and the possible existence of statistical ‘ ionisation 
potentials ’ is considered in analogy with ionisation in gases. Thirdly, the 
determination of the field strength which causes electrical failure of the 
structure is examined from the theoretical and practical aspect. It is 
indicated that in general these limitations do not, of themselves, restrict 
unduly the voltages and stresses applied in practice and that a considerable 
increase in the severity of present working conditions would be possible 
without involving these ultimate limits. 


Mr. C. W. MarsHati.—Some electrical discharge phenomena on high 
voltage systems. 


Discharge phenomena encountered in operating high voltage transmission 
systems may be classified as follows : 


(a) Corona. 

(b) Surface discharges on porcelain. 

(c) Internal discharges in solid insulation. 
(d) Arc discharges. 


(a) Corona.—Corona or brush discharge takes the form of a steady violet- 
coloured discharge in the vicinity of the high voltage conductor. The 
discharge current is very small, of the order of microamperes. Corona 
usually occurs on outdoor high voltage plant and transmission lines. It is 
due to the local breakdown of the air owing to high voltage gradient, and is 
intensified by humid weather conditions. 


Slide 1 : Corona discharge on 132 kv. insulators. 


(b) Surface discharges on porcelain—Surface discharges often take place 
on the porcelain insulators of overhead lines and outdoor plant. These 
discharges are of the nature of intermittent spark discharges ; they are 
audible and visible. The discharge current is of the order of tens of milli- 
amperes. Such discharge phenomena are due to polluted and humid 
atmospheric conditions. 


Slide 2 : Surface discharges on insulators in fog. 
Slide 2a: Oscillogram of discharge current. 


(c) Internal discharges in solid insulation—Internal discharges occur in 
voids in solid insulation, e.g. cable dielectric. The air is ionised owing to 
its low dielectric constant and to the high stress (up to 16 kv./mm.) at which 
the dielectric is worked. These discharges give rise to an increase in the 
power factor of the insulation, and this fact is utilised to detect them. 

Slide 3 : Cable end showing discharge tracking. 

(d) Are discharges ——Arc discharges or flashovers involve currents of the 
order of 1,000 amperes which persist until the supply is cut off. Any of 
the types of discharge mentioned may develop into arc discharges involving 
complete breakdown of the insulation. Arc discharges are often produced 
by lightning. The high voltage lightning discharge initiates an arc which 
is sustained by the power supply. 


Slide 4: Arc discharge on 132 kv. line. 


GENERAL Discussion on The production and technical applications of 
high voltages. 


328 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A. 


Dr. J. A. V. FAIRBROTHER.—A new method for investigating conduction 
phenomena in semi-conductors (12.5). 


Using a tungsten wire coated with a layer of insulating material, a method 
is described whereby Langmuir probe methods of measurement in a low- 
pressure mercury discharge can be made to yield information on the 
electrical behaviour of the insulating material. 

For pure aluminium oxide the electrical conductivity is found to vary 
with temperature in accordance with A. H. Wilson’s theory of electronic 
semi-conductors. ‘The Wilson energy difference W, — W, is found to be 
29 electron volts between 1280° K. and 1725° K. and 6:6 electron volts at 
higher temperatures. ‘The critical temperature 1725° K. is approximately 
the sintering point of alumina. 

Experimental evidence is given in support of the discovery of electron 
diffusion through alumina. Mention is made of the bearing of this pheno- 
menon on the experiments of Reimann, Treloar and E. F. Lowry, relating 
to the thermionic emission from oxide coated cathodes. 

The conduction currents flowing across an alumina layer 0-005 in. 
thick between tungsten and plasma in the forward and reverse direction 
are given at different temperatures for voltages up to 250 volts. At high 
temperatures the conductivity is greater in the direction of electron flow 
from metal to oxide to plasma. 


AFTERNOON. 


Excursion to works of Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Co., Ltd., 
Trafford Park, Manchester. 


Tuesday, September 15. 


Dr. L. Vecarp.—Changes of intensity distribution within the auroral 
spectrum due to sunlight and other causes (10.0). 


The spectrum of the auroral luminescence is mainly composed of the 
following parts :— 
(a) The green auroral line (A = 5577). 
(b) The red lines 6300, 6365, of which the first predominates. 
(c) The first negative group of nitrogen. 
(d) The first positive group of nitrogen. 
(e) The second positive group of nitrogen. 


The observed effects of intensity variations may be conveniently classified 
as follows :— 

(1) Change of intensity distribution with altitude. In 1923 the writer 

found an increase in the ratio c to a with increase of altitude. 

(2) Type effects. It has, e.g., been found that the ratios a/d and a/c 
are smaller for certain diffuse areas than for the ordinary distinct 
radiant forms. 

Intensity variations for the same type—usually accompanied by 

colour changes. The red aurora of type A was found to be due to 

an enormous enhancement of the line b relative to the other parts, 

and type B was due to enhancement of red bands of the first positive 

group. 

(4) Recently it has been found by the writer in collaboration with E. 
Ténsberg that in a sunlit atmosphere the auroral spectrum shows 


wa 


(3 


EE ——EE————— i 


ee ee ee 


— 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A. 329 


pronounced enhancement of } and/or d relative to a, and probably 
also a slight increase. The increase of c/a responsible for red 
aurore of type A was explained by the writer as due to presence of 
ozone, and this is supported by the observed effect of sunlight on 
this same ratio, because we may expect that the ozone concentration 
is greatest on the day-side of the earth. 


Discussion on Low temperature physics (10.20). 


Dr. H. Grayson SmitH.—Saturation currents in supraconductors (10.20). 


In a continuation of the experiments which have been performed at 
Toronto on the supraconductivity of thin films of tin, it has been definitely 
shown that there is an upper limit to the current in the supraconducting 
state, apart from the effect of the magnetic field caused by the current. 

It has recently been found that: (1) For films of sufficient thickness their 
normal transition points were unaffected. The current strength at which 
resistance reappeared was considerably less than that required to cause the 
critical magnetic field at the surface. (2) Penetration of an external 
magnetic field through a film commenced with a field strength somewhat 
less than half the threshold value. 

The experiments seem to be in qualitative agreement with the theory 
of F. and H. London concerning the electromagnetic behaviour of supra- 
conductors. ‘They indicate that the surface layer in which the supra-current 
flows is considerably deeper than hitherto supposed, namely ~ 10 cm. 


Dr. K. MENDELSSOHN.—Normal and anomalous supraconductors 
(10.35). 


Two kinds of supraconductors can be distinguished in respect to their 
thermal and magnetic behaviour : 

(1) ‘ Normal’ behaviour is shown by some very pure metals (e.g. Sn, Pb, 
Hg, Tl) with undistorted crystal lattice. ‘These substances show a rever- 
sible change to zero induction at the threshold curve, and the difference of 
free energy between the supraconductive and the non-supraconductive state 
can be deduced from the threshold values by simple thermodynamic 
equations. The transition between the two states and the conditions under 
which equilibrium can be reached has been investigated in detail on samples 
of varying purity, crystal size and geometrical shape. 

(2) Supraconductive alloys do not show a reversible change to zero 
induction, and the penetration of a magnetic field does not coincide with the 
destruction of supraconductivity. Experiments on the thermal behaviour 
(specific heat, heat of transition, magneto-caloric effect) of these ‘ anomalous ’ 
supraconductors show that the simple thermodynamical treatment cannot 
be applied in their case. ‘The question arises whether this ‘ anomalous’ 
behaviour is solely due to secondary effects like inhomogeneity of the 
sample or whether it must be ascribed to an essential difference in the 
constitution of the supraconductive state. 

In order to explain the behaviour of the ‘ anomalous’ supraconductors 
phenomenologically we have compared them with a magnetic ‘ sponge’ 
the skeleton of which consists of regions of very high threshold value. 
Experiments are described by which this hypothesis has been tested and 
which allow us to trace the intermediate stages between ‘ normal’ and 
“anomalous ’ supraconductors. 


330 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A. 


Mr. J. G. DauNT.—Experiments on the thermal and magnetic behaviour 
of supraconductors (11.0). 


In continuation of the work of Mendelssohn and Moore on the magneto- 
caloric cooling obtained with supraconductors, a method is described of 
reaching very low temperatures by the adiabatic magnetisation of supra- 
conductors. ‘The advantages of the method are the comparatively low 
magnetic fields required and the fact that the cooling substance is a metal, 
to and from which heat can easily be transported by the free electrons. In 
the experiments the working substance was a sphere of very pure poly- 
crystalline tin, which was found to fulfil the necessary requirement of 
reversibility in the transition between the normal and supraconductive 
states. ‘The suitability of various substances and alloys for the working 
substance is discussed with regard to their thermal and magnetic properties. 

It was also determined that the threshold curve of tin is not a parabola. 
Further experiments confirm the non-parabolic form of the threshold curve 
of lead and mercury. A brief description of the method of measuring the 
threshold curves is given. 


Dr. B. RoLLin.—Properties of liquid helium (11.15). 


An account is given of the properties of helium in the condensed state. 
Because of the large value of the zero point energy in relation to the lattice 
energy, the behaviour of liquid helium is in many respects remarkable. 
This seems to be the explanation of the impossibility of solidifying liquid 
helium merely by reducing the temperature. 

The transformation which occurs in liquid helium at the A point (2°2° K.) 
is especially interesting. At this point there is a large change in the entropy 
of the liquid, so that below this point the liquid has only a very small entropy 
and is therefore in a highly ordered state. As would be expected, the physical 
behaviour of this ordered liquid phase is remarkable. It has been found 
to have an extremely small viscosity and a very large thermal conductivity. 
The high thermal conductivity is not only of theoretical interest but of 
practical importance, especially in the attainment of thermal isolation of 
vessels containing liquid helium. 

An outline is given of further researches to be made in connection with 
condensed helium. 


Dr, A. H. Cooxe.—The magnetic method of cooling (11.30). 


The principle of the magnetic method of cooling paramagnetic salts, by 
which the lowest temperatures are at present attained, is explained, and an 
account is given of the procedure developed in the Clarendon Laboratory, 
Oxford, for experiments at temperatures down to o-:o1° K. A survey is 
made of the phenomena to be investigated in this region, and of the use of 
the procedure for the measurement of very small energy changes. 

The possibility of reaching still lower temperatures by making use first 
of the electronic magnetic moments and then of the nuclear moments of 
substances is discussed. On considering the rates of attainment of thermal 
equilibrium within the paramagnetic salts, and between the salts and other 
substances, it is found that only in metals can the nuclear moments be 
employed for such a process. 


Mr. G. L. PickarD.—The expansion method for liquefying helium (11.45). 


The principle of the Simon expansion method of liquefying helium (or 
hydrogen) is explained and a typical apparatus and working procedure are 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A. 331 


described. The results are given of a series of experiments made to de- 
termine the yield of liquid helium obtained from different initial conditions 
of pressure and temperature; in addition some measurements on the 
equation of state and the specific heat of gaseous helium in so far as they 
affect the expansion method are reported. 


GENERAL Discussion on Low temperature physics. 


Dr. J. Hartmann.—The Acoustic fet Generator (12.15). 


The acoustic air-jet generator, introduced to the members of the British 
Association at the Oxford Meeting, 1926, has since then been made the sub- 
ject of investigations as to its modus operandi, its performance, its techniques 
of measurement, etc. It now represents, undoubtedly, the most effective 
means available for the production of large power high frequency waves 
in air, and would seem to open up a wide field of scientific and technical 
applications. The communication deals mainly with the explanation of 
the peculiar phenomenon underlying the working manner of the generator. 
This phenomenon and the air vibrations produced in the apparatus are 
illustrated through a number of photographs taken by means of the method 
of striz and by a special method developed jointly with the generator 
(the method of the Riemann mirror). 

Demonstration of the generator proper together with some of the effects 
of the waves. Display of a collection of photographs from the researches 
on the generator. 


Dr. H. Jerrreys, F.R.S.—Temperature conditions within the earth’s 
crust (12.30). 


REPORTS OF COMMITTEES (12.40). 


AFTERNOON. 


Mr. H. L. P. Jotty.—Terrestrial magnetic bearings and their practical 
uses (with special reference to a new Magneto-Theodolite) (2.15). 


The usefulness of the magnetic bearing of an object depends upon the 
precision with which the magnetic declination at the time and place is known 
and upon the precision of the instrument with which the observation of the 
bearing is made. A new Magneto-Theodolite, incorporating the Smith 
fluid immersion (inverted pivot) mounting and a quick change-over from 
theodolite operation to magnetic reading and vice versa by means of penta- 
prism interposed in the telescope, is described. ‘Tests have shown that the 
pivot is sufficiently free from friction to allow the instrument to follow 
changes of declination within fifteen seconds of angle or less. When 
working in sunlight or other conditions of rapid temperature change, con- 
vection may cause irregular movements of about a minute of angle. 

The instruments work in pairs by simultaneous observation. Relative 
declination at a series of points may thus be quickly determined. If the 
distribution of declination in the area is already known, one instrument 
can be used to give true bearings from the magnetic bearing whilst the other, 
situated at a base station not very distant, makes simultaneous observations 
to control the time changes. 


332 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS —A*, 


DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS (A*). 
Thursday, September 10. 


Dr. O_ca Taussky.—Modern problems in algebraic number theory (10.0). 


A few decades ago Hilbert emphasised the connection between the 
abelian extension fields of an algebraic number field and the division of the 
ideals of the base field into classes of equivalent ideals. Since then class 
field theory has become the main topic of algebraic number theory. Although 
class field theory is restricted to abelian fields only, two of the most funda- 
mental questions of the general theory can be reduced to it. The first is 
the problem of enumerating all the extension fields of a field K in which the 
ideals of K become principal ideals. Furtwangler’s principal ideal theorem 
asserts that the Hilbert class field is one of these extension fields. ‘The 
second question, which is still unsolved, is whether there exists an extension 
field for every algebraic number field which contains only principal ideals. 
This question can easily be shown to be equivalent to the so-called class field 
tower problem, i.e. the problem whether the sequence K = Ko, Ky, .. ., 
Kn, . . ., where Ki is the class field of Ki-1x, ends after a finite number of 
elements. Hilbert conjectured almost all the properties of class fields, but 
to prove his statements was by no means an easy task. ‘That is particularly 
the case for the principal ideal theorem. ‘This theorem is proved by means 
of a theorem on abstract finite groups. All the proofs of it which have been 
given use the methods of modern algebra. Using abstract group theory 
it is possible in some cases to prove the finiteness of the class field tower by 
a close investigation of the Hilbert class field and its subfields. 


Dr. J. G1LLis.—Some notes on the modern theory of measure (11.0). 


Linearly measurable plane sets are defined and their main known pro- 
perties described. ‘This leads to the division of these sets into two cate- 
gories—regular and irregular. The former have all the fundamental 
properties of rectifiable curves while the latter are fundamentally different 
from them. It is irregular sets that are discussed here. 

(1) It has been conjectured that such sets have zero projection (i.e. 
projection of zero measure) on almost all directions. A description is given 
of such parts of this conjecture as have actually been proved, including some 
hitherto unpublished results, and a discussion of their possible extension 
follows. 

(2) It was known that, at almost all points of an irregular set, the upper 
density in every angle is positive. The problems which arise in the case of 
the lower density are discussed in relation to the known facts. 


Dr. T. EsTERMANN.—Some recent work in the additive theory of numbers 
(12230): 

For every positive integer k, Hardy and Littlewood defined G(R) as the 
least number s such that every sufficiently large integer is a sum of s kth 
powers (of positive integers). The object of this paper is to show that, 
if k > 4, then 


(1) G(k) < 2m + 7 + [2*-1(k — 2)(1 — k-7)" +7), 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A*. 333 


where ‘ 1 ay Viasat 
__ [(k — 2) log 2 + log (k — 2) — log k 
(2) ‘sis [= fog k — log (k — 1) 


and [x] denotes the integral part of x. In particular G(4)< 17. This was 
recently proved by Davenport and Heilbronn and simultaneously by me, 
the method being essentially one of Winogradoft’s refinements of the classical 
Hardy-Littlewood method. In this paper the same method is applied to 
the general case. : 

It follows from (1) and (2) that G(5) < 29 and G(6) < 42. 


Dr. P. Erpés.—Note on some properties of sequences of integers (12.30). 


Let a, <a,< ...<az < nm be a sequence of positive integers such 
that no ai is contained in the product of two other a’s of the sequence. 


Then 
ns 
x<t(n) + O (Ga =) : 


this error term is the best possible. 

The proof is more intellegible if I first prove only that 

x< n(n) +2n5 

In this case the proof is based on the lemma : 

Any integer m < m may be written in the form bi cj where b; denotes any 
integer not exceeding n? or any prime of the interval (n%, 1), and cj any 
integer not exceeding ni. 

To prove for x the more precise inequality we need a refined and rather 
complicated form of the lemma: 

Now let «,< %, <<... «% <2 be another sequence of positive integers 
such that the products «j a; are all different. Then 


y < n(n) + O(n?) 


The proof is based on our previous lemma. 


ni 
Here the error term cannot be better than O peeaa! 


Friday, September 11. 


Dr. B. KAuFFMANN.— Some recent results in general topology (11.10). 


Modern topology has developed from two originally independent subjects : 
combinatorial topology or analysis situs (in the sense of H. Poincaré) and 
the general theory of abstract spaces. The following stages of this develop- 
ment are considered in the first part of the lecture : 

(1) Discovery of the combinatorial nature of the problems of general 
topology. J. W. Alexander’s duality theorem and its generalisation by 
Lefschetz, Pontrjagin and others. 

(2) Theory of simplicial approximations and transformations by Brouwer, 
Alexandroff and others. H. Hopf’s fundamental result on essential trans- 
formations of complexes. 

(3) Theory of dimension. 

(4) P. Alexandroff’s work on the internal structure of general spaces. 

This last mentioned work of Alexandroff is the starting point of a new 
theory, which is outlined in the second part of the paper : 


334 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A*. 


(1) First results on the infinitesimal structure of closed surfaces and the 
theory of harmonic transformations of complexes. 

(2) Solution of the problem of intersections of algebraic complexes and 
arbitrary closed sets. 

(3) Infinitesimal theory of general spaces and the principle of inductive 
linkages. The new Pflaster theorems. 

(5) Solution of Alexandroff’s problem on homologies in the large. 

In conclusion, some problems of general topology are discussed in the 
light of the new theory. 


Dr. A. C. Orrorp.—Uniqueness theorems for trigonometric series and 
integrals (12.10). 


Cantor’s fundamental uniqueness theorem for trigonometric series 
asserts that if 


lim 
> Ch ein =o 
™m—> co —m 


for all x in (0, 277), then cy = 0 for all m. It is natural to suppose that there 
is a strictly analogous theorem for trigonometric integrals, and this is in fact 
true. ‘Thus if 9(u) is integrable L in every finite interval and if 


lim [® 

(1) fees | @(u) ec du =o 
—o 

for all x, then @(u) is equivalent to zero. 

It is to be observed that the integral in (1) may converge for all x however 
great the order, or average order, of |g(u)|._ For example, it is convergent 
for all x when 

(u) = exp (au + ze’) Oo<a<I 


Cantor’s theorem has been generalised very widely by various writers, 
in particular by Rajchmann and Zygmund and by Verblunsky. There are 
corresponding results for trigonometric integrals and one of the most 
interesting of these is the following theorem. 

If (u) is integrable L in every finite interval and if 


ees St (<- IL) ou) ete du = 0 


for all x, then 9(u) is equivalent to zero. 


Miss A. Cox.—On representation by squares and quadratfrei integers in a 
real quadratic corpus (12.40). 


Applications of the Hardy-Littlewood method to problems of additive 
arithmetic in algebraic corpora have been made by Siegel and others. In 
the present paper, which describes joint work of Dr. Linfoot and the 
author, Siegel’s arguments (Math. Annalen, 87 (1922), 1-35) are applied 
to the problem of the representation of integers of large norm in a real 
quadratic corpus k(4/d) as a sum of squares and total-positive quadratfrei 
integers of the corpus, a quadratfrei integer of a corpus being defined as 
one not divisible by the square of a prime ideal of the corpus. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A*. 335 


If I(t) > 0, I(t’) < 0, and 
0(t, t’) = x eriS(utt] va) 


A ) — 2 gmiS(utl ved 
FG, t ) ay u>>o en (ut/ ), 
uw quadratfrei 


then the number of representations of the integer v as a sum of s integer 
squares and 7 total positive quadratfrei integers of the corpus 


As,r (v) = Va em miSwilva) ff O° (t + au, t’ + 2u’) fr (t + 2u, t’ + 20’). 
. e— 2ntS(vul v4) dy du’, 
where E is the parallelogram in the (u, u’)-plane defined by 
U = KO, + VMs, U! = KO,’ + Yoo’, — F< x <3,-F< Yt: 
(@4, 2, a base of k (4/d); ©’, @,’ their conjugates) and we take t = 
i/\/ Ny, t’ = — i/,/Nv. ; : 

We divide up the domain of integration E into regions F, by means of a 
Siegel F-dissection of order (Nv)*°, where o < c< 1 and the actual choice 
of c depends onrands. Then 

4 = 25s] — niS(vt/ vd) x’ Sf s fr , 
As,r (v) was 7 BOF du du’, 
where 5 runs over incongruent y (mod. £) whose ideal denominators @ 
are such that Na < (Nv)*. The crucial step is to replace 0, f by suitable 
approximation functions in the domains Fy. For 9 we use Siegel’s 
estimation : 


, 4 G(y) e—Ky/NaVNvlo|lv'| | 
Oe + am, t+ 20 — Neyer |< S7Nalel le 


for f we use the estimation 


, i a | b 
| F(t + 2u, t NOW, eee x ule) | 
B?=o0 moda 
< K; Na(|v|+|v’|) Nvt t+: + K,Na Nyt +e 
here v = t + 2(u — y), v’ =?’ + 2(u’ — y’), so that v, v’ are small near 
the point (y, y’). The final result is : 


sS— 
For o <r<*—4 


m2r+s 
As,1 (v) = T2(r + $s)dt+3s—4 
as Nv - , where S(v) is a convergent ‘ singular series ’ whose sum depends 
on the arithmetical properties of v but lies between two fixed positive 
constants. 


Nvt+ 48-2 S(v) + O(Nvr+ 3s— 4) 


Monday, September 14. 
Discussion on The theory of complex atoms (10.0). 


Prof. D. R. Hartree.—WNon-relativistic treatment of electronic struc- 
tures of atoms. 
‘ Solar-system ’ approximation, in which mutual forces between electrons 
are first omitted and then included, is a perturbation, too crude to give 
significant results. 


336 SECTIONAL’ TRANSACTIONS .—A*. 


A simple type of approximation consists in reducing the many-body 
problem to a set of one-body problems, by considering the motion of each 
particle in some average of the fields of the others. The ‘ self-consistent 
field ’ approximation to the structure of an atom. 

The variation principle and the relation of the ‘ self-consistent field ’ 
approximation to it. ‘The inclusion of ‘ exchange’ terms in the ‘ self- 
consistent field ’’ approximation. Survey of results of calculations of self- 
consistent field, without and with exchange. 

More accurate treatment of simple atomic systems, including dependence 
of wave-function on mutual distances between electrons, as well on their 
distances from the nucleus. 


Dr. H. S. W. Massey.—-Laws of interaction between particles. 


Dr. BerTHA SwirLes.—The relativistic self-consistent field method. 


The development of a strict relativistic theory of an atom with many 
electrons presents much difficulty. It is, however, possible to extend the 
self-consistent field method, using Dirac’s Hamiltonian for the separate 
electrons in the field of the nucleus and taking account not only of the 
Coulomb interaction but of the interaction of the spins and of retardation. 

Tables have been constructed from which the total energy of an atom con- 
taining s-, p-, d-electrons can be calculated, taking account of ‘ exchange.’ 
From this the relativistic self-consistent field equations can be derived by 
a variation method. 

The method has been applied to the evaluation of the separation of the 
components of the 2°P term of helium. Slater’s ‘method of diagonal 
sums,’ although not as powerful as in the non-relativistic case, shortens the 
work considerably. A comparison of the method and results is made with 
those of Breit, who used the relativistic wave equation in its second order 
form. 


GENERAL Discussion on The theory of complex atoms. 


Prof. M. R. Sipp1q1.—The theory of non-linear partial differential equations 
(12.20). 

Non-linear partial differential equations have lately acquired considerable 
importance owing to the fact that they arise in various modern physical 
problems, such as the conduction of heat in crystals, and in deep seas, the 
field theory of Born, etc. Previous investigations dealing with such equations 
are mostly of a function-theoretical character, requiring a knowledge of the 
so-called ‘ Green’s function.’ 

The present paper is devoted to developing a ‘ Fourier method ’ for the 
non-linear parabolic and hyperbolic equations : 


Su Su duy s 
Bx? ‘ = © pr se, Ou'(gy) 


5 ( du ol 

8x (Pe) ie 3 Spe Dus 
5 du eu f 
ss) sah — geo Spats Ne 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—A%*, B. 337 


Various boundary value problems, as well as equations of higher order 
and systems of equations are also considered. Green’s function is not 
required at all, and the solutions are given as series of characteristic functions. 
The Fourier coefficients are determined with the help of infinite systems of 
non-linear integral equations, which are solved by successive approximations. 
The uniqueness of the solutions is also established. 


SECTION B.—CHEMISTRY. 
Thursday, September 10. 


CHEMISTRY AND THE COMMUNITY :— 


PRESIDENTIAL AppREss by Prof. J. C. Puiip, O.B.E., F.R.S., on 
The training of the chemist for the service of the community (10.0). 


Mr. M. P. AppLesey.—Industry and the profession of chemistry (11.0). 


The chemist’s industrial importance is more widely appreciated every 
year but is yet not fully realised in some industries whose operations are 
largely chemical. The chemist may be of service in (a) analysis, (6) process 
control, (c) sales service, (d) research, (e) management. The use of fully 
trained chemists tends to efficiency, reduction of costs and profitable de- 
velopment. In regard to (e), a well-organised chemical education compares 
with other studies as a preparation for all the duties of management. 

Industry depends on strong schools of chemistry, giving sound teaching 
of fundamentals and inspired by active research. Recruits for the chemical 
industry should have an honours degree:and two or three years’ research 
experience designed to give experimental training and to develop perse- 
verance and resource. An industrial bias to the research undertaken in 
training is neither necessary nor desirable. Languages are almost indis- 
pensable, and men who have shared fully the general activities of their 
Universities are most useful. 

The obligations of industry to the chemical schools are best discharged 
by the subsidising of research by research fellowships and by grants for 
special apparatus and chemicals. Industry should facilitate the active 
participation of its technical staff in the operations of the publishing societies, 
and should support the Chemical Council in improving publications, pro- 
viding library facilities and generally promoting the consolidation of the 
chemical profession. 


Mr. C. J. T. Cronsuaw.—-The benign gifts of organic chemistry 
(11.30). 

The science of chemistry has grown out of the earliest times ; but that 
part which we call organic chemistry is relatively a modern development. 
The discovery of mauve by Perkin and his commercial exploitation of his 
invention showed to the world the possibilities of this branch of chemistry. 
Upon this discovery Germany gradually erected a great and progressive 
industry. The uses of colour in a modern civilised world are so varied that 
it is difficult for a person to-day to look back and realise the meagre uses of 
colour before 1870. 


338 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—B. 


The success of the dyestuffs industry showed in a very clear way the 
importance of organic chemistry as a tool in a modern world. 

The practice of medicine has been enriched by this same tool : the whole 
range of local anesthetics, many of the sleep-inducing compounds, and the 
sole remedy for sleeping sickness, are the results of this molecular archi- 
tecture. Modern photography, particularly in the developers and sensi- 
tisers, is the gift of this branch of chemistry. The ubiquity of the motor 
car, in its fuel and its tyres, is a derived benefit from organic chemistry. 
It has given the textile industry two new fibres. Recently in its work on 
detergents and vitamins it still carries the torch. Always does it seem to 
have caused benign revolutions ; it appears still to be capable of causing 
others. 


Sir Henry Date, C.B.E., F.R.S.—The training of chemists for work 
in the fields of biochemistry and medicine (12.0). 


In recent years Chemistry has newly and rapidly invaded the fields of 
functional Biology and the sciences related to Medicine. Even in the study 
of the complex phenomena of immunity, the results of recent years have 
shown a beginning of exact description in terms of organic and physical 
chemistry. Up till about 1920 only some four hormones were known 
as separable entities, and of these only two had been chemically defined. 
In the last few years a whole series has been chemically isolated, and several 
have been made artificially by synthesis. Of the vitamins, known a few 
years ago only by the effects of their absence, four or five have been chemically 
identified, and at least three have been artificially prepared. Sex hormones, 
one vitamin, carcinogenic substances, and heart tonics have all been 
chemically related to the typically inert sterols. New synthetic compounds 
of chemotherapeutic value give promise of control over some of the most 
deadly infections of man, especially in the Tropics. The whole orientation 
of therapeutics is being shifted from the effects to the causes of disease. 
It is suggested that this new and increasing domination of biological and 
medical research, by chemical methods and ideas, represents the greatest 
of all the services of chemistry to the community. It calls for chemists 
of the highest ability, so trained that they can fully co-operate and share 
the planning of future progress with those primarily trained in biology and 
the medical sciences. 


AFTERNOON. 


Excursion to the Laboratories and Testing Departments of Imperial 
Chemical Industries, Ltd., at Blackley. 


Friday, September 11. 
Discussion on Electroplating. (See general summary below.) 
Mr. D. J. Macnaucutan.—Introduction (10.0). 


Mr. A. W. HoruersaLt.—Development of control in electrodeposition 
processes (10.15). 


Dr. 5S. WERNICK.—FElectrodeposited coatings as corrosion preventives 
(10.45). 


ee 


‘| tere 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—B. 339 
Mr. E. A. OLLARD.—Non-tarnishable finishes (11.10). 


Mr. C. F. J. Francis-Carter.—Advances in industrial electroplating 
(11.35). 


Dr. H. J. T. ELtincHam.—The future of electrodeposition (12.0). 


In the more restricted sense of the term, ‘ electroplating ’ consists in the 
production of a thin coating of a metal over the surface of a metallic object 
by passing a direct electric current through a solution of a salt of the metal 
to be deposited, the article to be plated being immersed in the solution and 
forming the negative electrode or cathode. ‘This type of process is very 
closely related, however, to a number of others involving the electro- 
deposition of metals—the production of relatively very thick, strongly ad- 
herent deposits for ‘ building up ’ worn or undersized machine parts ; the 
formation of an oxide coating on aluminium or its alloys by using the metal 
object as the positive electrode or anode in a suitable solution ; the produc- 
tion of non-adherent deposits which, on detachment from the surface on 
which they are formed, reproduce faithfully details of surface structure 
(electrotyping) or the complete shape of an object (electroforming)—and 
the term ‘ electroplating ’ is sometimes used to include some or all of these 
cognate electrodeposition processes. 

Although most of these various applications of electrodeposition were 
devised nearly a century ago, developments during the last twenty years 
have been so important that the scope and status of the industry have been 
completely changed. The papers presented at this meeting furnish a 
survey of the more important of these comparatively recent developments. 

The range of metals electroplated has been extended by the important 
addition of chromium and recently of rhodium ; ‘ anodising ’ of aluminium 
and its alloys has been introduced ; and progress has been made in the 
simultaneous deposition of two metals to give alloy coatings. The electro- 
deposition of the ‘ base’ metals, zinc and cadmium, essentially for the 
protection of iron and steel against corrosion, has become an important 
commercial process ; and electrodeposited coatings of tin and, in special 
circumstances, of lead, have also been applied for this purpose. The scale 
of nickel plating has been enormously expanded, partly on its own account 
but chiefly because of the importance of nickel as an ‘ undercoat’ for 
chromium ; and the particular need for ensuring the deposition of firmly 
adherent, regular, non-porous nickel coatings for this latter purpose has 
greatly stimulated investigation of the factors which determine these pro- 
perties, and has led to outstanding improvement in the quality and reliability 
of nickel coatings. The non-tarnishable finish imparted by a thin ‘ flash ’ 
of electrodeposited chromium to many classes of metal ware has received 
widespread application and has served to arouse a new interest on the part 
of manufacturers and members of the public in electroplating in general. 
The recent introduction of rhodium plating to furnish a non-tarnishable 
coating on silver ware bids fair to extend this interest. In the meantime, 
the old-established processes of plating copper, silver and gold have main- 
tained their positions in their respective fields. 

In all these developments important parts have been played by the 
metallurgist, the physicist, and especially the chemist. "The importance of 
close co-operation between the research laboratory and the plating shop 
became fully recognised during the war, and is now accepted as the necessary 
basis for progress. 

As a result of studies of the functions of various ingredients in plating 


340 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—B. 


baths, some simplification of the older ‘ formule’ has been effected, and it 
has become possible to exercise a much more exact control over conditions 
of operation, and hence over the character and properties of the deposit. 
A better understanding of the influence of effective acidity (pH value) on 
the conditions of deposition, especially of nickel, has been Vital to securing 
sound deposits of adequate thickness under modern conditions of mass 
production. The study of the factors enabling the plating process to 
penetrate into recesses in the object to be coated, instead of occurring unduly 
preferentially on projecting regions nearest to the anode, has led to the 
production of solutions for which this ‘ throwing power’ is high enough 
to permit the deposition of a reasonably even coating on articles of compli- 
cated shape. Investigations on the effects of ‘ addition agents ’ of various 
kinds—especially colloids and other substances of high molecular weight— 
have resulted in the production of smooth, coherent coatings from solutions 
which otherwise yield coarsely crystalline, irregular, or spongy deposits ; 
and are now leading to the direct production of coatings so lustrous as to 
eliminate the need of polishing—a matter which may be of special im- 
portance when the size or shape of the article, or the properties of the deposit, 
render the polishing process difficult and costly. 

Exact correlation of conditions of deposition with the character and 
properties of the deposit requires the provision of quantitative tests of 
properties of the coating such as hardness, porosity, internal stress and 
adhesion ; the introduction of such tests has furnished important informa- 
tion which enables these properties to be accurately controlled in practice 
and has led to developments in the use of electrodeposition for special 
purposes such as the electroforming of sheet and tube, the building up of 
worn machine parts and the provision of a hard facing on gauges, press 
tools, printing cylinders, etc. A further stage consists in correlating these 
properties with the crystalline structure of the deposit. Microscopical 
examination of etched surfaces and sections has done much to indicate the 
size, shape and general arrangement of the crystallites of which the deposit 
is built up, and even to detect the presence of non-metallic matter—e.g. 
oxides—which, entering the deposit in a colloidal state, may profoundly 
modify its crystalline character. Problems in this field involving the actual 
nature of adhesion of electrodeposits and the manner in which their structure 
is built up are also being attacked by X-ray examination and more recently 
by electron diffraction methods. 

The striking improvements which have been made—especially during 
the last ten to fifteen years—in the control of the whole plating process, 
including the very important preliminary cleaning operations required to 
free the surface of the basis metal from traces of grease or other impurities 
which would prevent perfect adhesion of the coating, have raised the general 
standard of quality and reliability of plating to a remarkable extent and 
given users a real confidence in its value for a wide range of new industrial 
purposes. The resulting increase of demand has stimulated the introduc- 
tion of mass-production methods for plating articles in automatic plants ; 
the articles to be plated are carried at a regular rate by conveyor chains 
through a succession of tanks and chambers in which the operations of 
cleaning, washing, plating, rinsing and drying are conducted in their proper 
sequence and each for its appropriate time ; such plants have become a 
feature of modern electroplating industry. An automatic nickel-plating 
plant may carry 3,000—-5,000 gallons (or even more) of solution and as much 
as 5 tons of nickel anodes. It is estimated that the total area covered by 
nickel plate alone amounts to 250 million sq. ft. per annum. 

Progress along the lines indicated may be expected to continue in the 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—B. 341 


future. Moreover, the practice of electroplating will no doubt be further 
modified and extended as a result of new advances in pure science, and the 
range of application of electrodeposited coatings widened by new develop- 
ments in other industries. 


In connection with this discussion an Exhibit of Electroplating, 
specially arranged by the Electrodepositors’ ‘Technical Society, was 
on view in the Chemistry Laboratory of the Grammar School, adjacent 
to Section B meeting-room, from Thursday, September 10, to Tuesday, 
September 15, inclusive. 


AFTERNOON. 


Excursion to Standfast Dyers and Printers, Ltd., Lancaster. 


Monday, September 14. 


Discussion on Photochemistry. 
Dr. R. G. W. Norrisu, F.R.S.—Jntroduction (10.0). 


Mr. H. W. 'THomrson.—Molecular spectra as a guide to photochemical 
reaction (10.30). 


The earlier measurements on photochemical reactions were made largely 
to determine the quantum efficiencies of the reactions from the standpoint 
of the Einstein Law. ‘The development of the theory of reaction chains 
from the study of the effect of inhibitors, the high values of the quantum 
yields, and other considerations, made it clear that there are two essential 
parts to a photochemical change: (1) the primary process ; (2) secondary 
processes, which are quite independent of the primary one. It is with the 
so-called ‘ primary processes ’ that spectroscopic considerations are mainly 
concerned, for it is clear that the nature of the absorption spectrum of the 
reacting substance must be a guide to the manner in which the light energy 
is absorbed. ‘This correlation of absorption spectrum data with photo- 
chemical measurements has perhaps been the most significant advance in 
the subject in recent years. 

Briefly, it can be said that the main problem is to decide whether the 
primary process involves mere excitation, or one-act dissociation. ‘The 
spectral evidence often makes a decision between the two alternatives 
possible, although there is in some cases, especially with polyatomic mole- 
cules, some ambiguity. Spectral evidence also makes it frequently possible 
to determine the products of a primary one-act dissociation, but the limita- 
tions of this raises many crucial questions. 

In the present paper the nature of the energy levels of a diatomic molecule 
and the theory of the structure of an ideal absorption spectrum are outlined. 
The significance of potential energy curves is discussed. ‘Three types of 
absorption spectrum are found in practice, (a) those which are fine-structured 
or discrete throughout, (b) those which are entirely continuous, and (c) 
those which show either diffuseness throughout or have both discrete and 
diffuse regions. ‘The more important examples of each type are given, and 
their interpretation in connection with typical photochemical processes is 
discussed. In particular, the class of ‘ predissociation spectra’ is described, 
and inferences drawn from them are explained. 


342 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—B. 


The deduction from the purely spectral data of products of primary 
dissociation is discussed, and attention is drawn to the ambiguities and 
limitations of the interpretations already given. ‘The necessary supple- 
mentary evidence is indicated. 

The above considerations are carried over to the more general cases of 
polyatomic molecules, with which photochemistry is mainly concerned. 
The interpretations are applied to certain photodecompositions which have 
recently been studied, such as the photolysis of metallic carbonyls, allyl 
aldehyde, carbon suboxide, alkyl nitrites, metallic alkyls and others. 

Questions of a general nature bearing upon the above, such as energy 
degradation within a molecule, reactions of low quantum yield, the signi- 
ficance of different modes of induced molecular vibration, and the nature of 
the products of primary one-act dissociation, are discussed. 


Dr. T. G. Pearson.—The photochemical generation of free radicals 
(11.0). 


Dr. R. G. W. Norrisu, F.R.S.—Photochemistry of polyatomic mole- 
cules (11.30). 


Dr. H. W. MELVILLE.—Secondary reactions in photo-chemistry (12.0). 


Nearly all photo-chemical reactions are complex, that is the primary 
process—the absorption of a quantum of radiation—is succeeded by a series 
of reactions which require separate investigation. This has been accom- 
plished with a number of photo-reactions, for example, the photo-dissociation 
of ammonia and the photo-synthesis of hydrogen bromide and the deviations 
from the low photo-chemical equivalence explained. 

On the other hand when the primary process has been thoroughly 
elucidated the photo-technique may be utilised to study the kinetics of 
thermal reactions whose mechanism cannot otherwise be unambiguously 
settled. Among the processes which may be studied in this way are the 
rate of recombination of free atoms, the exchange reaction of deuterium 
with hydrides, the thermal decomposition of polyatomic molecules, the 
kinetics of the formation of substances of high molecular weight by poly- 
merisation of simple molecules and the mechanism of slow and explosive 
combustion. 


AFTERNOON. 


Dr. R. G. W. Norrisu, F.R.S., and Dr. H. W. MELVILLE.—Experimental 
demonstration illustrating the principles of photochemistry. 


Tuesday, September 15. 
CHEMISTRY AND Foop SCIENCE :— 


Dr. L. H. Lampitt.—The scientific aspect of the preparation of food 
(10.0). 


Dr. L. J. Harris.—The nutritional aspect (10.30). 


The final criterion by which the work of the food chemist must be judged 
is Nutrition—does the food afford adequate nourishment? Chemical 
research has led to striking advances, such as are exemplified in the isolation, 


J 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—B. 343 


the determination of the structure of, and the artificial synthesis of vitamins. 
As a result the clinician can now prescribe an exact number of International 
Units of a synthetic vitamin ; and Nutrition is becoming an exact science 
instead of a matter of opinion. But the study of nutrition involves also 
the use of biological, and physical, and other methods, and this justifies 
and indeed necessitates the existence of a new scientific expert—the 
nutritionist. Nutrition in its applications is also bound up with agriculture 
and economics. ‘The nutritional condition of the people as a whole is 
better than it was, but there is ample room for further improvement. 
A difficulty in assessing malnutrition in the past has been the lack of standards 
of reference, but newer chemical and clinical methods for determining 
partial deficiencies are now offering themselves. Evidence of malnutrition, 
presumptive or direct, is obtained along several different lines—viz. 
(1) economic (i.e.. insufficiency of money spent on food), (2) dietetic 
(inadequacy of food eaten), (3) medical (existence of disorders of deficiency), 
(4) sociological (comparison of the health standards of poorly-fed and 
better-fed social groups), and (5) experimental (improvement in health 
observed in controlled tests when the inadequate food is suitably augmented). 


Dr. T. Moran.—The biology of food preservation (11.15). 


Food storage is the link between the farmer and consumer ; it dates from 
earliest times, but modern civilisation, with industry and farming each 
concentrated and often separated by oceans, has greatly increased its 
importance. 

The aim of food storage science is not simply to maintain the condition 
of the foodstuff as it exists on the farm, but instead to modify and control 
changes so as to yield, after a predetermined interval, pleasant and desirable 
foods. 

The demand for standard products which are also best suited for storage 
has exercised, and continues to exercise, a profound influence upon the 
theory and practice of farming which is, in fact, being industrialised. 

Foods consist of living materials, such as fruits, vegetables and cereals ; 
and dead but still complex and organised structures such as meat and fish. 
The properties and behaviour of these foodstuffs during storage are dis- 
cussed to illustrate on the one hand the breadth of the scientific background, 
and on the other types of practical applications which have emerged from 
the laboratory. 

Food science can be regarded as a distinct branch of teaching and research, 
coming between agriculture on the one hand and medicine on the other. 


Mr. T. M. HersBert.—Transport of food (11.45). 


A brief historical survey shows that whilst there have in past ages been 
examples of dependence on food imports, problems of food transport 
hardly achieved serious importance until the industrial era. Since this date 
Great Britain has occupied a unique position in the world trade in food- 
stuffs, and the magnitude of the problems involved in supplying her require- 
ments is indicated statistically. "The development of the world trade in 
wheat, and the much more difficult problem of ensuring this country's 
meat requirements between 1870 and 1900 is outlined. 

The present-day problems relate mainly to the conveyance of perishable 
foods requiring controlled conditions of transport. Maintenance of suit- 
ably low temperatures, or provision of adequate ventilation, are the primary 
requirements that the chemical engineer has to solve, and the refrigeration 


344 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—B, C. 


methods adopted on shipboard and on rail or road vehicles are discussed. 
Various classes of foodstuffs are then considered, and the particular prob- 
lems arising in their conveyance are outlined, and examples of their successful 
solution given. 

Finally, the part that transport can play in ensuring an adequate diet is 
stressed as an example of co-operation between chemist, physicist and 
engineer in the service of the community. 


Discussion (Sir Jostan Stamp, G.C.B., G.B.E., Prof. H. G. DEN- 
HAM, Dr. G. RocHE Lyncn, O.B.E., Dr. A, J. Smiru, and 


others). 


SECTION C.—GEOLOGY. 


EXCURSION PRECEDING THE MEETING. (September 5-9.) 


By the invitation of the Yorkshire Geological Society, members were 
able to join in an excursion to Ulverston before the meeting. The party 
numbered about forty. The late Dr. Bernard Smith was to have been 
one of the directors—his place was taken at short notice by Mr. T’. Eastwood. 
Mr. T. C. Nicholas, Dr. R. G. Hudson, Prof. W. B. R. King and Dr. G. H. 
Mitchell were the other directors. The excursion included visits to the 
Duddon Valley, Coniston and Ashgill, Hodbarrow Hematite Mine, 
Humphrey Head and Arnside, and were uniformly successful and enjoyable. 
The organisation of the excursion, by the Excursions Secretary of the 
Society, Dr. Mitchell, was admirable, and the weather conditions, though 
representative of those normal to the district, were far from unsatisfactory. 


Thursday, September 10. 
Prof. H. H. Reap.—Geology of the neighbourhood of Blackpool (10.0). 
Dr. R. G. S. Hupson.—The Lower Carboniferous south of Carnforth. 


An important structure, the Hutton monocline, extends from Priest 
Hutton to Quernmore and forms a N.-S. belt of vertical rocks, 8 miles 
long and often about 800 yards wide. The axis of the fold crosses 
the general strike of the Carboniferous rocks and therefore while in the 
northern part of the fold the vertical beds are D, limestone (as at Wegber 
and Capernwray Quarries), in the southern part of the fold the steeply 
dipping beds are Bowland Shales and Millstone Grit (as at Kellet Park 
Wood and Addington Quarries). The Hutton monocline is parallel, and 
of a similar nature, to the Dent monocline to the east and the Silverdale 
monocline to the west. 

Near Carnforth and Over Kellet the Carboniferous Limestone is of 
S,D, age and is bedded limestone of Great Scar (massif) facies. Southwards 
the bedding disappears and along the line Bolton-le-Sands and Dunald 
Mill the limestone is of reef facies, and a reef-knoll topography is slightly 
developed. ‘Transition limestones between Great Scar and Reef facies 
are exposed in Dunald Mill Quarry, while a small fold at Swantly to the 
west of the Hutton monocline exposes a knoll of Dy, reef-limestone. 
Farther south a similar inlier at Halton Green exposes D, limestone of 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 345 


Craven Lowland (basin) facies together with limestone breccias similar to 
the D, breccias of that area. 

These E.-W. belts of Viséan sedimentation are comparable to those 
of the Craven area and thus extend the Craven Reef Belt to the west under 
Bowland Forest and link it with its western extension in the Isle of Man. 

The beds between the Carboniferous Limestone and the Millstone Grit 
show a transition southwards from a shale, sandstone, limestone (Yoredale) 
facies well exposed in Pinfold and Sellet Hall Becks to a shale (Bowland) 
facies exposed in Kellet Hall Wood. Along the reef belt as at Swantley 
the shales are overlapped and Millstone Grit rests almost directly on the 
reef limestone. 


Mr. F. C. SLtiIncEer.—-Millstone Grit and glacial geology of Caton Moor, 
near Lancaster (11.30). 


A series of grits and shales of Millstone Grit age, and ranging from lower 
E, to R,, are exposed on or near Caton Moor. The succession is as follows : 


Ft. 
Moorcock Flags and Hawkshead Grit . 100 
Claughton Moor Shales : ; 100-40 
Nottage Crag Grit : : : ‘ 100-50 
Claughton Flag Series . ; , . 200-100 
Caton Shales ; : ; 100 
Roeburndale Grit with thin coals : ; 50 
Close Hill Shales } : ; ‘ 150-0 
Cocklett Scar Flags. : 2 . 150-10 
Wray Grits and Shales ; : 50 


A boulder bed at the base of the Cocklett Sei Flags (i.e. near base of 
E,) indicates contemporaneous local movement. The Roeburndale Grit, the 
upper layers of which are usually ganisteroid, contains two thin ‘and 
impersistent coals. "The Caton Shales, the ‘ calcareous shales’ of the 1 in. 
Geological Survey map, contain goniatites of late E, age ; the uppermost 
band contains Cravenoceras holmesi, Anthracoceras discoides and A. cf. 
paucilobum. The Claughton Flag Series (sandy shales and thin carbonace- 
ous sandstones) contains a sparse fauna of marine lamellibranchs. The 
Claughton Moor Shales are also in part marine. 

Correlation—The Roeburndale Grit may be correlated with the Red 
Scar Grit of Upper Nidderdale ; the Claughton Flag Series represents both 
the Follifoot Grits and the Cayton Gill Beds. ‘The Claughton Moor Shales 
probably represent the lowest shale in the Brimham Grits of Nidderdale 
and the shales with R. eoreticulatum and R.inconstans below the Addlethorpe 
Grit of the area south of Harrogate. 

An olivine dolerite dyke of Tertiary age is intruded into the Caton 
Shales. 

Glacial retreat phenomena are particularly well developed, and the posi- 
tions of several minor halt stages can be determined. 


Mr. L. H. Tonxs.—Geology of the Preston district (12.0). 


Dr. J. E. Richey and Dr. W. Q. KENNeEDy.—The succession of the 
Moine Schists of Western Inverness-shire. 
A stratigraphical succession has been established in the Moine Schists 
along the coastal region of western Inverness-shire between Mallaig and 
N 


346 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 


Arisaig.1 The schists concerned lie not far to the east of the nee Thrust. 
They fall into three groups, as follows :— 


3. Upper Psammitic Group. 
(c) Upper Striped Schists with calc.- 
2. Striped and Pelitic Group - (b) poe ae ae 
| (a) Lower Striped Schists. 
1. Lower Psammitic Group. 


The above groups are here termed, collectively, the Morar Schists, and 
form a single stratigraphical series with interbanding along their mutual 
junctions. The original order of deposition is shown in the psammitic 
schists by abundant false-bedding, by recurrent slip-folding, by ripple- 
marking, local erosion and the downward penetration of sandy material 
into fissures from an overlying bed. In the striped schists of Group 2, which 
consist of alternating lamine of psammitic and pelitic or semi-pelitic 
material, false-bedding on a small scale and ripple-marking are sometimes 
seen in the psammitic layers. 

Older beds are encountered in a direction eastwards from the coast with- 
out repetition by folding of any consequence. The total thickness of the 
Morar Schists must be immense. An estimate of 19,000 ft. has been made, 
but no stratigraphical top or base to the series is known. 

The lowest group (1) is in contact eastwards with much crumpled and 
folded schists or gneisses. These form an anticlinal core with N.-S. axis. 
In Knoydart both to west and east Group (1) is succeeded by the Striped 
and Pelitic Group (2), which on the eastern side is injected with granite- 
pegmatite and thus forms injection-gneisses, which cover a wide area in 
Knoydart and eastern Morar. 

The rocks of the anticlinal core are mainly paragneiss, but include a 
broad belt in which hornblendic and feldspathic bands are prevalent. The 
structural succession is as follows :— 

(d) Psammitic gneiss. 

(c) Striped pelitic-psammitic gneiss. 

(b) Banded hornblende-gneiss, etc. 

(a) Psammitic gneiss, with epidote-rich bands plentiful near top. 


Along the junction of the gneissic core with the Lower Psammitic Group 
(1) of the Morar Schists, the Psammitic Gneiss (d) and the Striped Gneiss 
(c) are locally absent. The junction appears to be a plane of discordance. 


AFTERNOON. 
Excursion to Preston district. Leader, Mr. L. H. ‘Tonks. 


Friday, September 11. 
Dr. O. H. ScH1nDEWwoLF.—Chapters from the phylogeny of the Cephalo- 
poda (9.45). 
DiscussIon on The geomorphology of the Irish Sea Basin (10.15). 


Prof. J. K. CHARLESwWORTH.—Introduction. 


The Irish Sea Basin is the result of an age-long evolution. ‘Tectonic 
forces of Caledonian age raised the Lower Paleozoic sediments into the 

1 Richey, J. E., in ‘Summary of Progress for 1935, Part I’ (Mem. Geol. Surv.), 
1936, pp. 78-79. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 347 


discontinuous ring about the basin and initiated the tectonic depression of 
Strangford Lough and that south of Co. Down which continues into the 
Solway. The Carboniferous Limestone sea was in some respects the 
precursor of the present Irish Sea, for the mountains of Wales, Wicklow, 
the Lake District and the Isle of Man rose above its surface though the Coal 
Measure swamps largely surmounted them. Hercynian folding and faulting 
again emphasised the morphological difference between hill and plain 
which the Keuper Marls and Jurassic strata later did so much to minimise. 
The close of the Cretaceous coincided with the beginning of the present 
drainage. 

During the Tertiary Era that witnessed the birth of the Mournes the basin 
was the scene of fracturing, as in the North Channel and Carlingford Lough, 
and of intermittent elevation, for levels of planation, three at least in number, 
are still preserved. ‘The last of these, of early Pliocene age, was succeeded 
by further uplift which initiated the ‘ buried valleys.’ 

Pleistocene ice sculptured the uplands and deposited its load on the sea- 
floor and the surrounding plains, converting parts of the floor into dry 
land, obliterating the ‘ buried valleys,’ and largely obscuring the ‘ preglacial ’ 
shoreline. In recent times, the sea withdrew into a narrow channel and 
expanded subsequently to inundate the ‘ submerged forests ’ and separate 
Ireland and the Isle of Man from Great Britain. 


Dr. E. GREENLY. 


On the floor of the sea to the east of Anglesey are sheets of Mesozoic 
rocks, with an outlier of Chalk; so this is the site of a Neozoic syncline. 
Anglesey (before base-levelling) was the core of an anticline. But it was a 
mere lobe. For Snowdonia is carved out of a plateau, whose last base- 
levelling seems to have been in Late Cretaceous time. Now raised into a 
very gentle dome, it is the core of a far loftier anticline. Further, the valleys 
of Snowdonia cannot have existed at the time of the intrusion of certain 
dykes, which are of Neozoic age. Consequently, the mountains, as 
mountains, must have begun to develop at some stage of Neozoic time; 
probably Oligocene, possibly Miocene. For the Menaian Platform cannot 
be later than Pliocene. Thus, none of the major features of the south-east 
part of the Irish Sea Basin can be anterior to Oligocene time. They are the 
work of prolonged erosion acting upon gentle Neozoic folding. 


Mr. R. Kay GresswELL.—The south-eastern portion of the Irish Sea 
Basin. 


Having found that foreshore drifting occurs on the south-west Lancashire 
coast away from Formby Point in both directions (see paper to Section E 
at this meeting), the conclusion is reached that material is brought from the 
sea floor to the beach at Formby Point, and also since the bottom to the 
10-fathom line is more or less pure quartz sand, this indicates that sub- 
marine contours to this depth will be controlled by present-day currents. 
From the ro- to the 30-fathom line in an east-west direction is about 43 miles, 
giving an average gradient of 3 ft. a mile or 1 in 2,000 approximately. The 
submarine contours here are intricate but indicate possible post-glacial 
estuaries for the rivers Ribble, Mersey and Dee between the 16- and 
25-fathom lines. The Mersey and Dee appear to unite at 25 fathoms. The 
presence of submerged forestal remains on the Formby to Liverpool and 
Wirral coasts shows that in post-glacial times the land stood higher than 
to-day, 120 ft. having been suggested by De Rance. Thus the determina- 
tion of the post-glacial coastline is of importance. It is, however, possible, 


348 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C., 


in view of the unconsolidated nature of the sea bottom, that the whole of 
the submarine relief discussed here may be due to currents at present in 
operation. 


Mr. A. AusTIN MILLER.—Pre-glacial erosion surfaces round the Irish 
Sea coast. 


The pre-glacial surface is much obscured by thick accumulations of drift 
on the lowlands and considerably modified by ice erosion on the highlands, 
but sufficient evidence survives to permit an analysis of slopes and drainage 
systems with a view to determining the base levels to which they are graded. 
A correlation is attempted of evidence collected from the Irish Plain, the 
Wicklow Mountains, North Wales, the Lancashire Plain and the Lake 
District. 

Three erosion cycles are recognised, and the features correlated with each 
cycle are separated and described. The obliteration of much of the evidence 
by glaciation and its interference with such as survives forbids any precision 
in assessing the earlier base levels, but they appear to indicate successive 
sea-levels at about 600 ft., 400 ft. and 200 ft. above that of to-day. 


Dr. S. E. HoLLincwortu.—Platforms around the Lake District. 


The Lake District and its environs form a well-defined structural and 
topographic unit bounded by sea on three sides. The superimposed radial 
drainage has been considered to have developed on domed Mesozoic or 
Tertiary rocks covering an old planation surface. 

Several well-defined plateaux or platforms have been cut in the varied 
rocks beneath this surface of planation. 

Investigation in the field and by means of projected profiles, etc., revealed 
additional evidence suggestive of the presence of a number of variably 
developed platforms at intermediate and higher levels. This increase in the 
number and frequency of possible platform levels made the danger of faulty 
linking-up, by invoking or overlooking warping, very real. 

It became necessary to subdivide the area into narrow, more or less radial 
strips, and investigate each separately. Results appear to indicate that 
individual levels persist around the Lake District, thus excluding any 
considerable tilting (except possibly accentuation of doming) since the 
formation of the highest (2,600 ft.O.D.) platform. Watershed profiles yield 
confirmatory results. 

Within the less glaciated valleys the ‘ valley within valley ’ character is 
often recognisable and may in exceptional cases be linked with steps in the 
valley floor. 

In the more severely glaciated valleys, some steps that have developed by 
ice-plucking, probably originated at limits of rejuvenation; and some 
correlation between these is possible. 

The recognition of the platforms in a heavily glaciated area appears to 
give a definite limit to the amount of ice erosion. 

The platforms cut on the outer slope of the dome are considered to be of 
marine origin with subaerial equivalents inland. They probably date from 
early Pliocene or late Miocene times. 

Many cols correspond with platform levels and some river captures 
appear to be associated with rejuvenations that followed the uplift of 
particular platforms. Throughout the area glacier-lake overflows across 
spurs tend to occur at the inner edge of platforms. 

Many of the platforms can be plausibly linked with others farther afield 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 349 


at similar heights. If such correlations are ultimately made, the great range 
of eustatic movement suggested thereby must fundamentally affect many 
aspects of Neozoic geology and geography. 


AFTERNOON. 
Excursion to Dinkley on the Ribble. Leader, Mr. E. W. J. Moore. 


Saturday, September 12. 


Excursion to the Lake District, for Skelgill. Leaders: Profs. W. G. 
FEARNSIDES, F.R.S., and W. B. R. Kine. 


Sunday, September 13. 


Excursion to Lancaster Fells. Leaders: Dr. R. G. S. Hupson and 
Mr. F. C. SLINGER. 


Monday, September 14. 


PRESIDENTIAL. Appress by Prof. H. L. Hawkins on Paleontology and 
humanity (10.0). 


Discussion on Earth movements in Carboniferous times in North England. 


Prof. H. G. A. Hicxiinc, F.R.S.—Discussion on earth-movements 
in the north of England. 


The geological structure and topography of the north of England is based 
upon the powerful folding of the lower Paleozoic rocks. In the west these 
folds follow the usual N.E.-S.W. trend, but under the east they appear to 
trend consistently N.W.-S.E. The change of strike follows the Vale of 
Eden and the upper Ribble. It is probably continued southward under the 
eastern edge of the Lancashire and North Staffordshire coalfields, and 
possibly farther south by the line of the Malvern disturbances. Based upon 
this structure, the Carboniferous rocks west of the line are dominated by 
folds of Caledonian trend, illustrated by the Cumberland coalfield, the 
powerful folds of the lower Ribble valley and the Burnley and South 
Lancashire coalfields. Correspondingly, the dominant faulting in this area 
is N.W.-S.E. East of the line the Carboniferous folding is-gentler and is 
characterised by Charnian trends, illustrated by the synclines of the 
Durham, Yorkshire and Nottingham coalfield. The dominant faulting on this 
side is N.E.-S.W. 

The ‘ Pennine Chain ’ probably owes its inception to a stiffening of the 
country about the line of change in the lower Palzozoic folding. It consists 
of four domed elevations, with summits near the High Peak, Ingleborough, 
Cross Fell and Bewcastle respectively. The great domes of the Cheviot 
and the Lake District are not on the line and are probably of different 
origin. ‘There is evidence that some of these domes were indicated in the 
pre-Carboniferous topography, but in the main they were produced by 
intra-Carboniferous movements. All workers on both lower and upper 
Carboniferous rocks have emphasised the abundant evidence of movement 


350 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 


during their deposition indicated in detail by numerous local unconformities, 
erosional features, boulder beds and slumping phenomena, and on the great 
scale by very great variation in the thickness and character of the deposits. 
The essential structure of the region was completed before the Permian 
peneplanation. ‘There is no evidence of more than a broad warping of the 
north of England since Carboniferous times, with some considerable 
faulting in the neighbourhood of the divisional line previously mentioned. 
The present topography and drainage shows a remarkably close adjustment 
to the Carboniferous tectonics. This fact, together with the low degree of 
alteration of the rocks themselves, suggests that the Mesozoic cover has 
never been of great thickness, and that it has done little more than protect 
a pre-Permian topography of which the main lines are now re-emerging. 


Dr. R. G. S. Hupson.— Sudetic earth-movements in the Craven area. 


In the Craven area of Yorkshire, an area of Carboniferous sedimentation 
in basin and on massif, the Mid-Carboniferous (Sudetic) orogeny consisted 
of movements commencing in the Upper Viséan and persisting to the end of 
the Lower Namurian. These orogenic phases can be correlated with changes 
in type of sediment action and vary both in character and in their relation to 
basin, margin and massif. 

Early Sudetic movements have their major effect in the sedimentation 
basin and resulted in general uplift followed by sharp folding along E.-W. 
axes, best seen in the Skipton anticline where the main movement is of 
D,/P, age. On the massif and on the reef-belt of the massif margin these 
movements are indicated by intraformational breccias and conglomerates. 

Middle Sudetic movements show the transference of the main effect from 
basin to the margin between basin and massif. They are of both P,/P, and 
P,/E, ages and resulted in down-folding and down-faulting of the basin 
along the margin ; the former in front of the reef-belt and the latter (the 
Mid-Craven Fault) at the back of the reef-belt, both being accompanied 
by slumping, the formation of boulder beds and the rapid transgression 
of the succeeding shales across the knoll topography and fault-scarps thus 
formed. Probably the extrusion and slumping of the Scarlet lavas of the 
Isle of Man margin are of this age. In basin and on massif these move- 
ments are mainly expressed by change of sediment accompanied by local 
non-sequences. 

Late Sudetic movements mainly affected the massif. Two movements 
resulted in the unconformity of the Millstone Grit (Grassington Grit) on 
the Yoredale Series and later the non-sequence between the Grits of Tan 
Hill and the Mirk Fell beds below. These movements have only been 
recognised in the basin by the thinning of the sub-Kinderscout beds 
against the massif. 

This northward shift of the major effects of the various Sudetic move- 
ments was continued during the succeeding Erzgebirgian orogenies and 
resulted in the absence of the greater part of the Upper Namurian in North- 
umberland and Durham. 


Mr. R. C. B. Jones —The Lancashire coal-field between the Rossendale 
anticline and Cheshire basin. 


The South Lancashire Coalfield has a general southerly dip which is much 
interrupted by folds and faults. Its eastern limit is the Pennine Anticline 
while to the west the Rossendale Anticline loses its influence and the 
Carboniferous is faulted against the Triassic. The main coalfield is here 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 351 


limited by the Knowsley Anticline, the detached Skelmersdale Basin lying 
to the north of it. 

It has been found impossible to analyse some of the folds and associated 
faults. It can be shown that folding, but not faulting, took place before the 
Upper Coal Measures were deposited which here rest unconformably on 
the Middle Coal Measures, over 2,000 ft. of which are missing. 

The parallelism between the unconformable bases of the Upper Coal 
Measures and the Permo-Trias suggests that there was little folding prior to 
the deposition of the Permo-Trias although faulting took place. The major 
faulting occurred in post-Trias times and was mainly a renewal of movement 
along pre-Triassic faults. The relatively small dips in the Upper Coal 
Measures and Trias compared with the Middle Coal Measures beneath 
indicate that the folding was mainly pre-Upper Coal Measures. 

There are indications of movement during the deposition of the Middle 
Coal Measures. 


Dr. G. H. Mitcuett.—The Skipton anticline. 


AFTERNOON. 


Excursion to Bispham and Upholland. Leaders: Messrs. R. W. 
Cuatme_rs and L. H. Tonks. é 


Tuesday, September 15. 


Prof. H. P. Lewis.—Ordovician succession at S.W. end of Aran range, 
Merionethshire (10.0). 


The area is that drained by the Helygog and Celynog, tributaries of the 
Afon Wnion. It consists of Upper Cambrian and Ordovician rocks which 
dip, in general, to the south-east, and which are crossed by the Bala Fault. 
The Ordovician sequence, with approximate maximum thicknesses of the 
subdivisions, is as follows : 

Arenig or Basement Series (goo ft.).—Gritty and micaceous flags, slaty 
tuff, bedded and massive felspathic tuff and, at or near the top, the “ Aran 
Boulder Bed,’ in which the tuff contains abundant large boulders of ‘ felsite.’ 
South-east of the Bala Fault, the lowest beds are separated by a sill of 
dolerite from grey flags of Tremadoc age (with Asaphellus homfrayt), in the 
Celynog section, and faulted against Tremadoc rocks containing Dictyonema 
and Acrotreta in the Helygog. 

Llanvirn Mudstones and Flags (350 ft.)—These follow the Basement 
Series with apparent conformity and consist largely of dark-blue, pyritous 
mudstones, but in the lower part, in particular, bands of fine siltstone and 
occasional thin ash-bands, or scattered fragments of pyroclastic felspathic 
material, occur. The mudstones have yielded Calymene sp., Cryptograptus 
tricornis (?) and graptolites of the Didymograptus bifidus group including 
D. c.f. artus. These mudstones pass up into tough, blocky, blue mud- 
stones with dendroid graptolites, and, south of the Bala Fault, into 
micaceous and pyritic flags in which crinoids, Ogyginus cf. corndensis and 
Trinucleus occur in addition, thus lithologically and faunally suggesting 
equivalence with the Upper Llanvirn of western Shropshire. 

The Main Pyroclastic Group (1,800 ft.). Llandeilo-Caradoc (?).—Most 
fully represented west of the Celynog, where it is subdivided into three 


352 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 


groups of tuff and agglomerate with spilitic rocks and mudstones. 
Amplexograptus perexcavatus and Dicellograptus sp. occur. 

The Upper Rhyolitic Group (1,500 ft.). Caradoc (?).—This, like the Upper 
Acid Group of Cader Idris, consists mainly of massive and streaky rhyolitic 
tuffs. It is followed by the Ceiswyn slates and mudstones. 

Sills of dolerite affect each of the rock series named and occur as high as 
the summit of the Upper Rhyolitic Series. Intrusive rocks of acid com- 
position are represented. 


Discussion on Coal Measure correlation (10.30). 


Prof. A. E. TrRuemMAN.—The correlation of the Coal Measures. 


Problems of correlation in the Coal Measures involve both the recognition 
of zones and the identification of individual horizons. In comparing 
sequences in different coalfields, in recognising strata met with in new 
explorations (especially of concealed coalfields) and in the interpretation of 
structurally complex areas, the identification of floral or faunal zones is of 
outstanding importance ; the recognition of datum planes and correlation 
on a more detailed basis is more often necessary in actual mining operations. 

Within the last ten years work on the faunas and floras of the Coal 
Measures and on the coal seams has provided a basis for the solution of 
most of these problems. ‘The charge of neglecting the stratigraphy of that 
formation which is of most economic importance can no longer be justified. 

In many instances minute paleontological studies have confirmed the 
correlations which had been based on thicknesses and on comparisons of 
sections, but in other cases erroneous conclusions had been drawn from such 
data. The broader divisions made by palzobotanists probably hindered the 
development of real floral zones. 

The peculiar conditions under which the Coal Measures were laid down 
and the surprising uniformity of many horizons (coal seams, marine bands, 
etc.) over wide areas facilitate correlations even when the fossils would at 
first sight be thought unsuitable for detailed work. 


Dr. W. B. WRIGHT. 


The position as regards the correlation of the Coal Measures of Great 
Britain has improved greatly during the last ten years and there is now a real 
hope that fairly precise identification of horizons may ultimately be attained. 

An important advance at the beginning of this period was Prof. Trueman’s 
revision of the non-marine lamellibranchs. The zones established by him 
are, however, very broad and identifiable with difficulty. Their limits are 
moreover indefinite and although a general correspondence in the succession 
can be traced from coalfield to coalfield, little precision is obtainable by their 
application. One zone in particular is wanting in the north. 

Within the limits of the Lancashire field a more accurate result has been 
obtained by a system of subzones. These lead to exact identification of 
seams only in two or three cases, not always accessible. The range of error 
in local correlation by subzones varies from precision up to several hundred 
feet, even where material is available. As regards correlation with other 
fields equivalence is suggested by the subzonal forms on a few horizons but 
not accurately. 

For exact correlation both locally and between fields something else is 
required, and recent researches into the spore-content of coals afford 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 353 


reason to hope that precision may be possible on certain horizons after much 
work. 

Dr. Slater and his assistants have, however, of recent years greatly 
accelerated their methods by examining polished surfaces of the coal by 
incident light, and at the same time simplifying their diagrams. In this way 
they have succeeded in comparing a number of sections within the Yorkshire 
field and getting comparable results with the same seam. The particulars 
are, however, as yet unpublished. 

Dr. Raistrick’s method by separation of microspores is a distinct advance 
in that it enables abundant material to be examined, so that seams of supposed 
identity can be shown to be not merely like one another but different from 
all others with which they might be confused. The method is being ex- 
haustively tested. The results are extremely promising, but there are a 
number of pitfalls which still need careful investigation. Methods of treat- 
ment must be carefully standardised if comparable results are to be obtained ; 
the classification of spores is far from satisfactory ; the personal factor in 
observations enters in some degree into the results, and finally, if there is a 
marked change in the physical character of the seam the spore content varies 
accordingly. 

Dr. Raistrick’s results in Northumberland, however, seem to show that 
quite reliable correlation can be obtained within the field, and those investi- 
gations which he has up to the present made in Lancashire promise similar 
results. 


Dr. Emity Dix. 


In many cases, the non-marine and marine fossils form the most reliable 
indices for detailed correlation, yet at certain horizons the plants are so 
characteristic that they are quite as important for zonal purposes as the 
non-marine shells. In areas where their use is difficult, especially in the 
upper measures, the evidence afforded by the plants is particularly important. 
Dr. Kidston showed that plants could be used for subdividing rocks of coal 
measure age ; subsequently further studies on fossil floras have substantiated 
this view. The Upper Carboniferous rocks of South Wales can be divided 
into nine floral zones (two of which are confined to the Millstone Grit). In 
defining each zone the whole of the floral assemblage has been considered, 
although certain species have much greater value for purposes of correlation 
than others. In general the succession of plants in the South Wales Coal- 
field agrees very closely with that of other coalfields in Great Britain, and 
also with that of corresponding strata on the Continent and in North 
America, as shown by the work of Bertrand, Gothan, Jongmans, Renier, 
Darrah and others. 

For many years it was recognised that the correlation of the coal measures 
based on the faunas was not in agreement with the results obtained by, 
workers on the plants. This discrepancy does not exist. In the upper part 
of the Millstone Grit and the lower part of the Coal Measures distinctive 
floras are found in every coalfield in Britain where the sequence is known, 
which are comparable with those found in the zone of Neuropteris schlehani 
and Sphenopteris hoeninghausi on the Continent. 

It appears that certain floral changes took place more or less simul- 
taneously over the whole of Europe and North America. Perhaps the most 
striking floral change takes place at the entry of the rich Staffordian flora of 
Kidston (Flora G (Dix)). This marked change has been emphasised by 
Prof. Trueman and the writer, and it has been suggested that the West- 
phalian can be divided into lower and upper divisions at this level, and that 

N2 


354 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 


the palzontological change is of greater magnitude than that which takes 
place between the Westphalian and the Stephanian. It is also suggested 
that it is comparable with the Palzobotanical Break noted by Prof. Gothan 
between Lower and Upper Namurian. 

In South Wales the flora of a part of the Upper Coal Series resembles 
that of the Lower Stephanian, while the occurrence of certain species in the 
Keele Series of Warwickshire may possibly indicate that these strata should 
be correlated with the Upper Stephanian. 


Dr. A. RaistricK.— Use of microspores in the correlation of coal seams. 


Two seams of coal have been studied in great detail over a wide area by 
means of microspore separations : the Trencherbone seam of Lancashire, 
and the Busty seam of Durham. In the first case, a marked change in the 
microspore content of the seam in one district is correlated with changes in 
the structure of the seam and the proportions of its constituent subsections. 
In Durham, the samples examined are of the Top and Bottom Busty seams, 
taken at more than fifty localities, the older correlation and naming being 
accepted for sampling. The microspore analysis shows three distinct areas 
in the coalfield, the pair of ‘ Busty’ seams giving uniform diagrams over 
each single area, but the diagrams being different in different areas. The 
areas of different microspore content coincide approximately with areas of 
different physical and chemical properties of the coals, and a suggested 
revision of the Busty correlation is given. Some indication of correlation 
between different coalfields is discussed. 


Dr. J. WEIR. 


Lamellibranch zones are easily defined in the Scottish Productive Coal 
Measures, and some of Wright’s subzones can be recognised. 

The succession of affinis, pulchra-maximum, librata, and atra subzones 
occurs in Lancashire and in Scottish coalfields and in both areas is termin- 
ated: by marine deposits—Dukinfield and Skipsey’s respectively—that are 
recognised as equivalent on the basis of their marine faunas. Such corre- 
sponding sequences of faunal episodes are valuable in inter-coalfield corre- 
lation. 

Wright’s pseudorobusta subzone, at the base of the Middle Coal Measures 
in Lancashire, is a useful datum in districts where the Lancashire tripartite 
division is inoperative. In Scotland the base occurs at or near the base of the 
Coal Measures and, as in Lancashire, it is followed by the os-lancis sub- 
zone, the modiolaris zone generally and finally by the affinis-atra subzonal 
succession. ‘That is, in Lancashire terminology, the Scottish Productive 
Coal Measures are essentially Lower Middle Coal Measures, and the 
evidence .of the shells is substantiated by the plants. As there is no un- 
conformity at the base of the Coal Measures in Scotland it appears legitimate 
to regard part of the Scottish Millstone Grit, possibly the upper two thirds, 
as equivalent to Lower Coal Measures and not to Millstone Grit of Lanca- 
shire. The meagre lamellibranch fauna of the Scottish Millstone Grit tends 
to confirm this view. : 

It is doubtful if the definition of major palzontological subdivisions (of 
higher rank than zones) would serve any useful purpose. In Scotland, sub- 
division of the Coal Measures is possible only at Skipsey’s Marine Band, 
a recognised formational boundary, which marks approximately a change 
in the physical character of the sediments as well as modification of the 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C 355 


non-marine fauna (failure of Carbonicola and Naiadites; dominance of 
Anthraconauta in the meagre fauna of the Barren Red Measures). The 
only possible paleontological partition of the Scottish Productive Coal 
Measures (i.e. between Skipsey’s Marine Band and the Millstone Grit) 
is afforded by mussel zones (and subzones) and by the floral zones recently 
worked out in South Wales and England. 


Dr. D. A. Wray. 


There is a remarkably close similarity in the succession of the lower part 
of the Coal Measures in each of the Pennine coalfields, and in 1929 the 
writer published a detailed correlation of these measures based largely on 
general lithological comparisons. In the Main Productive and higher 
Coal Measures such data are insufficient, and consequently the faunal and 
floral successions are of prime importance. 

The persistence of very occasional and comparatively thin marine bands 

over wide areas has been much used, though their value has been con- 
siderably enhanced by the studies of the non-marine faunal succession. 
The striking value of the latter was recently revealed in East Yorkshire, 
where lithological comparisons failed completely; yet by means of the 
non-marine shells it was possible to indicate the presence of a complete 
though greatly attenuated succession of the Main Productive measures as 
far east as the Trent valley. 
. The floral succession has not hitherto proved of the same value. In 
Northern France, however, an intensive study of the succession of plant life 
by Bertrand and others has led to the establishment of a zonal system of 
considerable precision and refinement. Its application to the succession 
in this country by Dr. Dix appears to be yielding promising results. 

In 1922, Theissen and his co-workers in America pointed out that indi- 
vidual coal seams had a characteristic spore-content and suggested its 
employment as a basis of correlation. Attempts have been made to extend 
this work to Britain, and, if combined with the stratigraphical data already 
available, it may prove of considerable value in instituting more precise 
correlations between detached areas of Coal Measures. 


Mr. S. G. Curt. 


The attack by Dr. Wright on the validity of non-marine lamellibranch 
zones savours of sabotage and is particularly surprising since he is mainly 
responsible for the further attempted delimitation of subzones, in the 
Lancashire Measures, based on characteristic ‘mussels’ which he has 
named. 

Moreover some of these species are known to havea similarly limited range 
and to occur at corresponding horizons in the zones of the measures of 
Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and they maintain their position even in 
the Scottish fields. 

Further investigation in Notts and Derby has shown that the upper 
and lower limits of the modiolaris zone can each be determined within a 
few feet and evidence of the value of ‘ mussels’ in the zoning of that field 
will be available at the next meeting of the Association at Nottingham. 


Dr. J. O'N. Mitiorr and Mr. J. J. WALKER. 


Dr. Raistrick’s seam correlation methods have been used in the Fuel 
Research Coal Survey Laboratories at Sheffield and at Stoke-on-Trent. 


356 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 


Some of the microspore diagrams obtained have proved remarkably similar 
for samples of the same seam, and different for different seams ; but as 
a rule such results have only confirmed correlations already evident from 
visual examination of the seams concerned. The salient features of the 
diagrams are generally due to the two commonest spore types only (A and 
D1); the former being particularly abundant in the dull bands. 

The distribution of the less abundant spore types is considered of greater 
interest. When sufficiently detailed examinations of each sample are 
carried out, it is found that some types have restricted time-ranges, which 
may eventually prove valuable. For example, type C1, though never very 
abundant, is found in all seams down to the Haigh Moor in Yorkshire 
and the Cockshead in Staffordshire, but not below. 

The micro-preparations on which the work is based are inevitably of 
indifferent quality. It is therefore felt that in future work on these lines 
the statistical aspect of the work should not be too strongly emphasised ; 
attention should be centred rather on the careful definition of species. 


Dr. L. SLATER and Mr. J. J. WALKER. 


The D.S.I.R. Fuel Research Coal Survey has in many cases obtained 
useful correlation data through detailed examination of the petrographic 
composition of the seams concerned. For instance, the Barnsley, Parkgate 
and Silkstone seams are each banded in a characteristic way; the main 
bands being recognisable, in pillar samples, by the naked eye. 

This banding of seams has also been studied microscopically, by means 
of thin sections of coal ; and it has thus been found that many seams each 
consist of a series of zones of differing megaspore content. In some cases 
these zones are of remarkable lateral constancy (e.g. the three above- 
mentioned seams) ; in others, the constituent zones are less well-defined, 
but when sufficiently detailed examination is made useful correlation data 
may still be obtained from them (e.g. Haigh Moor and Beeston seams). 

Most of the megaspore types recorded in this work range throughout 
the Yorkshire sequence of seams. One, however (Triletes brasserti, Stach 
and Zerndt), is found only in and above the Haigh Moor seam, thereby 
affording a useful datum line. 

So far thin sections of coal have proved the only reliable means of deciding 
on the presence or absence of a megaspore type ; separation methods using 
Schulze solution have given misleading results. 


Mr. G. A. KELLAway. 


Under the direction of Prof. A. E. Trueman a preliminary investigation 
has been made of the microspore content of certain South Gloucestershire 
coals belonging to the Farrington Series. More exhaustive examination 
may yield further results, but, at present, it would seem that the uniformity 
in the spore content renders correlation of seams within this series a matter 
of considerable difficulty. From 75 to 85 per cent. of the spores fall into 
two categories, subdivisions of which are of doubtful value. 

The comparative uniformity of the flora of the upper part of the West- 
phalian is in strong contrast to the rapid floral changes seen in the Lower 
Westphalian ; the value of microspore analysis as a correlative method may 
be limited by this factor. 


AFTERNOON. 
Excursion to Rivington Pike. Leader, Mr. R. C. B. Jongs. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—C. 357 


Wednesday, September 16. 


Mr. V. E. Fucus.—Lake Rudolf : its formation and history (10.0). 


The Lake Rudolf basin was formed by earth movements that began in 
the late Oligocene and continued well into Pleistocene times. The chief 
interest of the area lies in the fact that not only do we see there the northern 
continuation of the Kenya rift fractures, but also ample evidence of the 
operation of widespread forces of pressure. 

The initial fracture cut off the northern extension of the Uganda pene- 
plain, and upon its downthrow side a series of Miocene sediments and 
volcanics accumulated. ‘These were then asymmetrically folded from east 
and west towards the axis of the present lake. Accompanied by local 
thrusting these folds gave rise to the topography of the early Pleistocene 
lake basin. The deposits formed in it were disturbed by still later move- 
ments, which, accompanied by vulcanicity, completed the lake basin in its 
present form. 

To-day the lake does not occupy so large an area as it did because fluctua- 
ting but progressive desiccation has lowered its level by more than 300 ft. 
since Acheulian times. Everywhere its high-water mark is defined by lake 
beaches containing mammalian and molluscan remains together with the 
stone implements of early man. Modern conditions indicate that the 
desiccation of the area still continues. 


Mr. W. CampseLt SmitH.—Igneous rocks from Turkana, Kenya Colony 
(10.45). 


A petrographic study has been made of a large number of rocks collected 
in the province of Turkana by Mr. Arthur M. Champion. The extrusive 
rocks include olivine-basalts and basanites from the neighbourhood of the 
Teleki volcano at the south end of Lake Rudolf, and a series of other lavas 
comprising soda-rhyolites, pantelleritic trachytes, basalts, phonolites, and 
nephelinites occupying much of the country west of the lake and as far 
north as the northern frontier of Kenya Colony. There are some minor 
intrusions of ijolite, microfoyaite, and sélvsbergite. 


Prof. H. H. Swinnerton.—-Saline waters and soils of East Lincolnshire 
(11.15). 


The coastal flats, known as the Marshlands of East Lincolnshire, were 
originally reclaimed from salt marsh. It is generally believed that as the 
result of exposure to percolating rain water the salt is all washed out of the 
surface layers of such saline silts. This process is, however, dependent for 
its efficiency upon an adequate supply of freely flowing river water. Near 
the south end of the Marshland there is an extensive area where such a supply 
is not available. Here the soil and the rain water which percolates through 
it into the drains still hold a high content of salt. 


REPoRTS OF RESEARCH COMMITTEES (11.45). 


358 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D. 


SECTION D.—ZOOLOGY. 


Thursday, September 10. 


PRESIDENTIAL AppreEss by Dr. J. S. Huxtey on Natural Selection and 
evolutionary progress (10.0). 


Discussion on Selection (11.0). 
Dr. Timortér-Ressovsky.—Jntroduction. 


Prof. G. D. HaLe Carpenter, M.B.E.—Entomology and Natural 
Selection (11.25). 


The following are difficult to explain without Natural Selection : 


(1) Mimicry in Uganda of species of the Acraeine genus of butterflies 
Bematistes (= Planema) by forms of one species of Nymphaline Pseudacraea 
eurytus. Not only are local species of Bematistes mimicked by forms of 
eurytus numerically proportional to their models, but if the protective 
influence of Bematistes is diminished by their scarcity the forms of eurytus 
depart from strict resemblance and intermediates abound. (2) Experiments 
with a monkey under natural conditions showed that out of 143 species of 
insects with conspicuous (aposematic) coloration 120 were distasteful, and 
out of 101 with concealing (procryptic) coloration 83 were edible. Lycid 
beetles, much mimicked in all tropics, were not eaten even under conditions 
of considerable hunger : they are typically aposematic. Procryptic weevils 
and Mantidae were greedily eaten. (3) Adaptations of flowers and insects 
for mutual benefit. Avery peculiar relationship exists between an Australian 
orchid and an Ichneumon, the male of which, deceived by odour like that of 
its female, enters a flower backwards and while depositing its spermatozoa 
on the stigma causes the pollinia to adhere to its abdomen and thus with- 
draws them. 


Dr. C. Gorpon.—Evidence for natural selection from the genetic 
analysis of free-living populations of Drosophila (11.40). 


The frequency of heterozygosis in free-living populations of Drosophila 
of both sex-linked and autosomal mutants can be determined by appropriate 
methods of inbreeding. The great bulk of evidence shows a considerable 
frequency of autosomal recessive mutants and an absence of sex-linked 
recessives, and dominants. It is clear from the data that sex-linked re- 
cessives have been eliminated by natural selection, unless the assumption 
is made that the mutation rate of autosomal genes is vastly greater than that 
of sex-linked genes, which is not the case. 

Another line of evidence which should be developed further is the direct 
method of releasing a balanced laboratory population whose genetic con- 
stitution is known and estimating the frequency of heterozygosis of the 
mutant type from time to time. A preliminary experiment which I under- 
took in 1934 showed that this is possible. The frequency of a mutant 
gene ebony declined from 0-5 to 0: 110 + 0°03 in the course of one summer. 
At the present time I am investigating various areas as to their suitability 
for this type of work. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D. 359 


Mr. F. C. Minns.—The experimental approach to sexual-selection 
(11.55). 


In an animal of a mixed population the possession of particular character- 
istics may render mating more probable or less. These characteristics will 
tend accordingly to become more or less common. When two or more 
varieties occur together and each shows a preference for its own kind 
(‘assortative mating’) they are by this means partially isolated. They will 
therefore tend to evolve on slightly different lines and new species may 
result. 

Quantitative experiments on the banana-fly Drosophila have shown 
assortative mating and other types of sexual selection to occur between the 
wild type and mutants and also between apparently identical races. 


Mr. E. B. Forp.—-Selection in relation to the genic background (12.10). 


Selection can operate only on genotypic variability. This is controlled 
by genes having multiple effects, and interacting with one another to produce 
the characters for which they are responsible. They thus form a total gene- 
complex, alterations within which may affect the operation of any one of its 
members. 

Two types of selection are thus possible. First, that preserving advan- 
tageous genes and eliminating disadvantageous ones. Secondly, that 
tending to alter the effects of a gene, but not the gene itself. This is brought 
about by selection operating on the gene-complex, so that a genetic constitu- 
tion is spread through the population which tends to bring out the effects of 
particular genes to the greatest advantage. 

In this way, varied evolutionary changes may take place within poly- 
morphic forms, which can yet remain under simple Mendelian control, 
acting as a switch to determine which group of characters shall be expressed. 
Fluctuations in numbers allow genes to be tested by selection in different 
gene-complexes, with some of which they may react in new, and possibly 
beneficial, ways. Selection acting on the less obvious genic effects may be 
partly responsible for the recent spread of melanism among the Lepidoptera 
in industrial areas. 


Prof. H. J. MuLLerR.—Summary of the discussion (12.25). 


AFTERNOON. 


Prof. W. J. Daxin.—An account of ancient and modern whaling in 
Australasian seas (2.15). 


At the Plaza Cinema, Manchester Square (4.30) : 


Exhibition of films by kind permission of Gaumont British Instruc- 
tional Films, Ltd. : 


Hydra. 
’ Obelia. 
Nursery Island. 
The development of the frog. 


360 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D. 


Three other films were shown at the same time: 


(1) By Mr. A. G. Lownpes.—-Chirocephalus. 

(2) By Dr. P. D. F. Murray.—Beating and fibrillation in the chick 
embryo heart. 

(3) By Mr. C. H. Wappincton.—Marine sand animals. 


Friday, September 11. 


Prof. C. M. Yoncr.—Egg membranes and egg attachment in the Crustacea 
(10.0). 


The discovery that the integument of the Decapod Crustacea consists of 
an inner chitin and an outer cuticle, the latter secreted by tegumental 
glands, has made possible the elucidation of the nature of the membranes 
surrounding the egg. ‘The origin and nature of these has been the subject 
of considerable controversy. 

As the egg descends the oviduct a layer of chitin, secreted by the epithelium, 
is laid down around it. At this period the epithelial cells are greatly 
elongated and resemble the chitinogenous epithelium at the time when this 
is secreting chitin for the new integument. The outer membrane is 
secreted by the tegumental glands which occur in great numbers in the 
pleopods of the females. ‘These resemble in every way the tegumental 
glands which secrete the cuticle. ‘The outer shell membrane which they 
secrete, and which serves to bind the eggs to the pleopods of the female, 
gives the same reactions as the cuticle. 

In Chirocephalus the eggs are coated by chitin secreted by the wall of the 
oviduct, and later a rugose coat, giving the major reactions of cuticle, is 
added by unicellular uterine glands. In both cases the primary significance 
of the cuticular layer would appear to be that of protection, but in the 
Decapoda it also serves for attachment. 


Prof. A. C. Harpy.—Plankton ecology and the hypothesis of Animal Ex- 
clusion (10.30). 

A brief review is made of the former evidence of an inverse relationship 
between the distribution of planktonic plants and animals, and in particular 
that from the Discovery Expedition’s South Georgia plankton survey of 
1926-27 (Hardy and Gunther, 1935). The hypothesis of Animal Exclusion 
and evidence in its support are discussed; the exclusion of the animals from 
the zones of plant concentration is considered to be one in a vertical rather 
than a horizontal plane, and the inverse distribution seen in plan to be 
secondarily produced by differing water movements at different levels. 


Dr. C. H. Mortimer.—Parthenogenesis and bisexual reproduction in the 
Cladocera (11.30). 


The alternation of parthenogenesis and bisexual reproduction in the 
Cladocera and its causes were investigated under controlled cultural 
conditions. Under optimum conditions parthenogenesis could be main- 
tained over a considerable period (indefinitely ?) without signs of depression. 
Various external factors—low temperature, lack of food, over-population 
in the culture—could be made to cause the appearance of bisexual repro- 
duction at will. The periodicity of the alternation in nature is therefore 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D. 361 


thought to be dependent on periodic environmental changes and not, as 
Weissmann suggested, on inherent internal rhythms. 

Both female- and male-producing parthenogenetic eggs undergo only one 
maturation division resulting in no reduction in the diploid chromosome 
number (20 in Daphnia magna, 24 in D. pulex). The same diploid number 
was found in the spermatogonia of D. magna. Spermatogenesis appeared 
normal. The mechanism of sex determination appears then to be extra- 
chromosomal. 


Mr. K. R. ALLEN.—The ecology of young salmon (12.0). 


In the rapid rivers which salmon usually frequent there is no true plank- 
ton, and therefore fish living in them must feed either on the bottom or upon 
objects floating on the surface. As surface food is only available in summer, 
and is not eaten by salmon in their first year, the main food supply of young 
salmon is derived from the bottom. Although alge may be abundant, the 
salmon, even when very small, feed only upon the fauna. It has been found 
that there are consistent differences in the relative extent to which different 
species of food animals are eaten; these differences appear to be correlated 
with differences in the availability of the food animals to the fish. 

Seasonal changes in the type of water inhabited by young salmon have 
been found to occur. In summer the fish live in comparatively shallow 
water, but in winter they retire to deep pools and probably lie quietly in 
sheltered places, only occasionally emerging to feed. There is a check in 
growth during this time. 


Miss W. E. Frost.—-Trout food and river fauna (12.30). 


Work done by him on lakes and rivers in Ireland suggested to the late 
Mr. R. Southern that they could be divided into two fairly well defined types 
as regards their brown trout: on the one hand, alkaline waters derived 
from limestone rocks, where the trout grow rapidly and attain a weight of 
2, 3 or more pounds; on the other hand, acid waters derived from non-lime- 
stone rocks, where the fish grow slowly and seldom exceed } to } Ib. in weight. 

In 1929 a biological survey of the river Liffey was begun in order to obtain 
quantitative and qualitative data concerning the food of brown trout from 
acid and alkaline waters, and thus throw some light on this problem of widely 
differing growth rates. 

The two stations on the Liffey chosen for detailed investigation were 
Ballysmuttan, where the water is acid (pH 4:6 to 6-9), and Straffan, where it 
is alkaline (bH 7:6 to 8-3). Brown trout were captured during all the 
months of the year, the stomach contents noted, and simultaneously observa- 
tions on the river fauna were made. The type of food organism taken by 
the trout varies somewhat with the time of year at both stations, but not 
so much as would be expected. This variability seems to depend more on 
the size of the fish, the height and condition of the water, etc., rather than on 
the season. 

The abundance of some of the aquatic animals is to a certain extent 
. reflected in the diet of the trout. At Ballysmuttan Ephemerid larve are 
scarce and Perlid larve are common: the reverse applies to Straffan. These 
larve are found in corresponding proportions in the stomach contents of 
the fish from the two places. Certain organisms (fish, crayfish) abundant 
in the river form but a small part of the trout’s food. Trout, both spent and 
immature fish, with full stomachs, have been taken during the winter. 

The differing growth-rate in alkaline and acid waters does not, generally 
speaking, appear to be due to a food shortage in the latter waters. 


362 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D. 


AFTERNOON. 


Jornt Discussion with Section H (Anthropology) on Genetics and Race 
(Prof; He: Jo, FEEug:, F.R,S. 3) Dr... J...5. bipuers Dr Ga Wi. 
Morant ; Prof. A. M. Carr-SauNpeErS; Prof. R. RuGGLes GarTEs, 
F.R.S.; Prof. F. A. E. Crew). See p. 458. 


Saturday, September 12. 
Excursion to the Lake District and Wray Castle. 


Monday, September 14. 


DiscussIon on The function of the museum in zoology (10.0). 


Dr. D. A. ALLAN. 


General museums in Europe divide their material into that illustrative of 
the Natural Sciences and the remainder illustrative of Archeology and 
Ethnology. In the first group, as regards both bulk and interest, zoology 
is of prime importance, as can be seen in any of our larger museums. The 
material is divided into preserved but unmounted study specimens for the 
use of experts, and mounted, more or less life-like individuals and groups 
exhibited for the general public. From the small habitat group has developed 
the large diorama. Other exhibits include the life history series, the topical 
show and economic zoology displays. Modern methods of preservation 
and preparation, together with accurate and artistic taxidermy, have revolu- 
tionised exhibits. The problem of the smaller museum, with its restricted 
space and funds, is whether to concentrate on showing the fauna of the 
district or to attempt to illustrate general zoology. Museums are the means 
of teaching popular zoology, and of securing the rejuvenation of our Natural 
History Societies. 


Mr. M. A. C. HINTON. 
Prof. W. J. Dakin. 


Dr. A. C. STEPHEN. 


The new or projected exhibits of the Royal Scottish Museum may be used 
as a basis for discussion regarding the kind of exhibit which attracts the 
visitor. If large enough the zoological museum should certainly contain 
a good collection of the local fauna, with special stress on any local industry, 
such as fishing, etc.; a series giving an introduction to classification ; 
a series of biological exhibits and a popular paleontological series. Each 
hall or series of exhibits should serve as a handbook to the subject in 
question, that is, should have a consistent story running through it; be as 
lavishly illustrated as possible (specimens, drawings, etc.) and be adequately 
described (good and numerous labels). 

The exhibits of biology and paleontology can be arranged with general 
acceptance, but it is open to question whether the extensive systematic 
collections so often shown should not be reduced and the surplus re- 
arranged to illustrate special points of interest, such as geographical dis- 
tribution, etc. It is doubtful whether the small museum which has no full 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D. 363 


time, or keen amateur, curator fulfils its function unless it can form part of 
a series of similar institutions supplied with circulating collections from 
some central organisation. 


Mr. J. A. S. STENDALL. 


Mr. A. W. Boyp.—The British Trust for Ornithology ; Swallow Enquiry 
(11.30). 


Mr. D. Lacx.—The bird census as an ecological method (12.0). 


With the investigation of the ecological principles underlying bird distri- 
bution, the vague terms, common, rare, etc., must be replaced by definite 
numbers. Census work is arduous, and only a limited number of types of 
bird and environment are suitable for large-scale investigations. For several 
conspicuous species, breeding censuses have been taken over wide areas, and 
in various areas the total breeding population of all species has been counted. 
Some of these censuses have been repeated over a series of years. Winter 
populations, which are more fluctuating, have been estimated in a few 
cases. 

Census work is providing information on the degree of annual fluctuations 
in breeding populations, on the relation between breeding and non-breeding 
individuals, on the size of clutch and nesting mortality, on the changes in 
bird population with a changing habitat, on the size and degree of uniformity 
of defended breeding territories, and other problems. Progress is being 
made, but the study of the factors influencing bird distribution is still in its 
infancy. 


Dr. W. K. Spencer, F.R.S.—Function and adaptation in early Echino- 
dermata (12.30). 


The Cambrian and Ordovician rocks contain some beds composed of 
very fine mud and containing a fauna which represents old sea bottoms. 
The fine sediment has preserved extremely good detail of the original 
animals, and reconstruction can be made not only of the form but of habit. 
Short accounts will be given (a) of Stromatocystis, one of the oldest known 
fossils which lived in intertidal waters—this form is not ancestral to the 
Eleutherozoa, as suggested by various writers, but a highly specialised ciliary 
feeder: comparisons can be made which suggest that Stromatocystis and 
other Edrioasteroids are related to the Blastoidea ; (6) of some Cystoids in 
which the plates of the theca had important functions in respiration, there 
being a circulatory system within the plates themselves; (c) of Cothurno- 
cystis, which turned itself over on its side, like the flatfish of to-day. 


AFTERNOON. 


Jornt Discussion with Section M (Agriculture) on The poultry industry 
(Section D room) (2.15). 


Mr. W. Hamnett.—-The poultry industry and tts problems. 


The main problems affecting the poultry industry are concerned with 
(1) breeding, (2) nutrition, (3) disease. It should be realised that the 
workers on the nutritional and disease side are not expected to work miracles 
on birds that have been bred without regard to constitutional vigour. Low 


364 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D. 


fertility is a cause of much loss amongst breeders of Utility White Wyan- 
dottes, and fertility is often stated to be as low as 50 per cent. average over 
the hatching period, whilst with other heavy breeds kept under identical 
conditions the fertility is 85-90 per cent. Similarly, information is re- 
quired as to the inheritance of fecundity and as to why the progeny of 
apparently healthy vigorous birds are often lacking in stamina and vitality. 
On the nutritional side it may be noted that feeding-stuffs are responsible 
for about 60 per cent. of the costs of production. It is essential, therefore, 
that with changing market prices, the poultry farmer should have informa- 
tion as to the interchangeability of feeding-stuffs from the point of view of 
their nutritive value and productive capacity. On the disease side, cures 
are wanted for occidiosis and worm infestation generally, and for paralysis 
in its various forms, and preventatives for cholera, fowl plague, and laryngo- 
tracheitis. 


Dr. A. W. GrEeENwoop.—Breeding problems (2.30). 


A‘discussion of observations made on a series of Brown Leghorn fowls at 
the Institute of Animal Genetics, with particular reference to economic 
productivity in respect of egg production, over a number of years. The 
influence of environmental agencies and the possible genetic implications 
are reviewed. 


Mr. E. T. Hatnan.—WNutrition problems (2.45). 


In research work on problems of poultry nutrition, two methods of attack 
are available : a short range method in which an answer to a specific point 
of practical interest is sought, and a long range method in which the basic 
principles upon which feeding systems are dependent are studied. Each 
method has a definite place in any scheme of research, and examples are 
given to show that, by careful planning on the part of the research worker, 
long range methods of research may be so designed as to yield results of 
practical value to the poultry industry within a reasonably short period of 
time. 

The evolution of a flexible system of feeding, whereby the poultry keeper 
will be enabled to exercise considerable freedom of choice in the selection 
of alternative feeding stuffs, is shown to depend upon the acquisition 
of a large body of knowledge attainable only by work of the long range type ; 
in particular, knowledge of a quantitative character. 

The relation of nutrition to disease is briefly discussed, and the limited 
influence of nutrition on the control of disease indicated. 


Dr. E. L. TayLor.—The economic and disease aspect of parasitic 
worm infection in poultry (3.0). 


For purposes of this discussion the parasitic worms of poultry are divided 
into those which are usually associated with disease and those which are 
not, ‘definite pathogens’ and ‘indefinite pathogens.’ The definite 
pathogens are represented in this country by the gapeworm of chickens 
and the gizzard worm of geese ; at the present time they are causing com- 
paratively little trouble, but the gapeworm may become a major problem 
should more extensive systems of rearing become popular. 

A few members of the group of indefinite pathogens are of very frequent 
occurrence in healthy birds ; as yet we are quite unable to determine when 
these worms are causing disease and when not, and opinion is widely 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D. 365 


divergent on their importance to the poultry industry. What little work 
has been done, however, suggests that light or moderate infestations cause 
no discernible injury, although heavy ones may. ‘Treatment of whole 
flocks with drugs is, therefore, unwarranted unless an unusually heavy 
infestation is known to be present. 

Until more satisfactory experimental evidence is forthcoming on the 
pathogenicity of these parasites and the significance of multiple parasitism, 
the economic importance of these widely distributed parasitic worms will 
remain a matter for conjecture. 


Other speakers, including Mr. A. J. Macponatp, Mr. J. WILson, 
and Dr. A. L. RoMANOFF. 


Tuesday, September 15. 


Discussion on Morphogenesis (10.0). 


Mr. C. H. Wappincton.—Organisers and their limitations. 


An embryonic organ has, at any given time, a definite shape, and as time 
progresses the shape alters in a determinate way into a new shape of greater 
complexity. The influences which bring about these changes of shape must 
themselves be arranged in an orderly way in space, and the whole set of 
forces which control the shape of an organ may be spoken of as the field- 
forces of that organ. The paper will discuss the general concept of embryonic 
fields, with particular reference to the field-forces of the neural plate of the 
Amphibia and the way in which they are dependent on the underlying 
mesoderm. 


Dr. P. D. F. Murray.—Morphogenetic fields and self-differentiating 
mosaics (10.30). 


Morphogenetic fields are characterised by their integration as units, by 
their ability to incorporate indifferent material within themselves, and by 
their ability to regenerate parts of themselves. In the development of the 
chick embryo jaw the determination, or evocation, of tissues occurs in three 
separate regions, presumably by three acts of evocation. ‘The loci of de- 
termination are not fields but areas, though they may constitute a field 
together with the organiser responsible for their evocation. In later 
histogenesis, field phenomena are less easily recognisable. In its morpho- 
genesis, the chick embryo limb-bud is a mosaic, without obvious relations of 
dominance and subordination between its parts, and almost lacking in the 
other field characters. Nevertheless, it is probable that some regeneration 
and regulation may occur, and phenomena characteristic of fields are 
recognisable in joint formation. Evocation is the event which occurs in 
the determination of cells to form kinds of tissue, the first stage in histogenesis. 
Individuation is the integration of determined tissue so that the self- 
differentiating mosaic is brought into existence, and the parts of the organism 
concerned in both processes may constitute fields because of the relations 
of dominance and subordination which exist between them. 


Prof. E. A. Spaut.—Endocrines and morphogenesis (11.0). 


366 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—D. 


Dr. J. NEEDHAM.—Chemical interpretation of fields (11.30). 


Although the time has hardly yet come when it is possible to make 
much progress in the investigation of the ‘chemical basis of morphogenetic 
fields, some preliminary thinking is not without interest. ‘That three- 
dimensional co-ordinate systems have an objective existence in the form of 
gradient nets within developing embryos now hardly admits of doubt, but 
the evidence that these gradients are of metabolic rate is not convincing. 
Diffusion gradients of active substances, that is to say, chemical molecules 
which exert some orienting action upon protein molecules, are conceptually 
more helpful. It should, however, be remembered that gradients in a mor- 
phological field may also be gradients of varying degrees of randomness in 
molecular orientation, the active centre being itself stationary. We need 
to know a great deal more about the shapes and coherence properties of 
protein molecules, and about the relation between histological structure 
and protein fibre arrangement. Finally the morphogenetic field must be 
constructed of qualitatively, not merely quantitatively, varying differences 
along its axes. 


Prof. E. G. CONKLIN.— Summary of the Discussion (12.0). 


AFTERNOON. 


Mr. G. E. H. Foxon.—Orientation to gravity in Crustacea (2.15). 


Orientation to gravity is of importance to various groups of Crustacea for 
different reasons. In the higher Crustacea a definite organ of balance 
(statocyst) is commonly found, but in certain cases, particularly in the lower 
Crustacea and the larve of the higher Crustacea no such organ is present. 
In such cases orientation to light is usually so dominating a factor that in 
the presence of light response to gravity disappears ; if, however, such 
creatures are observed in red light (to which they do not appear to respond) 
orientation to gravity is seen to exist. 


Experiments have shown that it is possible to make a series covering the 
various methods of orientation to gravity thus : 

(1) Orientation to gravity entirely mechanical : example Chirocephalus. 

(2) Orientation to gravity mechanical but depends on the normal activi- 
ties of the animal being maintained : example Daphnia. 

(3) Orientation to gravity the result of muscular action, but no special 
sense organ present : example the larve of many Brachyura. 

(4) Orientation to gravity the result of muscular action, a special sense 
organ present : example adult Brachyura. 


Mr. A. G. Lownpves.—The term ‘ gnathobase ’ (2.45). 


In Lankester’s classical essay (1881) on the appendages of Apus he defines 
the proximal endite of the trunk limb as a ‘ gnathobase,’ stating that ‘ it is 
a Jaw process ’ and ‘ clearly has the function of assisting, by means of apposi- 
tion to its fellow of the opposite side, in seizing and moving particles which 
may be introduced into the mouth.’ 

Lankester’s use of the term has been severely criticised on three separate 
occasions by Prof. Graham Cannon, 1927, 1928 and 1933, who together 
with Dr. Manton (1927) pointed out that in the Anostraca the proximal sete 
of the basal endite are covered over medially by setz from the limb in front 
so that they cannot transport food towards the mouth and certainly do not 
work in apposition to their fellows on the opposite side. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—D, E. 367 


Chirocephalus abounds in the Marlborough district and we have had 
ample opportunity of investigating this point. I have also filmed com- 
pletely the working of these gnathobases, and I maintain that they can and 
do work in apposition and function in the manner indicated by Sir Ray 
Lankester. 

The film shows these gnathobases on the one side working in apposition 
with those of the other side. 


REFERENCES. 

H. GRAHAM CANNON and S. M. Manton: ‘ On the Feeding Mechanism of a Mysid 
Crustacean, Hemimysis Lamorne,’ Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., Vol. LV, Part I 
(No. 10). 1927. 

H. GRAHAM Cannon: ‘On the Feeding Mechanism of the Fairy Shrimp, Chiro- 
cephalus Diaphanus Prevost,’ Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., Vol. LV, Part III 
(No. 32). 1928. 

H. Grawam Cannon: ‘On the Feeding Mechanism of the Brachiopoda,’ Phil. 
Trans. Roy. Soc. London, Series B, Vol. 222, pp. 267-352. 1933. 


_ Mr. J. A. Moy-THomas.—The evolution of Elasmobranchs (3.0). 


The Cladoselachii and Ctenacanths are the earliest and most primitive 
Elasmobranchs, and it is almost certain that the former are closely related 
to the ancestral form. 

It is fairly certain that three main lines of evolution occurred, the Pleura- 
canths, a group leading to the Holocephali and a group leading to all modern 
sharks. 

The group leading to the Holocephali can be distinguished by the micro- 
scopic structure of the teeth and, where known, the anatomy of the skull. 
The Pleuracanths form a compact group with characteristic median and 
pectoral fins. The third group seems to have arisen from the Ctenacanths 
which aré more specialised than the Cladoselachii. It is to this group 
that the majority of the post-palzozoic sharks belong. 


Visit to Lytham Mussel Cleaning Station. 


SECTION E.—GEOGRAPHY. 


Thursday, September 10. 


_ PRESIDENTIAL ApprEss by Brigadier H. S. L. Wrntersotuam, C.B., 


C.M.G., on The mapping of the Colonial Empire (10.0). 
Lt.-Col. F. J. SaLmon.—The modern geography of Palestine (11.15). 


The paper describes the striking alterations that are affecting large areas 
in Palestine, how development is being assisted by the new land regime, and 
how the changes are being illustrated on maps. The old and new systems 


_ of land tenure and the activities of the Department of Lands and Surveys 


are briefly explained. Communications illustrated by the motor map and 
the map of Roman Palestine showing old and new routes. Short account 
of the water-resources survey, water supply, drainage and forestry. ‘The 
development of the towns illustrated with maps, including a new survey of 
the ‘ old city ’ of Jerusalem. Modern surveys and maps in some detail, with 


368 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 


an account of the projection, grid, scale, arrangement of sheets, conventional 
signs, etc. Explanation of the reasons for their adoption. The frequent 
failure to recognise a good survey as an important national monument. 
The need for more education in the use of maps. 


Sir AtperT E. Kitson, C.M.G., C.B.E.—The importance of topographic 
maps to mining (12.0). 


Topographic maps of a country are of great assistance in its development, 
especially if it is more or less in its natural condition, is thickly forested, and 
has varied and high relief. 

Broadly speaking, mining embraces two stages: (1) prospecting the 
country for mineral deposits ; and (2) initial development and underground 
mining of them. 

The search for mineral deposits occurring detritally in the gravels of 
streams, and as lodes and reefs in the rocks, with lateral extensions of such 
deposits, is greatly aided by knowing the courses of streams and the trend of 
hills and ridges, with their interrelations. 

Economic mining of mineral deposits is dependent upon various factors, 
such as: (a) configuration, affecting routes for transport of heavy mining 
and milling machinery ; (6) a good supply of timber for underground 
mining and for fuel for motive power ; (c) water power, from waterfalls or 
dams in suitable gorges of good streams ; and (d) locations for mining and 
milling plants. Other factors exist, but cannot be mentioned in this limited 
summary. 

Good topographic maps show the natural features indicated, and others 
besides. Without such maps these features have to be ascertained locally, 
often with much delay to development of mining operations. 

Air survey maps also give much valuable information of, inter alia, the 
topography, geology and mining operations. ‘They are thus of great value, 
especially in the early stages of ground surveys, and they can be rapidly and 
cheaply produced. 


AFTERNOON. 
Mr. W. Smitu.—The agricultural geography of the Fylde (2.0). 


The paper consists of two parts. The first is a general analysis of the 
agricultural geography of the Fylde and an assessment of the relative 
importance of the several departments of Fylde farming in respect of the 
acreage they appropriate. "The second is amore detailed analysis of dairying, 
the major objective of Fylde agriculture. 

The Fylde is shown to be an area of mixed farming, but with permanent 
grass dominant and with arable recessive. In 1934, of the total in crops 
and grass, 21°1 per cent. was in arable and 78-9 per cent. in permanent 
grass. The clay loams of the upper boulder clay are largely in grass and 
the arable is mostly on the lighter soils of the silt, peat and blown sand. 
Of the arable about half produces stock food for consumption on the farm. 

Live stock are thus the objective of 90 per cent. of the acreage. Dairying 
is the chief objective of this live stock farming. ‘The Fylde is neither a 
feeding nor a store raising district. The proximity of a market for milk 
in the coast towns and in industrial Lancashire makes dairying the more 
profitable enterprise. Other stock are kept in lesser proportions. 

The results are described of a method, which the author has elaborated, 
of constructing a grazing index for the Fylde in early June based on the 
management followed in the district. "The density of stocking in early June 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 369 


works out at 0-92 of a grazing unit per acre, a grazing unit being a cow in 
milk yielding two gallons daily and obtaining her total requirements from 
grazing. The grazing index is then used to calculate the grazing acreage 
which each class of stock appropriates and the predominance of the dairy 
herd is demonstrated. 

The detailed analysis of dairying considers the effect of environmental 
and economic factors. The environmental factor is chiefly a matter of grass. 
The approximate quality of Fylde pastures is defined and the monthly 
variation of grass growth described. The economic factor for milk is 
shown to vary as between those farms which produce for the seaside market 
with its maximum demand in July, August and September, those farms 
which supply the level market of industrial South Lancashire, and the 
farmhouse cheese-makers with their maximum production of milk during 
the flush of grass in May and June. A curve is shown of monthly production 
for the Fylde as a whole, the sample from which the curve was constructed 
covering nearly a half of the total cow population of the district. Milk 
production rises in May and June with the flush of grass and is maintained 
in July to September owing to the seaside demand, although various means 
have to be adopted to maintain production after June, when grass is becoming 
less plentiful and less nutritious. 

Finally, the distinction in geographical distribution, in seasonal rhythm 
of production and in size of farm between producer-retailers, farmers 
selling milk wholesale and farmhouse cheese-makers is demonstrated. 


Mr. R. Kay GressweL_t.—Geomorphology of the south-west Lancashire 
coast-line (2.45). 


The great tidal range, the total absence of shingle, and the great area of 
blown sand cause a number of shore-line processes to occur in an extreme 
form. Between Southport and Formby the profile across the beach 
resembles a number of waves, having a wave-length of about 500 ft. and an 
amplitude of 3-5 ft. ‘These lie mutually parallel but inclined away from the 
shore-line northwards, in an attempt to face the dominant waves. The 
crests of these undulations are named ‘ fulls,’ and the troughs ‘ lows.’ They 
are developed in a modified form on the other parts of this coast-line. There 
was rapid accretion at Formby Point during the last century, but erosion 
is now occurring, although accretion continues northward. Between 
Hightown and Blundellsands, the river Alt, now diverted by a dam, mean- 
dered until 1936 for 24 miles southwards along the foreshore, indirectly 
causing rapid and serious erosion at Blundellsands. It is concluded from a 
study (1) of the wind directions, (2) of the gale directions, (3) of the direc- 
tion of maximum length of fetch, and (4) of the lie of the fulls and lows, that 
foreshore drifting occurs away from Formby Point in both directions. This 
at once provides a single explanation for the apparently mutually contra- 
dictory phenomena occurring on this coast-line. 


Dr. W. O. HENDERSON.—The problems of Lancashire’s cotton supply (3.30). 


For over a century the bulk of Lancashire’s cotton has come from the 
U.S.A. There is no guarantee that supplies from this source will be 
adequate in the future. The American Government has deliberately 
reduced the size of the cotton crop, and there is the danger of a bad harvest 
owing to climatic conditions or to the ravages of the boll weevil. An 
increasing proportion of the crop is being used by American cotton factories. 
Lancashire’s dependence upon a single source of supply for so much of 


370 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 


her raw material may appear surprising, since cotton can be produced on a 
commercial scale in many tropical and subtropical regions. But there are 
serious hindrances to large-scale production, such as dangers from drought 
and various forms of disease, as well as lack of labour and communications. 
Other crops may be more profitable than cotton, and local mills may absorb 
the bulk of the crop. Cotton-growing has been fostered in many regions, 
particularly in the Empire and in Egypt. In India the harvest is over 
2,000 million lbs., but the quality is not suited to Lancashire’s needs and 
only a small proportion of the crop is used in English mills. 


Friday, September 11. 


Mr. O. G. S. Crawrorp.—The archeological work of the Ordnance Sieve 
(10.0). 


Major R. L. BRown.—Maps and road communication (10.45). 


When the motor car was first introduced it ran upon the existing roads. 
Those roads, designed for other purposes, were unsuitable ; and unsuitable 
roads mean needlessly high operating cost for every vehicle travelling on 
them. Once established upon uneconomical alignments, alteration has 
been difficult and costly. In Great Britain our initial error was not due 
to the lack of topographical information, for our country was the best mapped 
in the world. 

In the colonial Empire the situation is the reverse. Obstacles to 
economical alignment are few, but topographical information is lacking. 

Without a properly contoured topographical map the engineer cannot 
choose the best alignments upon which to make his detailed location surveys. 
His only recourse is to make his own map. In unmapped countries all 
engineers and others engaged on geology, railways, flood control, administra- 
tion, and many other activities are forced to the same unsatisfactory expedient. 
With the timely supply of good topographical maps, the saving on but a 
few of these activities would be more than enough to map the whole 
Empire. 

A co-ordinated plan for the topographic mapping of the Empire is an 
urgent need. Without maps development must continue to be handicapped 
at every turn, waste condoned and the future mortgaged. 


Major M. Hotine.—A grid system for Ordnance Survey maps (11.30). 


Present system of projecting and indexing Ordnance Survey 1/2,500 large- 
scale plans on county meridians, 

Proposal to recast the large-scale survey on a single meridian as a con- 
tinuous national series, without discontinuity at county boundaries, to 
meet modern requirements. 

The problem of indexing and joining 52,000 sheets of a single series 
‘indicates cutting sheet lines along the rectangular co-ordinate lines of the 
map projection. Internal division of the plan by a system of squares (or 
“grid ’), whose sides also coincide with the rectangular co-ordinate lines, 
provides a ready means of plotting positions from surveyed co-ordinates, 
the possibility of adding extra surveyed material on revision without de- 
preciating the basic accuracy of the plan, and a ready means of referring 
to the position of points by means of their ‘ grid ’ co-ordinates. 

The desirability of utilising the same grid system on maps of all scales : 
to facilitate the compilation of smaller scale maps from gridded larger 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 371 


scales ; to make any gridded map a comprehensive topographic index to 
any larger-scale series ; to ensure that the grid co-ordinate reference of a 
point shall be unique without specifying also the scale or series. Necessity 
for decimal subdivision of the grid to facilitate plotting and to allow for 
more precise referencing on the larger scales (up to the natural scale of the 
basic triangulation) by simple addition of extra co-ordinate figures. 

The optimum size of grid square to allow easy decimal subdivision by 
eye ; to reduce to workable limits the effect of paper distortion ; yet not 
to obscure the detail of the map. 

Choice of co-ordinate unit for the grid—the link, foot, yard or metre ?— 
in view of the foregoing considerations, and in addition to ensure per- 
manence, to result in brief unit references, and to facilitate use for surveys 
of different types. Change in the nature of the problem introduced by 
the proposal to grid maps on all scales (particularly the basic 1/2,500 scale) 
in the same system. 


Mr. G. H. Kimsie.—The influence of Church and State on Renaissance 
cartography (12.15). 


Renaissance cartography bears testimony to two main kinds of influence : 
(a) traditional and (6) political. The influence of tradition—mainly eccle- 
siastical—is seen in: (1) The persistence of erroneous ideas in the 
face of new knowledge. (2) The distortion of new facts to fit old theories. 
(3) The conflict of loyalties, e.g. classical versus ecclesiastical scholarship. 
(4) The portrayal of myths and legends. (5) The reluctance to accept 
facts incompatible with accredited theories. 

Under such a regime maps could have no real value. Hence the need for 
a practical map-science and the rise of the Portolan Chart. Undeterred, 
however, the schoolmen began ‘ harmonising ’ the old and the new. 

With the beginning of Portuguese overseas enterprise, cartography 
became subjected to a new influence—political. Successive Portuguese 
governments maintained a ‘conspiracy of silence ’ whereby they endeavoured 
to suppress information calculated to damage their foreign interests. This 
is attested by: (1) The reticence of official chroniclers concerning the 
course of discovery after 1450. (2) The entire absence of Portuguese maps 
in the fifteenth century and their scarceness in the early sixteenth century. 
(3) The indifferent quality of certain fifteenth-century maps purporting 
to give the African discoveries. (4) The time-lag between discovery and 
mapping. 


AFTERNOON. 
Excursion to Fylde farms (2.0). 


Lecture to school children by Brigadier H. S. L. WINTERBOTHAM, 
C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., on How maps are made (3.0). 


Saturday, September 12. 


Excursion to Fleetwood and the Lancashire coast (9.0). 


Sunday, September 13. 
Excursion to Ribblehead and Pennine Dales (9.0). 


Bie, SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—E. 


Monday, September 14. 


Dr. VAUGHAN CorNiIsH.—National parks and the preservation of nature in 
England (10.0). 


The hand of man has added much to the beauty of the landscape, both 
by the cultivation of nature and by architectural construction. But in 
order that the scenery of civilisation may be satisfying to the zsthetic sense 
there must be a suitable relation between the works of man and their natural 
setting and background, and in a country so densely peopled as England 
there is a serious risk of the scenic environment becoming unduly artificial. 
In fact, in the industrial towns which grew up in the nineteenth century 
nature was practically expelled and the townsman lived in a mechanical 
desert. 

The recent Town and Country Planning Act has given local authorities 
extensive powers for preserving rural and restoring urban amenities. ‘The 
tasks involved are extremely various, and in many cases can only be success- 
fully accomplished in consultation not only with members of the archi- 
tectural profession but with specialists in many branches of natural science. 
This is particularly the case in regard to the preservation of rare species of 
plants and animals. ‘The archzologist must also be called in to advise on 
matters relating to historic and prehistoric monuments. 

In the present paper the attention of local authorities will be drawn to 
the societies and institutions (many of them affiliated to the British Associa- 
tion) in conjunction with which it is desirable that local authorities should 
draw up their planning schemes. ‘The author goes on to point out that for 
the preservation of an adequate background of nature in England something 
more is needed than can be achieved by the provisions of the Town and 
Country Planning Act—namely, the reservation of several large areas as 
National Parks. Neither the best choice of areas nor their proper adminis- 
tration can be ensured except under a National Authority specially 
constituted. 

In fact the time has come for the establishment of a Board of Scenery, 
on which the learned societies should be represented, charged with the 
administration of national parks and the supervision of planning schemes 
not only of local authorities but also of Government departments. The 
latter are specially in need of co-ordination and control in the interests of 
scenic amenity. 


Prof. W. H. Hosss.—The physical solution of some vexed problems of dis- 
covery within the polar regions (10.45). 


Peculiar to the polar regions is a frequent condition of major inversion 
within the lower fifteen hundred metres of the troposphere, which has now 
been confirmed by many balloon investigations. This inversion and the 
freedom of these air layers from dust or moisture accounts for an extreme 
visibility and a looming, superior mirage, sufficient to bring into view objects 
which are far below the natural horizon. The distance at which elevated 
features may at such times be viewed is sometimes in excess of 200 geo- 
graphical miles. By this is explained the astonishing underestimates of 
distance which have been made by well-known explorers, and the fact that 
land which they had mapped has been so often sailed over by later ex- 
plorers. Critical examples of this from the major polar expeditions are 
cited, and a probable explanation is furnished for a puzzling problem in 
polar exploration still unsolved. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 373 


Prof. G. D. Hate CarpENnTER.—A journey round the Okavango swamp, 
Ngamiland (11.30). 


Dr. W. Bowte.—The mapping of the United States of America (12.15). 


AFTERNOON. 


Mr. W. G. East.—The Severn waterway in the eighteenth and nineteenth 
centuries (2.0). 


. A brief examination of the geography of the Severn waterway with special 
reference to the centuries of its greatest importance. Although it was 
reckoned navigable, for craft of different draughts, as far up as Welshpool, 
and although no improvements were made until the 1840’s, the Severn 
waterway suffered from many physical defects. A close study of (1) the 
regime of the river, (2) its profile, and (3) its tidal conditions, explains the 
differential possibilities for navigation along different parts of its course. 
Between Longney and Sharpness Point (below Gloucester), physical factors 
prevented access to and from Gloucester except during spring tides. Hence 
the need for, and utility of, the Berkeley Ship Canal (1827), which revived 
the trade of Gloucester, the estuary-head port. Between Gloucester and 
Worcester (to which spring tides reached) the waterway was relatively good 
for barges and trows; between Worcester and Bewdley many shallows 
were found, and farther upstream shoals and rapids were very common. 
Further, navigation above Gloucester was very irregular, owing to periods 
of low water and floods. In the late eighteenth century, when canals were 
cut to the Severn, it became imperative to survey and improve this ‘ very 
imperfect ’ waterway. 


Mrs. J. THomas.—The Duke of Bridgewater and the canal era (2.45). 


Packhorse and river transport in the early eighteenth century were in- 
capable of keeping pace with expanding industry and commerce, and 
despite the efforts of turnpike trustees, the roadways could not cope with 
the increase of vehicular traffic. The reaction of transport changes on 
commodity prices was especially evident in the case of coal and bulky raw 
materials. Having decided to construct canals for the cheaper transport 
of coal to his Lancashire customers, the Duke of Bridgewater enlisted the 
services of James Brindley for their construction. 

Schemes contemplated to link up Manchester and Liverpool were soon 
mooted. 

The various Acts granting statutory powers to the Duke to construct 
canals will be considered together with some of the more important 
engineering problems, e.g. that of crossing the river Irwell, which was 
solved by making the Barton Aqueduct. His canals were constructed in 
Lancashire and other counties and soon the ports of London, Liverpool, 
Bristol and Hull were linked up by inland waterways. 

Speculation led to a ‘ canal mania.’ 

The paper considers the effects of the amalgamation of canal companies 
on road and river transport and in turn the effect on canals of railway and 
road transport. 


374 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 


Tuesday, September 15. 
Mr. S. H. Beaver.—The distribution of population in Bulgaria (10.0). 


A population map of Bulgaria, scale 1:600,000, on Sten de Geer’s unit 
dot principle, based on the 1934 census, was exhibited. 

The bulk of the population is Bulgarian, but important Turkish groups 
exist in the south-east and north-east. Pomaks (Islamised Bulgarians) and 
semi-nomadic Vlachs are most numerous in the western Rhodopes; on 
the east coast are numerous Greek communities, and on the northern 
frontier some Romanian groups. ; 

Population density is greatest on the northern platform and in the 
Maritza basin, and least on the forested mountains—the Balkans, Anti- 
Balkans, Rila, Pirin and western Rhodopes. Density is low, too, in the 
dry ‘ Mediterranean ’ region of the south-west (Struma valley) and along 
the southern frontier in the eastern Rhodopes and Istrandja Dagh. 

Village types differ from region to region. On the northern platform 
are large nucleated villages (population 3,000-4,000) in the valley bottoms, 
leaving the plateau itself almost bare. In the Maritza plain and the sub- 
Balkan basins there is an even spread of smaller villages, with towns at 
route foci. The villages (kolibi) of the mountain regions are composed of 
dispersed houses. The Arda basin (eastern Rhodopes) is the largest area 
exhibiting this type, but the Balkan range and the western plateau (High 
Bulgaria or Bulgarian Macedonia) have similar settlement, the latter also 
having market towns in the several agricultural basins. 

The larger towns are mainly market centres the importance of which has 
been increased by the railway (e.g. Gorna Orehovitza, Stara Zagora, Pleven) 
or by water transport (e.g. the river port of Russe and the Black Sea ports 
of Varna and Burgas). Industrialisation, except in Sofia and Plovdiv, 
is feebly developed, but Sofia is growing a suburban-industrial fringe. 


Miss H. G. WANKLYN.—The Turkish ports (10.45). 


The end of the Sultanate in Turkey signified also a sharp decline in 
foreign control over Turkish industry and trade. Since 1923, the economic 
programme has been organised almost entirely by Turks. Three distinct 
influences have marked especially the development of the Turkish ports : 
(a) the deportation of the Greek and Armenian populations, mainly from 
coasts of Asia Minor, (6) the active Turkish acceptance of the prevailing 
spirit of economic nationalism and (c) the rapid progress of rail construction 
in eastern Turkey, which by distributing trade amongst various smaller 
centres has. weakened the old concentration on Constantinople, Smyrna 
and Trebizond. 

The traditional military instincts of the Turks are apparent in the planning 
of the new railways, which are designed primarily to meet modern strategic 
needs, and only in the second place to increase commercial activity. There 
has been, however, a departure from the old east and west running trade 
routes to establish rail connection north and south between Sivas and 
Samsun and in the mountainous south-eastern region, thus stimulating the 
ports of Samsun and Mersin. Though military requirements have led to the 
traversing by railways of formidable mountain ranges, currency restrictions 
are hampering the schemes for harbour dredging and construction, to 
which the geographical obstacles are comparatively mild. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—E. 375 
Miss D. M. Doveton.—Human geography of Swaziland (11.30). 


Extreme variations in geology, relief, climate and vegetation are charac- 
teristic of Swaziland. These variations are reflected in the development 
of the territory. Its possibilities as a ranching country, for both cattle and 
sheep, and its mineral wealth, influenced European interest in the Pro- 
tectorate as early as 1875. ‘To-day the agricultural possibilities include the 
production of maize, cotton, tobacco and citrus fruit. 

The Swazis, who have inhabited the region for about one hundred and 
fifty years, are mainly herdsmen. To-day, they possess only one-third of 
their country. The population density of the Swazis is thirty-eight, while 
that of the Europeans is four persons to the square mile. 

There are no railways in Swaziland, and the difficulties encountered in 
marketing produce in the Union retard progress. Since the Union is the 
natural outlet for Swaziland, the embargo on cattle, the main asset of both 
Swazis and Europeans, is ruining the country. 

So long as Swaziland remains independent of the Union, and the British 
Government is unable to protect it against embargoes, the future of the 
Protectorate is desperate. 


FINAL REPORT OF THE CommITTEE on The soils survey of the British Empire 
(12.15). 
AFTERNOON. 


Wednesday, September 16. 
Mr. J. ANDREWws.—Land utilisation in Australia (9.30). 


The study of land utilisation in Australia might be expected to throw 
light on theoretical questions of the sequence of land use in a new country. 
The general theory of such sequence postulates growing intensification 
from extensive utilisations to intensive and diversified utilisations in response 
to the stimuli of increasing population and capitalisation. Each successive 
utilisation is said to establish itself in its optimum areas where returns show 
the greatest margin over productive cost. 

The theoretical position, however, has been complicated by governmental 
stimulation of settlement and production, and, while the theory has been 
the basis of the policy adopted, the sequences have not been worked out 
in practice along the lines suggested by theoretical considerations. The 
most important aspect, therefore, is the problem of how intensification may 
be brought about under a policy of executive control. ° The growth of the 
more important rural industries is reviewed in this light, and from the 
point of view of production for an export market. The situation is now 
radically different from that in which former expansion took place. 

The possibilities for expansion in primary industries are considerable, but 
there are clear limits to the markets available. Stimulation of settlement 
must be carefully regulated to the marketing prospects and a necessary 
corollary of such stimulation is control of production and disposal. The 
Paper suggests certain changes in administration and policy to meet the 
new situation. 


Dr. A. RatstricK.—Study of a Pennine Dales parish—Linton-in-Craven 
(10.15). 


The parish of Linton-in-Craven includes the four ancient townships of 
Linton, Threshfield, Grassington, and Hebden, in upper Wharfedale, and 


376 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS —E, F. 


offers a very complete picture of social and economic development in the 
‘Dales.’ Within the parish there are over 200 acres of prehistoric lyncheted 
area, the site of a well-developed pastoral community life in the pre-Roman 
period. ‘The Saxon economy is clearly revealed in the strip lynchet field 
systems and the Domesday survey. The agriculture was continued under 
monastic granges, and the area developed as sheep farm. In the fifteenth 
century, lead mining, which had been present under the Romans, became a 
staple industry, and developed rapidly to the maximum occupation of the 
area, with the addition in the nineteenth century of coal mining. The 
nineteenth century saw the change of farming to dairy produce, related to 
the market at Skipton, with a post-war change to stock raising. ‘The 
mining industry ceased before 1900, but its place was partly taken by the 
development of large scale quarrying mainly for production of lime. A 
smaller and fairly recent industry is the weaving of cotton and cotton-silk 
fabrics. The relief varies between 600 ft. and 2,000 ft.O.D., and the country 
is fairly evenly divided between the Carboniferous Limestone and Millstone 
Grit formations. 


Miss D. SyLvesTER.—Hill villages in England (11.0). 


The two major provinces of hill villages in England are the Paleozoic 
Uplands region of the north and west and the Scarplands of the south-east. 
In the first, villages generally occupy more impressive sites which are 
characteristically at a disadvantage for modern agriculture and transport. 
But in the south-east the hill village is still normally a convenient agri- 
cultural centre for the relatively fertile, lower and more level uplands of 
this province. Hill villages are most densely distributed in Devon and 
Cornwall, the central Oolitic and Cretaceous areas and Northern England, 
north of a line from Flamborough to St. Bees; absent above 1,000 ft. ; 
rare in the plains of eastern England, the southern chalk escarpments 
and in western and midland regions which were forested or marshy in the 
pre-Norman period. Hill settlement seeks dry, open and easily defensible 
sites, and hill-colonisation occurred periodically from Neolithic to Norman 
times. The north-west province, with strong Celtic traditions, was scarcely 
touched by the Anglo-Saxon except in Northumbria. The hill villages of 
the south-east are broadly complementary in distribution to the early Anglo- 
Saxon burials. Some pre-Saxon cultural distributions show significant 
but more difficult correlations. Pre-Saxon hill settlements were rarely con- 
tinued in situ. In many regions there was migration to lower hill sites ; 
in others hill settlement was abandoned throughout whole districts. 


SECTION F.—ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND 
STATISTICS. 


Thursday, September 10. 


Mr. H. Smitu.—The changing structure of retail trade (10.0). 


1. Altering structure of retail trade. Phases of change : 


(a) Extensions of trading based on large-scale organisation, i.e. 
multiple shops and department stores. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—F. SUF 


(b) Changes in the number of retail outlets, due to special post- 
war economic conditions, to inter-regional and inter-urban 
changes in the distribution of population, and to changes in 
demand, all these being conditioned by the incursion upon 
‘ private’ firm business of the multiple shop and department 
store. 

(c) The progress of co-operative trading. 

(d) Growing importance of the branded and _ price-maintained 
article. This may alter adversely the optimum scale of opera- 
tions for a business, and tends to minimise the skill required 
for any form of retail trading when it prevails. 

(e) The growth of road transport, altering the habits of purchasers, 
changing the economic advantages of relative location to the 
retailer, and providing a method of delivery which is ubiquitous, 
but expensive. 


2. If one can make the assumption that retailing is in any way homo- 
geneous one key to the problem of where to seek in detail for criteria of 
change may be provided by investigating the trend of the total cost of 
retailing. 

3. If the growing costs of retail distribution are due to ‘ imperfect com- 
petition,’ then the reckoning of the total number of retail outlets is no clue 
to the extent to which the retail market is becoming more or less perfect. 
It may be getting less monopolistic when numbers are dwindling, or more 
so when they are growing. 

4. Conclusions. 


Mr. Georce DarLinc.—The economics of co-operative trading (11.30). 


The co-operative movement in Great Britain is a consumers’ trading 
movement possessing certain unique features which distinguish it from 
other types of commercial enterprise. The movement consists of 1,150 
local distributive societies in which the 7,500,000 members (representing 
nearly 6,000,000 families) are enrolled, and which cover nearly the whole 
of the country with a network of shops and services. ‘These local retail 
societies collectively own and control the two wholesale societies from which 
they obtain most of their supplies. ‘The wholesale societies have nearly 
200 manufacturing plants, in addition to their importing, merchanting, 
banking, insurance, advertising and other services. 

The size and methods of operation of a local distributive society are 
closely correlated to the size and character of the population it serves. ‘There 
are therefore local differences in the services provided by these societies. 
The majority of them are small, each numbering only a few hundred 
members, and providing a very limited range of services. At the other 
extreme are a few societies each with more than 100,000 members, operating 
departmental stores and numerous branch shops. Societies of all possible 
sizes and many varieties of services are found between these two extremes. 

While the consumers co-operative movement has many unique features 
and exists as ‘ a state within the State,’ it has been influenced by the post- 
war changes in distribution. Retailing costs have increased; delivery 
services have had to be established ; branch shops have been closed and 
trade concentrated from new big stores in recognised shopping centres ; 
and substantial improvements have been made in shop architecture and 
shopping services. 

It is difficult to compare the efficiency of co-operative shops with other 
types of retail stores owing to the inadequacy of the statistics of distribution. 


re) 


378 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—F. : 


Co-operative costs appear to be lower than those of department and chain 
stores, the average costs of co-operative retailing being 15 per cent. of 
sales. Profits are equal to 10 per cent. of sales, and are distributed as 
rebates on purchases; £22,000,000 were returned to customers in this 
manner in 1935. This device of returning profits to customers is the attrac- 
tion which co-operative trading has for its huge membership, and is the 
reason for its continual expansion. 


Friday, September 11. 
PRESIDENTIAL AppREss by Dr. C. R. Fay on Plantation economy (10.0). 


Miss Marcaret Dicsy.—Russia and the Balkans : an agricultural com- 
parison (12.0). 

The problem of all agricultural countries is the same—how to maintain 
or achieve a civilised standard of life for a rising population on an inelastic 
land area. The Balkans seek their solution in a voluntary intensification 
of farming, valuable crops grown on small independent holdings with co- 
operative marketing and finance and considerable state control of foreign 
trade. ‘The Soviet Union has turned to large-scale mechanised cultivation 
of essential foodstuffs on collective farms, carried out by a membership of 
crofter-labourers, with production minutely planned and mechanised 
services supplied by the State but with home marketing still partly individual 
and unorganised. How do these two systems compare in their results and 
potentialities ? 


AFTERNOON. 
Film: ‘ Tea Plantations ’ (3.0). 


Monday, September 14. 


Sir Witt1aM BeEvERIDGE, K.C.B.—An analysis of unemployment in 
Britain (10.0). 

The total of unemployed persons recorded each month by the Ministry 
of Labour does not consist of homogeneous units. In order to understand 
the nature of unemployment, the total must be broken up and analysed in 
various ways. 

1. By industries. Even industries now prosperous and expanding show 
percentages of unemployment of 6 or more. ‘ Friction’ due to people 
being of the wrong type or the wrong place to meet the demand, and 
seasonal fluctuations, account for a very substantial volume of unemploy- 
ment not likely to be abolished by increase in the demand for labour. On 
the other hand, other industries, depressed and contracting, have large 
bodies of unemployed labour for whom an increase of demand is unlikely— 
the ‘ industrial level core ’ of unemployment. 

2. By duration of unemployment in the individual case. About one 
quarter of those now receiving benefit or assistance have been unemployed 
continuously for twelve months at least—many for much longer. Sub- 
stantially the whole addition to the total of unemployment now as compared 
with 1929 (before the depression) consists of long-period unemployment. 
Short-period unemployment is probably less than at any time since the war. 

3. By relation to the systems of insurance and assistance. Nearly half 
those now recorded as unemployed in the insured industries get insurance 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—F. 379 


benefit, rather more than a third get unemployment assistance, and the rest 
get neither. Some of them are men otherwise qualified who have been 
disqualified for social reasons or disallowed under the Means Test, but they 
include also a proportion of people with little record or prospect of employ- 
ment, a ‘ personal hard core.’ 

4. By ages. The risk of losing one’s job does not increase appreciably 
with advancing years from 35 to 64 and is highest before 35, but the diffi- 
culty of finding fresh employment, once a job has been lost, whether through 
general depression or through individual misfortune, does increase materially 
with age. Social steps seem to be called for to help older men of proved 
industrial capacity to find new openings, and to counteract as anti-social 
the common tendency of employers to snatch at youth. 


Mr. STEPHEN W. SmitH.—Place and function of the administrative and 
technical worker in the new forms of economic organisation (11.30). 


The post-war developments in industry have been—as everyone knows— 
immense. 

Changes in manufacturing method, developments in industrial organisa- 
tion, improvements in technique, the steady replacement of steam by 
electricity as the power basis of industry, the increasing employment of the 
technician and the scientific worker—these and other phases of the new 
revolution in industry have modified tremendously the personnel of those 
employed. 

Emergence to a new and increasing importance of 

(a) the technicians and scientific workers ; 
(6) the administrative staffs. 
Simultaneous reduction, both in proportion and in significance, of 
(a) ‘ unskilled ’ labour ; 
(6) controlling and directing ‘ owners.’ 

Frequent replacement of latter, consequent upon group amalgamations 
or upon creation of large ‘ public utility ’ corporations, by salaried works- 
managers and similar responsible chiefs. 

_ Simultaneous growth of municipal enterprise—as water, trams, electricity, 
baths, libraries, housing, aerodromes, etc. 

What is the effect of all this manifest enlargement of the clerical, technical, 
supervisory, administrative, and professional grades ? 

(a) Statistics reveal steady increase in ratio of such workers. 

(b) Provided he is reasonably and adequately paid the salaried technician 
and administrator tends to be interested in the work for its own sake. 

(c) Corresponding advance of the functional outlook as compared with 
the profit-seeking motive, of the interests of the public versus the privateering 
interest, of the sense of trusteeship versus the pull of proprietorship. 

(d) Other considerations that emerge. 


AFTERNOON. 
SESSION on Business administration : 


Mr. C. A. Lee.—Some problems of a small manufacturing business 
(2.30). 
Of all the problems that are common to many small businesses, perhaps 


the more important are those concerned with the cultivation of a team- 
spirit among the staff. 


380 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—F. 


This spirit will show itself in better co-operation, increased receptiveness 
to new methods and in added interest in work. 

Good leadership is important and will bring with it a square deal for all 
concerned, adequate wages and good working conditions. The responsible 
staff must feel free to express ideas and have opportunity for advancement. 
The management must at all costs avoid a patronising attitude towards the 
workers. 

Another difficult problem for the small manufacturer is that of keeping 
his methods efficient. 

In place of the staff of experts employed by the large producers, the 
small manufacturer can use the services of consultants. The breadth of 
a consultant’s experience and his freshness of outlook will make up for 
his lack of knowledge of the particular business, provided that the staff 
co-operate with him. 

If consultants are selected wisely, and given adequate scope, a small 
organisation may soon reach the forefront of well-managed concerns, 
enjoying the advantages of vocational selection tests, motion and position 
study, rest pauses, centralised production planning and advanced technical 
methods. 


Mr. E. S. Bync.—Admunistration as a profession (3.30). 


Administration is defined as the co-ordination and control of all the 
specialised activities concerned in industrial, commercial and other organisa- 
tions. Owing to the growth in the size and complexity of industrial systems 
the responsibilities of administration call for the highest skill and the most 
careful training, to ensure that the true goal of industrial progress—the full 
co-operation of capital and labour—may be attained. ‘The author claims 
that it is through the development and perfecting of a recognised profession 
of administration that the industrial and economic problems confronting 
the nation can best be solved. The necessity for early training in the funda- 
mental principles of administration is emphasised, and courses of study 
leading from the elements to the higher techniques of administration are 
outlined. 


Tuesday, September 15. 
Prof. P. SARGANT FLORENCE and Mr. A. J. WENSLEY.—The localisation 
of industry (10.0). 


The concentration of particular industries in particular localities is at 
the root of the major problem of unemployment to-day, the problem of the 
depressed areas. ‘This localisation is a matter of degree, and an accurate 
measure of the degree to which any industry is localised or to which any 
locality is devoted to any particular industry must be the first step in 
studying ways and means of restoring the depressed areas to economic 
prosperity. ‘These measures, which are described in detail, make it possible 
to grade industries into those that are ‘ spread’ over the population and 
not localisable, and those that are localised to various degrees. Moreover, 
with some knowledge of technical conditions and the reasons for the actual 
location of an industry, it is possible to divide the localised industries into 
those capable of transference into depressed areas and those where trans- 
ference is not feasible. 


Mr. S. R. Dennison.—The location of industry and the depressed areas (11.0). 


The problems of the depressed areas are partly the result of changes in 
industrial location due to various general changes in industrial structure. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—F. 381 


Transport costs and supplies of specialised labour could explain a great 
deal of the nineteenth century pattern of location ; although still dominant 
in some cases, these are of much less importance in the new industries which 
can absorb the surplus workers from the old staples. 

An analysis of the factors in the location of the growing industries: 
transport ; the demand for labour ; the market ; other elements, including 
“arbitrary ’ and non-economic factors, and the various beliefs which may 
influence the industrialist in choosing a location. 

This analysis, together with other considerations, suggest that the de- 
pressed areas will not be able to attract new industries with any greater 
success in the future than has been the case in the past. 

Local and individual effort being limited, the control of location by the 
State is often suggested ; this has certain implications which are often 
overlooked, but which would be of great importance in an attempt to apply 
such a policy. 

N.B.—The factors considered will be illustrated largely by reference to 
conditions in Lancashire. 


Mr. W. Prest.—The Lancashire coal industry (12.0). 


The problems confronting the Lancashire and Cheshire coal industry 
are complicated by the wide diversity of technical and commercial conditions 
in the coalfield. The industry as a whole, however, enjoys easy access to 
extensive local markets, and this makes possible a higher level of prices and 
costs than prevails in any other important coalfield. Nevertheless the Lanca- 
shire coal industry has to meet considerable and increasing competition from 
neighbouring districts. The industry has consequently declined until 
to-day output is only about half as great as before the war. This decline 
is unique among the Midland coalfields and is comparable only to that of 
exporting districts such as Durham and South Wales. The issues raised 
are of great social and industrial importance, and they also have some 
bearing on the theory of industrial location. 


Wednesday, September 16. 


Dr. JoHN THomas.—The Pottery Industry and the Industrial Revolution 
(10.0). 


The traditional view is that the Potteries either escaped or experienced 
a belated Industrial Revolution. This paper challenges this traditionally 
accepted view by producing documentary and other evidence of a steady 
and unbroken sequence in the economic transformation of the pottery 
industry, from about 1730 to 1850. 

The progressive application of steam power to pottery productive pro- 
cesses is traced from documentary evidence, culled from the Boulton and 
Watt and other archives, hitherto neglected. 

Intimate relationship between the mechanisation of pottery processes 
and the increase of output. 

Potters as coalmasters, and the parallel application of steam power to 
the North Staffordshire Coalfield. Josiah Wedgwood as a steam power 
pioneer and patron of Boulton and Watt. The significance of steam power 
in converting the , Pottery workshop into a factory. New light on the 
pottery ‘turn-out’ of 1836. The transport and commercial revolutions, 
which accompanied the industrial changes. New light on the first attempt 
at a National General Chamber of Manufacturers. How the consumer 


382 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—F, G. 


benefited from the Industrial Revolution in the Potteries. Part played by 
science and art in the production of ceramic wares. Economic interpreta- 
tion of the localisation of the industry. The Industrial Revolution still 
proceeding in the Potteries. 


Mr. C. J. M. Capzow.—Agricultural co-operation and organisation in 
Scotland (11.20). 


The history of the Agricultural Co-operative Movement in Scotland is 
outlined shortly by tracing the development of the Scottish Agricultural 
Organisation Society—the ‘ spear-head ’ of the movement—since its early 
days. After dealing with the Society’s policy and activities in pre-war 
days, the reasons for a post-war change in policy are summarised. ‘The 
steady growth of the movement is illustrated in a sketch of the development 
of the principal societies trading in agricultural requisites. 

It is shown that, although considerable interest in the marketing of dairy 
and poultry produce has always been evinced in outlying parts of the 
country, little attention was paid by producers to the standardisation of 
quality and grading of other products until after the Great War. 

After briefly sketching the history of several co-operative marketing 
societies, an outline is given of the objects of a new form of Egg Marketing 
Agency recently submitted to producers for consideration and in which 
considerable interest is being shown. 

An indication is given of the policy of the S.A.O.S. in regard to large- 
scale marketing organisation, with particular reference to schemes under the 
Agricultural Marketing Acts and their effect on the Agricultural Co-operative 
Movement in Scotland. 


SECTION G.—ENGINEERING. 
Thursday, September 10. 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS by Prof. W. Cramp on The engineer and the nation 
(10.0). 


Dr. C. C. Garrarp.—The economic incentive of the engineer (11.0). 


Mr. L. THompson.—Description of the machinery of the amusement park 
(11.30). 


Dr. L. G. A. Stus.—Progress towards a test specification for incremental 
magnetic qualities (12.0). 


Following the author’s paper read before Section G at Norwich, the 
Committee of Section G expressed the desire that the proposals advanced 
in the paper should be carried forward as effectively as could be made 
possible. These proposals aimed at establishing a test specification for the 
incremental magnetisation of sheet steels, very large quantities of which are 
used by the electrical industry. In accordance with the Committee’s 
wishes the research work which is in progress was directed more particularly 
towards establishing the foundations for an international specification: a 
stage has been reached here which enables certain limits to be fixed and 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—G. _ 383 


pending full publication of the results a brief account of this work is 
given. But, concurrently with this work, a detailed questionnaire was 
prepared and circulated throughout this country, Europe and America. 
It has been accorded gratifying support, and valuable opinions are now 
available from many British designers engaged both in communication and 
in heavy plant engineering. In addition, the views of the design depart- 
ments of selected European firms are included. An organised German 
view-point is made available by the Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt 
through the co-operation of Herr Ober. Reg. Rat Dr. W. Steinhaus, and 
important proposals of a far-reaching character are put forward in his 
report. Comments and suggestions are made by Thos. Spooner, Esq., 
Chairman of the American Society for Testing Materials, by R. L. Sandford, 
Esq., of the National Bureau of Standards, U.S.A., by M. Jouaust, of the 
Laboratoire Centrale de l’Electricité at Paris, and by other authorities. 


REPORTS OF COMMITTEES (12.30). 


AFTERNOON. 
Visit to Pleasure Beach. 


Friday, September 11. 
Mr. W. A. STANIER.—Railway locomotive development (10.0). 


Mr. AsHTon Daviss.—L.M.S. traffic problems (11.0). 


Mr. H. J. Deane and Mr. E. LatHam.—Preservation of sea beaches (12.0). 


The movement of beach material is discussed generally in its-relation to 
the run of the flood tides and the general effect, by way of restriction, of the 
development of coastal defence works on such travel. The question of the 
desirability of restricting or prohibiting the removal of beach material is 
also dealt with and instances are given of prohibitions contained in the 
bye-laws of certain Catchment Boards against such removal. 

The paper is not a technical treatise on the design and execution of 
works of coastal protection but gives, in some detail, reviews of some 
instances of more than usual interest where difficult problems have had 
to be solved or where failures have occurred in existing defence works. 

Reference is made to the causes and remedies adopted in certain cases 
and some comprehensive descriptions of the conditions met with or troubles 
overcome in such well-known instances as Blundellsands, Swanage Bay, 
Lowestoft, Overstrand (Norfolk), Littlestone-on-Sea (Kent), Sidmouth, 
Eastbourne, Shoreham and Lancing, Rye Bay (Kent) and Blue Anchor 
(Somerset). 

The paper is illustrated by a plan of the coast at Blundellsands, one or 
two typical cases of designs of sea walls and groynes, reproductions of 
photographs of defence works referred to and by lantern slides. 


Mr. H. Banxs.—Blackpool coast defence works. 
Visit to Preston Grid. 


Saturday, September 12. 
Excursion to Manchester Corporation Waterworks, Haweswater. 


384. SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—G. 


Monday, September 14. 


Mr. H. F. SHanaHan.—Electricity for the consumer (10.0). 


Prof. E. W. MarcuHant.—A note on the operation of a variable oscillator 
for speech frequencies, with an tron cored choke (11.0). 


A demonstration using a dynatron form of oscillator, in which the 
inductance in the tuned anode circuit was of the iron-cored type. The 
variation in frequency is effected by varying the grid bias on the oscillator 
valve. In this way a range of nearly 4-1 in frequency could be obtained. 
The wave shape of the oscillations as shown by cathode ray oscillograms 
approximates to a sine curve, at the higher frequencies. The oscillator was 
applied to a vibrating monochord and could be used to exhibit the modes 
of vibration of the monochord, when the frequency was varied continuously 
over a considerable range. 


Mr. A. W. Lapner.—Beam wireless. The beam array, developments in 
design and influence on long-distance communication (11.20). 


Preliminary —Chief difficulties of short-wave communication are fading 
and echo, and, until array systems were used, short waves were of no value 
for commercial communication. 

Arrays.—Practical beam arrays were first developed for Imperial wireless 
and were of the broadside type. ‘These arrays consist of a long line of 
‘in-phase’ radiators giving maximum directivity normal to the line. 
Vertical directivity being a function of height, high arrays were necessary 
for efficiency, and thus broadside arrays have a high prime cost. 

Gain of arrays——The gain of a broadside array is 10 per square wave- 
length, and if arrays are used at both ends of a system, the total gain is 
the product of the gains each end. ‘Thus a system having 10 square wave- 
length arrays each end would give a gain of 10,000, and early arrays 
approached these figures. 

Developments.—By phasing the currents along an array line it is possible 
to bias the directivity to a direction in line with the array. In this case 
directivity in all planes is a function of length, and hence efficient arrays 
of low height can be built. This effects great economy in cost, and most 
modern arrays are of the ‘ in line ’ type. 

The influence of the array on communication history—Before beam 
wireless, overseas communication was by submarine cable. Great Britain 
had achieved a virtual monopoly of overseas communication owing to our 
possessing so many islands and countries dotted over the world, which 
materially assisted the growth of a cable network. Long-wave wireless 
had failed to compete with cable communication, but the beam established 
an immediate high-speed long-distance service, much above the needs of 
the time. Immediate results were the Government-sponsored merger of 
Cables and Wireless in Great Britain. But beam wireless was available to 
all countries, and the growth of foreign competition is slowly breaking 
Great Britain’s monopoly of overseas communication. 


Dr. F. W. LancuesTER.—Magnetic and electric units (12.0). 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—G. 385 


; AFTERNOON. 
Discussion on Traffic safety. 


Mr. E. H. Fryer.—The application of science to the solution of road 
users’ dangers and difficulties (2.30). 


The paper deals with the reduction of road accidents under four headings : 
(a) the road ; (6) the vehicle ; (c) the user; and (d) the controller. 

(a) The author forecasts the characteristics of a road system capable of 
accommodating future traffic requirements, and visualises national ‘ through’ 
routes with at least two carriageways, cycle tracks, footpaths and horse rides 
of a net width for the whole of these facilities of 260 ft., with adequate 
super-elevation at acute bends, uniform non-skid surfaces and no interruption 
at crossroads. 

Suggestions for improving the design of private motor vehicles are con- 
tained under classification (6)—e.g. the elimination of draughts and the 
control of temperature inside the car, the maintenance of a low centre of 
gravity without detriment to visibility and headroom or any restriction on 
the carrying capacity. 

(c) The author refers to the need for engendering among road users a 
spirit of consideration, good manners and goodwill. 

(d) The fact is emphasised that the mere making of laws and regulations 
is unlikely to achieve any considerable reduction in accidents unless legisla- 
tion is so simple and clear that its common sense commands the backing of 
public opinion. 


Tuesday, September 15. 
Dr. W. S. Stites.—Headlight glare and illumination in fog (10.0). 


The problem of eliminating dazzle from motor-car headlights is formu- 
lated on scientific lines and the main methods which have been proposed for 
the elimination or reduction of dazzle are examined and their merits dis- 
cussed. Attention is drawn to the possibilities of the polarised light system. 

Various suggestions for improving visibility in headlight beams during 
fog are discussed. It is pointed out that tests on the use of coloured light 
have failed to reveal any advantage, and that such progress as can be made 
will probably result from the study of various light distributions in the beam. 


Mr. R. G. Batson.—The effect of the road surface and its maintenance on 
road safety (11.0). 


The paper deals with the requirements of road surfaces as regards 
rugosity (or roughness), cleanliness, conspicuity, continuity, and surface 
irregularities. 

It emphasises the need for information as to the coefficient of friction on 
‘ wet ’ road surfaces over a range of speeds, including values at much higher 
speeds than those hitherto employed, and shows that the ‘ slipperiness ’ of 
a road cannot be judged by a single test at a speed of, say, 30 m.p.h. 

Stopping distances of vehicles are shown to depend upon the charac- 
teristics of the coefficient-speed curve for the road surface. 

Road surfaces are only slippery when wet, thus it is considered that the 
lubricating action of the liquid on the road is of primary importance. 
Research on this aspect of the road problem has been started and some of 
the preliminary results obtained are described. 

02 


386 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—G, H. 


The importance of a light-coloured surface is stressed and the results of 
some experiments are given. 

Continuity on the road is considered to be necessary—such as continuity 
in conspicuity and rugosity as well as continuity in super-elevation, traffic 
signs, etc. Equal rugosity across the road is necessary as well as continuity 
in rugosity along the road. 

Finally, the paper deals briefly with the bearing of surface irregularities on 
the safety problem. 


Mr. H. Ricarpo, F.R.S.—High speed Diesel engines (12.0). 


AFTERNOON. 
Visit to Leyland Motors, Ltd. 


Wednesday, September 16. 


Dr. Marcaret FIsHENDEN.—Some measurements of radiation from com- 
bustion gases (10.0). 


Dr. R. H. Evans and Dr. R. H. Woop.—Transverse elasticity of building 
materials (10.45). 


The paper deals chiefly with the transverse elastic and plastic strains in 
building materials when tested in both tension and compression. Experi- 
ments have been made on columns of concrete, sandstone, slate, granite, 
marble, and ebonite, attention being devoted to the transverse and longi- 
tudinal strains and to the influence of that characteristic inherent in building 
materials known as creep. The illustrations in the paper refer to concrete. 

The results obtained show quite definitely that lateral creep does occur 
in materials like concrete and sandstone at the same time as longitudinal 
creep. This is true in both tension and compression. At the higher 
stresses in compression, namely, above } to 2 of the crushing stress, the 
lateral creep amounts to several times the longitudinal creep. It is suggested 
that this phenomenal increase in the magnitude of the lateral creep may be 
due to the formation of longitudinal cracks in the column. The diagrams 
given show the existence of ‘ elastic-after-strain ’ and that transverse strains 
form hysteresis loops under cycles of loading. 


Dr. A. L. Raw.incs.—Sound locators for directing searchlights (11.30). 


SECTION H.—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
Thursday, September 10. 
PRESIDENTIAL AppRESS by Miss D. A. E. Garrop on The Upper Paleo- 
lithic in the light of recent discovery (10.0). 


Mr. A. LesLig ARMSTRONG.—The antiquity of man in Africa as demon- 
strated at the Victoria Falls (11.0). 
The Rhodesian Archeological Expedition, 1929, provided the oppor- 


tunity to investigate the sequence of Stone Age cultures represented by 
implements known to occur in the gravels of the old river bed and terraces 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—H. 387 


of the Zambesi, south of Victoria Falls, and to obtain the co-operation in 
this work of the Rev. Neville Jones, of Bulawayo. As a result of systematic 
research covering an area on the east bank of the river, between the present 
line of the Falls and the fifth gorge, the sequence of cultures has been defined 
and their relation to stages in the recession of the Falls from their former 
position in gorge five to that which they now occupy has been determined. 
The material collected was first divided into cultural groups on the basis of 
type and afterwards each group was analysed on the basis of physical con- 
dition. The cultures represented are: (1) a Pre-Chellian industry which 
resembles in some respects the Eolithic and in others the Cromerian of 
Europe; (2) Chellian; (3) Acheulian, of which three sub-divisions are 
recognisable ; (4) Clactonian (2 phases) ; (5) Levalloisian ; (6) Mousterian ; 
(7) Bambata, which is the Rhodesian equivalent of the European Upper 
Aurignacian. 

The degree of rolling to which the various groups had been subjected 
and the entire absence of rolling exhibited by tools collected on the plateau 
of the old river bed in certain areas, made it possible to relate each group to 
successive stages in the excavation of the river gorge, which is over 400 ft. 
in height above the present river and it is clear that a length of 5 miles of 
this gorge has been eroded since Pre-Chellian times. 


Dr. T. A. Rickarp (read by Prof. J. L. Myres).—The nomenclature of 
archeology (11.40). 


Current nomenclature is not in accord with anthropological facts. ‘The 
idea that the polishing of stone was characteristic of the Neolithic period 
is condemned on the ground that the technique of stone fabrication is de- 
pendent upon the kind of stone available. It has no relation to chronology. 
Excessive emphasis on flint-knapping ignores the fact that flint is not 
available in many parts of the world. 

The Neolithic as a period of time has shrunk to a negligible length. 
The gap between the end of the Paleolithic and the beginning of metal- 
smelting leaves less than a thousand years. 

The Bronze Age is a misnomer. The use of the tin-copper alloy repre- 
sents a minor phase of the use of copper, and characterised only a small 
part of the world. ‘ Early Bronze,’ based on a faulty knowledge of metal 
culture, is due mainly to the failure to recognise the use of native copper long 
before smelting began. 

The use of native copper does not mark a distinct Metal age ; it belongs 
to the Stone Age, and to the beginning of it. There was no Chalcolithic 
period, nor any twilight zone of metal usage between the Stone Age and the 
so-called Bronze Age. After the Stone Age came the Metallurgic Age. 
The extraction of metal from the ore by smelting is entirely distinct from the 
hammering of metal by stone and even from the melting of it for the purpose 
of making ornaments, as in Mexico. 

The use of stone was preceded by the use of less recalcitrant materials, 
such as wood, bone, and shell. This covered a period of time longer than 
the Stone Age and distinct from it ; the name ‘ Primordial’ is suggested. 
Therefore the three divisions suggested are Primordial, Stone Age, and 
Metallurgic. 

Exception is taken to the term Homo sapiens. 'The connotation of wisdom 
is rendered ridiculous by human behaviour, even to-day. The one faculty 
that separates man from the beasts of the field is speech. Therefore Homo 
loquens is suggested. 


388 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 
Mr. W. J. VartEY.—The Bleasdale circle (12.20). 


The essential features of the Bleasdale Circle are: (a) An inner structure, 
comprising a central shallow grave, surrounded by eleven oak posts let into 
the ground, forming a ring 33 ft. in diameter. Around this post ring is 
a penannular ditch floored with birch poles laid crosswise. The upcast 
from this ditch formed a low mound 54 ft. in diameter through which the 
post ring protruded. The opening in the ditch was flanked by two rows 
of three posts, the innermost pair being much larger and deeper sunk than 
the others. (b) An outer palisade set eccentrically to the inner structure 
which it nearly touches on the east side near to the break in the ditch. This 
palisade is made up of principals—deep set oak posts at 14-ft. intervals 
between which are shallow set minor posts. 

The monument is dated by its grave goods, a biconical pygmy cup and 
two cinerary urns. The latter belong to a late form of the overhanging 
ring type characteristic of the Pennines and to be attributed to a late phase 
of the Middle Bronze Age. After the circle had been built it was invaded 
by peat moss which on analysis proved to belong to the sub-Atlantic phase. 

Taken as a whole Bleasdale is without known parallel. The inner circle 
bears obvious affinities to the Dutch palisade grave, particularly to Lange- 
dijk, but the eccentric palisade and the splayed approach or forecourt appear 
to be derived from other sources. 

It is fairest in the present state of knowledge to regard Bleasdale as the 
result of the fusion of ideas surviving in isolation. 


AFTERNOON. 
Prof. R. Ruccies Gates, F.R.S.—Blood groups (2.15). 


The blood groups are generally regarded as human characters which are 
of mutational origin and non-selective. ‘Their spread in different races must 
therefore depend upon mutation frequency, migration and racial crossing, 
unless they are linked to racial characters having selective value. ‘The 
A and B blood groups occur also in anthropoids, but it appears probable 
that they have arisen independently as parallel mutations in man. This is 
partly based on the fact that the chimpanzee and gorilla, which are regarded 
as man’s nearest relatives, have hitherto shown only the A and not the B 
blood group. O appears to be the primitive condition, from which A and 
afterwards B began to appear as mutations. ‘That A is older is shown by 
its high frequency in Australian aborigines, pre-Dravidians of India, Bush- 
men, Lapps and Hawaiians. B began to appear later in East and South 
Asia and in Africa. ‘The fact that American Indians and Eskimos of pure 
blood are nearly all O has been difficult to explain, but peoples of similar 
physique, such as the T’so of Formosa and the Tungus, have a high per- 
centage of O and may represent an ancestral type. The few Tibetans 
tested are, on the other hand, very high in B. 


Mr. E. Davises.—An anthropological survey of the Isle of Man (2.55). 


Anthropometric data were recorded from each of 1,200 adult males of 
Manx descent. Preponderance of fair colouring on the Northern plain and 
in South, and of dark colouring in the east-central region, is most marked 
among long-headed men. 

In the north stature is taller and build is more massive than elsewhere, 
especially among fairmen. ‘The north also shows longer faces and narrower 
noses than other parts. Thus the north is characterised by tall, fair, big- 
boned, long-faced, narrow-nosed, and, on the whole rather long-headed 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 389 


men ; a marked occurrence of Norse place-names and archeological finds 
indicate Norse settlement here. In the east-central area we find a pre- 
ponderance of dark colouring, shorter stature, smaller measurements, and 
shorter noses. Other regions of the island show differences of varying 
degree. The island shows no obvious survivals of early extremely long- 
headed types and the distribution of dark-haired, very broad-headed men 
is but a lightly scattered one. 

The bulk of the population is either fair and rather long-headed or medium 
headed, with a tendency to tall stature, or darker, with smaller measurements, 
but on the whole very similar cephalic indices. 


Mr. H. FuLiarp.—Anthropometric work in Lancashire (3.35). 


The work so far accomplished ; the earlier efforts ; the present survey. 
The number of subjects measured ; the localities in which the measurements 
have been taken ; the plain and the hills. The results and indications of 
the work ; the distributional value of the more important measurements, 
indices, and degree of pigmentation. The groups of associated charac- 
teristics and their distribution; the relation of the latter to the relevant 
aspects of the geography and life of Lancashire. Conclusion : the intention 
of further work. 


Friday, September 11. 


Mr. E. Davirs.—-Rural settlement in the Isle of Man (10.0). 


Land in the Isle of Man is divided into treens and quarterlands. The 
treen usually, but not always, comprises four quarterlands. 'The boundaries 
of these, which are traditional and fixed, tend to follow natural features— 
hedges, roads, streams, etc. In lowland areas they often follow lines of 
wells ; in the upland, watercourses are more commonly the bounds. 

In valleys, treens occupy hill slopes between streams rather than valley 
bottoms. On the coastal plateau, away from valleys, and on the moraine 
in the north the treens extend from hill to shore in long parallel strips. 
This provided an equitable division of land of various kinds. 

The closest affinities are with the land system of ancient Ireland. The 
Manx treen (or ‘ Balley,’ which was the original term) and quarterland 
(Manx ‘ Kerroo-Valley’) resemble the Irish ballys and quarter-ballys. 
In Ireland thirty ballys formed, ideally, the land of a Tuath; in Man 
each sheading includes, approximately, thirty treens. 

Many features of the legal tenure, according to Manx customary law, 
have been shown to resemble those governing Odal land in Norway. 
They appear to be Norse features laid over an older land system. 


Mr. I. C. Peate.—The moorland Long-house in Wales (10.35). 


The influence of environment upon human habitations is well exemplified 
in Wales. It is illustrated by the characteristic thatched cottages of the 
Glamorgan coastal plain and the intrusion into mid-Wales of the half- 
timbered house of the Severn Valley and the Midlands. But of particular 
interest to the geographer and anthropologist is the long-house of the 
Welsh moorland in which man and beast are (for reasons which will be 
discussed) housed under the same roof. The type is of extreme antiquity 
and early Welsh references to it will be given. Attention is drawn to 
associated types in Scotland and—in ancient times—in Scandinavia and 
reference made to features in North Wales cottages which appear to be 
related to the type. 


390 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—H. 


Dr. E. Witson.—The folk-tale in Westmorland and North Lancashire 
(11.10). 


The area: South Westmorland and Cartmel. Influence of system of 
tenure on social life. Small-holders and hard-workers. Changes last 
century—enclosures and growth of estates. More recent changes, decline 
of industries and local life. 

Traditional amusements: dances, songs, tales. Hunting’ songs still 
sung. References in local books, singing competitions at Winster and 
Eskdale. Former popularity of chap-books (cf. Wordsworth and Briggs). 
Competitions in telling riddles. Parties where each guest must sing a song 
or tell a tale. Tales still told, though they are now dying out. Influence 
of the dialect in preserving tales. 

Humorous tales. The daft man in the daft village. "The man who makes 
an object that is too big to be got out of his workshop. Gotham. Hazel 
Grove near Stockport ; folk use of modern conditions, and tales circulated 
by troops in the Great War. The inhabitants of Barrowdale (Cumberland) 
—early version of Cuckoo story in Briggs. Modernversion. Degeneration 
in story. 

Effect of chap-books. Modern parallel of dialect pamphlets. Story of 
the three foreigners in chap-book and from the folk. Modern version 
again deteriorated. 

Story of Farmer and his wife—Poggio. No degeneration. 

King John and the Abbot. Old tale but modern conditions. Tales 
likely to die out because of modern conditions. Necessity of collecting 
now. 


Mr. S. O.Dumearca.—-The work of the Irish Folklore Commission (11.45). 


In April 1935, the Irish Folklore Commission was set up by the Irish 
Free State Government to collect oral traditions of the Irish people still 
remaining in both Irish and English. 'The Commission inherited from the 
Irish Folklore Institute 50,000 pages of manuscript material, and the nucleus 
of a Folklore Reference Library. 

Through the courtesy of University College, Dublin, the Commission’s 
headquarters is in the University building. 

A great reservoir of tradition is in the Gaeltacht. Here are storytellers 
with unbroken tradition from the Middle, Ages possessed of amazing 
repertoires of tales and songs, and imbued with an outlook completely 
untouched by the Machine Age. To save and preserve these traditions, six 
full-time collectors have been appointed and equipped with recording 
apparatus, and four more will shortly be appointed. Records and note- 
books are sent to headquarters to be catalogued and preserved. 

The Commission also has correspondents all over the country collecting 
materials in leisure hours. Notebooks have been issued by the Director 
of Education to 6,000 Primary Teachers throughout the Free State. ‘These 
are catalogued and stored, and will provide a general survey of the whole 
country. 

All material which will throw light on the social life of the Irish people 
in the past is also being collected. In 1935 Dr. Campbell (Upsala) and 
Mr. Nilsson (Lund) made a survey of house types, modes of agriculture, 
fishing, etc. Hundreds of plots, plans, and sketches were made, and have 
been stored. 

The headquarters of the Commission and the Reference Library are open 
to students and scholars. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 391 


Mr. J. HoRNELL.—The coracles and curraghs of the British Isles (12.20). 


Coracles are small river craft, propelled by paddles ; in shape, round, 
ovate or sub-rectangular. Curraghs are sea-going boats generally built 
on the lines of a light skiff and propelled by oars. Both were originally of 
wicker-work covered with hide, but tarred canvas is now the usual covering 
upon a frame of crossed laths. 

In Europe they occur to-day only in the British Isles. Lucan mentions 
the use of coracles on the river Po at the beginning of the Christian era ; 
classical writers occasionally make passing references and thereby suggest a 
wider distribution in those days. 

In Wales coracles exist on the rivers in the south-west and on the Dee in 
the north. In England a bowl-shaped form serves as a ferry-boat on the 
Severn. In Scotland they were in use from the Hebrides across to the Spey 
in the second half of the eighteenth century, and in Ireland they linger on 
the Boyne. ‘To-day, curraghs are restricted to the west coast of Ireland; 
the design differs from port to port and in size varies from 8 to 20 ft. in 
length. 

Prior to the establishment of Roman rule the presence of curraghs 
throughout Britain is attested by Greek and Roman writers. 

Coracles and curraghs are definite features of Celtic culture in Britain. 
The former were probably introduced from the continent by early Celtic 
swarms whereas the curragh is a local adaptation of wattle and hide technique 
to boat construction. A weighty reason for the initial adoption, and for the 
persistence to the present day, of the curragh type of vessel must have been 
that the Celts found in its design one suitable to the rapid and inexpensive 
construction of a light type of boat, adaptable to many of the purposes for 
which their Scandinavian neighbours employed plank-built boats superior 
in many respects to their own dugout canoes. Once the system was adopted, 
its usefulness would quickly bring about improvement in technique and 
dimensions, with the increase either of commerce or of raiding. Curraghs 
are capable of extremely rapid manceuvring and of higher speed under oars 
than wooden rowing boats of like size ; hence their employment by coastal 
pirates as instanced by Sidonius and Gildas. But the vulnerability of the 
hide cover forbade its use in sea-fights with stouter vessels built of wood. 
Because of this the clinker-built long ships of the Saxons drove the piratical 
Celtic curraghs out of the English Channel, and roomy round ships took 
their place as trading vessels. Only on the wild west coast of Ireland are 
curraghs still in use because of poverty, reinforced by faith in their good 
qualities when handled skilfully. 


AFTERNOON. 


Joint Discussion with Section D (Zoology) (q.v.) on Genetics and the race 
concept (Section D room) (2.15). 


Saturday, September 12. 


Excursion to Bleasdale, Ribchester, Preston. 


Sunday, September 13. 


Excursion to Furness .Abbey, Urswick and Cartmel. 


392 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 


Monday, September 14. 


Prof. C. DaryLL Forpr.—Social change in a West African village com- 
munity (10.0). 


Despite the dominance of patrilineal territorial kin groups in the organisa- 
tion of economic activities in the Yak6 villages, authority and legal decisions 
within the villages have lain with a number of priest-chiefs whose prestige 
and authority derive not from those kin groups but from co-existing matri- 
lineal groups. 

This situation is, however, being seriously challenged. The establish- 
ment under government authority of a native court, and the creation in 
connection with it of warrant chiefs, proposed by aggregations of patrilineal 
kin groups, together with the suppression or decay of the punitive action of 
societies, have restricted the authority and the powers of the priests’ council, 
while the establishment of external authority has reduced its prestige. 

In connection with the proposal of the Government to create a native 
authority intended to reflect and implement native law and custom, there is 
a strong demand by a group of younger men that the council of the priests 
of the matrilineal kin groups shall be entirely ignored. ‘This vocal group 
desires a council composed of spokesmen of patrilineal kin groups alone. 
Motives behind this are many and confused. Loyalty, within the matri- 
lineal groups is, however, very strong among the majority, and their rituals 
have great prestige, so that a serious internal conflict has developed which 
involves the fundamental social organisation of the community. 


Dr. D. Jenness.—The backwardness of the American Indians and its causes 
(10.35). 


Why were the Indians backward ?—‘ Pure’ races—Intelligence of races 
and peoples—Temperaments of peoples—Influence of ‘ race-mixture ’— 
Wave-like progress of civilization—Influence of climate on civilization— 
Culture contacts and their effects on civilization—Backwardness of Indians 
partly due to isolation—Later dawn of civilization in America—Similarities 
and differences in the growth and spread of New and Old World civiliza- 
tions—Influence of physiographic conditions in the Old and New Worlds— 
Rise and decline of nations in America—Conclusion. 


Dr. E. J. LinpGren.—Russo-Tungus culture contact (11.10). 


The Reindeer Tungus of north-western Manchuria and the Russian 
Cossacks with whom they have been trading for at least seventy years pro- 
vide an example of contact between an aboriginal and a European culture 
which has several unusual features. Despite their long association, there is 
no perceptible tendency for one culture to eliminate, or to fuse with, the 
other ; cordial social relationships coexist with freedom in internal ad- 
ministration, and differences in race and culture appear to cause no hostility. 

Among the factors which probably contribute to this state of cultural 
equilibrium are the approximate numerical equality of the two communities 
and their partial economic interdependence. The circumstance that cultural 
borrowing has taken place in both directions is perhaps of still greater im- 
portance. ‘Thus Tungus summer dress is largely Russian in material and . 
style, while Cossacks hunting in the woods in winter wear leather garments 
either of Tungus manufacture or tanned by a Tungus method. In the 
sphere of religion there is a similar interchange: the Tungus follow most 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 393 


of the outward forms of Russian Orthodox Christianity, but the Cossack 
traders share their belief in the Tungus shaman’s powers. 


Miss E. D. Eartuy.—The social structure of a Ghande town (Liberia) 


(11.45). 

A typical village of the Gbande tribe of Liberia is described. The 
Gbande are allied to the Kpelle. 

A hunter, N., makes his home on a hill-top, and during five generations 
a village of fifty huts has grown up. The village is divided into three 
sections, each section, called wubi, being governed by its headman under the 
chief, who in his turn is subordinate to the clan chief. ‘The community 
shows a patrilineal—patrilocal society emerging from a matrilineal—matri- 
local one. Reasons given. The chief totem is the python. The tribal 
religion has been invaded by a degenerate Mohammedanism. Latterly 
there have been one or two converts to Christianity. 

The chief occupations are hunting, fishing, cotton and rice cultivation, 
palm-oil production, cloth-weaving, basketry, mat making, iron smithery. 
Iron currency is used for bride-wealth, but this is not paid when the man 
comes to live at his wife’s home. 

A ground-plan shows the relative positions of the huts and their 
occupants, together with the sacred enclosure for the ‘ Lightning-medicine ’ ; 
the burial mound of the founder of the village, and the graves of important 
women built as excrescences on the walls of their huts. 


Sir Ricuarp Pacer, Bt. (read by Dr. G. M. Morant).—Sign language in 
relation to human speech (12.20). 


Auditory language is a system of mouth gestures expressing meaning. 
Its derivation from bodily pantomime is explained by the natural sympathy 
between hand- and mouth-movements observed by Darwin. 

The natural, universal, pantomimic language of man is still used by 
uneducated deaf mutes throughout the world. It does not employ gestures 
corresponding to words—it pantomimes events as a whole. 

Man is not primarily a tool-using animal ; he is rather a symbol-using 
animal. 

Speech was born when separate signs were evolved for separate ideas. 
The corresponding mouth gestures were combined with the emotional 
language of grunts, chuckles and cries, and ultimately produced speech. 

Sign language could be logically developed so as to express the highest 
and subtlest thoughts of man. 

Auditory speech superseded sign language because it required less effort— 
left man’s hands free—and did not need light or direct vision for its under- 
standing. 

The development of speech is retarded by pedantry, from which sign 
language is at present free. 

A rational sign language would appear natural to all races, and be very 
easy to learn and remember ; its development could be controlled from the 
start by a world authority through the medium of films and television. 


AFTERNOON. 
Mr. E. G. BowEn.—The travels of the Celtic saints in the Dark Ages (2.15). 


The development of prehistoric studies has made possible the reconstruc- 
tion of a fairly complete sequence of cultures during the last two millennia B.c. 


394 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—H. 


on the western fringes of Europe. It is important that the semi-legendary 
material of the proto-historic period should be re-examined in the light of 
the prehistoric evidence. This paper seeks to show, by plotting as far as 
possible the journeys of prominent Celtic saints, that the conditions of travel 
and the routes frequented in the Dark Ages were much the same as the 
carheological evidence leads us to believe had been the case in these 
western lands for nearly two thousand years before. By plotting the various 
churches, wells, shrines, etc., dedicated to respective saints, it is possible to 
indicate geographically their spheres of influence. An examination of 
these shows that many areas on the western fringe of Europe which, ap- 
parently, functioned as cultural sub-provinces in prehistoric times, stand 
out again in the Dark Ages as the territorial limits of the missionary influence 
of a particular saint. Very seldom does the sphere of influence of an 
individual saint extend over the whole of the Celtic lands. 


Mlle. Simone Corsiau.—Recent finds in the Indus valley (3.0). 


The object of this paper is to lay before the British Association documents 
coming from a new archeological area in the Indus valley. 

This region is the Peshawar district, in the uppermost corner of the North- 
West Frontier Province of India. It was hitherto supposed to contain 
only remains of Greco-Buddhist times. Yet a journey of investigation and 
trial diggings have enabled me to bring back to the Brussels Museum a 
collection of archaic pieces which I deem to be far more ancient. In my 
opinion they represent a very early stage of the Indus valley civilisation. 
All the parallels they afford are to be found in Sumerian Mesopotamia 
(Jemdet-Nasr period and Susa II), protohistoric Aegean (Ancient Minoan I) 
and at the prehistoric site of Anau in Russian Turkestan. Excavations in 
this archeological region might throw much light upon the origin of the 
Indus culture. 


Dr. M. A. Murray.—Anthropology as applied to English history (3.30). 


The methods of Anthropology, when applied to the study of English 
history, disclose some strange facts, and suggest that in the lives of the 
monarchs of Western Europe there is a hitherto untouched field of research. 
The evidence shows the survival as late as the eighteenth century of the 
belief in the actual divinity of the king, and with that belief there goes 
also the belief in the necessity of the divine victim, who was either the 
king or a substitute. ‘The perpetual recurrence of the number nine and 
its multiples, either as the age of the king or as the number of years of his 
reign, when taken in connection with the sacrifice of a victim, cannot be 
mere coincidence. ‘The evidence, if found in modern Africa or in ancient 
Greece, would be received without more ado as proof positive of the existence 
of this custom. ‘Therefore the custom must be accepted as occurring in 
England. In ancient pagan times the sacrificed victim was deified, prayers 
and offerings being made at his tomb ; in Christian times he was canonised, 
and like his pagan prototype, he received worship after death. Examples 
of such sacrifices can be found in English history from the time of the Saxon 
kings till the end of the Stuart period. 


Prof. H. J. FLeure, F.R.S.—The science of man and the problems of to-day 
(5.0). 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H. 395 


Tuesday, September 15. 


Dr. J. Poxorny.—The racial and linguistic affinities of the neolithic 
Danubians (10.0). 


The question of the origin of the Danubians is of the greatest importance, 
owing to the fact that they introduced domestic animals and cultivated 
plants into Central Europe. Their anthropological remains are, however, 
scanty, and owing to their mixing with their mesolithic predecessors, admit 
of various interpretations. It is certain that the Mediterranean race is an 
important element among them. ‘Though completely submerged by the 
conquering Aryans, they must have transmitted to them the names of rivers 
and villages, being sedentary peasants. 

In the home of the urnfield culture in Czechoslovakia and eastern 
Germany, which the author has shown to be Illyrian, we find many names 
that cannot be explained from Aryan roots. Since this culture consists 
chiefly of Danubian elements overlain by the Aryans, we may expect the 
non-Aryan names to be of Danubian origin. It is certainly more than a 
strange coincidence that these very names can be shown to be distinctly 
Etruscan. Since we know that the Etruscans had absorbed the native 
Mediterranean population of Italy in a very large degree, these analogies 
may be due to the common Mediterranean element and give us a definite 
clue to the origin of the Danubians. 


Mr. E. E. Evans and Mr. O. Davits.—Stone circles in Northern Ireland 
(10.30). 

Considerable quantities of stone circles, usually in groups of four or five, 
are found in co. Derry and Tyrone, and some in Donegal, which has, how- 
ever been little explored. ‘They are not known in the eastern and southern 
counties of Ulster, so they seem to have been introduced by the Foyle 
estuary, probably from the north. They are usually about 25 ft. across, 
of flat slabs on edge about 6 in. high. Sometimes they contain a small 
grave structure, and three or four types can be distinguished by the presence 
of alignments, etc. From the evidence of distribution and of the typology 
of the graves contained in one of them they should be assigned to the late 
Neolithic period. 


Miss Lity F. Cuirry.—The Irish Sea in relation to Bronze Age culture 
(11.10). 


The evidence is presented in a series of maps of type objects of the 
Bronze Age showing their distribution around the shores of the Irish Sea 
and extending the survey east to the Pennine passes and south to the 
mountains of North Wales, the Isle of Man forming a focal area for the 
overlap of types. 

A basic stone-celt culture was metamorphosed by the idea of the per- 
forated stone axe-hammer from |Yorkshire, but this scarcely affected 
Ireland. Diverse elements were linked by trade across Britain in flat 
bronze axes from Ireland and by traffic in precious substances. Interest- 
ing ceramic hybridisation resulted. The Eden, Ribble, and Mersey basins 
afforded early communication routes. Distinctive forms of Middle Bronze 
Age implements developed in the Upland Zone of Britain. Short-flanged 
Yorkshire axes have an instructive distribution. 

Late Bronze Age upheavals sent Scottish makers of large cinerary urns 


396 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—H, I. 


among Ulster food-vessel potters, and resultant ceramics reflexed to the 
opposite shores of the Irish Sea and Wales. Bronze-equipped swordsmen 
traversed Ireland and local variants of their panoply evolved. Thereafter 
much of the Irish seaboard, isolated from the Early Iron Age developments 
in Lowland Britain, declined into an ‘ Ultimate Bronze Age’ (Grahame 
Clark) that may have persisted till Roman times. 


Miss M. DunLop.—The significance of the limestone escarpments in the life 
of Bronze Age France (12.0). 


The first instances of the significance of the limestone and particularly 
of the oolitic escarpments are very much earlier than Bronze Age times, 
but the extent to which the organisation of society and economy had de- 
veloped at this stage justifies the choice of this period to demonstrate that 
significance. 

The paper, with the aid of distribution maps (chiefly of objects of 
material culture), aims to establish the position of various groupings on the 
mainly forest-free escarpments, and to discuss their relations with the non- 
calcareous hinterland. Further diagrams illustrate the importance of 
individual limestone ridges and the use of the belt as a whole, in their effect 
on internal trade and migrations and invasions of peoples. 

Illustrations are given, with the aid of tentative reconstructions of the 
former vegetation of France, showing the direct connection between changes 
of climate and the utilisation of the limestones. 

Specific examples are given to elucidate regional detail, and the possibilities 
for the growth of unique autochthonous groupings along the limestone 
scarps of Central France, are contrasted with contact metamorphism along 
the peripheral regions. 


AFTERNOON. 
Dr. D. Jenness——Film : American Indians (2.30). 


SECTION I.—PHYSIOLOGY. 
Thursday, September 10. 


Dr. H. E. CoLiier.—Practical recognition of fatigue in industry, being a 
discussion of the clinical aspects of the subject (11.0). 


The study of Industrial Fatigue is in a state of confusion. It has been 
approached hitherto from three independent angles by the Physiologist, the 
Psychologist, and the Industrial Engineer. The isolated studies of specialists 
have not been brought together or properly related to each other. The 
physiological manifestations of fatigue, the psychological feelings of 
fatigue and the economic results of fatigue are all aspects of a deeper unity. 
That unity should be studied by the Industrial Clinician, who, aided by 
the specialists concerned, should be able to recognise the existence of the 
Fatigue-Syndrome, to differentiate Industrial from Non-Industrial Fatigue, 
and to indicate the probable sources of fatigue wherever it occurs. The 
cure and prevention of fatigue in industry will be achieved by the combined 
efforts of the practical experts concerned. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—I. 397 


In this paper an attempt is made to set out a scheme for the practical 
diagnosis (personal and collective) of ‘ Fatigue in Modern Industry.’ 
Certain special causes of fatigue which are commonly overlooked are briefly 
discussed, and the method of diagnosis explained. 


Dr. H. M. VerNon.—Fatigue in industry (11.30). 


The physical fatigue experienced by industrial workers depends (a) on 
the length of time for which they have to work, (b) the character of the 
work, and (c) the conditions under which it is performed. (a) Hours of 
work were greatly improved after the war, when the working week was cut 
down from 52-554 hrs. to 47-48 hrs. in most occupations ; but some 
groups of workers still suffer from over-fatigue caused by excessive hours 
of work. The majority of coal miners still work 8-hour shifts ; again, 
many bakers work from 70-80 hours a week, while shop assistants and 
employees in the distributive trades frequently work unduly long hours. 
(b) If the work is of a heavy character, the fatigue induced can often be 
lightened by the introduction of rest pauses at regular intervals. Also the 
adoption of the most suitable movements, of an easy and rhythmic character, 
may reduce fatigue ; but time and motion study resulting in undue speeding 
up must be avoided. (c) Suitable environmental conditions are very im- 
portant. Good lighting may increase the quantity and quality of the work 
produced substantially. Heating, if insufficient, induces cold fingers and 
diminished manual dexterity ; if in excess, and especially if accompanied 
by inadequate ventilation, it causes extra fatigue and diminished produc- 
tion. Noise, if excessive, has adverse effects, both subjective and objective. 

In addition to its direct effects, reduction of fatigue acts indirectly by 
diminishing liability to accidents. While good progress has been made 
of recent years in adopting measures for reducing fatigue, much remains to 
be done. The principle of the 40-hour week, with maintenance of the 
workers’ standard of living, was adopted by the International Labour 
Conference at Geneva last year. 


Dr. G. H. Mites.—Fatigue from the industrial point of view (12.0). 
GENERAL DISCUSSION (12.30). 


AFTERNOON. 
Excursion to Open-air Swimming Pool, Blackpool South Shore. 


Friday, September 11. 


PRESIDENTIAL ApprEss by Prof. R. J. 5. McDowa ti on The control of the 
circulation of the blood (10.0). 


Discussion, with representatives of Sections A (Mathematics and Physics) 
and B (Chemistry), on The architecture of life (11.0). 


Dr. A. D. Ritcuir.—I/ntroduction. 


Dr. D. M. Wrincu.—Molecular structure of living matter. 


Great advances have recently been made in investigating the structure of 
hair, silk and other products of living organisms. The crystalline character 


398 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—I. 


of these products suggests that the substances more intimately concerned 
with the processes of living organisms—above all the chromosomes them- 
selves—may also be crystalline. A molecular model for the chromosome 
is suggested consisting of molecules of protamine-nucleate (cp. Nature, 
. vol. 134, p. 978 (1934); vol. 135, p. 799 (1935); Protoplasma, vol. 25, 
p- 550 (1936) ). Molecular models of the protein molecule are also put 
forward for consideration (cp. Nature, vol. 137, p. 411 (1936); vol. 138, 
Pp. 241 (1936) ). 


Mr. J. S. MitcHeLt.—The chemical mechanism of the action of ultra- 
violet radiation on proteins. 


Mr. O. Gatty.—The electrical potential differences across the frog 
skin—some observations on the relationship with oxygen uptake. 


Dr. P. EccLeton.—The diffusion of solutes through muscles. 


Dr. J. H. QuasTEL.—Enzymic activity of the cell and cell structure. 
GENERAL Discussion. 


AFTERNOON. 


Dr. H. M. VerNon.—The relation of alcohol to road accidents (2.0). 


Everyone admits that the liability of motor vehicle drivers to road acci- 
dents is increased by the consumption of excessive quantities of alcohol, 
but in spite of the large mass of evidence to the contrary obtained by labora- 
tory tests, some drivers maintain that moderate quantities have no effect, 
or improve their driving. Direct tests on the roads are very difficult to 
make, and as an alternative the motor driving apparatus designed by Miles 
and Vincent, and installed at the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, 
was used. The subject drives a dummy car along a track projected as a 
moving picture on the screen in front of him, and the path taken by the car 
is automatically recorded. The subjects performed tests 1 hr., } hr. and 
o hr. before taking the experimental dose, and 3 hr., 1 hr. and 23 hrs. after 
it. The dose—which was taken on an empty stomach, three hours after 
the last meal—consisted of whisky containing—as a rule—3o c.c. of alcohol 
(i.e. rather more than a ‘ large’ whisky), or of mild beer containing only 
5 c.c. of alcohol. On the fifteen experienced drivers examined the mild 
beer had no effect, but the whisky, in contrast, caused a reduction of 6 per 
cent. in the driving time, and an increase of 12 per cent. in the driving 
errors. In the five non-drivers tested, however, the mild beer had more 
effect in reducing time and increasing errors than the whisky. The various 
subjects differed greatly in their reactions, but half of them had their driving 
time reduced by 10 to 24 per cent. As a rule the drivers were quite un- 
conscious of any speeding up after drinking alcohol, and this suggests that 
(a) even moderate quantities of alcohol should be avoided before driving, 
and (6) all cars ought to be fitted compulsorily with speedometers. 


Alderman W. MELLanp.—Playing fields and their relation to character and 
health (2.30). 


The paper deals primarily with the birth of the Playing Fields movement 
in this country. It was discovered ten years ago that there was a sad 
dearth of playing fields owing to no one realising in the past the great need 
for these fields. Our forefathers showed no vision in this respect. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—I. 399 


A return is given stating what has been done so far by the National Playing 
Fields Association. It is noticeable that playing fields figure largely in 
recent national appeals. 

Like many other good causes it has been private initiative that has brought 
the subject of playing fields to the front. 'Town-planning authorities are 
now well awake to the situation and they are urged in this paper not to lose 
sight of the fact that recent clearance schemes should be carefully zoned with 
a view to open spaces for games. Apart from facilities for games, small 
and numerous playgrounds should be provided for children so as to safe- 
guard them from the dangers of the streets. 

It is important to stress the great benefits accruing to the building up of 
character in all its aspects from the playing of well ordered and disciplined 
games ; this is of importance probably equal to, if not greater than, the de- 
velopment of physique. 

Local authorities through their education and parks committees are 
becoming more and more aware of the necessity for playing fields owing 
largely to pressure put on them by playing fields societies. The Board of 
Education is putting pressure on local authorities to provide for playing 
fields attached to the elementary schools. 

An association called the Central Council of Recreative and Physical Train- 
ing has recently been formed which embodies practically all the activities in 
the kingdom which work for physical development, such as the Keep Fit 
Movement, etc. This body has entered into an arrangement with the 
National Playing Fields Association for joint working, and should make 
for greater efficiency in working, as the two bodies are complementary to 
each other. 


Mr. A. F. Durron.—Food for thought (3.0). 


Although there is a general impression that the optimum diet is probably 
not much in excess of the minimum, the minimum diet necessary to 
support human life is still unknown. Attention is invited to Rumford’s 
experiments on nutrition and it is suggested that Hindhede may perhaps be 
right in his contention that the science of nutrition as it finds favour to-day 
is based on over-feeding. Experiments are described with a diet containing 
32 grams of protein and providing 1300 calories and with a diet contain- 
ing 30 grams of protein and providing 960 calories. "The basal metabolic 
rate fell to the unprecedented value of 338 calories per day. The loss of 
heat from the human body is discussed. 


Mr. C. S. Hatipike, Prof. H. Hartrince, F.R.S., and Mr. A. F. Rawpon 
SmiTH.—The phase charge effect on the cat’s ear (3.30). 


If a beam of light is passed through the slots of a rotating screw disc and 
is caused to fall on a photo-electric cell, voltages are set up which fluctuate at 
a frequency which depends on the rate of rotation of the disc. If these 
voltages after amplification are fed into a loud-speaker a musical tone is 
produced. With suitably shaped slots this tone may be freed from over- 
tones, and with a further change in the slots a change of phase of 7 in this 
tone may be produced one or more times with each rotation of the disc. 
When this phase-changing tone is fed into a cat’s ear the Wever-Bray effect 
records the phase change faithfully as a good telephone would do. The 
response in the auditory tract differs, and consists of a rapid decrease of the 
amplitude of the nerve responses to zero followed immediately by a rapid 
increase of their amplitude to the original value. The auditory tract 


400 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—I. 


response is in keeping with the beat which is heard by an observer each 
time the phase is changed. 


Monday, September 14. 


Dr. O. KestNer.—Stimulating climate, sheltering climate, personal climate 
(11.0). 


Strong and healthy adults are influenced by climate only to a very slight 
extent. One can study the influence of climates only on children, patients, 
or weak and sensitive persons. 

From this standpoint, not from the standpoint of meteorologists, we can 
divide the climates of Europe into two types, the sheltering climates and the 
stimulating climates. ‘The sheltering climates are found in forests, lower 
hills, and seaside resorts protected by cliffs and heated by the Gulf Stream 
drift. The stimulating climates are found in the high altitudes and in 
seaside resorts exposed to winds and to direct sunshine. 

Sheltering climate is good for weak and sick people, but it does not help 
for growth and development. 

In the stimulating climate are observed : 


Growth and development. 

Increase of hemoglobin. 

Increased combustions. 

Retention of food nitrogen for building new tissues. 
Better heat regulation and other skin reactions. 
Increased gastric secretion and increased appetite. 


The stimuli are : 


Either sun’s rays, or 
Wind and cold air. 


These stimuli affect the skin, and hence the most sheltered climate is 
obtained by the use of heat in our homes, or by clothing out-of-doors. 
Each one can fashion his own climate. 


Dr. M. B. Ray.—Climatic sensitivity (11.45). 


Some preliminary consideration is given to certain climatic factors— 
temperature, radiation, atmospheric pressure, humidity and ionisation— 
which exert an influence on the bodily health. 

Environmental changes thus induced are registered by the skin which 
has a correlation with an intricate mechanism involving the blood, nervous 
system and hormones of the body. 

The stability of the internal economy of the organism in the face of 
atmospheric variations is maintained by an autonomic adaptation affecting 
the chemistry of the blood and tissues, the acid-alkali balance, the gaseous 
exchange and the state of the endocrine glands. 

Atmospheric disturbances involve periods of stimulation which for the 
majority of normal individuals pass unnoticed. According to Peterson’s 
observations on the comparison of the records of barograph readings with 
those of systolic and diastolic blood pressure in normal subjects, systolic 
peaks coincide with a rise in barometric pressure or the beginning of a 
fall, the diastolic pressure being low after this peak. In a normal individual 
this rhythm does no harm, and if the climatic changes are sufficiently frequent 
and intense, good will be done by the increase in the adaptative powers. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—I. 401 


On the other hand, in the old and feeble, where the powers of adaptation 
are inadequate, repeated atmospheric variations have an adverse effect. 


GENERAL DISCUSSION (12.30). 


Tuesday, September 15. 


Discussion on The strain of modern civilization (10.0). 
Rt. Hon. Lord Horner, K.C.V.O. (see page 464). 


Dr. R. D. GrLLespie.—Modern civilization in its relation to nervous 
and mental breakdown (10.30). 


Dr. E. P. Poutton.—The strain of modern civilization (11.0). 


There are two opposing factors in the strain of modern civilization. 
The first factor, which increases the strain, is the rise in the standard of 
living. The second factor, which should diminish it, is that the luxuries as 
well as the necessities of life are requiring fewer people and shorter hours 
for their manufacture, so that there is more spare time available. The 
fault lies in (1) failure of distribution, (2) defective education, so that those 
who have the spare time are often unable to-profit from it. 

The medical or medico-sociological aspects of the strain of modern 
civilization cover an enormous field. I shall confine my remarks to certain 
general effects that concern us all. 

In England and Wales the last time ‘the net reproductive rate’ was 
above 1 was in 1925 ; but the rate has been reckoned in 1933 as not much 
above 0:75 (Enid Charles). The average family must contain 3-1 children 
of both sexes to make a stationary population. ‘The strain of modern 
civilization with the inducements towards an even more luxurious standard 
of living among the middle classes must be held responsible for this falling 
population. 

Diet of growing children.—The children of the poorer classes are shorter 
than those who are better off; and yet, when we examine the relation of the 
height and weight, which is the index of general nutrition, we find that it is 
the same for all classes. Now the converse has been found in the case of 
horses which have been insufficiently fed (Brody). 

In adults the tendency is to overfeed. We are far from believing that 
every obese person has merely taken more than is warranted for by his 
appetite ; but all these obese people have taken more food than their bodies 
have been able to deal with by combustion. The associated increased 
metabolism means that more work is thrown on the circulation and obesity 
is a well-known predisposing cause of diabetes and possibly diseases. 
Standards of normal weight must be considered. Most people tend to put 
on weight as they become middle-aged. Is this physiological, or should a 
man of fifty preserve his youthful weight and figure ? 

Tobacco and alcohol are also considered; the effect of the latter is 
particularly important in motor driving in view of increased reaction time 
after quite small doses. "The amount of a beverage that is usually taken, 
e.g. a glass of cider, beer, sherry, etc., contains roughly the same volume of 
alcohol (10-20 c.c.). The variability of the content of alcohol in a cocktail 
is its disadvantage. 


402 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—I, J. 


Miss E. M. Kitiick.—Some health hazards from toxic substances in 
modern industrial civilization (11.30). 

The occasions of exposure to toxic gases and fumes are described, and 
the possible harmful effects of long-continued exposure to such gases in 
concentrations too low to cause acute effects are discussed. 

Carbon monoxide is an important example of the type of toxin under 
consideration since it is a constituent of the exhaust fumes from petrol 
engines, and also of illuminating gas, in addition to occurring as a by-product 
in many industrial processes. 

The results of prolonged exposure to very low atmospheric concentrations 
of carbon monoxide are described under two headings : 

(1) A state of continuing vague ill-health ; 
(2) The development of acclimatisation to the gas. 

The importance of this prolonged exposure to very low concentrations of 
toxic gases is considered as a factor in reducing the normal reserve capacity 
of the body to respond to unusual strains. 

Other toxic substances, such as oxides of nitrogen and the fumes of 
volatile organic solvents, are considered from a similar point of view. 


GENERAL DISCUSSION (12.0). 


SECTION J.—PSYCHOLOGY. 


Thursday, September 10. 


Prof. F. A. E. Crew.—A repetition and re-examination of McDougall’s 
Lamarckian experiment (10.0). 


In order to be in a position to examine the conclusions which Prof. 
McDougall has reached, eighteen generations, comprising 1,445 experi- 
mental and 1,014 control rats, have been trained, and the figures provided 
by these are compared with those which McDougall derived from twenty-one 
generations of rats of the same origin. The average number of errors per 
rat made by the individuals of the tank-trained stock has not decreased with 
the passing of the generations ; there is no difference whatsoever between 
the scores of the experimental and control stocks. No evidence was forth- 
coming which would suggest that rats of the two stocks may be distinguished 
one from the other by differences in behaviour. Analysis of the pedigrees 
shows definitely that genetic factors are heavily concerned in the establish- 
ment of the scores. The parent-offspring correlation is 0:3. A ‘ quick’ 
strain has been developed as the result of consistent favourable selection. 
Amongst my rats there is a great excess of those which tend to leave the 
tank habitually by one route during the first phase of their training when 
the light is constant and equal on both sides of the tank and when the 
platforms are not alive. Furthermore, no fewer than twenty-nine experi- 
mental and ten control rats, having reacted to the light as light in the second 
phase of their training when the light was alternating but the platform was 
not alive, actually learned without receiving a single shock. 


Mr. C. Fox.—Mental heredity (10.45). 


Human mental heredity should be considered independently from 
physiological heredity. In the latter the inheritance depends on agglomer- 


. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 403 


ations of genes ; but for mental inheritance there are only certain potenti- 
alities, not material things. It is like taking over the goodwill of a profession 
which consists of reputation alone. We inherit only the ability to acquire 
ability. Galton’s researches led to the idea of certain superior human stocks 
whose mental nature was independent ‘of nurture. But more thorough 
analysis shows that, even for identical twins, mental resemblances are over- 
_whelmingly dependent on nurture. Similarly, temperamental differences 
and other personality traits are conditioned almost entirely by patterns of 
culture. This is established by the study of primitive peoples, where the 
traditional temperamental differences between the series of civilised societies 
do not hold, and may even be reversed. As for ‘ racial’ inheritance the 
term ‘ race ’ is no longer applied to human aggregates by anthropologists who 
know their own business. Differences between different nationalities are the 
results of history, tradition and culture. Even the supposed ineducability of 
negroes is largely the result of prejudice, and is not borne out by the latest 
objective evidence, that of mental tests. Still less is there any scientific 
evidence whatever for the comparative superiority of intelligence of any 
European people over any other. 


Dr. W. Brown.—Freedom and moral obligation in the light of modern 
psychology (11.30). 


Dr. W. STEPHENSON.—T ype psychology (12.15). 


AFTERNOON. 


Dr. M. M. Lewis.—The beginning of reference to past and future in a child’s 
speech (2.0). 


Although a good deal of attention has been paid to the manner in which 
grammatical forms arise in children’s early speech, very little account has 
been given of the manner in which new functions become differentiated. 
In this paper an attempt is made to describe the growth of two of these 
functions : reference to the past and to the future. 

The occurrence of either of these two functions is of great importance 
in the child’s linguistic growth—for with this advance the child’s speech 
begins to be freed from the dominance of the present situation. But in 
neither case is there a sudden step, as has sometimes been suggested. In 
the present paper several series of observations of a particular child are 
considered, and in this instance it is shown that reference to the past and 
to the future arise as the result of social intercourse acting upon the child’s 
needs, in the following manner : 

1. (a) At an early stage the child’s needs cause him to make rudimentary 
reference in his speech to absent objects ; (b) he also responds, by his acts, 
to references that others make to absent objects. 

2. Linguistic intercourse begins: the child learns to respond to speech 
by speech. 

3. Persons addressing the child will constantly refer to some past event ; 
and both the words spoken to the child and his recall of the past event will 
tend to evoke some remark from him. Speech of this kind will gradually 
come to refer definitely to the past. 

4. The child’s needs cause his activities and accompanying speech to be 
forward-directed ; when at such a moment someone addresses the child, 
his reply will tend to take on a more definitely future reference. 


404 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 


5. Ultimately the child comes to refer spontaneously to the past and to 
the future. 


Dr. Rutu GrirFitHs.—The significance of phantasy in the normal develop- 
ment of childhood (2.45). 


Phantasy activity is regarded as characteristic of early childhood. It is 
common to all children and a normal manifestation. It represents a transition” 
phase between infancy where physical learning is more prominent, and the 
later more intellectual development. 

A study of children’s phantasies goes to show that childish thinking is not 
dissimilar from that of adults. It conforms to the neogenetic laws and has 
many other characteristics of adult thought. ‘The intense emotional experience 
of this period coupled with its lack of knowledge of the external world 
gives to the child’s thinking its peculiar tone. Phantasy is here regarded not 
so much as an avoidance of reality but as a means whereby the child masters 
in a piecemeal fashion the problems presented by his environment and 
circumstances. 

The function of phantasy is to undertake the resolution of a problem 
conceived at the conscious level but requiring time for its understanding. 
Symbolism is often employed. he method is indirect, working from a 
central egocentric attitude gradually towards a more socialised and ob- 
jective one. The result of the process is found both in the acquisition of 
information by the subject as well as in this change of mental attitude. 


Miss D. M. Datpy.—A study of adaptability (3.30). 


This study was made with a group of thirty-one domestic science students 
in connection with their training in teaching. 

Method.—Students were studied as individuals primarily, and discussion 
of personal interests and difficulties, etc., resulted from criticism of work. 
Intelligence tests were given, and home conditions considered, though 
inadequately. The teaching ability of each was analysed into selected 
‘teaching factors,’ and a literal mark indicative of ability was awarded and 
checked by independent observers. Students were graded as well- or ill- 
adapted according to their powers to adjust adequately to a situation with- 
out (1) undue emotional strain ; (2) disproportionate displays of emotion ; 
(3) production of conflict or friction in the environment. ‘Tables showing 
the distribution of adaptability and teaching ability to each ‘ teaching 
factor ’ and to home conditions and intelligence were made. 

Results : 


(1) Seventeen students were ill-adapted ; fourteen well-adapted. 

(2) Intelligence alone did not determine teaching ability. 

(3) Difficulty in adaptation affected teaching ability adversely. 

(4) Ill-adapted teachers were handicapped especially by inability to : 
be definite ; concentrate ; order sense impressions ; react quickly 
to stimuli ; make contact with their pupils ; arouse interest. 

(5) Over-facility in adaptation handicapped teachers. 


Friday, September 11. 


PRESIDENTIAL ApprEss by Mr. A. W. Wo ters on Patterns of experience 
(10.0). 


Discussion on The psychology of mass entertainment (11.0). 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 405 


Mr. Denys W. Harpinc.—The desire for entertainment. 


A questionnaire responded to by some two hundred people, chiefly 
workers attending adult educational classes, yielded information on (amongst 
other matters) the psychological conditions in which the desire for enter- 
tainment is most strongly felt. ‘These fall into three strikingly different 
classes: (a) tiredness after work, the emotional state not being especially 
noticeable ; (6) unpleasant emotional states (boredom, depression, irrita- 
tion, strain, etc.); and (c) states of elation, cheerfulness, energy, and 
euphoria generally. The relations between these different conditions are 
examined, and the kinds of entertainment that cater for them discussed. 
Several considerations suggest that a feature common to the entertainment 
demanded in all three states is that it should offer an immediate and direct 
reward for the effort (whether great or small) that it requires. This is its 
unfailing contrast with almost all modern work. The view that entertain- 
ment is a form of ‘ escape’ appears to have only a very limited validity. 
Another important aspect of the desire for entertainment is its connection 
with the individual’s social life; the relationships between the two are 
complex and various, and the material here presented throws some light 
upon them. 


Mr. F. C. THomas.—Basic mental mechanisms concerned in mass 
entertainment. 


The field of mass entertainment to be discussed is limited to the types 
of organised and commercialised amusements, typical of the modern fair- 
ground, amusement park, or pleasure beach. 

(i) Mass entertainment as a means of giving expression to certain of the 

“innate propensities ’ described by McDougall : 


(a) On the normal level. 

(6) On the slightly pathological level, the same propensities being 
expressed in aberrated form, as regressions, fixations, compensa- 
tions, displacements, etc. 


(ii) Theories of play and laughter. 
(iii) The roles of suggestion and imitation. 
(iv) The personal and social value of such types of entertainment. 


Rev. F. A. Fartey.—The psychological types to whom mass enter- 
tainment appeals. 


To what psychological types do the patrons of mass entertainment 
belong? We begin from the fact that they like a crowd, and that the 
presence of the crowd is an essential part of their enjoyment. They are 
gregarious ; but it is not enough to say that they are those in whom the 
gregarious impulse is strong. That would be an explanation only if we 
could assume a gregarious instinct in man, and that is called in question. 
The real classification is not into those more or less gregarious but into 
those of extrovert or introvert tendency. This covers other classifications 
proposed, e.g. that into surgent and desurgent types. Mass entertainment 
must look to those of extrovert tendency for its patrons, and it will also 
encourage the extrovert tendency. 

The psychological characteristics associated with extroversion are ex- 
amined and certain conclusions are drawn as to the social and personal 
effects of mass entertainment. 


406 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 


It is suggested that during adolescence the previously prevailing tend- 
ency undergoes modification, and extreme extroversion or introversion 
may then be corrected. What effect has the provision of mass entertain- 
ment on this desirable process during adolescence ? 


AFTERNOON. 
Dr. B. SEMEONOFF.—The discrimination and estimation of loudness (2.0). 


A survey of work on the application of Weber’s law to sound intensity, 
from the earliest to the most recent investigations, shows an overwhelming 
balance of evidence against the constancy of the ‘ Weber-Fechner fraction.’ 
The variation in value seems to be continuous over the intensity range. 
Practically all investigators have found an increase in the value of the 
difference threshold at low intensities, and a rather smaller increase has 
often been found at high intensities. 

Fresh experiments, carried out with a 512-cycle valve-maintained tuning- 
fork at nine intensities (roughly 25-105 db. intensity level) yielded similar 
results. Large individual differences were found, and also considerable 
day-to-day variation. 

The relation between stimulus and sensation may also be studied by a 
more direct method—the estimation or judgment of loudness in absolute 
(subjective) units. Previous investigations have usually yielded consist- 
ency within their own bounds, but not with the results of other researches. 
This was confirmed in a series of experiments using the above-mentioned 
apparatus. It may be concluded that different formulations of the stimulus- 
sensation relationship are necessary for different observers, and that these 
functional relationships may be of fundamentally different mathematical 
forms. 


Mr. W. F. TyLer.—A means for the comparison of hot climates (2.45). 


Our sensation reactions to climatic conditions in hot countries cannot be 
ascertained from meteorological tabulations alone. What is needed for the 
purpose of comparing those reactions at various places is a sensation scale 
of degrees of climatic discomfort correlated to meteorological factors. An 
investigation at Shanghai by the writer in 1904, conducted in natural con- 
ditions, produced such a scale within the limits of humidity from saturation 
to 60 per cent. 

The usual way of forming a sensation-scale from least observable differ- 
ences was obviously impracticable, and the writer had in consequence to use 
the method of estimates of degrees of discomfort interpolated between two 
defined limits. As a lower limit the beginning of discomfort was satis- 
factory, but for an upper limit an imaginary unbearable condition had, in the 
absence of something better, to be adopted. Notwithstanding the defect of 
that upper limit and the uncertainty regarding the ability to interpolate 
degrees of sensation, the estimates of twelve observers over a period of a 
month resulted quite definitely in the establishment of a relationship between 
degrees of discomfort on the one hand, and temperature and humidity on 
the other, with air-movement as a constant. 

This sensation scale covered—owing to the limits of the range of humidity 
at Shanghai—only about a third of the full range of humidity. Without 
an extension of it to the limits of aridity, a comparison of climates generally 
cannot be effected. A further psycho-physical investigation to obtain that 


——_ 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 407 


extension is unlikely for a long time to come. Consequently the writer 
offers an approximation to it by a certain line of argument. 

It is considered that the total sensation reaction to tropical and sub- 
tropical climates is made up of two parts : one, which can be named physical, 
tends to be marked by such physical signs—in the medical sense—as varying 
degrees of perspiration ; the other is a neural reaction ranging from lethargy 
in humid conditions, through varying degrees of exhilaration in moderate 
humidity, to excitement and irritability in arid conditions. 

The writer’s idea is that for various places a mean of daily temperatures 
and humidities at, say, noon be obtained, that these be converted to degrees 
of physical and neural reaction by his method, and that the results be 
plotted in diagram form for the purpose of comparison. 

An example of such a comparison between two places is provided. 


Dr. S. J. F. Puitpotr.—Resemblances between fluctuations in curves of 
mental output and of chemical change (3.30). 


It is suggested that fluctuations sometimes found in curves of chemical 
change are of the same nature as those met with in curves of ‘ fluctuation 
of attention.’ 

Attention waves are geometric in the sense that times at which successive 
crests (or troughs) occur are in geometric progression. ‘They thus seem 
to have constant period when plotted against the log of time. All log 
periods are whole number multiples of 0-0016. Phase also is constant, all 
trough sequences converging on a common trough at the time 


Ty) = 4°076 X 10°75 seconds 


There is no predicting when any given wave will appear. As it were, 
the person concerned takes a random handful from a pool of possible ele- 
mentary waves with which to constitute his curve of any given experiment. 
The most obvious periods in a curve are apparently of repeat cycle signifi- 
cance. That is to say, they tend to be highly factorisable multiples of the 
unit, as, e.g., 108, 180, 252, etc. So that although no two curves are ever 
alike in minor detail (depending as they do on randomly chosen elementary 
waves), there are nevertheless but few major measures in practice, namely 
the highly factorisable periods just mentioned. 

Certain chemical curves are presented, the reaction being that of normal 
hydrochloric acid on aluminium in the presence of platinum and a trace of 
gelatin. No two are alike in minor detail, but the measures made are those 
commonly occurring on the mental side, whether in respect of period or 
trough sequences. It seems clear that the unit of periodicity, the common 
trough point, and the element of random sampling hold both for mental 
and chemical fluctuations. 


Dr. T. G. MairLanp.—Visual factors of vertigo (4.15). 


When our equilibrium breaks down after certain kinds of imposed move- 
ment, such as being turned in a revolving chair, it is the failure of the 
kinetic and postural attempts at compensation which cause ‘ special ’ 
vertigo. The subsequent illusion of subjective or objective turning that 
characterises this type of vertigo is largely due to the persisting ‘ to and fro ’ 
movement of the eye, called ‘ ocular ’ nystagmus. 


408 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 


General vertigo is distinguished from special vertigo by the absence of 
this illusion of turning ; in its place there is an illusion of recession and 
approach or undulating of objects in the visual field. This illusion is due 
entirely to a condition of ocular imbalance with its constantly recurring 
efforts at focusing. 

Inasmuch as these examples of vertigo are extremely complicated in 
their somatic causes, the third type of vertigo offers a simpler example for 
analysis. 

It, also, is characterised by an illusion of movement of objects, and some- 
times of oneself, not very dissimilar from that of special vertigo, but is 
never severe and is always of short duration. In this case the cause is 
entirely visual. When a uniform succession of objects moves across the 
field of vision, sufficiently monotonous not to excite close attention, the 
eyes will react by ‘ optic’ nystagmus. If this succession of passing objects 
continues sufficiently long, there is left a residual and persistent nystagmus 
after the objects have passed out of the line of vision. The illusion which 
then ensues is an apparent movement of the stationary background, and 
a momentary sense of vertigo. 

Another type of post optic nystagmus bearing a close relation to the last 
is miner’s nystagmus. ‘The excitation is also visual, the conditions for its 
persistence are also those of mental distraction. The difference is that both 
components of miner’s nystagmus are fast, i.e. fixation reflexes. 


Monday, September 14. 
Dr. R. W. Pickrorp.—Conclusions of a study of group psychology (10.0). 


This paper deals with some results of an attempt to approach the 
history of painting from the points of view of the biology and psychology 
of groups. A strictly scientific treatment of advanced cultures along these 
lines has not often been attempted. The phases of the history of painting 
which have been studied are: Barbizon and Glasgow groups, Pre-Raphaelites, 
Mogul miniature painters, Bushman art, the Russian icon and the work of 
Chardin, Goya, Daumier and Cézanne. The following points are dis- 
cussed : transmission of culture by group contacts, borrowing and grafting, 
and the omissions involved in these changes ; constructiveness, conserva- 
tion and decay in group ‘life. It is interesting to find that these changes 
take place in advanced cultures in much the same way as they do in primitive 
cultures. 


Discussion on The reform of the examination system (10.45). 


Dr. Lt. WyNN Jones.—The reform of the examination system. 


One stream of criticism by practical schoolmen has been directed against 
the pernicious effects of examinations on curricula, and hence on ‘ culture ’ 
—which is an ambiguous term and is moreover in a state of flux. Reformers 
of curricula have usually to expect small profits and slow returns, cf. the 
need of psychological background. for would-be clergymen, physicians, and 
lawyers. The other stream of criticism by psychological testers is con- 
cerned with the content and form of examination papers, errors of marking, 
or failures to take into account variations in the performances of individual 
candidates. Here, also, the carrying out of essential reforms shows a lag. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 409 


The following observations may be formulated : 


(1) There is a great need of a sufficient number of psychological testers 
adequately trained in the technique of examining. Concrete examples of 
pitfalls to be avoided are cited. 

(2) Standardised tests of intelligence, of English, and of arithmetic, 
should be universally employed as means of selection for scholarships to 
secondary schools. At present, only a small percentage of local educational 
authorities employ all these means. Moreover, methods of selection not 
vouched for by experts should never be employed. 

(3) There is the need of large-scale researches (such as those initiated in 
Leeds a year ago) in order to compare the prognostic values of tests of 
intelligence, tests of special abilities, tests of attainment, teachers’ estimates, 
school records, etc. 


Prof. H. R. HAMLEY. 


Mr. W. A. F. HEpsurn. 


The network of examinations which binds together and gives design to 
modern educational activity is the end-product of a traditional device 
which, originating in a felt need and to serve a specific purpose, has been 
adapted and extended to meet new needs and serve other purposes. Since 
the device as a measuring instrument is now known to be fallible and because 
the circumstances in which it is used grow in complexity yearly, there is a 
call for revaluation and reform. Among other considerations regard should 
be had to the following: the statistician’s disclosure of the unreliability 
and invalidity of the traditional written examination ; the need, consequent 
upon a more complete psychological analysis of the situation, of new ways 
of ascertaining the facts of achievement and the indications of promise ; 
the extent to which the objective of the examination should prescribe the 
nature of the test ; the effect of the examination system upon the aims of 
teaching and the content of instruction ; the need to subordinate the ex- 
aminer to the ends to be served by the educational process; the search 
for quality in human beings and the importance of guiding the examinee 
rather than accepting or rejecting him; the significance of the teacher’s 
opinion ; the dangers of authoritarianism and the urgent need of research. 


Prof. J. DREVER. 


It is of the first importance that we distinguish the different types of 
examination, since it is obvious that different principles will apply in the 
different cases, according as examinations are intended to be progress 
indicators, qualifying examinations, or competitive examinations. Unless 
the examiner has this distinction clearly in mind the examination may 
fail to secure the purpose it is meant to secure. 

The evil may not stop there. The whole education of the pupil or 
student may be warped by a distortion of his values arising out of the 
development of a wrong attitude towards examinations. Educating for 
examinations and not for life is a defect unhappily far from unknown 
in our national education, both school and university. This will be an 
inevitable outcome of an excessive emphasis upon examinations, which in 
turn will tend to be an indirect result of applying the principles, say, of 
competitive to qualifying or progress examinations. 

P 


410 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 


AFTERNOON. 


Dr. Hitpa W. O_pHAaM.—A psychological study of mathematical ability 
(2.0). 


The Problem.—An investigation of school mathematics, mainly with the 
object of discovering by scientific method whether or not it is justifiable to 
include arithmetic, algebra and geometry as one group for school certificate 
and matriculation examinations. 

If arithmetic, algebra and geometry are separate and distinct abilities, then 
they should be regarded as such for the purposes of school examinations. 

The Method of Research—A questionnaire was sent to teachers of mathe- 
matics in different parts of England to ascertain their opinions concerning 
these differences in mathematical abilities. A statistical investigation was 
then conducted. Tests in arithmetic, algebra, geometry and general in- 
telligence were given to children in fourteen different schools. In all, four 
hundred and ten children were tested. The results of these tests were 
correlated and partial correlations were worked out. Professor Spearman’s 
criterion of the tetrad difference was applied. Conversations were held with 
the children examined, and their subjective attitude to the tests and to 
mathematics generally were obtained. 


Results —There seemed to emerge no group factor big enough to justify 
the inclusion of arithmetic, algebra and geometry in one group for purposes 
of school examinations. 

In some sets considerable group factors appeared but seemed to be due 
to extraneous influences, and not to be connate and intrinsic to the activities 
involved in the abilities concerned. 


Mr. R. J. BaRTLETT.—Amnesia—a case study (2.45). . 


Invalided from work under a diagnosis of ‘ early G.P.I.’ and having passed 
through three other institutions, a man of 52 was admitted to Bethlem Royal 
Hospital in January, 1935, in a badly disorientated condition. He was 
discharged in January, 1936, able to return to his family and assist in the 
work of a small shop. 

Pathological examination negatived the G.P.I. diagnosis, neurological 
examination failed to secure a_ satisfying diagnosis and psychological 
examination indicated that the disorientation was not due to delusion or 
imperception but entirely to amnesia. 

In the resulting treatment memory work played an important part. This 
work consisted of :— 


(a) Patient conversational recovery of recent events, 
(b) Retracing previous walks and recovery of incidents therein, 
(c) Laboratory work with outline drawings. 


The work showed, in highly exaggerated form, well-known difficulties and 
errors in learning, recall and recognition, and progress was very slow and 
interrupted from time to time by marked plateaux. 

The case is given as an example of successful collaboration of experimental 
psychology and medicine in the treatment of an apparently hopeless case, 
for, whatever the ultimate results may be, there has been at least a temporary 
alleviation of a very serious maladjustment to environment. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 411 


Mrs. F. M. Austin.—Some examples of suggestibility in university students 
(3.30). 
(1) The power and subtlety of suggestion. 
(2) The facts that when suggestion is accepted 

(a) conscious reasoning may be absent altogether ; 

(b) acceptance may take place in spite of the fact that the subject is 
aware of what seems to him to be overwhelming evidence against 
the suggestion ; 

(c) reasoning may reinforce suggestion. 

(3) Mal-perception, mal-interpretation, elaboration and supplementation. 
(4) Influence of 

(a) reluctance to admit ignorance ; 

(b) desires ; 

(c) preconceived ideas. 

(5) Contra-suggestibility. 


Mr. 'T. A. Ropcer.—A critical review of the present position of vocational 
psychology in Great Britain (4.15). 


This paper is concerned mainly with psychological procedures at present 
in use in vocational guidance work in this country, but some consideration 
is given to problems of vocational selection, and to the relationship between 
vocational guidance and vocational selection. 

The vocational guidance procedure adopted by the National Institute of 
Industrial Psychology is reviewed, and some of its potentialities and limita- 
tions commented upon. Data are provided concerning the types of indi- 
vidual who, at the present time, seek the vocational adviser’s help. 

The development of careers advisory work in schools is discussed, and 
some suggestions made concerning the characteristics which the vocational 
adviser might profitably possess, and the sort of training he might profitably 
undergo. 

Some major research problems are outlined, and the desirability of 
enlisting the aid of university and other organisations in the search for 
the solution of them is stressed. It is urged that, during the next few 
years, considerable attention should be paid to the analysis of occupational 
requirements. 


Tuesday, September 15. 
Dr. E. J. LinpGren.—Methods of investigation in social psychology (10.0). 


Methods of investigation in social psychology are concerned with either 
(i) the collection, or (ii) the analysis and interpretation, of data on social 
behaviour. At the present stage of development of this branch of study, 
more attention might profitably be paid to the problems raised by (i) than 
to those involved in (ii), which have already inspired many stimulating 
hypotheses. 

Social data may be collected by means of (a) the study of records, ranging 
from census reports and legal proceedings to advertisements and folk-lore ; 
(6) psychological tests and experiments, conducted in schools or laboratories 
under controlled conditions; (c) interviews and questionnaires, which 
permit subjects to remain in a non-artificial social context, but still entail 
partially controlled conditions ; and (d) the observation of subjects acting 
under ‘ natural,’ i.e., entirely uncontrolled, conditions, by a relatively 
passive investigator who as far as possible avoids disturbing the culture in 
any way. 


412 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 


Anthropologists studying primitive peoples have acquired valuable ex- 
perience in the application of method (d), which is often the only one open 
to them. When psychologists have critically examined the practice and 
implications of current anthropological field technique, it should yield 
important results in the social psychological investigation of more complex 
cultures. 


Mr. C. A. OaKLey.—Some of the psychological problems of a depressed area 


(10.45). 


This paper is in three parts, dealing with: (a) the characteristics of the 
jobless worker ; (5) the effectiveness of different plans for occupying his 
time and interests ; (c) the difficulty of getting him a new job. 

Fundamental in the attitude of the unemployed workers to-day is irrita- 
tion at being thwarted in their accustomed forms of creative expression and 
of general living. During their first period of unemployment, they are also 
in a state of fear, but apathy often follows. ‘They are unable to say how they 
have passed their time. Interest is lost in politics. Religion is treated in 
different ways, some workers turning to it and some scoffing at it. Old 
feuds are forgotten but petty quarrels sometimes flare up. ‘Their affectional 
relationships are undermined. The ‘school work of their children de- 
teriorates. References are made in the first part of the paper to published 
studies of unemployed workers in other countries such as the United States, 
Italy and Austria. The second part is based upon views expressed to the 
author by persons engaged in community service work. The third part 
deals with the cumulative psychological effects of ‘ bad times ’ on owners of 
factories as well as workers, and with the difficulties of attracting new 
industries to depressed areas. 


Co-ORDINATED SocIAL RESEARCHES IN A SCOTTISH AREA (11.30). 


Dr. O. A. OrsER.—Methods of empirical research in social psychology. 


A survey of past systems of social psychology and of efforts made to measure 
social forces and behaviour is followed by an analysis of the methods in use 
by, or adaptable from, experimental psychology, sociology and ethnology. 

The synthesis of methods is justified and illustrated by a survey of the 
field work in social psychology now being carried out in a Scottish industrial 
city by a research staff consisting of psychologists trained in different 
branches, an economist-historian, and a medical psychologist. The central 
problem is The Psychology of Juvenile Unemployment. This is shown in its 
complex social setting in an industrial city. Some results of the prelim- 
inary descriptive survey and of the functional penetration of the field are 
discussed. 


Mr. H. Hittmann.—The relation of economics to social psychology 
(12.15). 


The complexity of modern society may be well reflected in a particular 
industrial area. To cope with the problems which arise when the attempt 
is made to disentangle that complexity is the task of economists, sociologists, 
psychologists, and other social scientists. In the realistic study of a Scottish 
area the purely economic approach encounters certain factors the neglect 
of which would limit the validity of the findings of the economist and not 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J. 413 


reflect the true picture of social reality. As the industrial area under con- 
sideration is subject to evolutionary transformation, it is necessary to indicate 
the kind of problems which cannot be explained in terms of economics. 
The economist has to make certain assumptions as to the constellation of 
the social data. From his point of view, he considers it the task of the other 
social sciences to provide him with more adequate information as to the 
implications of his economic assumptions. An attempt is made to show 
how closer co-operation of social scientists might lead to explaining with 
greater validity the social complexity of an industrial area. 


Mr. W. O’D. Pierce.—A new approach to vocational psychology with 
empirical data on job changes (2.0). 


The underlying assumptions, attitudes, and methods employed by British 
vocational psychologists were compared and contrasted with the attitudes 
and methods of German and American vocational psychologists. Vocational 
psychology cannot be regarded as vocational guidance combined with 
industrial psychology. Vocational psychology can be a positive science which 
aims at describing and measuring the attitudes and behaviour patterns which 
arise during the industrial life of the individual as well as the individual and 
group behaviour in emotionally toned industrial situations. The industrial 
social data, after collection by a team of field workers, is then analysed by 
statistical means to show the various differential occupational patterns exist- 
ing and their relationship to other social patterns. 

The empirical data presented consisted of the analysis of changes in 
occupations occurring in the period July 1, 1934, to July 1, 1935, as recorded 
in Juvenile Employment Bureau. An occupation change includes return 
either to the same or to a different job inside the period mentioned. The main 
results may be summarised as follows. 


Jobs Held Jobs Held 


No. in Per cent. 


Industry. per er 
Group. Changers. y,.gividual. Changer. 

ute... ? : 188 42,6 1°88 3°08 
Distributive trades ‘ 94 22,°3 1°39 2°76 
Preserves . ; : 29 37.59 1°76 3°00 
Printing . : : 20 39°9 1-60 2°50 
Engineering , : II QI 1°09 2°00 
Building. . : 6 rome) 1°00 0:00 
Remaining trades ‘ 56 48-2 1:96 3700 
Total and Averages . 404 36°7 1°72 2°98 


The jobs held per changer with age were 14-15 years 2-81; 15-16 years 
3°23; 16-17 years 2:58; 17-18 years 2°79. 

The data clearly shows that differential occupation job change patterns 
occur in different industries. The figures show that while approximately 
8,500 jobs were available for juveniles, the job changers, who number 36-7 
per cent. of this juvenile industrial population, held over 9,300 jobs inside a 
one-year period. Flow sheets of job changes between different occupations 
and industries were also presented. 

The significance of this data and their relationships to the problems of 
vocational guidance inside a comprehensive study of the vocational psychology 
of an industrial area was outlined. 


414 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—J, K. 


Dr. HELEN PALLISTER.—The relation of vocational psychology to social 


psychology (2.45). 

Vocational psychology and social psychology are closely related since both 
these branches of psychology frequently deal with data of the same kind. 
In order to provide adequate vocational guidance or selection, the vocational 
psychologist must be acquainted with findings concerning a number of 
factors studied by the social psychologist. Among these factors are: 
interests and attitudes, especially attitude towards work and the social 
values of different occupations, intelligence level, educational status, sex 
differences and age differences. Such factors delimit the field within which 
the vocational psychologist can function effectively. 

Some of these factors are now being studied. An analysis has been made 
of empirical data from cards filled in by -approximately 1,000 juveniles, 
14 to 16 years of age, for the Juvenile Employment Bureau of a Scottish 
industrial city. ‘The factors studied are: vocational preferences of the 
juveniles, school courses pursued, educational status, intention to attend 
continuation classes, club membership and interests. The relation of the 
vocational preferences to these other factors is reported. 

The follow-up of the vocational life of this group will be undertaken and 
the relation of the occupations obtained to the vocational preferences 
expressed will be reported in due course. 


Mr. E. L. Trist.—The functional penetration of a social field (3.30). 


A way of overcoming inaccessibility of data in social psychology is for the 
psychologist himself to play various réles in the community under study. 
Réles adopted by the investigators in Dundee. An attempt through the 
utilisation of these réles to determine empirically the local form of attitudes. 
On the results of indirect questionnaires constructed on the basis of these 
local forms, the possibility of mapping, systematically, the attitudinal 
setting of individuals in different groups. ‘The correlation of the attitudinal 
setting with the industrial and institutional setting. 

The characteristics of this relationship give a picture of the principal 
social patterns in the community, alike in terms of behaviour and of economic 
and cultural structure. The scope of such patterns in Dundee ; differences 
in flexibility and rigidity, in interdependent and independent functioning. 

Unemployment as a disturbance of the social type of the individual. The 
influence on reactions to it of some special Dundee patterns. The social 
elaboration of age and sex as factors imparting different valencies to the 
situation at different life periods in the two sexes. 


SECTION K.—BOTANY. 


Thursday, September 10. 
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS by Mr. J. RamspottoM, O.B.E., on The uses of 
fungi (10.0). 
Prof. F. E. Fritscu, F.R.S.—The life-cycle of the Lower Brown Alga (11.0). 


The communication brings no fresh facts, but presents a somewhat new 
interpretation of the available data. Consideration is restricted to the 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 415 


Ectocarpales as delimited by Oltmanns. The life-cycle in these forms, 
apart from a limited number of exceptional types, is to be regarded as 
comprising an alternation between diploid and haploid phases, isomorphic 
in the simpler filamentous types, heteromorphic as a rule in the more 
advanced forms. The diploid phase in the latter is constituted by the 
elaborate macroscopic thallus which bears either unilocular sporangia only 
or plurilocular ones as well, the latter being then most commonly produced 
at an earlier stage than the unilocular sporangia. The haploid phase is a 
small filamentous plant bearing plurilocular sporangia (i.e. gametangia) 
only. Either phase can propagate for several generations by means of small 
ectocarpoid stages, the diploid one doing so by means of the swarmers from 
the plurilocular sporangia which give rise to plethysmothalli (using Sauva- 
geau’s term in this sense only), the haploid one by means of apogamously 
developing gametes which give rise to accessory gametophytes (not plethys- 
mothalli). The plethysmothalli as above defined are to be regarded as 
arrested (juvenile) stages of the sporophyte whose general resemblance to the 
haploid phases is a result of the derivation of the two generations from the 
isomorphic or homologous type of alternation seen in the simpler representa- 
tives (Ectocarpacez) of the group. The succession of plants formed from 
the diploid swarmers of the plurilocular sporangia of an Ectocarpus siliculosus 
or other simple type are the equivalents of the plethysmothalli of the higher 
forms. How far the life-cycle above indicated can be short-circuited by the 
fusion of swarmers from the unilocular sporangia remains to be seen. 


Prof. Dame HELEN GWYNNE-VAUGHAN, G.B.E., and Mrs. Q. E. Broap- 
HEAD.—Methods of reproduction in Ceratostomella fimbriata, the 
cause of mouldy rot of the Para rubber tree (11.40). 


This fungus is self compatible with a mycelium of uninucleate cells, 
bearing chlamydospores and endoconidia, both of which germinate readily. 

The perithecium has two zones of wall cells and an internal lining of 
turgid cells forming a cushion. The neck arises from the inner zone of 
the wall; it is made up of thick walled, parallel hyphe, lined by delicate 
filaments. 

The ascogenous hyphz arise from a multinucleate cell. No antheridium 
is present and development is apogamous, the only nuclear fusion being 
that in the ascus. The haploid number of chromosomes is three, there are 
three gemini in the prophase of meiosis which is the only reduction phase 
in this life history. 


Prof. B. Nimec.—Gold and other rare elements in plants (12.20). 


On analysing ashes of seeds and seedlings of corn from Oslany (West- 
slovakia) we found in the ash some elements until now only rarely discovered 
in plants, such as gold and titanium. This discovery led to the study of 
the ashes of other plants from the same locality. In Egquisetum, gold has 
been found in comparatively large amounts, and in the wood of Fagus, 
Carpinus and other species, in addition to gold, aluminium, titanium, 
copper, zinc, vanadium and chromium have been found. We have found 
the same elements in Polyporus fomentarius growing on Fagus and Carpinus. 

Cultures of corn seedlings have shown that gold has a slight stimulating 
effect upon growth. : 


AFTERNOON. 
Excursion to Garstang district. 


416 j SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 


Friday, September 11. 


Dr. C. E. Forster, Mr. I. W. Tervet, and Mrs. N. L. Atcock.—A 
contribution to the study of rots in potato storage (10.0). 


A storage rot of potatoes much resembling Dry Rot (Fusarium ceruleum) 
but caused by a pycnidial fungus has recently been investigated. The early 
symptoms of the disease consist of small depressions, the later stages of 
large, intact or wrinkled areas. A large internal rot develops, often with 
large cavities which are lined with mycelium in which are embedded the 
black pycnidia. Using single spore cultures, the disease has been produced 
in various commercial potato varieties. Early varieties are more readily 
affected and the disease is more prevalent in boxes or bags than in clamps. 
The disease has been present for a number of years but its resemblance to 
Dry Rot has caused it to be classified as the latter disease. The fungus 
belongs to the Phomacee and is possibly new to science. 


Dr. J. CALDWELL.—Recent work on the nature of virus (10.30). 


The aspect of the problem of virus diseases in plants which has been 
most studied recently is the nature of the causative agent of the disease. 
A crystalline protein has been shown to be associated with the disease of 
Mosaic of Tobacco (Tobacco Virus I) and attention has been focussed on 
the relation of this protein to the agent of the disease. "The mode of in- 
fection with the virus of this disease has been re-examined and evidence is 
adduced to support the view that infection by means other than through 
broken protoplasts is rare. ‘The age of the leaf at the time of inoculation 
and the amount of growth made by the leaf at the time of inoculation are of 
primary importance. A method is discussed which allows of the study of 
the effect of substances on the virus without confusion with the effect of 
these substances on the host tissues. 


Dr. M. NosLe.—Heterothallism in Typhula Trifolit (11.0). 


In Typhula Trifolii the haploid hyphz have plain septa and usually one 
nucleus in each cell, the diploid possess clamp connections at most of the 
septa and usually one pair of conjugate nuclei in each cell. Anastomosis 
and migration of nuclei occurs in haploid and in diploid mycelia where there 
is no question of diploidisation. 

Monospore cultures sometimes produce haploid sclerotia and fructi- 
fications. ‘The latter are smaller than the diploid and produce small fertile 
spores. 

When anastomosis occurs between compatible haploid mycelia, migration 
of nuclei takes place followed by upsetting of the equilibrium of the cells of 
the invaded hypha, in which some of the indigenous nuclei disintegrate. 
Nuclei migrate by the partial or complete dissolution of the transverse 
septa; where partial dissolution takes place half walls are produced and at 
these the side wall may bulge out. When the invading nuclei have reached 
the younger parts of the hyphe they conjugate with the indigenous nuclei 
and, on the division of these conjugate pairs, clamp connections are 
produced. 

The work of Lehfeldt on Typhula erythropus is thus confirmed. The 
significance of this confirmation is discussed with reference to recent work 
on the diploidisation of Coprinus. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 417 


Mr. C. G. C. Cussters and Mr. C. J. Hickman.—Root and stem diseases 
of the cultivated Viola (11.25). 


The paper deals with the increasingly serious root and stem infections 
of Viola due to fungi belonging to the following genera; Pythium, Asco- 
chyta, Mycothecium and Rhizoctonia and describes the field symptoms of 
the diseases caused. The necessity of recognising the causal organism of 
certain diseases is emphasised in relation to the control measures to be 
adopted. Certain morphological characters of the parasitic fungi are 
described—especially in the case of the species of Pythium and Ascochyta. 
The most usual species of Pythium isolated from diseased viola plants 
differs from species of this genus already described—it is tentatively recog- 
nised as a new species., 


Mr. J. S. L. Girmour.—Whither taxonomy ? (11.50). 


With the development of genetics, cytology and ecology, thirty or forty 
years ago, taxonomists began to realise that, if a system of classification 
was to reflect accurately the true structure of the plant kingdom and 
to form an adequate vehicle for further progress, its basis must be 
widened to include the facts revealed by these new sciences. A number 
of taxonomic studies accordingly began to appear on these new lines, side 
by side, of course, with a continuation of the old type of work based solely 
on morphological and distributional data. ‘To-day these two streams of taxo- 
nomic activity have partially separated out into what have been conveniently 
called the ‘ alpha’ (or old) and ‘ omega’ (or new) taxonomy respectively. 
What of the future ? 

It will be generally agreed that, while ‘ alpha’ work is still essential, 
especially for little-known floras of which only herbarium material is available 
for study, ‘ omega’ methods can be fruitfully applied to well-known floras 
of which ample material exists for cultural, genetical and cytological work, 
The author puts forward the view that these two streams should be much 
more clearly separated than at present if they are not to interfere with each 
other to their mutual disadvantage. He does not, of course, advocate 
non-co-operation, but, rather, full recognition of the different concepts and 
terminology involved in the two taxonomies, and, if possible, the attainment 
of a measure of agreement between taxonomists, geneticists, cytologists 
and ecologists on a common basis for further ‘ omega ’ progress. 


> 


Mr. A. G. Lownpes.—Flagella movement (illustrated by a cinematograph 


film) (12.20). 


By means of high-speed cinema photomicrography it has been possible 
to prove the following : 

(1) The waves are propagated along the flagellum of Peranema from the 
base to the tip and not in the opposite direction. 

(2) The waves are propagated along the flagellum with an increase in 
velocity and also an increase in amplitude, and hence the flagellum cannot 
be obtaining the whole of its energy from the cell. In other words the 
flagellum is not a passive unit mechanically operated by the cell. 

This has finally answered a question over which there has been con- 
siderable controversy. 

(3) Four other species of uniflagellate organisms have been investigated 
by the same method and the same conclusions are to be drawn. 

(4) The distinction between a pulsillum and a tractellum is not réally 

P2 


418 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 


valid. Impulses pass along the flagellum from the base to the tip and the 
organism is driven in the opposite direction. If the flagellum were held out 
in amore or less extended position the organism would be driven backwards, 
but in each of the organisms studied the flagellum is bent so that the im- 
pulses supply a forward component. Hence the organism is driven 
forward. 


AFTERNOON. 
Mr. G. E. Smitu.—A developmental study of the epidermis (2.15). 


A number of obscure points in leaf development as a whole having been 
encountered during a previous investigation, the elucidation of certain of 
them was attempted. 

Some aspects of the developmental history of the epidermis form the 
subject of the present communication, including : 


(a) The time of appearance of stomatal initials. 

(6) Regular and irregular division of the epidermal cells. 

(c) ‘ Epidermal mother cells.’ 

(d) Development of irregular outline of cells. 

(e) The development of the epidermis of cotyledons and adult leaves of 
the same plant. 

(f) Some references to the developmental state of the epidermis at the 
time of food absorption through it in endospermic seeds, at germina- 
tion. 


Dr. M. M. RicHarpson.—Structural hybridity and species differentiation in 
Lilium. 

The concept that most ‘ Undefined hybrids ’ are ‘ Structural hybrids ’ is 
shown to be true in Lilium Martagon album x L. Hansonii where a reduced 
chiasma frequency and occasional failure of pairing of homologous chromo- 
somes are associated with structural change. Lilium Martagon album x L. 
Hansonii is heterozygous for six inversions whose positions at a particular 
locus in particular chromosomes have been determined., 

The effects of crossing-over in structurally dissimilar bivalents are 
discussed according to the Neo-Chiasmatype theory of crossing-over. 
Expected behaviour is considered (a) for all kinds of structural change and 
their relation to the centromere, (5) for the different kinds of crossing-over 
in the dislocated segment, (c) the relation of such cross-overs to crossing- 
over in other parts of the bivalent. It is only by a fully correlated knowledge 
of the form and separation of bivalents at both the first and second meiotic 
divisions, and thereby of new chromatid structures, that we can analyse 
the exact nature and position of the structural change. 

Crossing-over occurs distally and proximally to the inversion as well as in 
it. Double crossing-over in an inversion is also shown to have taken place 
in another species of Lilium. 

This investigation gives a method for the analysis of the causes underlying 
the failure of pairing which characterise species hybrids, and shows the 
significance of structural change in the formation of species. 


Mr. S. RamanujaM.—Chromosome studies in the Oryzee (3.5). 


The Oryzee with their primitive and advanced characters have long 
presented difficulties to taxonomists in regard to their classification and 
relative position in the family. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 419 


A Karyo-systematic study, which has not hitherto been made, was under- 
taken and results so far available point to the following conclusions : 

1. The basic number of chromosomes for the tribe is 5 and not 12 as 
was supposed by Avdulov. 

2. While a certain section, viz. Zizaniz, retained the original basic 
number, as in two species of Zizania (2n = 30) and Lygeum spartum 
(2n = 40), another section, viz. Oryzinee, which includes Rice, developed 
a secondary basic number 12 through secondary polyploidy, as in the several 
species of Rice (2m = 24 and 48) and two species of Leersia (2m = 48). 

3. The monotypic genus Lygeum, which has altogether a different habit 
and distribution, differs from the rest of the tribe in having larger chromo- 
somes. 

4. Both allo- and autopolyploidy appear to have played a part in the 
differentiation of species and genera. While Lygeum spartum appears to 
be an autopolyploid, certain species of Oryza are likely to have been derived 
through allopolyploidy. 

Detailed studies, comprising other genera as well, are in hand. 


Mr. C. E. Forp.—Chromosome studies in the Malvacee (3.30). 


Chromosome numbers of some thirty species are reported. These 
support the view that the numbers 5 and 7 are basic for the family. In 
Malva all the species examined are polyploids on a basis of 7, whereas in 
the closely allied Lavatera aneuploid numbers also occur. There is a wide 
range of haploid numbers in the genus Hibiscus such as n = 19, 33, c65 and 
c72. Diploid and tetraploid races have been found in the two cultivated 
species, H. esculentus and H. cannabinus. In Abutilon the species fall into 
two groups, one with 7, and the other with 8 as the basic number. 

Chiasma frequencies at metaphase ranging from 1-‘26 to 1-72 per bivalent 
were determined in Abutilon graveolens, Anoda cristata, Sidalcea oregona 
and Sidalcea candida. 'The terminalisation coefficient was approximately 
equal in the first three species at 0-85, but in S. candida it dropped to 0°67. 

A connection between one bivalent and the nucleolus is clearly visible 
at diakinesis in Sidalcea oregona and at prophase of mitosis in Thespesia 
lampas. 

In all species examined, prochromosomes were present in the resting 
nuclei of root-tips. ‘They were also observed in tetrad nuclei and in the 
nuclei of anther wall cells. 


Dr. T. Swarsrick.—Relationships of scion and rootstock in fruit trees 
(3-55). 

It has already been established that clonal vegetatively raised rootstocks 
influence tree size and precocity. Recent experiments have been carried 
out at Long Ashton whereby trees have been raised which have a 
common absorbing root system but which have intermediate stem pieces of 
the three rootstocks MIX, II and XIII. These three rootstocks, when 
used in the normal manner to provide a complete absorbing root system, 
produce trees which, as regards vigour, are dwarf, semi-vigorous and vigorous 
respectively. ‘These experiments show that the effects produced in the 
scion variety are almost similar in every respect, when an intermediate 
stem piece of 9 inches long of these three rootstocks, and when the rootstocks 
are used in the normal manner. Quantitative data are presented in 
support of the above effect upon tree size and root development. Quan- 
titative effects upon foliage and habit of tree growth are described. The 
three intermediate stem pieces of MIX, II and XIII show marked differences 


420 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 


in their radical development and the union they make with the rootstock 
and the scion. The possible réle of the graft union and the physiology 
growth cycles in the stem pieces is discussed in relation to the so-called 
rootstock influences. 


SEMI-POPULAR LEcTURE by Prof. E. J. Satispury, F.R.S., on The living 
garden (5.0). 


Saturday, September 12. 
Excursion to Southport sand dunes. 


Sunday, September 13. 
Excursion to Windermere, Wray Castle. 


Monday, September 14. 


Prof. J. H. Priesttey and Miss L. I. Scorr (10.0). (See Department of 
Forestry, below.) 


Prof. W. Strives, F.R.S., and Dr. W. Leacu.—The relationship between 
respiration intensity and oxygen concentration (10.30). 


Prof. R. Ruccies Gates, F.R.S.—The genetic survey as a method of 
evolutionary study (11.0). 

Hitherto very few, if any, intensive genetic studies have been made of 
plants collected wild over a particular area. Ecotypes of various species 
have been investigated in this way, and in a few genera, such as Crepis, 
numbers of species have been brought together for a comparative genetic 
study. The aim of the present work is, by collecting the wild seeds of a 
genus at short intervals over a given area, to make an intensive genetic 
survey of all the existing forms, their relationships and distribution. ‘This 
was done with Oenothera in eastern Canada, one hundred seed collections 
being made in 1932 and about sixty more in 1935. ‘The resulting cultures 
show a surprising range of variation, including many new species and 
varieties. By this method, which has been intensively followed for the 
first time, much light is thrown upon the variations, geographic distribution 
and phylogeny of the genus Oenothera. The fact that seeds from any wild 
plant generally breed true to type, often showing minute differences from 
plants of a neighbouring area, results partly from the presence of a ring of 
fourteen chromosomes in all these forms. 


Dr. N. L. Penston.—Potassium in leaves (11.30). 

The changes during the day of dry weight, ash weight and potassium 
content in leaves of potato and maize, and the osmotic pressure changes 
of the sap in potato leaves, are shown in tables and graphs, and the results 
discussed in relation to accumulation of solutes in the metabolising leaf. 


Mr. J. Gitiespre.—The influence of certain chemical elements upon the 
development of chlorophyll in plants (12.0). . 
This contribution records preliminary investigations of the relationships 
and interrelationships of chemical elements in the formation of chlorophyll. 
Iron, zinc and manganese in culture solutions have so far been employed. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 421 


It is confirmed that the different salts of iron have different abilities to 
catalyse chlorophyll formation, but an iron salt which is most efficient for 
one species may not be the most efficient catalyst in another species. The 
variations in chlorophyll content in different species, brought about by 
different iron salts, are correlated with variations in dry weight. 

Zinc in small quantities helps to increase the amount of chlorophyll 
developed, but beyond certain concentrations of zinc salt the amount of 
chlorophyll decreases. High concentrations of zinc lead to orange-spotted 
leaves or chlorosis. 

In concentrations of zinc salt which tend to induce chlorosis, the addition 
of minute traces of manganese restores normal green coloration. 

Plants grown in shade or darkness and subjected to the action of a zinc 
salt recover from light-chlorosis more slowly than controls. 


* AFTERNOON. 
Mr. H. G. CuIppINDALE.—The vitality of grass seedlings (2.15). 


A study of the behaviour of grass seedlings subject to interspecific com- 
petition has led to an inquiry into their toleration of conditions inhibiting 
growth. Their vitality has been found to be remarkable. 

A large proportion of seedlings survive desiccation for several days at 
laboratory temperature, new growth being initiated in the shoot primordia. 
The property is possessed in varying degree by different species, and may 
also be affected by the previous history of the seedlings. 

The longevity of seedlings in complete darkness is dependent upon 
temperature, but exceeds what would be expected from the food reserves 
in the caryopses. At an average temperature of about 7° C., seedlings are 
alive after several months without light, and on its admission are capable 
of normal growth. Seeds germinating below the soil in autumn may not 
show visible seedlings at the surface until the following spring. 

Both the intensity and quantity of light requisite for the growth of grass 
seedlings are extremely small ; when below the minimum, survival of the 
seedlings is protracted, and it is possibly dependent upon mineral nutrition. 


Dr. WinirreD E. BrENCHLEY.—The varying response of weed species to 
competition (2.40). 


The competition of weeds with crops plays an important part in eco- 
nomics, but the factors influencing the competition are not fully understood. 
Probably in some cases the apparent association of certain species with 
particular types of soil is in reality determined by the relative competition. 

When arable land is fallowed, the succeeding wheat crop tends to be very 
heavy on account of the accumulated fertility, but in spite of this heavy 
crop such weeds as Alopecurus agrestis may show a big increase, although 
under normal cropping conditions wheat and Alopecurus come into active 
competition. Weed species may be divided into three groups according 
to their behaviour after fallowing : 

(1) Species which fail to reassert themselves in the face of crop competi- 
tion. Papaver rheas came into this group at Rothamsted, in spite of the 
large number of seeds which survived fallowing. 

(2) Species which withstand the competition of the crop and replenish 
their stocks of seed in the soil. 

(3) Species which respond variably after different periods of fallowing. 

Extreme cases of competition are exemplified by Broadbalk and Gees- 
croft ‘ Wildernesses.’ In the former an uncut wheat field has reverted to 


422 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 


a dense oak-hazel woodland, whereas in the latter Aira cespitosa dominates, 
and brambles and saplings are very gradually becoming established. é 

Response to competition is also affected by the ability of such plants as 
Capsella bursa-pastoris to mature seed rapidly at various seasons of the year. 


Miss A. C. Hatxet.—The periodic movements of the flowers of some nyct- 
anthous plants (3.5). 


The results of a study of the flowers of some nyctanthous plants are 
presented. The flowers studied were Melandryum album, Melandryum 
noctiflorum, various species of Silene (S. Vallesia, S. nutans, S. ciliata, 
S. tartarica, S. Zawadski, S. maritima), Schizopetalon Walkeri and Matthiola 
bicornis. 

The flowers of different species open for a varying number of evenings, 
many of them opening about six times. The hours of opening and closing 
vary with the weather ; in most species the buds expand later in the evening 
than the older flowers. On wet days the flowers remain open. 

The ‘ closing ’ of the flowers is due to the inrolling of their petals. The 
petals close gradually as they lose water and open as they absorb it. The 
percentage of water is greater in open than in closed petals. 

Comparison of the areas of petals when closed and open shows that they 
change considerably in size. The changes in area are due to the contraction 
or expansion of the cells as water is lost or gained. 

The petals increase in size as they grow older ; their movements, how- 
ever, are not growth movements but depend on their water-content, and 
are related to the anatomical structure of the petals and the nature of their 
cell-walls. . 


Dr. G. TayLor.—-The British Museum expedition to the mountains of East 
Africa (3.30). 

The expedition visited four groups of mountains in East Africa and was 
organised to make a comparative study of the flora and insect fauna at higher 
altitudes, to obtain specimens and to ascertain whether any comparable 
peculiarities existed between the plants and insects. It will be some years 
before the collections are fully worked out, and at present it is possible only 
to describe the characteristic vegetation of these regions and the elements 
represented in this unique flora. 

Perhaps the most striking feature is the altitudinal zonation of the vegeta- 
tion and the manner in which it tends to repeat itself on the different 
mountain groups. In the lowest zone the plants are characteristic of the 
African plains, but the type of vegetation changes through tropical forest 
and dense bamboo forest until one meets on the one hand plants strongly 
reminiscent of Europe and, on the other hand, grotesque forms which are 
characteristic only of these African mountains. ‘The vegetational zones may 
be quite sharply defined, but, as a rule, they overlap for a considerable depth 
and their altitudinal range may vary on the different mountains and even on 
each side of the same mountain. Occasionally, but very rarely, the bamboo 
zone may be absent. 

It is in the highest zone that specialisation of the species has proceeded 
furthest, and the same genus is usually represented by different species on each 
mountain top and frequently, but particularly in the arborescent Senecios, 
these species are local endemics. Each mountain can be regarded as an 
island arising from a sea of tropical vegetation, each island having its own 
characteristic plants, though all are of the same general type. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 423 


Apart from the typically African elements, the most interesting feature of 
the alpine zone is the presence of so many representatives of temperate 
genera, as, for instance, species of Ranunculus, Arabis, Subularia, Cardamine, 
Limosella, Sibthorpia, Luzula, Anthoxanthum, Deschampsia and Koeleria ; 
the species may, indeed, be identical with those found in this country. It 
appears probable that these are relics of a former more extensive temperate 
flora, and their isolated presence in the alpine zone of the African mountains 
can probably best be interpreted from a study of the climatic history of 
these regions. 


Tuesday, September 15. 


Dr. M. RosEnBERG.—Algal cultures (10.30). 


A survey of methods for algal cultures is given. The various factors, 
such as chemicals, light and temperature, are discussed and their importance 
demonstrated. 

The chief problems which have been approached with the help of 
culture methods are outlined ; and examples are given chiefly of results 
concerned with ecological and morphological investigations. In several 
cases it has been possible to correlate changes in external conditions with 
corresponding morphological or physiological changes (division rate). 

Culture methods, especially among the Desmids, open a wide field for 
investigations, owing to the variations which occur in this group. 

In the genus Xanthidium, for instance, it has been possible to show 
that two morphologically distinct types—so far considered as two species— 
really are varieties of one species only, brought about by changes in the 
external conditions. 

Mention of results by various authors working on these lines is also 
made. 


Miss M. Reese.—A study of the microflora of two Cardiganshire rivers and 
the effect of local lead mines on their algal population (11.0). 


A short history of the lead mines followed by an account of the pollution 
they cause. 

A description of the physical features of the rivers Rheidol and Melindwr, 
and an account of the collection of the microflora, its periodicity, and the 
relation of the plants to floods. 


Prof. J. DoyLe—Development in Sequoia (11.30). 


Fertilisation and pro-embryo formation are described for Sequoia gigantea. 
The gametophytes resemble those of Sequoia sempervirens closely, but the 
pro-embryo, although showing variations in the later stages, is essentially 
Cupressinean in type. 

Wall formation at the first post-fertilisation division is verified for Sequoia 
sempervirens. Subsequent pro-embryo development is clarified. Among 
other points of interest, it does not fill the archegonium when young. 


Prof. T. M. Harris.—The fossil horsetails (Equisetites) (12.0). 


Some Mesozoic horsetails are briefly described ; most of their features 
being in obvious agreement with those of Eguisetum. Their vascular 


424 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K. 


anatomy, however, has appeared to be different: in most specimens the 
vascular bundles are not preserved, but the markings at the node suggested 
that the bundles were twice as numerous as the leaves instead of being 
equally numerous. Preparations of Equisetum have been made by bacterial 
rotting followed by compression which show features at the node agreeing 
with those of the fossils, thus suggesting the explanation of their peculiari- 
ties and removing what seemed an important point of disagreement. It is 
further suggested that in the Equisetales the water-conducting system is 
double, consisting of a carinal canal supplemented by more or less developed 
metaxylem. In the Calamites the xylem is well developed and in the 
compressed fossil forms a ridge, while in Equisetum it is a vestige playing 
a small part in conduction, and when rotted and crushed experimentally or 
when fossilised becoming unrecognisable. This would account for the 
‘pith cast ’ of Equisetites being smooth, that of a Calamite being striated. 


Dr. T. Jounson.—Dulichium spathaceum Pers. from Corker Hill, Glasgow 
(12.30). 

As a possible help in dating a human skull of uncertain age unearthed at 
Corker Hill, Glasgow, I undertook the separation and examination of the 
fruits, seeds and other plant material present in the turf in which the skull 
was embedded. I was so fortunate as to enlist the aid of Mrs. Clement 
Reid, who found, in the collection made, the fruit of Dulichium spathaceum 
Pers., a sedge hitherto unknown from the British Isles but recorded from 
the ‘Interglacial’ beds of Denmark and North Germany, as well as from 
Renver in 1908 by Mr. and Mrs. Clement Reid. This sedge, owing to a 
change from the oceanic to the continental type of climate, disappeared 
from Europe but still lives on the Atlantic side of North America. Cladium 
jamaicense Crantz (C. mariscus Br.) and Salix aurita L. with Interglacial 
records were also found. The cold, wet habitat is further indicated by the 
subarctic Sphagnum Austini Sull., and by (a tubular artifact of) oak-wood 
with rings, half the normal width. Liastrea Thelypteris Bory, the marsh 
fern, occurred. Pteris aquilina was plentiful (and may have provided bedding 
and thatching for dwellings, supported by the roughly pointed birch stakes 
found). 

Some thirty different species of seeds of no special interest were isolated. 
Charcoal and vivianite were common. Sedge and skull are not necessarily 
contemporaneous. 


AFTERNOON. 
EXHIBITS :-— 


Prof. Dame HELEN GwYNNE-VAUGHAN, G.B.E., and Mrs. Q. E. Broap- 
HEAD.—The development of the long perithecial neck in Ceratostomella 
fimbriata. 


Prof. B. NEmEc.—Gold and other rare elements in plants. 


Dr. C. E. Forster, Mr. I. W. Tervet, and Mrs. N. L. Atcocx, O.B.E.— 
Rot in stored potatoes. 


Mr. H. D. Gorpon.—Mycorrhiza in Rhododendrons. 


In nature the roots of rhododendrons regularly contain an endophytic 
fungus, similar in appearance to the endophytes recorded in Calluna, 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K, K*. 425 


Vaccinium and the majority of the Ericacee. The infection appears to be 
confined to the roots, and has not been observed in stem, leaf, fruit or seed. 

The endophyte is not seed-borne, and seedlings are normally infected 
from the soil several weeks after germination. 

Seeds have been germinated, and the resulting seedlings grown, in pure 
culture, without the presence of the endophyte or of any other micro- 
organisms. Such seedlings are capable of development, and can produce a 
copious root system. 

Thus the relation of the higher plant to the endophyte is not an obligate 
one. 


Mr. S. I. Ramanuyam.—Chromosomes in the Oryzee. 

Dr. T. Swarsrick.—Relationships of scion and rootstock in fruit trees. 
Mr. G. E. Smitu.—A developmental study of the epidermis. 

Prof. T. Harris.—Fossil horsetauls. 

Dr. T. Jounson.—Dulichium spathaceum Pers. 

Dr. L. DupLey Stamp.—Land utilisation maps. 

Mr. F. T. Brooks, F.R.S.—Allomyces javanicus Kniep. 


Miss E. M. DesENHAM.—Some applications of the ammoniacal acid fuchsin 
technique. 


Mr. J. W. G. Lunp.—Mud-inhabiting alge. 


Dr. M. Pocxockx.—Stages in the life cycle of Volvox and other South 
African alge. 


DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY (K*). 
Thursday, September 10. 
Mr. D. W. Younc.—The New Forest (11.0). 
Mr. A. P. Lonc.—Hill planting (11.30). 
Mr. J. A. B. MacponaLp.—The afforestation of difficult sites (12.0). 


To the ardent forester there are problems or difficulties connected with 
the afforestation of every conceivable ‘ site’ or type of ground. Difficulties 
may indeed result from the very fertility of the soil itself—for instance, weed 
growth may be so encouraged that the planted trees are in danger of be- 
coming smothered. The paper, however, deals with sites in which the 
difficulty arises from the poverty or unfavourable physical conditions of 
the surface layers; attention is confined to hill sites. In such circum- 
stances climatic perhaps more than edaphic factors are primarily responsible 


426 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K¥*. 


for the bad conditions. Naturally where both rock and weather are un- 
favourable the worst types of ground occur—here a peat layer almost 
invariably exists. Roughly these peat-clad sites may be divided into three 
classes: basins, slopes and knolls. Afforestation experiments have been 
proceeding on such sites for the last ten to fifteen years, and the interim 
results or tendencies are already of considerable interest. "There have 
also been many experiments laid down on two other difficult types: (1) 
Calluna-clad moorlands on which a dry raw-humus takes the place 
of the peat layer, and (2) dry Calluna-clad, often morainic slopes, where 
the raw-humus layer is scanty or absent. On the poorer peat sites the 
difficulty is to get any tree species to become established ; on the dry 
heather ground the problem is rather the establishment of a more valuable 
crop than Scots pine, which it is known would grow more or less vigorously. 


Dr. A. B. Srewart.—Some soil problems in forest nurseries (12.20). 


To illustrate the type of information which may be obtained from a soil 
examination reference may be made to some results which have been 
obtained for different nursery soils. 

It was found that Scots pine seedlings from soil A showed marked ‘ brown- 
ing,’ whilst normal healthy plants were obtained in soil B. Specimen plants 
were taken for analyses from these two soils, and it was found that the 
healthy plants from soil B had a lime content in their ash of approximately 
20 per cent. CaO, a figure which agrees well with that given by Manshard ! 
as typical of normal seedlings. The lime content of the ash of the affected 
plants from soil A was approximately 40 per cent. CaO. Soil A was found 
to be much richer in lime and lower in both phosphoric acid and potash 
than soil B. It appears likely therefore that the poor results obtained in 
soil A are to be associated to some extent at least with the unfavourable 
nutrient balance in the soil, where the ratio of calcium to other nutrients, 
particularly potassium, is very high. ‘That the high calcium content in 
itself is not likely to have been wholly responsible for the ‘ browning’ of 
the seedlings is borne out by the observation that normal healthy plants 
can be grown in soil C. This has also a very high lime content, but is very 
much richer. in readily soluble phosphoric acid and potash and has a more 
balanced nutrient content than soil A. 

Experiments are at present being conducted in conjunction with the 
Forestry Commission (Scotland) in order to obtain more accurate informa- 
tion on the amounts of lime, phosphoric acid, potash and other nutrients 
which should be added in order to obtain in the soil the most suitable 
nutrient balance. 


Friday, September 11. 


Discussion on The utilisation of home-grown timber (10.0). 


Rt. Hon. Lord CLinton.—The position of private estates in the pro- 
duction of timber. 


Mr. F. G. O. PEarson.—The existing outlets for home-grown timber. 


If afforestation is to pay, the produce of plantations must be utilised at 
every stage of growth. 


1 Thavandter Forst. Jahrbuch, 84,2. 1933. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—K*. 427 


The main classes of produce are : 


(1) Poles 1} to 5 in. at the butt. 
The market for these must be found locally, chiefly in rustic work, 
fencing stakes, hurdles and small turnery. 

(2) Poles 5 to 8 in. at butt. 
These are suitable for pit-props, fender poles, telephone poles and 
stay-props, and turnery. 

(3) Poles over 8 in. diameter but not mature timber. 
Can be used for large pit-props, contractors’ piles, and fencing 
material, or sold to metchants for conversion to general uses. 

(4) Mature timber. 
Is sold to timber merchants, either standing, by estimated measure 
and an agreed price for the whole wood, or by the cubic foot when 
felled. 

(5) Coppice. 
This is sold by the acre, chestnut for fencing, hazel, ash and birch 
for pea and bean sticks, etc. 

(6) Lop and top. 
These are trimmings from felled trees, and sold either by the cord 
or by the ton, chiefly for firewood. 


There is a market for all these classes, which will improve as supplies 
increase and marketing becomes more orderly. Local Government 
authorities, railways and other large corporations could help by purchasing 
home-grown timber more often. 


Mr, Joun T. Smitu.—The utilisation of certain British softwoods. 


Substantial increase in knowledge of forestry in Great Britain and striking 
decline in consumption of home timber. P 
Information regarding proportion of home timber used in this country. 
References to the literature now available on the subject. 
Attenuated condition of British woodlands. 
Possibility of using the existing timber trade organisation of the United 
' Kingdom for marketing home timber. Parallel to be found in North 
European countries. 
Utilisation of individual species, with notes upon : 
1. Scots pine. 
2. Norway and Sitka spruce. 
3. Larch. 
4. Douglas fir. 
5. Others. 


Bibliography. 


Mr. J. W. G. Acate.—The uses and working qualities of British hard- 
woods. 


Mr. G. H. DonaLp.—The effects of pruning on the quality of timber. 


An account of the investigation in progress at the Forest Products Re- 
search Laboratory, Princes Risborough, on the practical and economic 
effects of pruning forest trees. Deals briefly with the reason why artificial 
pruning is believed necessary, and then describes the examination of actual 


428 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K*. 


pruned material with the object of finding out what happens after pruning— 
how long healing takes and what is the nature of the occluded wound. 

The assessment of the improved quality, and therefore greater value, of 
timber as a result of pruning cannot very well be carried out on actual 
pruned material, since trees pruned under suitable conditions and suffi- 
ciently long ago to affect the timber have not been found to be available. 
The paper describes the method of grading the sawn timber from ordinary 
unpruned logs, and then, by carrying out a hypothetical pruning in retro- 
spect, comparing the present value of the timber with the value it would 
have had if a given pruning had been carried out. 


Saturday, September 12. 
Excursion to Lake District (Belle Isle Estate, etc.). 


Sunday, September 13. 


Excursion to Thirlmere. 


Monday, September 14. 


Prof. J. H. Priesttey and Miss L. I. Scorr.—A comparison of ring-porous 
and diffuse-porous hardwoods (10.0). 


Recent work has emphasised the significance of the differences between 
these two types of hardwood tree. ‘These differences are analysed ; they 
are shown in the manner of extension growth and radial growth, and in 
differentiation and structure of the wood. They may also have significance 
in connection with the function of the wood. 


Mr. Ray Bourne.—The beechwood associations of southern England (10.30). 


The beech is the principal climax dominant of the hilly country through- © 
out southern England irrespective of geological formation and soil. The 
rate of growth and dimensions attained vary with the climate and the soil. 
The associated species in the tree and ground layers are determined with one 
or two exceptions by soil rather than by climate. Three principal associa- 
tions can be recognised : 


(1) The beech-oak-birch association on the acid sands and gravels. 

(2) The beech-oak-ash association on the neutral loams and clays. 

(3) ‘The beech-ash-yew association on the calcareous chalk and lime stone 
brash soils. 


Each association is divisible into types of distinct physiognomy and pro- 
ductivity. The recognition of the types which occur on an estate is an 
essential preliminary to the successful solution of the problems of silviculture 
and management. 


Mr. H. A. Hype.—The position of the beech in South Wales (1. 3). 


The present investigation is an attempt to determine the status of beech 
(Fagus sylvatica) in certain woods in Glamorganshire, South Wales. The 
woods concerned are situated to the north of Cardiff on hills (100-900 ft. alt.) 
running W.S.W.—E.N.E. for a distance of approximately seven miles at an 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—K*%*, L. 429 


average distance of six miles from the middle of the city. The rock under- 
lying the woods for the most part is Carboniferous Limestone, including Lower 
Limestone Shales, but some are situated on Old Red Sandstone and one on 
Pennant Grits (Carboniferous). The soils have not been fully investigated. 
There are no records of the planting of these woods, but they have decreased 
in area considerably during living memory due to felling. Regeneration 
has been observed in one wood at least, and seedlings are not uncommon 
throughout. 

The investigation of the floristic and ecologic composition of the woods 
is as yet only in a preliminary stage. 


Mr. Henry P. Hutcuinson.—The effects of dormant buds and roots on the 
wood of Salix cerulea—the cricket bat willow (11.20). 


The paper traces the behaviour of the primary buds an@ initial roots 
present in the current year’s shoot through the later stages of growth of the 
tree, and describes the effects produced on the grain of the underlying 
timber. 


Mr. E. H. B. Bout ¥on.—Timber and its substitutes (11.40). 
Mr. H. D. Gorpon.—Mycorrhiza in rhododendrons (12.10). 


Mr, B. PoLLarp-UrRQuHART.— Working plans for the private estate (12.40). 


SECTION L.—EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE. 


Thursday, September 10. 


Discussion on Cultural and social values of science (10.0). 


Sir RicHarp Grecory, Bt., F.R.S. 


Culture has the same meaning as the humanism of polite scholarship or 
classical learning : and whatever subjects are defined as humanistic, they 
must all be understood as being concerned with the welfare of man. 

The influence of science upon material progress is recognised much more 
commonly than that of its effect upon the human mind. It is difficult now 
to realise the liberation of life and intellect brought about by the works of 
Copernicus, Galileo, Vesalius and other pioneers of experimental philosophy. 
Their discoveries, and Newton’s law of gravitation, which accounted not 
only for the movements of the planets but also for the alarming appearance 
of comets, involved a revolution in conceptions of the universe and man’s 
terrestrial dwelling-place. Intellectual expansion, and a sense of justice, 
resulted from the knowledge of the existence and permanence of Law in 
Nature. They profoundly influenced human thought and resulted in 
social changes which had great civilising effects. 

Three centuries later, Darwin placed man himself in a new relationship 
to the rest of living creatures, and the principle of evolution established by 
him applies not only to the past but also to the present and future. Science, 


430 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS .—L. 


and its effect upon invention and mechanisation, have created a new environ- 
ment which can be shaped to satisfy man’s intellectual as well as his material 
needs. ‘The most important problem to-day is that of finding a means to 
lessen the gap between scientific advance and ethical and social development. 


Prof. L. HoGBEN (10.30). 


The scientific knowledge gained during the past century has produced a 
surfeit of commodities which the existing economy of distribution has failed 
to make available for human welfare. In part this situation is the nemesis 
of a personnel of government educated in a humanism which has no roots in 
scientific knowledge. ‘The pivotal issues of modern education are the produc- 
tion of political leaders who realise the new potential of human welfare and 
the training O citizens who will choose leaders with the necessary knowledge 
to deal constructively with the impact of science on social institutions. 
The teaching of science in the schools and universities has been largely 
moulded by the demand for specialist knowledge by industry, medicine 
and new social services. Compulsory courses in science designed to meet 
this demand can make little contribution to a new huntanism with its roots 
in a scientific attitude to external nature and human destiny. ‘The attempt 
to design courses of general science suitable for those who will not become 
specialists has largely failed through lack of a clearly defined and sufficiently 
comprehensive social objective. ‘To fulfil the social objective stated above 
it is not sufficient to show how science is used in the everyday life of con- 
temporary civilisation. It is equally important to exhibit the growth of 
civilisation in its relation to advancing scientific knowledge and to unfold 
possibilities for the further use of scientific knowledge which we have not 
fully applied to social well-being. To accomplish this the training of the 
science teacher must be broadened to include a thorough knowledge of the 
history of science, taught in close relation to the social needs and circum- 
stances in which scientific progress has been made and the uses to which 
it has been put. This will not be achieved by introducing courses in the 
history of sciences treated as a succession of discoveries by specially gifted 
individuals whose relation to their social environment is ignored. It will 
necessarily entail a reorientation of the contents of the curriculum. For 
instance, the dependence of calendrical practice and navigation on the pro- 
gress of astronomy from the dawn of civilisation to the age of Newton 
receives little recognition either in current teaching of history or of natural 
science in the Universities, where astronomy is rarely taught except as an 
appendix to higher mathematics. As immediate measures to facilitate the 
design of science teaching adapted to the requirements of intelligent citizen- 
ship, the steps which might be made include a much greater degree of 
encouragement of cosmography in the.new departments of geography in 
the Universities, provision for specialist teaching in the social relations of 
science and technology in departments of history and compulsory degree 
courses in the history of science and its uses for students of natural science. 


Mr. S. R. Humpy (11.0). 


What are the ideas which the teaching of science in schools should leave 
in the minds of the citizens of the future, and how can these ideas best be 
presented ? 

Emphasis should be laid on the increasing powers which men have gained 
over substances and over energy. ‘These have been obtained from pioneer 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—L. 431 


work by investigators who have sought knowledge and have found that, 
through that knowledge, nature can be controlled but not coerced. 

An understanding of the particular methods by which scientific knowledge 
has been gained should become part of the mental equipment of the ordinary 
person. The reactions between scientific progress and the structure of 
society should be pointed out. 

The critical powers should be trained so that the young citizen will be 
apt to suspect the abundant panaceas of the self-interested and the 
thoughtless. 


Mr. S. V. BROWN (11.20). 


What is the cultural and social value of science as at present taught in 
a day secondary school ? 
In the main, secondary schools cater for three types of pupils : 


(a) Those who eventually become science specialists. 

(6) Those who become specialists in non-science subjects and who will 
probably receive no instruction in science after the age of 18. 

(c) Those who leave school at 16 plus and whose formal education may 
then be regarded as finished. 


Of these, class (c) comprises over 90 per cent. 

So far, the secondary school curriculum has been almost entirely based 
on the needs and requirements of class (a), the future science specialists, 
and it is very doubtful whether it has much cultural or social value even for 
them, for we are constantly being reminded that our science specialists are 
narrow-minded and lacking in general culture. 

As for the rest, there seems no doubt that the course is of negligible 
benefit in after life as far as the cultural side is concerned. 

The remedy would appear to be to institute a course of general science for 
all pupils up to the age of 16 plus, followed by a modified specialisation up 
to 18 plus. The writer favours no specialisation at all during a pupil’s 
secondary school life, believing that the place for specialisation is the 
University. 

The crux of the whole problem lies in the framing of the general science 
course. Previous attempts at framing such a course have resulted in pro- 
ducing something which was ‘ general ’ but was not ‘ science.’ The natural 
interest, for which science has its growing point, is ‘ life.’ Therefore 
biology is the regulative science: to it physics and chemistry are, by the 
normal run of human interest, subordinate and should take second place. 
They are, when studied, more of a specialised study than is the study of life, 
being themselves the means and conditions of life: their other and inde- 
pendent interest is a more recondite study and is not ‘ general science.’ 

General science does not consist of the facts of chemistry, physics and 
biology studied piecemeal and in watertight compartments, but is to be 
regarded as a unified and living whole, the theme of which is ‘ life.’ It is 
the interpretation of the world in which we live and includes not only an 
understanding of the fundamental principles but also of the attitude and 
method of science generally. 


Sir Dantet Hatt, K.C.B., F.R.S. (11.45). 


The true aim of science is the enrichment of life. It is commonplace to 
enumerate the gifts of science—communications, light and heat, textiles, 
food, the saving of manual toil. On the cultural side the gains are no less— 


432 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—L. 


travel, photography, the gramophone and wireless bring history, art, music 
and awareness to the ordinary man. 

None the less science is beginning to take on the aspect of an enemy, 
frustrating the enjoyment of all the advantages it confers. The acceleration 
of production has led to over-production and under-employment; the new 
technique of war is a menace to civilisation. Science means power; to 
whom shall it be entrusted and to what ends shall it be used ? It supplies 
the greatest of all temptations to the power-mongers. Robot nations are 
being created by the control of the press and wireless, by the closing of 
frontiers, by propaganda and education itself. 

Is science to be for the few or for all? ‘The hope only lies in the universal 
diffusion of an education based on science, whereby may be built up a habit 
of mind that will act on reason rather than on mass emotion. Science alone 
can destroy the great illusion that one belongs to a chosen race, and teach 
the people that men and women, however diverse individually, are col- 
lectively very much alike. 

But to education must be added the organisation of scientific opinion. 
Men of science must leave their ivory tower and join in the common fight 
for freedom. 


AFTERNOON. 
Visit to Schools. 


Friday, September 11. 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS by Sir RicHaRD LIVINGSTONE on The future in 
education (10.0). 


Discussion on The pre-school child (11.0). 


Mrs. M. WINTRINGHAM.—Emergency Open-Air Nurseries in the Dis- 
tressed Areas. 


The growing recognition of the importance of pre-school life has led of 
recent years to greatly increased interest in the subject of nursery schools 
all over the country. In the distressed areas in particular, where life is 
handicapped in every way from start to finish, the importance of caring for 
the very young is of special moment. Hence the Emergency Open-Air 
Nursery School movement under the auspices of the ‘ Save the Children 
Fund,’ which is not only an effort to save the children from the worst 
effects of the depression, but also one of the most hopeful pieces of 
community work that has been initiated in our time. The account of the 
rise and growth of nursery schools in the special areas, their organisation 
and their results, will form a valuable chapter in the sociological history 
of the present generation. 


Miss IsHBEL MACDONALD (11.20). 


Dr. Susan Isaacs.—Certain aspects of mental development in the pre- 
school child (11.40). 


(a) The two-year-old child is still very dependent upon a close personal 
relation with an adult woman. He seeks attention, protection and love from 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—L. 433 


her, and is not yet ready to share her services with other children to more 
than a limited extent. If he is plunged into a large group of children of the 
same age, with only one or two adult guardians, he suffers both great anxiety 
arising from his natural attitude of rivalry to other children, and emotional 
starvation, since the adult helper cannot under such conditions give adequate 
attention to each child. 

(b) Social development during the nursery school years requires that the 
children should have opportunity to form groups spontaneously for their own 
purposes in play. These spontaneously formed groups are small and 
evanescent, but they provide the experience through which genuine social 
feelings can grow. When an adult imposes group activities on a larger 
number of children, whether this arises from practical necessity or from the 
desire to encourage social feelings, this has not the same psychological value. 
It is forced and artificial, and often cuts across the natural impulses of the 
young child to play intensively with one or two other children, or to cling 
closely to the grown-up. 

Moreover, it is only in small spontaneously formed groups that the child 
can speak freely and naturally about his activities. Such natural talk with 
the grown-up and with other children arising out of his play is the best 
means of training in language in the nursery school years. More formal 
occasions provided by artificially arranged group activities have not the 
same emotional and intellectual value. 

(c) Studies of the growth of voluntary attention in young children have 
shown that the young child needs long periods of free play in which he can 
learn to follow out his own aims to the end, not interrupted by a rigid general 
routine. It is, however, only possible to give each child plenty of opportunity 
for developing sustained attention if the nursery school is adequately supplied 
with trained workers. 

The more we know, therefore, of the psychological conditions which 
favour the development of social feelings and intellectual effort in the young 
child, the clearer becomes the need for generous staffing with trained helpers 
in the nursery school or nursery class. 


Miss E. STEVINSON (12.0). 


The planning of the nursery school to meet the needs of the pre-school 
child. 

The division of the nursery school day into periods for routine and 
periods for free activity. 

The planning of the free play period, with some account of play material. 

The importance of a careful lay-out of the school buildings and the 
necessity for a specialised training for nursery school teachers. 


Miss I. Jones.—Nursery education in Lancashire : some problems 
(12.20). 


Scope of paper—to review briefly the general position with regard to 
nursery education in Lancashire, with special reference to some aspects 
of the problem as it occurs outside the more congested areas, as for example 
in: 

(1) A straggling township served by widely separated infants’ schools. 

(2) A semi-rural district served by a school with full age-range. 


(3) A small industrial centre served by a two-teacher junior and infants’ 
school. 


434 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—L. 


The problem of providing the essentials of nurture for all children in 
these varying circumstances. The place and function of the nursery class. 
Further developments as planned and envisaged. 


AFTERNOON. 
Visit to Stonyhurst College, by road. 


Monday, September 14. 
Discussion on Part-time continued education (10.0). 


Mr. J. L. Paton. 


The weak point of our educational system is the period of adolescence. 
We build up slowly from below. Weletdownfromabove. But there it is— 
a hiatus, and the hiatus occurs just at the age when the guiding hand of the 
State is most needed. There is, after the age of fourteen, a tragic loss and not 
only of intellectual attainment, but, what is worse, of moral quality. This 
set-back in mind and character is more crucial because of unemploy- 
ment. ‘The aim of the Fisher Act was to save this waste. ‘ Can the age of 
adolescence be brought out of the purview of economic exploitation into 
that of the social conscience?’ asked the Lewis Committee. The Fisher Act 
was an attempt to do this very thing. It has never been tried out except 
at Rugby. There it has been a demonstrable success. Why are we not 
following up this success on a national scale? The raising of the leaving age 
does not meet the real crying need of our time. 


Mr. P. I. KitcHeEN (10.30). 


The present system.—Variety and magnitude in relation to young popu- 
lation : employment of juveniles. 

Changing conditions.—Widening outlook of continued education reflecting 
State’s expanding social responsibilities. 

Need for information on young people in early years of employment. 

Ultimate aim.—To what extent can education before employment reduce 
need for education during employment? Limitation of voluntary system. 
The case for compulsory attendance, and its difficulties. 


Sir Kennetu LEE (11.0). 


The day continuation school form of part-time continued education, i.e. 
two half-days per week during working hours, from fourteen to eighteen. 

Its advantages over raising the age to fifteen : to the employer, the adoles- 
cent and the State. 

The employer —Difficulties in works organisation : contact with employees 
—promotion. 

The employed adolescent —Learning and working alternated: oversight 
and care of growth and health: results in home life. 

The State —Dependence upon education, citizenship and more intelligent 
operatives in industry for rapidly changing processes and machines: no 
maintenance grants necessary. 

The need in modern industry for intelligence and adaptability in the 
operatives. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—L. 435 


The results of the day continuation school and of the elementary school 
compared at thirty years of age. 

The influence of the day continuation school over the functional changes 
at fifteen to sixteen and its importance for citizenship. 

The problem : not education of the child but education of the adolescent. 

The merging of interests in the adolescent—education, home, employ- 
ment and citizenship. 


Dr. J. P. McHurcuison.—Courses of instruction for unemployed 
juveniles (11.20). 


These courses conducted by education authorities, as required by Part VI 
of the Unemployment Insurance Act, 1935, have as their main purpose the 
prevention of the demoralisation which would otherwise threaten the 
welfare of unemployed boys and girls during adolescent years. With 
some experience of such part-time education on a voluntary basis, the 
writer welcomed the statutory extension of the work and the fuller oppor- 
tunity of providing a training more purposeful than ordinary schooling and 
more related to the needs, moral, social and physical, of the young people 
in actual life. 

Taking as their objective the all-round fitness of the boy or girl, the 
Junior Instruction Centres have already developed an educational view- 
point of their own and, evoking the loyalty and wholehearted co-operation 
of the juveniles themselves, have become hives of industrious effort, 
physical fitness and pleasant comradeship, thus providing a training in true 
manliness and womanliness and creating worthy young citizens. 


Mr. W. B. HENDERSON (11.40). 


(1) Explain briefly how from being an opponent of, I became a convert 
to, part-time continued education. 

(2) Why I think education and labour going on side by side is a good 
thing. 

(3) A short account of the experiment conducted by Messrs. C. & J. 
Clark, Ltd., Street. 

(4) The attitude towards the experiment of (a) the boys and girls; (6) the 
parents ; (c) the directors ; (d) the foremen; (e) the trade union. 


Mr. A. Apgort (12.0). 


A complete vocational training includes two essential elements—practical 
experience and theoretical instruction. Both may be provided, as is usual 
on the Continent, in the technical school itself. In England, the ordinary 
method is for business to give the practical training and schools the theo- 
retical instruction. This involves close co-operation between the firms and 
the schools. The school is doing its part by providing ‘ grouped courses 
of instruction’ in its evening classes: some firms have organised the 
practical training of their learners, but many more should do so. 

Students in evening technical schools are not working merely for the 
satisfaction of their own ambitions. They are contributing to the welfare 
of both their industry and the nation, and to require them to devote nearly 
all their leisure during half the year to study throws on them too great 
a share of the burden of increasing our industrial and commercial efficiency. 
It is desirable, in spite of the trouble and expense it involves for their 


436 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—L. 


employers, that promising recruits should be allowed one or two half-days 
each week during working hours in order to attend technical classes. ‘The 
existing technical school buildings in England could without extension 
accommodate about 150,000 additional students, each attending on two 
half-days a week. 


AFTERNOON. 
Visit to Rossall School, by road. 


Tuesday, September 15. 


Joint Discussion with Section M (Agriculture) on Education for rural 
life (Section L Room) (10.0). 


Sir JOHN RussELL, O.B.E., F.R.S.—Education for rural life. 


It has long been recognised that education for rural life must proceed on 
very different lines from education as developed in the town schools. The 
country child has a background of experience that the town child lacks, and 
he lives in surroundings rich in material of high educational value. The 
difficulty hitherto has been to find the teachers who could adequately 
exploit these natural advantages. Fortunately enterprising rural teachers 
have developed a good educational technique : first Nature Study, then 
Local Surveys and the School Garden, and now comes the reorganisation 
of rural schools: the provision of Rural Senior Schools to which scholars 
are transported daily as soon as they are eleven years of age. These schools 
are at present free agents and have not yet tied themselves either to text- 
books or to examinations, and it is to be hoped they will retain their freedom. 
Their fundamental task is to utilise the local surroundings as the basis of 
the education, and this demands a far greater degree of flexibility than is 
possible where the examination schedule rules the courses. - 


The purposes of the work are : 

(1) To train the child’s intelligence and give him a sound basis of know- 
ledge of the ordinary things of the countryside. 

(2) To give him some elements of culture so that he may use well the 
considerable amount of leisure he will have when he starts work. 

The course should help the child if he elects to follow a country calling, 
but it is not its purpose to anchor the child to the land either as farm worker 
or in any other capacity. 


The necessary appliances are : ; 

(1) Adequate ground around the school. Suffolk already provides 1-2 
acres and it is hoped that larger areas will be available. ‘This should give 
a garden—which should be laid out on decorative lines—a playing field, and 
a School Estate that can be run properly. All this forms the basis of the 
work. 

(2) Provision for a local survey.—The necessary flexibility can be attained 
only if the teachers are in touch with living sources of information that can 
help them in the numerous problems that arise. B.B.C. talks, and summer 
refresher courses, can do something, but some definite linking with the 
Colleges and Experiment Stations, such as the scheme in use at Rothamsted, 
seems necessary in order to ensure the proper working of the scheme. 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—L. 437 
Mr. H. Morris (10.30). 


The need of rural England is for a cultural and recreational life of its 
own which will release a frustrated countryside from dependence on the 
large towns (which themselves have not solved their own cultural problem 
and are largely at the mercy of a fruitless commercialised amusement).. 
Can this be done? Yes; in terms, however, not of the individual village, 
but of the rural region comprising a number of villages served from a centre, 
which may be either a large village or a small country town. The principle 
of centralisation, which modern transport makes easy in practice, has 
already become national policy in the education of the older children in 
rural senior schools ; a similar logic applies not less cogently to rural adult 
education and recreation. But the senior school conceded merely as an 
evening class centre is less than an amelioration. The countryside requires 
community centres on a generous scale and including accommodation set apart 
for adults which, in addition to housing the senior school in the daytime, 
will in addition provide a theatre for the habituation of the whole adult 
population beyond the school-leaving age in Science and the Humanities 
and in Health and the corporate life. 


Prof. N. M. ComBer.—Universities and education for rural life (10.50). 


1. University courses in agriculture have generally been regarded as 
suitable training for those who wished to seek technical or commercial 
appointments in the sphere of agriculture. Shorter and more elementary 
courses, with what has been called a ‘ practical bias,’ have been regarded 
as more appropriate to those who are going to farm and earn their living 
on the land. The prestige and dignity of farming surely demands that 
those who are to pursue it should be given the fullest educational facilities. 
Moreover, it is eminently desirable that the education of the practising 
farmer should not be restricted, as it tends to be, merely to those matters 
of obvious utilitarian and financial significance to him, but should equip 
him to take his place in the cultural, social and recreational life of the 
countryside. 

2. The proper developments of British agriculture and of the social life 
of the countryside are in large measure dependent upon the interest in and 
understanding of farming and country affairs by the nation as a whole, 
Universities with Departments of agriculture should, as a national duty, 
endeavour to place some appropriate agricultural course at the disposal of 
others than those who are going to farm. Particularly in the training of 
teachers does it seem very desirable to develop some understanding and 
appreciation of rural life and of the conditions of British farm homesteads. 


Mr. T. S. Dymonp.—Raising the school-leaving age (11.10). 


The attempt to adapt rural education to rural needs by introducing 
handicrafts and gardening into the curricula of rural schools has not arrested 
the decline in rural craftsmanship except in isolated cases. Raising the 
school-leaving age to fifteen is likely to accentuate the decline unless the 
schools are so reorganised that classroom teaching in senior schools can be 
progressively replaced by individual work, so that the children can learn to 
depend more and more on themselves and develop their individual apti- 
tudes. Even so there are occupations into which certain children should 
be allowed to enter at fourteen, provided arrangements are made for some 
form of school continuation. 


438 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—L, M. 
Mr. G. W. W. Pierce (11.30). 


The village school as it exists to-day is doomed. 

The new rural school will be an area school of about 220-280 children, 
situated in the country—the more rural the better. 

Eight to ten acres necessary in order to allow for playing fields and gardens. 

The tendency for local education authorities to convey country children 
to the nearest town to be educated with town children is definitely wrong. 

It is better for town children to receive a rural education than for rural 
children to receive an urban education. 

The teaching staff must be interested in rural life and rural surroundings. 

A rural bias is essential in all subjects of the curriculum, particularly 
arithmetic, gardening, science, handwork, cooking and geography. 

Practical work is vital and should occupy at least half the school hours. 


Sir ARNOLD Wizson, K.C.I.E., C.S.I., C.M.G., D.S.O. (12.0). 


Education for rural life involves in practice education for husbandry 
in all its branches. ‘This can only be given in rural areas by teachers, male 
and female, who know something about it and are convinced believers in 
it as a way of life as well as a living. Such persons are rare except in agri- 
cultural institutes. Little can be usefully accomplished in elementary 
schools : more might be done in secondary schools, but for practical purposes 
we must look to County Schools of Agriculture. But the first need is a 
different outlook upon husbandry in every walk of life and a reversal of 
present trends of thought in Whitehall and Westminster, at Broadcasting 
House and in Fleet Street. 


SECTION M.—AGRICULTURE. 


Thursday, September 10. 


Discussion on National nutrition and British agriculture (10.0). 


Sir JOHN Orr, F.R.S.—The requirements for an adequate diet. 


Formerly dietary surveys took account only of proteins, fats and carbo- 
hydrates, and political measures were limited to the relief of hunger. It is 
now known that diet must also contain a sufficient amount of a number of 
minerals and vitamins. Calcium is probably the constituent most deficient 
in poor diets, and the only practical way to get a sufficiency of calcium is 
by increased consumption of milk. In practice a ‘ poor diet’ is liable to 
be deficient in most of the minerals and most of the vitamins and, in the 
case of children, of first-class protein. 

The ‘ London Report’ of the Committee of the Health Section of the 
League of Nations states that an adequate diet for children and pregnant 
and nursing women requires 12 pint of milk per head per day. To 
provide an adequate diet the milk consumption of the country would need 
to be double the present production, with similar increases for eggs, fruit 
and vegetables. The cost of an adequate diet (9s. to 10s. per head per week) 
is beyond the purchasing power of one-third of the community. There 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—M. 439 


is no difficulty about producing the food. The difficulty is in enabling 
the food to be purchased. 

A short statement will be given showing the improvement which could 
be made in the national physique and the reduction in disease and the 
resulting saving to the State in health services, and the suggestion will be 
made that the Government, instead of having a purely agricultural policy, 
should consider the advisability of having a national food policy based on 
subsidised consumption and reorganisation of distribution, the main ob- 
jective being to bring a diet adequate for health within the purchasing 
power of the whole community. 


Sir Dante Hatt, K.C.B., F.R.S—WNational nutrition and British 
agriculture : meat, general agriculture (10.30). 


Can a national policy for agriculture be framed that will fit in with the 
nutritional needs of the people ? The desiderata are more milk and live- 
stock products, eggs, potatoes and green vegetables and fruit, all products 
eminently congenial to our soils and climate. All are relatively dear, the 
cheapest sources of energy being cereals and other grains, foods deficient 
in the necessary accessories. 

Since this country produces less than two-fifths of the total food it con- 
sumes, a choice can be exercised between the commodities we import and 
those of which we will encourage the production at home. At the same 
time legislation has provided powers through which the course of farming 
can be adjusted to a national plan. On this basis the existing subsidies to 
the production of wheat and- sugar are ill-designed. They are cheap in 
the world’s markets ; they are the easiest foods to import in time of war ; 
land is being diverted to them that is better adapted to the production of 
live-stock and vegetables. The production of milk is already 30 per cent. 
in excess of its consumption as milk, but a high price to the public is being 
maintained to cover the loss on the conversion of the surplus into cheese, 
etc. As regards vegetables and fruit, the supply can be extended by divert- 
ing to them some of the assistance accorded to less desirable commodities. 
But as regards vegetables, milk and meat, reform is necessary in the methods 
of distribution and retail sale. The country is committed to planning in 
agriculture: what is needed is a comprehensive plan that will take the 
nutritional needs of the people into account. 


Prof. J. A. S. Watson.—National nutrition and British agriculture : 
meat (11.0). 


The expansion of the milk industry, highly desirable in itself from the 
point of view of national nutrition, will obviously, other things being equal, 
tend to reduce the amount of pasture available for beef cattle and for sheep, 
thus tending to restrict supplies of mutton and of the better qualities of 
beef (i.e. of steer and heifer as opposed to cow beef). 

The production of milk as at present carried on is associated with a very 
high wastage of cows. The cause of this is largely the heavy incidence 
of four diseases—bovine tuberculosis, mastitis, contagious abortion and 
Johne’s disease. The importance of the wastage problem is obvious if it 
is considered that the ordinary life of a healthy cow is about eight or ten 
lactation periods, whereas the average life of the dairy cow is about three 
and a half lactations. A determined campaign for the reduction of disease 
would result in a decreased output of inferior cow beef and would leave 


440 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—M. 


available a large amount of pasture, etc., for the production of mutton and 
of high-quality beef. 

The other chief way to increase the output of meat is to improve our 
grasslands and subject them to a more intensive system of management. 
The work of Stapledon and his colleagues in connection with the improve- 
ment of mountain grazings is very important from this point of view. The 
substitution of alternate husbandry for permanent-grass farming would 
also lead to an important increase in the stock-carrying capacity of the land. 

So long as feeding-stuffs can be imported in large quantities, there is 
no limit to the possible expansion of the pig industry. 


Prof. H. D. Kay.—WNational nutrition and British agriculture : milk 
(11.30). 

This paper is not concerned with ways and means of bringing about the 
increased demand for liquid milk adumbrated by the opener of the dis- 
cussion, but with the ways in which British dairy farming could meet such 
increased demands, which would entail the doubling of the present total 
home production. 

There is already an excess of production over present liquid consumption 
of approximately 33 per cent., nearly all of which, at present, is ‘ manu- 
factured.’ A part, but only a part, of this 33 per cent. could act as the first 
reserve. 

A further increase of 100 per cent. in milk production in this country 
is undoubtedly possible, but it would probably require a decade or more to 
effect. A large rise in the number of dairy cows would be necessary, though 
part of the increased production might well be derived from a greater 
average yield per animal, which is at present far too low. Artificial 
insemination using proved sires would accelerate progress. ‘There would 
have to be an increase (though it would be much smaller in proportion 
than the increase in the number of dairy cows) in the total area devoted 
to dairy farming, particularly in the area used for grass production. A 
much larger quantity of concentrated and other foodstuffs for the cow 
would be required, and very close attention would have to be given to 
developments in grass farming and the production of artificially dried 
grass—the latter might eventually meet a large part of the increased 
demand for concentrated foodstuffs. 

Greater control of bovine disease would be essential, contributing eventu- 
ally to increased milk yield per animal, increased length of milking life and 
improvement of milk quality. Payment for liquid milk on a quality basis 
is ultimately inevitable, ‘ quality’ including chemical and nutritional as 
well as hygienic quality. A larger population engaged in dairying would 
result, but its size would not be in proportion to the increased volume of 
milk production. The optimal size of a dairy-farming unit would require 
careful scrutiny ; for many reasons it would appear probable that the most 
suitable size for economic efficiency is, in land of normal quality, con- 
siderably greater than the present average acreage. Increased mechanisa- 
tion is almost axiomatic. 

In order that dairy farms should function efficiently to enable milk pro- 
duction to be developed as outlined, a wider and more intense dissemination 
of information regarding feeding, dairy management in all its branches, 
including the management of grassland, and cowshed technique would be 
required. Greatly increased demands on agricultural colleges and farm 
institutes would be expected. These demands might be met in part by 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—M. 441 


properly organised schemes of rural education, such as those suggested by 
the Agricultural Education Society last year. If it were found possible 
to arrange them, organised refresher courses, dealing mainly with modern 
developments, for established dairy farmers would be of great value. 


Discussion of preceding papers (12.0). 


AFTERNOON. 


Excursion to Messrs. H. Silcock and Sons’ Thornton Hall Farm, 
Thornton-le-Fylde. 


Friday, September 11. 


Discussion on Economic problems of milk production (10.0). 


Mr. C. Law.—Milk production costs on a Lancashire farm. 


Taking as a basis the cost accounts on the writer’s own farm, this paper 
discusses under various headings the principal factors affecting the costs 
of milk production in East Lancashire. After indicating some of the more 
important changes that have recently taken place in the methods of milk 
production, the writer describes his own farm and district, and how the 
milk is disposed of, and proceeds to discuss the principal costings items 
under the following headings : rents, changes in proximity values ; labour, 
machinery employed, family labour, extra labour involved in the production 
of accredited milk; feeding costs, recent changes in feeding methods, 
possibilities of reducing costs by grassland improvement, use of dried grass, 
etc.; depreciation, losses due to disease and the part played by feeding 
and management in disease resistance ; receipts from sales of milk, and 
discussion of the effect of the operation of the Milk Marketing Scheme. 


Mr. J. L. Davies.—Production of milk for the market (10.20). 


Prof. A. W. AsHBy.— Some variations in conditions and cost of milk 
production (10.40). 


Three factors mainly determine the general level of costs of producing 
milk: (a) seasonality of supply ; () proportion of total food requirements 
that may be supplied by grass in the form of either pasture or hay; and 
(c) the standard of hygienic quality required. But costs of production 
cannot be separated from methods and conditions of trading in milk, and 
it appears that the dominant factor in the determination of cost per gallon 
has been the price realisable by sales from individual farms or from groups 
of farms in given localities. Prices and costs are both set according to 
conditions of supply and the most important factor is the ability to obtain 
from the consumer or user the price necessary to cover the required con- 
ditions of supply. While there is a temptation to say that prices follow 
costs, it appears, on the whole, that original causation lies in the markets 
rather than in the field of production. Farmers have fairly close control of 
costs of production of milk, and although in this case it may be easier to 
move upwards than downwards, important adjustments of costs to prices 
can be made. With farm costs averaging 9}d. per gallon over the country, 
individual farms may show variations between 6d. and 18d. or more 


Q 


442 SECTIONAL 'TRANSACTIONS.—M. 


commonly 14d. Many individual high costs are temporary and due to 
accidental factors. Average costs do not vary with marketing ‘ regions,’ 
in several cases the averages for these regions run close to the figure for the 
whole country. It may be possible that one or two ‘ regions’ will show 
costs generally or more or less permanently higher than the national average, 
but there are very few areas in which costs cannot be adjusted to lower price 
levels if that is necessary. ‘There are factors making for reduction in costs, 
but these are more or less counterbalanced by demands for higher standards 
of cleanliness. Farmers endeavour to maximise total profits from their 
herds, and profits do not necessarily follow prices upwards or downwards, 
because of elasticity as regards methods of production. But when con- 
ditions of supply are set, these tend to set levels of costs, and these costs 
must be covered by necessary prices. Factors making for cost reduction 
are (a) increase in yield per unit of feed input ; () improvement in production 
of grass and increase in ‘ grass’ in total feed supply ; (c) increase in size of 
herd. Reduction in rate of depreciation of cows is required and improved 
buildings and water supplies would raise the economy of feed and labour. 


Mr. JoHN Orr.—Economics of feeding for milk (11.0). 


A reduction in the cost of producing milk of a given amount is of more 
advantage to the farmer than an increase in its price by a similar amount. 
The cost of production is unnecessarily high on most farms. This means 
that the cost of feeding is too high. In the period from November 1, 1934, 
to September 30, 1935, over the whole of England and Wales the cost of 
food was 62 per cent. of the total cost of producing milk. Research has 
revealed that in four different parts of England, from Lancashire to Dorset, 
the average cost of 1 lb. of starch equivalent obtained from purchased cake 
and meal is 1:04d. There is no great variation from farm to farm. It has 
also revealed that in those areas there are farms where the cost of 1 lb. of 
starch equivalent obtained from grass is 0:25d.,0:27d., and 0:28d. That is, 
the cost of food from well-cultivated grass is only one-quarter of its cost 
from purchased cake and meal. On other farms, however, the cost from 
grass ranges from o-79d. to 140d. ‘These high costs arise from seriously 
imperfect cultivation and management of grass. In their fields farmers 
have the opportunity of producing the soundest food from the financial 
. point of view. It is in their own immediate interest and in the interest of 
the country that they should make full use of this: in other words, that 
their own land should produce its utmost before they turn to the produce 
of other lands. 


Mr. A. D. BUCHANAN SMITH.—Breeding for milk yield and uniformity 
(11.20). 


It is not the function of the geneticist to determine the optimum yield 
of dairy cattle for any type of farming, but to advise the farmer how he may 
secure that yield with uniformity in his cows. There can never be a best 
breed of dairy cattle. High production and phenomenal yields can be 
justified by the fact that the germplasm of such animals can the most easily 
effect improvement on the average of the breed. This holds equally good 
for breeds with comparatively low levels of production. For the future, 
uniformity of production is to be desired in the application of the progeny 
test to bulls of a dairy breed. 

The pedigree breeder should endeavour to improve his herd in stages 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—M. 443 


and fix characters separately. If other breeders have fixed other characters, 
he will then be able the more easily to incorporate them in his own herd. 

The dual purpose type (beef and milk) has a certain justification. By 
suitable crossing immediate adjustments can be made to suit changing 
conditions both of production and market requirements. ‘Thus a variety 
of breeds is an advantage to a country, but basal knowledge concerning the 
inheritance of milk yield is desired in order that in the future such adjust- 
ments may be made more accurately and more rapidly. 


Discussion of preceding papers (11.40). 


AFTERNOON. 


Excursion to Lancashire County Institute of Agriculture, Hutton. 


Saturday, September 12. 


Excursion to farms in the Lake District. 


Monday, September 14. 


! 
PRESIDENTIAL Appress by Prof. J. HENDRICK on Soil science in the twentieth 
century (10.0). 


Followed by Discussion on Soil problems. 
Discussion on Soil problems (11.0). 


Prof. G. W. Ropinson.—Problems in soil classification. 


Soils may be classified in a variety of ways. he first problem is to 
decide what is to be classified, i.e. what is the soil-individual. There is 
now general agreement in regarding the soil profile as the individual ; but 
some difference of opinion may exist as to the definition of the lower bound- 
ary of the profile. 

Ideally, a system of classification should illustrate the genetic relationships 
of the material classified. The elaboration of a system of classification of 
soils is rendered difficult by the fact that it is the exception rather than the 
rule to encounter soils in which contemporary pedogenic factors have 
resulted in climax development. Complications are introduced by human 
interference and its consequences. Apart from objective difficulties, a 
comprehensive system of classification can be devised only when it has been 
possible to consider most of the existing varieties of soil. 

In reviewing soil data, it is important to distinguish the relevant from 
the irrelevant. Published descriptions of profiles often give minute details 
which, although they may serve to recall field appearances to the actual 
observers, are not clearly significant for the purposes of objective definition. 

Profile descriptions, in order to serve as material for studies in classifica- 
tion, should always include quantitative data expressing the proportion and 
character of the reactive colloidal material in each recognizable horizon. 

The principal factors determining the course of profile development are : 
(1) the moisture régime ; (2) the temperature ; (3) the parent material ; 
and (4) the vegetation. A provisional system of classification is outlined. 


444 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—M. 


Dr. R. K. Scuorietp.—The behaviour of soil moisture in the field 
—The soil as a water reservoir (11.20). 


A true picture of the soil as a water reservoir can only be obtained by 
determining the pore-space and its variation with depth, and finding under 
known conditions what percentage of the pore-space is filled with water. 
Where the soil is variable the determination of pore-space, sample by sample, 
though it adds considerably to the labour, is an important safeguard against 
the drawing of unwarranted conclusions, and may enable useful deductions 
to be drawn where moisture percentages alone can give nothing of value. 

Not all the pore-space is capable of storing water for the use of plants. 
Some is of so fine a texture that, even at the highest suction that plant roots 
can exert (10 to 20 atmospheres or pF 4:0 to 4:3 on the author’s logarithmic 
scale), its water is not released. Another portion is coarse enough to lose 
its water by drainage (pF 1 to 3, according to circumstances). There is 
rarely as much as 3 inches of available water stored in a foot depth of well- 
drained soil. Losses by surface evaporation must also be considered in 
estimating the storage capacity, particularly during long periods of fallow. 


Dr. A. B. Srewart.—sSoil research and the farmer’s problems of 
liming and manuring (11.40). 


The numerous methods which have been devised for the estimation of 
the plant food content of the soil may be grouped under (a) Field Experi- 
ments ; (6) Pot Experiments ; and (c) Laboratory Examination. An outline 
of these methods and of their relative advantages and disadvantages is given, 
and the present position in regard to the advising of farmers on the liming 
and manuring of their soils is discussed in the light of data which have been 
accumulated at the Macaulay Institute. 

Field experiments have been laid down on different types of soil, and 
samples of soil taken from the experimental areas for pot and laboratory 
examination. ‘The field and pot trials have been conducted on the lines 
followed by Mitscherlich in Germany, and the results used to check those of 
various laboratory methods. ‘The volume weight of the soil is taken into 
account, and the laboratory tests, which are found to give the best correla- 
tion with field and pot results on a particular soil type, are then used in 
advisory work on similar soils. 

The results of field and pot experiments generally show good agreement 
for the potash content of the soil. For phosphates agreement is not so 
good, and comparison indicates that the subsoil content may be a factor of 
considerable importance. In advisory work it is considered necessary to 
examine samples of subsoil as well as of surface soil. 

No single laboratory extraction method affects the soil in the same way 
as does the growing plant, but it is found that, if the results of a laboratory 
examination of the soil are interpreted in the light of field data, past treat- 
ment, cropping rotation, etc., information can be obtained which is of 
definite value to the farmer. Such information can help him to avoid the 
wasteful application of unnecessary fertiliser ingredients, which a safe 
dressing of a complete manure may entail. 


AFTERNOON. 


Jont Discussion with Section D (Zoology) (q.v.) on Scientific problems 
of the poultry industry (Section D room). 


SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—M. 445 


Tuesday, September 15. 


Discussion on Scientific aspects of potato-growing (10.0). 


Mr. H. Bryan.—Some scientific aspects of potato-growing, with special 
reference to the health of the seed. 


The main factor in successful potato-growing—provided the land is 
suitable for potato-growing and is uninfested with potato eelworm—is the 
use of healthy seed : by that is meant virus-free seed. 

In no industry is so little attention paid to the quality of the raw material 
used—in this case potatoes planted as seed—and in no industry is the raw 
material of more importance. 

The greatest benefit scientific research has bestowed on the potato grower 
is the discovery of the causes of the degeneration of the potato, the realisa- 
tion that varieties do not perish from senile decay but through contamination 
with plant viruses, which are spread mainly, if not entirely, by certain 
species of insects. 

The paper describes how healthy stocks of seed may be maintained in 
England with consequent increase in crop and reduction in cost of produc- 
tion. 


Prof. P. A. Murpuy.—Potato viruses and potato production (10.25). 


Prof. R. T. Lerper, F.R.S.—Eelworm diseases of the potato : problems 
and recent progress (10.50). 


Of the three eelworms known to produce disease in potatoes Heterodera 
schachtii and Anguillulina dipsaci are now well established and serious pests 
in Britain. H. marione is at present known only on potatoes from abroad, 
but the common practice of using exhausted soil from infested tomato 
greenhouses as garden loam is a potential source of danger to the potato 
industry. 

H. schachtii and A. dipsaci are spread to new areas by seed potatoes, and 
administrative control of the sale of seed potatoes from infested lands is 
urged. The only recognised alternative is insistence on prolonged rotations 
extending to six years. Recent laboratory experiments suggest that soil 
infestation with H. schachtii can be greatly reduced, if not completely 
eradicated, by prematurely hatching the cysts either by chemicals or by the 
use of root secretions from meadow grasses used in a rotation, or by de- 
stroying the cysts by using dressings of calcium cyanimide much in excess of 
those previously suggested. ‘The ‘ unknown’ factor in ‘ potato sickness,’ 
presumed to be related to the chemistry of the soil, has recently been shown 
experimentally by Carroll to be due to the invasion of the first-formed 
rootlets of the potato by the larvze of H. schachtit. 


Discussion of preceding papers (11.15). 


Dr. E. WYLLIE Fenton.—Some aspects of man’s influence on the vegetation 
of Scotland (11.45). 


The old vegetation of Scotland and the extensive forests are discussed. 
Climate may have played some part, but not the most important part, in the 
destruction of the forests. There is abundant evidence of man’s destructive 


446 SECTIONAL TRANSACTIONS.—M. 


activities. Wars, fighting and raids devastated the forests. Many wooded 
areas were cut down to exterminate wild beasts. Shortage of fuel also 
denuded many districts of woods. Grazing animals and burning of vegeta- 
tion prevents natural regeneration of trees. Many formerly wooded areas 
have become derelict and of little economic value. Minor destruction has 
led to moving sand dunes. In certain areas there has been a decrease of 
heather and a corresponding increase in rough grass. The nature and extent 
of grazing cause changes, and certainly play an important part in the Moor 
Mat Grass problem. ‘The bracken problem is also bound up with the biotic 
factor. Competition between broom and bracken is discussed. Man has 
to his credit draining of marshes, bogs or mosses, and breaking in moors or 
heather, and thus extending the area of agricultural land. Much of his 
destructive activities might have been avoided, and action to prevent 
destructive action in the future is advocated. 


REPORT OF COMMITTEE on Soil resources of the Empire (Section E room) 


(12.15). 


Concurrent with above :— 


Jornt Discussion with Section L (Educational Science) (¢.v.) on Educa- 
tion for rural life (Section L room) (10.0). 


CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES OF 
CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES 


Tue Conference was held at the Palatine Boys’ School, Blackpool, on 
September ro and 14, 1936, under the presidency of Dr. A. B. Rendle, 
F.R.S. In addition to a large audience, delegates representing seventy- 
two societies attended. 


Thursday, September 10. 


Dr. C. 'TrerneEy, Secretary of the Conference, reported that as a result of 
the incorporation of the British Science Guild into the British Association, 
the Alexander Pedlar Lecture would be offered annually to one of the 
Corresponding Societies of the Association or would be delivered in some 
centre outside London. 

Dr. Tierney further directed the attention of delegates to the following 
extract from the Report of the Council, 1935-1936, which had been approved 
and adopted by the General Committee at its recent meeting. 


Corresponding Societies Committee —The Council resolved to inquire into 
the status of the Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies, and 
appointed a committee to consider and report upon this. The committee 
made the following recommendations, which the Council adopted : 


(1) An active liaison between the Association and the Conference by the 
regular attendance of the General Officers at its meetings. 

(2) A policy of mutual co-operation between the Conference and the 
Sections of the Association. 

(3) Additional representation of the Conference on the Committee of 
Recommendations (z.e. by the President and one other member). 

(4) The Corresponding Societies Committee to consist of the President 
and General Officers of the Association (as at present), together with not 
more than six of the Delegates to be nominated at the annual conference, 
one-third of whom (Z.e. the delegate representatives) shall retire annually 
and shall not be eligible for immediate re-election. 

It is assumed that the retiring President of the Conference would be 
eligible to fill one of the delegate vacancies occurring on the Committee. 


Arising out of the foregoing, the Delegates resolved to recommend the 
following as members of the Corresponding Committee for the ensuing 
year in addition to the President and General Officers of the Association : 


Dr. A. B. Rendle, F.R.S. 

Dr. Vaughan Cornish. 

Mr. T.S. Dymond. 

Sir Albert E. Kitson, C.M.G., C.B.E. 
Mr. T. Sheppard. 

Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith. 


Note.—The President and Officers of the Conference of Delegates are 
appointed by the Council, 


448 CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES 


ADDRESS ON 
THE PRESERVATION OF NATIVE FLORAS 


By Dr. A. B. RENDLE, F.R.S., 
President of the Conference. | 


Is it important or worth while to preserve our flora? What does the 
native flora of a country imply? It is the result of changes recurring 
through successive periods of geological and climatic changes involving 
depression and elevation of the land surface and alterations of distribution 
of land and water and of climate. A natural flora is merely a stage in a 
continuous progress; only by our own limited ideas of time can it be 
regarded as static ; for instance, sinking of the water-table will lead to the 
extinction of marsh-loving species and in the long run change a mesophytic 
into a dry country flora. A flora is a page in natural history and the 
question is how far can or should we refrain from disturbing the natural 
course of events which we cannot materially hinder. 

The flora of all settled countries bears the mark of the effect of the action 
of man and his crops and herds, and their removal at the present time 
would not restore the original flora. ‘Too many disturbing factors have 
been introduced. Is it worth while to preserve what remains of an existing 
flora? Otherwise what should we or posterity lose ? 

The question is of world-wide interest. May I refer to two examples 
that have come under my own observation. 

A classic example which those who have read A. R. Wallace’s Island Life, 
still a standard work on geographical distribution, may recall, is found in 
St. Helena, an isolated island in the South Atlantic. It is a typical example 
of an ancient oceanic island, that is, one which has never been connected 
with other land-surfaces, and, from its remoteness and antiquity, it should 
afford a valuable object-lesson in the distribution of plants and animals. 
When discovered, early in the sixteenth century, it was covered with 
trees down to the edge of the cliffs and must have had, judging from what . 
remained sixty years ago, a remarkably rich and interesting fauna and flora. 
Now the greater part of the island is rocky and barren. The Portuguese 
introduced goats, the greatest enemies to trees as they destroy the older 
ones and eat off the seedlings. Under the tenure of the East India 
Company from 1651 onwards the forests were recklessly destroyed for 
fuel or building. ‘The natural protection of the soil on the steep slopes 
being removed the tropical rains washed away the fertile surface to leave 
a sterile clay marl or bare rock. In 1810 the Governor reported, @ propos 
of the cost of importing fuel, the total destruction of the great forests. 
But instead of adopting means for the preservation of what remained of 
the natural flora large numbers of plants were imported from Europe, 
America, Australia and South Africa, which continued the work of 
destruction by successful competition with the native plants. 

J. C. Melliss, in his account of the island in 1875, gives a list of the 
remaining animals and plants which is enough to indicate the great 


CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES 449 


interest of the original fauna and flora, described by Wallace as ‘ a kind of 
natural museum or vivarium in which ancient types, perhaps dating back 
to the Miocene period or even earlier, had been saved from the destruction 
which has overtaken their allies on the great continents’ ; he continues, 
‘it is only by the extreme ruggedness and inaccessibility of its peaks and 
crater-ridges that the scanty fragments have escaped by which alone we 
are able to obtain a glimpse of this interesting chapter in the life-history 
of our earth.’ One of the most interesting features were seven endemic 
species of Tree Composites, forms characteristic of isolated islands and 
tropical mountain heights. Of these Bentham says ‘ although nearer to 
Africa than to any other continent these composite denizens which bear 
evidence of the greatest antiquity have their affinities for the most part 
in South America.’ Other affinities of the original flora are with Mada- 
gascar and East Africa. 

The destruction of native by introduced species is progressive, and it 
would be interesting to know how many of the species listed in 1875 by 
Melliss are still extant. When I visited the island in 1929 the obvious 
flora was a remarkable pot pourri of South African, Australian and 
European species, and though we went up to the high interior of the island 
we saw few of the Tree Composites—a pathetic sight was a fine specimen 
being effectively strangled by English gorse. 

In 1933 I spent some time in the Bermudas, a very isolated group of 
oceanic islands. ‘These have not the botanical interest of St. Helena. 
There is little variety of surface and a geologically recent depression has 
submerged the greater part of the original land. The islands are nearer 
the American coast, and in the track of the Gulf Stream which ensures 
their remarkably mild climate. ‘They have been stocked from the south- 
east American coast and the West Indies but have developed a few 
endemic species, including a Juniper which still covers the low unculti- 
vated hillsides, a Palmetto, a few shrubs and herbs and some ferns. Since 
the settlement of the islands in 1609 man has effected great changes in the 
vegetation. Felling of trees, clearing land for cultivation and recently 
for golf courses, and draining of the marshes has largely destroyed the 
original vegetation. A valuable timber tree, Zanthoxylum flavum 
(Yellow Wood), once plentiful is represented now by a single specimen 
preserved in the gardens of one of the many luxury hotels ; a beautiful 
endemic evergreen tree, Eleodendron Laneanum (Olive-wood Bark), is 
threatened with extermination. An important factor in the destruction 
of the native vegetation has been the introduction of alien plants which 
have largely replaced the natives. In his Flora of Bermuda (1918), 
Dr. N. L. Britton lists 146 native species of flowering plants and about 
300 introduced and completely or partially naturalised species. This 
replacement is still going on. Native species cited by Britton as frequent 
were in 1933 found only occasionally and some of the rarities seem com- 
pletely to have disappeared. ‘The islands have a quiet and restful beauty, 
but the attractiveness of their present flora is mainly due to introduced, 
not native, plants. Indiscriminate felling of the Junipers is now for- 
bidden, but there seems no active local interest in the preservation in 
what remains of the native flora. 

Is it fair to those who will come after us to leave them the opportunity 


Q2 


450 CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES 


of studying the vegetation of isolated and therefore peculiarly interesting 
floral regions only from dried specimens preserved in an herbarium ? 

But does this criticism apply to our own islands? Are they not merely 
a piece of western Europe furnished anew from the continent after a 
period of comparatively recent glaciation? This is only partly true. A 
large proportion of our native flora is no doubt the result of post-glacial 
immigration from the continent. But we have recently recognised that 
glaciation has supplied interesting problems in leaving open isolated areas 
which served as places of refuge for some species. In his recent address 
on British endemics to the Botanical Section of the South-Eastern Union 
of Scientific Societies, Mr. A. J. Wilmott combated the theory of complete 
extinction of our original flora by glaciation, and associated various types 
of endemic species with successive glacial periods in which specially 
favoured localities remained unglaciated as homes of refuge. 

The more intensively we study our flora the more we find minor 
differences of greater or less interest. Those of you who read the Fournal 
of Botany will have recently seen an account of a new Brassica found 
by Dr. Elliston Wright on Lundy Island. It is allied to Brassica 
monensis Hudson, a native of our western sea-coasts. ‘There is no reason 
to suppose that the plant is a new arrival. Lundy Island does not attract 
many botanists, and specimens collected some years ago have since been 
found in the late Mr. Hiern’s herbarium (now at Exeter) but unrecognised 
as a novelty. The plant is very local on the island, the comparative in- 
accessibility of which will probably ensure its survival from the raids of 
botanists, its only serious enemy. 

As editor of the Fournal I have the opportunity of publishing records 
of intensive study of genera or species which indicate the possibilities of 
such investigations in adding to the detailed knowledge of our flora and 
in elucidating points in distribution in our islands and relations with 
continental forms. ‘These supply further proof that our British flora is 
still a fertile object of study and worthy of preservation on that account. 
For instance, the Yournal for the present year contains a revision of our 
British Euphrasias by Mr. Pugsley, an example of a critical study of the 
variation and distribution of a genus in a definite area, and a similar study 
by the same author of a plant familiar to all field-botanists—Gentiana 
Amarella. 

The preservation of natural floras implies adequate records and there 
is still much to be done in relation to the British flora in this respect. The 
preparation of local lists affords employ for local Natural History Societies, 
and with the help of these a county flora may be prepared. Members of 
our South-Eastern Union have during the last seven years helped thus 
towards the compilation of a much-needed Flora of Sussex which has now 
been completed by Lt.-Col. Wolley-Dod. Such floristic lists are important 
from the point of view of plant-preservation, as they indicate by recording 
distribution through a limited area over a period of years the increasing 
frequency or rarity of individual species and varieties and therefore the 
necessity for protection in special cases. 

Vegetational surveys may be of much interest from the same point of 
view. They illustrate the fact that the status quo of a flora may be 
naturally dynamic, not static. Mr. R.Good’s recently published account of 


eS Poh 


Ee eh 


CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES , 451 


the botany of the South Haven Peninsula, Dorset, indicates an interesting 
combination in a limited area of stable and unstable conditions. A 
comparatively recent accumulation of sand-ridges on the shore-line 
interfering with drainage from the immediate hinterland has produced 
a complex mosaic of successional unstable vegetation-states the record of 
which over a period of years will form an interesting study. ‘The interest 
in such cases lies in the conservation of a changing not of an existing 
flora. 

Advocates of wild plant conservation may find themselves in conflict 
with those who, with the best intentions, seek to remedy the destructive 
effects of man’s action or even to improve upon Nature. I see no objection 
to re-establishing a species in an area where it has been destroyed as the 
result of human actionif it is done with certain precautions and if an accurate 
record is kept. But the utmost care must be taken to ensure that the form 
re-introduced is the same as that which it replaces. But the introduction 
of species in presumably suitable places, but where they do not grow now 
and have never been known to grow, that is, attempting to improve upon 
Nature or perhaps with a view to amenities, is to be deprecated. Evenifa 
record be kept it is introducing a strange element into a natural community 
the effect of which is uncertain. If no record is kept and the plant 
survives it is making trouble for future students of the flora and its dis- 
tribution. Species are from time to time found in new localities, the 
Lizard Orchid, for instance, seems to be increasing its area of distribution 
in south-east England, and the interest of the study of its distribution 
would be ruined if well-meaning folk introduced it successfully in 
presumably suitable areas. 

A question arises as to the introduction of species in new areas for 
ecological experiment which may give interesting scientific results. Such 
investigations should be confined to very definite areas and should be 
carefully controlled and recorded. 

Generally speaking introduction by sowing of seed is to be deprecated. 
It is largely a waste of seed ; in most cases the seeds either do not germinate 
or if they do the plants cannot compete with the existing flora. Also it 
may be some years before the plant sown, even if it survives, becomes a 
noticeable feature of the flora, perhaps not until the original interest in 
the locality has lapsed. On the other hand the newcomer might be too 
successful and displace the original flora, or even develop into a nuisance. 
Moreover plants which delight our eyes may be anathema to the farmer. 
Indiscriminate broadcast scattering of seed is a foolish practice with 
nothing to recommend it. 

I need not warn members of scientific societies of the danger or in- 
advisability of introducing alien plants into a flora. It is difficult enough 
already to decide sometimes whether a plant is native or alien and we 
would not add to the difficulty for those who come after us. ‘To introduce, 
for instance, alien alpines on a British mountain is unscientific and 
thoroughly reprehensible. 

I have tried to make out a case for the preservation of our native flora. 
How can this best be done? Various societies and individuals have 
worked and are working to this end. Before the War a Plant Protection 
Section of the Selborne Society started active propaganda and a bill was 


452 CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES 


prepared for presentation to Parliament but the War stopped legislative 
action. More recently ‘ Flora’s League ’ initiated by Sir Maurice Abbot 
Anderson has popularised the idea, and the Society for the Promotion of 
Nature Reserves works to the same end. In 1931 the Wild Plant Con- 
servation Board of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England 
(C.P.R.E.) was appointed. It represents a large number of interested 
Societies, Councils and Institutions, and meets at intervals for study and 
discussion of relevant questions. I am indebted to the Secretary, Mr. 
H. G. Griffin, for details of reports of the work, to some of which I shall 
refer. 

The subject of Nature Reserves was so admirably dealt with by Sir 
David Prain in his address to you at the York Meeting in 1932 on ‘ Local 
Societies and the Conservation of Plant Life’ that I need only refer you 
to this. Those of you who have visited Nature Reserves at home or 
abroad will appreciate their value as conserving special types of vegetation. 
The more we can do in this way the better, but the conservation of our 
native flora as a whole is a wider problem and needs the help of all in 
fostering a love for wild nature and in developing a public feeling for its 
protection. 

Legislation and Education are two methods of approach, each of which 
have occupied the attention of the Conservation Board. 

Under the Local Government Act of 1888 County Councils are em- 
powered to adopt bye-laws for the conservation of wild plants. The 
most recent form of bye-law approved by the Home Office reads as 
follows :— 

* No person shall without lawful authority uproot any ferns, primroses 
or other plants growing in any road, lane, roadside waste, roadside bank 
or hedge, common or other place to which the public have access.’ 

Bye-laws have been adopted by about fifty County Councils and a number 
of Town Councils. In May 1935 circular letter from the Chairman of the 
Board was sent to each County Council urging that the fullest possible 
publicity be given to the bye-law and also the adoption of adequate measures 
to enforce it. A large number of replies indicated that wide publicity was 
being given by means of the local press, exhibition of notices at police 
stations and other suitable places, and distribution of copies to Urban 
and Rural District Councils, Schools, Boy Scout and Girl Guide organi- 
sations, etc. Prosecutions for uprooting were also reported. 

Schedules of plants recommended for special protection in individual 
Counties, prepared by Mr. H. W. Pugsley, have also been considered and 
distributed by the Board.. 

The work of the Board has evoked some criticism, especially as regards 
its advocacy of the bye-law forbidding uprooting. It has been objected 
that this involves hardship to students of the flora and also prohibits the 
uprooting of herbs for use as drugs. 

As regards students, a plant can be studied without uprooting it. We 
are in fact coming to realise that plants may best be studied as they grow 
and especially in their natural environment. It is far more educative to 
study a few plants in this way than to pull them up, cram them into a tin 
and take them home to press for an herbarium. A great deal of informa- 
tion about a plant may be obtained without uprooting it and if such a 


CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES 453 


course is necessary there is the permissive clause in the bye-law which 
may also be employed by collectors of herbs for use as drugs. In the latter 
respect Mr. T. F. Wallis of the Pharmaceutical Society tells me that 
dealers in drugs generally prefer those grown in quantity for the express 
purpose as offering a standardised product. 

Much has been said as to the difficulty of enforcing a bye-law. This 
is admitted but as so much of the damage caused is due to ignorance or 
thoughtlessness the knowledge that an act is illegal does bring the matter 
under notice. And the average person, however ignorant and thoughtless, 
doesn’t necessarily want to do a thing because it is forbidden. 

Again it has been suggested that County and Urban Councils are 
among the worst offenders in destroying rural amenities. I grant that 
these bodies badly need educating—in my own district we have suffered. 
But we have a local Countryside Protection Society (affiliated to the 
C.P.R.E.) which keeps a watch over the Council and offers advice and 
tenders protests. We recently stopped a wholesale topping of trees by 
an unskilled workman—and our suggestion as to the course of a path to 
avoid sacrificing some trees was adopted. 

Bird-lovers and botanists share a grievance against local authorities in 
the lopping of hedges and cutting of the grass verges along country roads. 
Lopping of the hedges is a matter for the landowner except in so far as 
they do not obstruct the road-view. The verges are the home of many 
of our common plants and their ruthless cutting by the local authorities 
in the spring or early summer is most regrettable. In March 1934 the 
C.P.R.E. approached the County Councils Association on the subject, 
but the Association, while sympathising with the Council in their desire 
to prevent the indiscriminate destruction of wild plants, did not consider 
it feasible for the highway authorities to take any action in the matter, 
especially in view of the provisions of the Corn Production Acts, with 
regard to the destruction of injurious weeds and the impossibility of 
expecting roadmen to exercise the necessary discrimination. 

In view of representations from the British Association and the Wild 
Plant Conservation Board the C.P.R.E. has recently again approached the 
Association and suggested the postponement of cutting until July or the 
early autumn ; also that cutting and clearing should be carried out only 
for a fixed distance from the metalled roadway. At the time of writing 
no official communication had been received from the Association, but 
it has been ascertained that from the point of view of the Highways 
Authority it is not a simple matter. Farmers ask to have the verges cut 
as soon as the plants are in flower so that seeds should not be dispersed ; 
the postponement of cutting until July would allow the spread of injurious 
weeds. Moreover the verge provides a way for pedestrians and cattle 
and must therefore be kept clear, and it is also a margin of safety for 
motorists. It is however encouraging to note from replies received that 
some County Councils are alive to the importance of saving the verges. 
At a recent meeting the North Riding County Council decided to call the 
attention of the Highways and Bridges Committee to the necessity, so far 
as possible, of limiting the cutting down of plants in the byways and lanes, 
so as to preserve the natural beauties and flora. We are informed also 
that in Derbyshire the County Council cut only a certain portion of the 


454 CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES 


roadside herbage, and that the workmen were discriminating between 
injurious and other plants. 

The Conservation Board has also considered means for the protection 
of wild plants on privately owned property and a deputation of its members, 
with representatives of other interested bodies, was received by Sir John 
Gilmour on behalf of the Home Secretary, in May 1933. The Board 
suggested that the model bye-law should be strengthened to cover privately 
owned land. The case for the Board and those associated with it was 
presented by the standing Counsel of the C.P.R.E. who showed the 
inadequacy of existing methods for dealing with the matter, namely 
* Malicious Injury to Property Act,’ Larceny Acts and Trespass, and it 
was proposed to meet the case by strengthening the model bye-law. In a 
carefully argued reply the Secretary of State regretted that he was unable 
to meet the Board’s suggestions, the main effect of which would be the 
protection of private owners from trespassers, and this was beyond the 
power of the Municipal Corporations Act. The Secretary of State 
suggested the insertion of the word ‘ primroses’ after ferns to get over 
the ejusdem generis rule brought in by the use of the words ‘ or other 
plants’ after ‘ ferns,’ and regretted that this slightly amended form was 
the utmost that can properly be allowed under the present law. This 
latest form of the bye-law has already been accepted by a number of 
County and other Councils. 

Picking of wild flowers for sale is not prohibited by this bye-law, but 
in reply to an inquiry from a member of the Board, a well-known Covent 
Garden salesman stated that everything possible was done in Covent 
Garden to discourage picking and marketing of wild flowers. They 
refused to handle wild daffodils and blue-bells. 

Prevention of uprooting of primroses, ferns and other wild plants for sale 
needs special vigilance, but we have reports of occasional prosecutions. 
Local warden societies would be a deterrent, and also posting of notices 
which might intimate results of prosecutions, as used to be done on the rail- 
way stations. Folks should refuse to buy roots from gipsies or hawkers who 
have almost certainly stolen the plants or dug them up on common land. 

I do not think children’s wild flower classes at local shows are harmful. 
One specimen each of a dozen plants with their common names is generally 
asked for, and my own experience is that children collect only common plants 
and they do not uproot them. If there are rare or otherwise protected 
species in the neighbourhood these could be barred in the instructions. 
It seems a pity to check an interest in Nature on the part of the children. 

But at best legislation is only the next best thing. In an ideal com- 
munity where no one wants for himself what should be for the common 
enjoyment, legislation will be unnecessary. Meanwhile education of the 
community is necessary. 

Education of the average adult to respect our wild flowers may seem well- 
nigh hopeless. He is not interested. And thoughtlessness, even in those 
who should know better, is a frequent cause of damage. About the same 
time last spring two reports came to my notice. A field in the west of 
England, purple with fritillaries in the morning became merely a green 
sward towards the end of the day. It had been thrown open to the 
public, at 3d. per head, who were allowed to gather bunches of flowers, 


CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES 455 


the proceeds going to pay for the organ at the parish church. The report 
of a beautiful wood absolutely stripped of spring flowers coincided with 
a day’s holiday at a large girls’ school in the neighbourhood ; the pupils 
were conveyed under authority to the spot and turned loose for the work 
of destruction. Unfortunately such occurrences are too well known to 
need further reference here. 

The spirit of acquisitiveness, of getting something for nothing, is hard 
to fight. The gain too is often short-lived and scarcely worth while. 
To dig up primroses and plant them in a garden is less effective than 
sowing a few pennyworth of seed. Many of the flowers picked are 
withered before they reach home and if not they don’t, as a rule, last long 
in water and, as any housewife will tell you, they drop and make a mess. 
It is of course the picking wholesale that should be discouraged. No 
one should want to prevent a child picking a handful of flowers, nor to 
forbid the use of wild flowers for class-lessons in schools. But wherever 
possible the school should have a garden which should, so far as possible, 
supply the material required for study. Let the children collect seeds, 
sow them and study the plant as it grows. Seeds of our wild plants 
are distributed to members of the British Empire Naturalists’ Association, 
and of the South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies by the seed exchange 
section of the Union managed by Mr. B. T. Lowne. The list of seeds 
available is published in the spring number of Countryside, the organ of 
the B.E.N.A. 

Wild flower seeds may also be obtained from the Green Cross Society 
(47 Victoria St., London, S.W. 1), or from Mr. C. S. Garnett, 6 The 
Strand, Derby. Flora’s League publishes a booklet by Mr. T. A. 
Dymes on ‘ Growing Wild Flowers from Seed.’ His rules on practical 
methods, if followed, should ensure success. Mr. Dymes also insists 
on the advantage of this method for an educational herbarium, as speci- 
mens of a species at different life stages, or growing under different con- 
ditions, may be added from one’s own rearing. 

Schools may also obtain supplies of wild flowers from firms advertising 
in the School Nature Study fFournal, which guarantee to collect wild 
plants only without risk to injury of the native flora. 

The public press might be a more efficient help in propaganda, and 
advertisements of wild plants for sale, obviously uprooted without dis- 
crimination, or notices of excursions for picking wild flowers in choice 
localities, should be refused; the Conservation Board has on occasion 
protested against these when they have been brought to its notice. The 
B.B.C. have, at holiday times, begged the public to leave for the enjoy- 
ment of others what the individual is prone to take for himself. Effective 
work might be done in this way from time to time by selected speakers. 
Posters to attract the attention of the public have been widely distributed. 

Education of the children is the most promising method. A memo- 
randum, prepared for the Board by Professors Salisbury and Weiss, has 
been distributed by thousands throughout the teaching profession. The 
county lists of species, to which I have referred above, will indicate where 
plants of special interest, from their rarity or because they are in danger of 
extermination, occur in the district. Such might be the subject of a special 
lesson and the interest of the children enlisted in their preservation. 


456 CONFERENCE OF DELEGATES 


In the United States of America the Wild Flowers Preservation Society 
has issued popularly written illustrated circulars, descriptive of individual 
species that it is desired to conserve, and giving directions for rearing 
them from seed. 

In South Africa many of the native species are protected and a series 
of coloured drawings of protected wild flowers has been issued by 
arrangement with the Wild Flowers Protection Society. 

The great enemy of our rare species is the collector; the general 
public takes no interest in them, but the collector wants them for his 
herbarium ; and I don’t know how you can reform the collector. He 
knows he is doing wrong when he confiscates a single specimen or takes 
from a small patch of a rare plant not only for his own collection but for 
purpose of exchange. Increasing interest in the study of the mosses is, 
Mr. H. N. Dixon tells me, threatening the extermination of some of our 
rarer species because collectors want specimens for their own herbarium or 
to supply friends at home and abroad. I was once approached by some 
of our leading British botanists to reprove a serious offender who was 
making a British herbarium. I administered reproof but the individual 
almost wept his protests of innocence. He has long been dead but his 
herbarium remains a standing reproach to his attacks of vandalism. 

To sum up. I have tried to show that native floras are worth pre- 
serving in the interests of science, and that our own flora is of sufficient 
interest, quite apart from its beauty, to merit conservation. In addressing 
a scientific meeting I have emphasised the botanical aspect of the problem 
but botanists are, I am sure, as wishful as anyone to preserve natural 
beauty. I have referred to three methods for promoting preservation : 
nature reserves, legislation, and education; and the most important of 
these is education. I am perhaps addressing only the converted, but the 
converted must ,become apostles if the movement is to grow and become 
effective. 


Dr. W. D. Lane, F.R.S. (Communicated by Sir Albert E. Kitson, C.M.G.) 
—The Menace of Rubbish Dumping in Places of Natural Beauty. 


The method of disposal of rubbish is characterised by insanitation, unsight- 
liness, and damage to places of natural beauty, with the rat-menace as the 
predominant danger. 

Since the advent of cheap motor transport the nuisance has greatly 
increased. Old quarries, gravel-pits, sea-cliffs, stream banks, former water- 
channels and other places—once covered with beautiful and interesting 
vegetation, and full of bird-life—forming ideal picnic grounds, have been 
nearly or completely spoilt by being covered with tins, food-cartons, out- 
worn parts of motor and other vehicles, old bedsteads and other discarded 
material of our civilisation. 

Particularly mentioned are various parts of the Dorset coast in the Char- 
mouth and Lyme districts, such as Black Ven, Butterfly Dell, Fairy Dell, 
and the mouth of the Char, some of these having geological sections regarded 
as classic examples by our own and visiting foreign geologists. 

It is suggested that public authorities might by co-operation organise an 
efficient and adequate system to collect such refuse, burn all combustible 
matter in destructors, reduce tins and other utensils to smallest bulk by 


CORRESPONDING SOCIETIES 457 


pressure, and, in the coastal districts, dump the residue into the deep, a 
mile or two from the shore. 


Monday, September 14. 


Dr. C. B. Wittiams and Mrs. K. Grant. (Communicated by Captain T. 
Dannreuther.)—The Insect Immigration Enquiry, with special reference 
to the North-Western Area. 


Observations conducted over a series of years yield definite evidence of 
the migrating instinct of certain well-known species of butterflies and moths 
and indicate that the immigration takes place over a wide area and in a 
uniform direction. 

The observations have been conducted by members of local scientific 
societies throughout England and Wales, and by lighthouse and lightship 
keepers who have rendered valuable assistance in collecting and recording 
the arrival of specimens around the coasts; the records, usually accom- 
panied by specimens and essential information as to date, time, prevailing 
wind direction, etc., entered on special cards provided for the purpose, 
are sent to the Rothamsted Experimental Station, where they are analysed 
and collated. 

There is, however, a lack of observers in the North-Western Area, where 
sufficient information is not at present available to confirm the extent of 
the migration and its prevalence and distribution ; and members of local 
societies willing to assist are invited to communicate for further particulars 
with the Secretary of the Insect Immigration Committee (South-Eastern 
Union of Scientific Societies), Captain T. Dannreuther, Windycroft, 
Hastings, Sussex. 


The following resolutions were considered and passed by the Delegates : 


To request the Council of the British Association to support the Council 
for the Preservation of Rural England in its endeavour to stimulate His 
Majesty’s Government to consider and take action upon the Report of 
the Government Committee on National Parks. 


To request the Council of the British Association to bring to the notice 
of the respective Councils for the Preservation of Rural England, Scotland, 
and Wales the increasing menace to health and amenity of rubbish 
dumping in places of natural beauty and scientific interest ; and to request 
the said Councils to make representation to the responsible administrative 
authorities concerned with a view to its mitigation. 


DISCUSSION ON 
GENETICS AND RACE. 


(Prof. H. J. Fieure, F.R.S., Dr. J. 5S. Huxiey, Dr. G. M. Morant, 
Prof. A. M. Carr-Saunpers, Prof. R. RuGGLEs Gates, F.R.S., 
Prof. F. A. E. Crew). 


Joint Discussion By SecTION D (ZooLocy) AND SecTIoN H 
(ANTHROPOLOGY) ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER I1, 1936. 


Prof. H. J. Freure, F.R.S.—Racial theory and genetic ideas. 


The newer concept of species makes it possible to consider both the 
origins of mankind and a classification of mankind in a new light freed from 
the limitation of requiring the sterility of crosses as a test of specific differ- 
ence. The fact that human migrations from early times have had a scale, 
a range and a rapidity unknown among animals is another biological point 
of the first importance. We may give up both the view that mankind 
originated from a single pair or a small group and the view that the different 
groups of mankind originated separately from prehuman ancestors. Rather 
should we picture groups of beings on the threshold of a full human status, 
with probably differences within the group as well as between groups, 
scattered over a wide area as more or less mobile collectors and hunters 
forming a sort of human network over a wide area of the Old World, stretch- 
ing at least through North Africa and South-west Asia. The persons in 
different parts of the network would probably differ, but almost any part 
might contain individuals similar in many characters to individuals in other 
parts. With increasing settlement and development of desertic conditions 
in North Africa and Arabia, some degree of isolation and a high degree of 
local intermarriage developed and no doubt different variations, at least 
some of them adaptive, occurred in different regions, so that— 

(a) A number of small remnants of early types remained, sometimes 
perhaps degenerate as pigmies of the African and South-east Asiatic forests, 
as blackfellows in Australia, and so on. 

(b) African, Papuo-Melanesian, Eastern Asiatic and North-western 
groups became distinct, while drifts to America from Eastern Asia added 
another chapter to the story. These may almost be called sub-species. 

Characters, even those used in discussing so-called race types, are nearly 
always both genotypic and phenotypic. Stature is closely linked with 
environmental factors; nose form may have some such link, perhaps an 
indirect one. A penetration of characters from the north into the Congo 
Forest shows that stature diminishes more rapidly than nasal index increases 
along the zone of penetration. It is most probable that hot, wet conditions 
and poor food have prevented higher stature from persisting, but it has 
apparently been more difficult to alter the narrow nose, so we get an aureole 


GENETICS AND RACE 459 


of fairly narrow-nosed people of short stature around the wedge of narrow- 
nosed taller people projecting into the forest. , 

Shaxby has shown that skin pigmentation grades closely from the Sudan 
to near the Arctic Circle, where Scandinavia yields the Nordic type, as it is 
called. Similar points might be made in respect of other characters; thus 
the pattern of the main mass of mankind may be said to be one of transitions 
in some respects between certain standards in Africa, Europe, Eastern Asia, 
Papuo-Melanesia. 

A scheme based on transitions more or less under environmental influences 
is, however, not much more satisfactory than a purely geographical classi- 
fication, for we cannot but be impressed by the fact that almost every 
population consists of disparate elements that reappear or persist side by 
side in a population generation after generation. We cannot treat an 
ordinary population as a unit to be described by giving means and standard 
deviations for each character. ‘Those figures often are mere abstractions. 
We need to try to see how bundles of characters are grouped together, what 
bundles occur and seem to be transmitted as entities, and how the propor- 
tionate numbers with different bundles vary from district to district. For 
they do differ, and we can understand this better if we remember that each 
of us had, in theory, 32,768 ancestors about the time of the discovery of 
America, and 1,073,000,000 about the time of the Norman Conquest. As 
marriage was largely localised and few rural areas with persistent inter- 
marriage had a population of 32,000 in the fifteenth century, we realise how 
much branches of genealogical trees must intertwine, and so how possible 
it is for an element, a group of characters, that got into a locality long ago 
through a good number of individuals to go on century after century in spite 
of some intermixture with individuals from outside, provided it has not to 
work against a Mendelian dominant. Needless to say, the bundle of 
characters need not be and is not exhibited by every member of the local 
group, nor is any claim made that all members of the group are of strictly 
localised descent. We are dealing only with proportions of a population. 
Another necessary caveat is that the interpretation of differences between 
localities has to be done with great reserve unless we know from skeletons 
a fair amount about the back history of the district’s population. Fortu- 
nately, as regards Egypt, we have the knowledge, from the work of Elliot 
Smith, Morant and others, that there has been a persistence of a bundle of 
physical characters from predynastic days till ours. In our own country, 
in some areas once inhabited (c. 1900 B.c.) by the beaker-making people, 
the characters which distinguish their skulls are still found in certain cases 
among the modern population. In some areas of special isolation quite a 
number of people may carry and transmit a bundle of characters that seems 
associated with the very earliest population known from skeletal remains in 
Britain. 

The recurrence of these bundles is more than can be accounted for by 
any estimate of the probability of recombinations occurring in the course of 
intermixture; persistence seems the more likely hypothesis, and the linkage 
of characters in a bundle is fairly obviously a feature. 

We are, then, dealing with bundles of characters inherited more or less 
as such, diverse bundles often co-existing side by side. Even an inter- 
breeding population therefore need by no means form a unit, and averages 
may mislead seriously. A pure race, with essentially uniform bundles of 
characters in all its members, probably does not exist ; indeed it is better 
not to use the term race at all in view of its purified misapplication in 
political discussions as well as of the inherent biological difficulties attached 
to the use of this word. 


460 DISCUSSION 
Dr. J. S. Huxiey. 


Race in common anthropological usage has two main connotations. One 
is community of descent, the other is distinctness from other races. In 
general biology, the term is used mainly of geographically or physiologically 
isolated groups within a species ; and, although the term has now been 
largely abandoned in favour of subspecies, the implication is that human 
races are of the same nature. 

Further, anthropological use of the term dates from the time when it was 
believed that inheritance was of the blending type ; if this were so, a mixed 
population would speedily approximate to a characteristic uniform type. 
This assumption has been shown to be incorrect by the establishment of 
the Mendelian basis of inheritance. After crossing, recombinations of every 
possible kind will continue to appear indefinitely unless some are eliminated 
by selection. 

Again, the assumption that man’s evolution has been by separation into 
discrete isolated units is incorrect, since migration and crossing have been 
operative for tens of thousands of years ; so, whereas the evolution of most 
animal types is divergent, that of man may be called reticulate. 

As a result, it is probably impossible to give a scientific definition of race 
as applied to man, since the term has connotations which do not apply in 
the human species. Some less question-begging term should befound. ‘The 
immediate task before physical anthropology is to define human groups in 
terms of measurable characters and the correlations between them, on the 
basis of Mendelian genetics. 


Dr. G. M. Morant. 


A broad distinction may be made between two kinds of definitions of 
race in man, and when considering these in relation to genetics our concern 
is rather with the implications than with the wording of the definitions. 

Those of the first kind accord with what may be called the classical theory 
of race, and this is generally discredited to-day. It is supposed, according 
to this older type of theory, that after the crossing of groups of families of 
different origins for several generations the original elements which entered 
into the constitution of a particular population cannot be distinguished, 
and hence that such a population must be treated as a single group and com- 
pared as such, and undivided, with other similarly constituted groups. If 
no general agreement was reached regarding the definition of race, this was 
largely due to the difficulty of deciding on the stage of subdivision of the 
total species which could be used most conveniently to distinguish groups 
which might be called races. According to this first view, the descent of 
races, and hence the course of human evolution, can only be revealed by the 
direct evidence of the actual remains of the ancestral populations, and hence 
it encourages the study of skeletal material. 

The alternative type of theory, which is now generally accredited in one 
form or another, had been mooted by some anthropologists before modern 
genetical theories were established, but these have since been supposed to 
support and justify it. According to this second view, populations of the 
kind considered are never mixed uniformly, but there is a general tendency 
for ancestral types to occur in every generation, though not constantly in 
the same family lines. It is claimed that these types can be recognised in 
individuals, and this admits the possibility of discovering the racial com- 
ponents of a population solely from a study of its living representatives at 
one particular time. 


GENETICS AND RACE 461 


A definite pronouncement by geneticists in favour of one or the other of 
these views would not resolve all the difficulties faced by anthropologists 
in their attempts to define the concept of race, but it would go far towards 
clearing up the present chaotic position. It appears that the two cannot 
be reconciled and that for practical purposes one or the other must be chosen. 
It has been claimed that the second, or segregation, view, as it may be called, 
alone accords with genetical theory. Is this correct ? and, if so, will geneti- 
cists explain the mechanism which favours the persistent appearance of the 
ancestral ‘ types’ of the anthropologist after more or less random crossing 
has taken place for fifty generations, say ?. Answers to these questions will 
depend on the nature of the characters which are used to distinguish the 
* types,’ because these characters have been observed to make the clearest 
distinctions between the different varieties of man. Most of them are 
dimensions or proportions of parts of the skeleton, and no others can well 
be used in dealing with extinct populations. All the characters of this kind 
show continuous variation, and it seems to be probable that each is deter- 
mined by a large number of genes, as has been demonstrated in the case of 
stature. Variation in these measurements may not be of any functional 
significance or selective value. Such characters are of far less general 
biological interest than some others, but their use is fully justified if they 
can be used effectively to trace human descent. 

It may be noted that the statistical study of the measurements which have 
been used with greatest profit by the anthropologist does not encourage the 
hope that the ‘ segregation’ view of race can be reconciled with the facts. 
If it were correct it would be anticipated that for particular modern popu- 
lations of the kind considered bi-modal or multi-modal distributions would 
occasionally be found, though apparently they never are. Also, on the 
hypothesis discussed, intra-group correlations would be expected between 
certain characters, and these are not found. The largest samples available 
for European populations show an almost complete absence of intra-group 
correlation between hair colour and cephalic index, say, or between eye 
colour and stature. Some expressions of the segregation view of race pre- 
suppose that the modern populations of Europe have resulted from the 
intermixture in comparatively recent, and even historical, times of popula- 
tions which were far more homogeneous than any which can be found in 
Europe to-day. But the metrical characters show quite conclusively that 
there has been a remarkably small change in the variabilities of established 
populations from early predynastic times in Egypt to the present, and also 
that there is no marked difference between the variabilities of so-called 
‘ primitive ’ and ‘ advanced ’ modern populations in any part of the world. 
The statistical evidence suggests forcibly that the other—i.e. the group— 
conception of race is the one which can still be used most profitably, in spite 
of its present ill-repute, and if this is correct the process of classifying and 
tracing the descent of ‘ races ’ must depend on the small differences observed 
between the averages for different populations, while the individual is prac- 
tically ignored. It is often assumed that this older view of race, which has 
few followers now except among those who have found that it accords with 
and even appears to be necessitated by the statistical evidence, has been 
invalidated by modern genetical science. I should like to appeal to geneti- 
cists for consideration of this point, and, if the verdict is unfavourable, for 
a clearer explanation of the objections to the view in question than any which 
appear to have been given yet. 

Suppose that geneticists allow that the problems of human descent can 
only be solved by treating groups. The next question is: In what ways 
can groups be compared in order to reveal group relationships? The view 


462 DISCUSSION 


of the geneticist on this question will obviously be of value to the anthro- 
pologist. In considering it one must remember constantly that individuals 
and groups are different in nature and that they behave in different ways. 
This may appear too obvious to be worthy of consideration, but a failure 
to appreciate the distinction is in fact a fertile source of error. Mendelian 
genetics has shown conclusively that the theory of blended inheritance is 
incorrect as far as individuals are concerned. It has been repeatedly 
inferred from this fact alone that a theory of blended inheritance relating 
not to individuals but to the group characters of intercrossed groups must 
also be incorrect. But this assumption is quite invalid, and the inference 
regarding the group cannot be investigated so simply. I am still prepared 
to defend the old-fashioned theory that, as far as quantitative skeletal 
characters are concerned, the crossing of groups leads to blended inheritance, 
i.e. to the blending of the average values of the characters for the parent 
groups. A great deal of observational data may be brought forward to 
support this theory, and it seems to me that no valid objections to it of a 
theoretical nature have yet been advanced by geneticists. 


Prof. A. M. Carr-SAUNDERS. 


Historical evidence is relevant to the problem of genetics and race, though 
it can never be decisive and must be used with great caution. We can take 
groups which exhibit fairly well marked physical differentiation, and ask 
whether their accomplishments can be satisfactorily explained without 
supposing that they are also otherwise differentiated. We can also take 
groups exhibiting fairly definite cultural characteristics, and ask whether 
there is any reason to suppose that they have peculiar genetic constitutions. 
The problem is whether, after taking into account the known facts relating 
to the influences which played upon groups, there remains anything in the 
story of their fate, accomplishments and characteristics which appears to 
call for some further explanation and therefore to indicate genetic differences 
in the region of intellect, emotion, or temperament. The result of reflection 
along these lines is that attention is arrested by the persistence of tempera- 
mental traits which characterise certain groups, but the interpretation of 
these observations is very doubtful. Again the evidence derived from the 
formation of new nations in oversea countries within recent times can be 
brought into the picture. About the origin of these new and distinct 
groups we have fairly complete information, and we can ask again whether, 
in order to understand what has happened, it is necessary to have recourse 
to the hypothesis of genetic differences. 


Prof. R. RucGcLes Gates, F.R.S. 


Geographical varieties are well recognised among plants and animals. 
With regard to man, some writers have passed from the well-known fact 
that most human types are of mixed origin, to the indefensible position that 
human races do not exist. From a genetical point of view, if we apply the 
same criteria of species to man as are applied to the higher mammals, it is 
necessary to recognise the existence of several species of living man. Recent 
critical studies of African monkeys show various genera containing a number 
of species, each with several subspecies or geographical races. ‘ Homo 
sapiens’ is an anthropological convention, surviving from the time when 
intersterility was regarded as an essential criterion of species. Recent 
evidence indicates that the mongoloid, australoid, negroid and caucasoid 
types of man have been evolving independently since the beginning of the 


GENETICS AND RACE 463 


Pleistocene. This confirms the view that they should be regarded not 
merely as geographic subspecies or races but as species. 


Prof. F. A. E. Crew. 


The classifications of the anthropologist relate to physical character- 
istics which, from what we already know of human genetics and by analogy, 
are in the main genetic characters. This being so, it follows that any 
classification of man by reference to hereditary characters which disregards 
principles which the science of genetics has shown to be correct, must 
necessarily be imperfect. 

The suggestion that in its very early history mankind became divided by 
isolation, mutation, selection and inbreeding into the equivalent of geo- 
graphical races or sub-species is in accordance with the demonstrated facts 
of experimental genetics. But the notion that the mingling of such, conse- 
quent upon the removal of isolation and inbreeding, leads through blending 
inheritance to later uniformity, is not. Such constellations of characters 
have necessarily become broken up and their ingredients shifted back and 
forth, combined and recombined. 

The techniques of genetics should now be added to those of anthropology 
and genetic analysis of human differences and the correlations between 
them should be undertaken. 


OPENING OF DISCUSSION 
IN SEcTION I (PHYSIOLOGY) 


ON 


THE STRAIN OF MODERN 
CIVILISATION 


By Tue Rt. Hon. LORD HORDER, K.C.V.O., B.Sc., M.D., F.R.C.P. 


(Ordered by the General Committee to be printed in extenso.) 


My time being severely limited, and others having already referred to the 
matter, I will spare you my thoughts—which are wholly complimentary to 
those responsible—concerning the ‘ socialisation of Science ’ implied by the 
introduction of this subject into your deliberations. 

But it is a characteristic of mine to criticise the major premise before I 
examine minor premises, and so I follow my inclination to-day and look 
across and beyond such a conference as this, to the ordinary man and 
woman, just as, in my more customary sphere, I am prone to make my 
observations of the patient independently of the presentation of ‘ the case,’ 
however learned and skilful this may be: sometimes corroborating and 
supplementing the diagnosis and sometimes traversing it. 

From the early days of the primitive curse, life has always imposed its 
strain upon mankind. It is the penalty we pay for living at all. Philo- 
sophers have always assured us that we cannot have life without it. Indeed, 
they have assured us that some degree of strain is good for us. ‘There is, 
however, implicit in the title of this discussion the suggestion that the stress 
of modern life has new elements, and is excessive. 

We have to-day, in connection with this subject, a spate of talk; my 
inclination, as I say, since I cannot hope to stem it, is to step round it, and 
to try to make direct contact with the folk concerned, just as, in my daily 
work, when I am faced with a mass of data resulting from the exploitation 
of instruments of precision, I ask the patient, so soon as I can isolate him 
from the laboratory equipment, ‘ Where does it hurt you ?’ and then listen 
carefully to what he has to say. 

His problem is perhaps much simpler than his dossier seems to suggest. 
A lot of those data were not really pertinent, though the very discussion of 
them added materially to his disability. 

Deliberation and an apparent inertia opposed to excitement and, perhaps, 
panic—these things resolve many situations. They constitute a British 
trait, often misunderstood, often apologised for, but prone to be very 
effective. . . . Let me present you with a picture that is typically British. 

That policeman, walking so slowly to the excited crowd that has gathered 
round a prostrate figure. He arrives at length, and the crowd opens: 
“Come along there, what’s all this ’ere?’ The little boy whose arm he 
seizes, though least concerned with the incident, is duly impressed by the 
force of law. A dozen contradictory voices strive to explain exactly how 
the murder happened. Pencil and note-book are slowly produced and are 


THE STRAIN OF MODERN CIVILISATION 465 


as slowly used. Provocation and fatigue begin to operate; the general 
interest has time to flag; and the crowd disperses as the epileptic, quite 
accustomed to the experience, rises almost apologetically to his feet and 
walks away. ‘The constable resumes his measured step and the mews is at 
peace again. 

I do not suggest that this parable is inclusive of the whole position ; far 
from it. Direct contact with men and women, and a full use of the clinical 
method, do, undoubtedly, reveal the effects of strain. 

These are not effects which can be measured by direct and exact 
scientific method—though the ‘vital statistics’ are confirmatory—but 
effects the indirect evidence of which is inescapable. 

In the street the trained eye detects in the physiognomy of the people 
the early stages of that concern which, in the consulting-room and in the 
hospital ward, shows itself so frequently as the more established picture of 
‘ Anxiety neurosis —unloading itself upon the digestion, the circulation 
and other bodily functions, which are really more sinned against than 
sinning. 

“Functional ’ diseases, as against ‘ organic,’ have increased, whether in 
the field of the nervous system proper, the heart and blood vessels or the 
internal secreting glands. 

I must not stay to expand, or even to justify, these statements ; few, if 
any, medical men will contest them. In case after case a tactfully conducted 
pursuit after fundamental causes removes the screen of headache, insomnia, 
indigestion and fatigue, and the anxiety factor is revealed. 

In the sphere of microbic infections, as I have pointed out elsewhere, we 
have new diseases for old. Preventive medicine has freed us from many 
of the severer epidemics, as also from many fulminant sporadic infectious 
diseases. ‘Tuberculosis has come largely under control. But in place of 
such plagues as these, there is an increase in the incidence of those more 
subtle germ diseases which we call ‘ sub-infections,’ in which the virulence 
of the microbe is low, whilst the susceptibility of the host is high. In 
many of these diseases the germ comes from within and not from without : 
“aman’s foes ’ are ‘ they of his own household.’ In short, we are becoming 
the victims of our own saprophytes. And the only reason we can assign 
for all this is a ‘ give’ on the part of our own resistance to auto-infection— 
a ‘ give’ which seems to follow a lowering of the control exercised in health 
by the nervous system. 

Such control is, in a strict scientific sense, only a postulate; it lacks 
proof; but is it likely that, with nerve control of so many other functions 
proved, we shall find that the important function of immunity is an 
exception ? 

So much for some of the effects of nerve strain. What of the causes ? 
It is almost platitudinous to speak of the anxiety connected with the com- 
petition of living, and now with the equally grave and increasing sense of 
international insecurity ; of the pace at which we live; of the precariousness 
of life itself in the streets, so that we seem in these days to live by accident 
rather than to die by it; of the monotony and drabness inherent in many 
workers’ long hours of physical and mental effort ; of the lack of air and 
of exercise and of sleep ; of the exciting nature of our amusements, whether 
the immediate demand for them be normal relaxation or a dope ; of noise— 
needless, stupid, provocative, ill-mannered, selfish noise. . . . 

Platitudinous, and yet, on reflection the major premise holds good in 
respect of all these factors. 

I would like to add another, more subtle, but none the less recognisable : 
the slackening of the moral code in the direction of increased freedom for 


466 DISCUSSION 


both sexes. I cannot summarise what I nrean better than by quoting those 
two pregnant lines of Wordsworth’s : 


‘Me this unchartered freedom tires ; 
I feel the weight of chance desires.’ 


In this sphere no doubt adjustment will come in time. 

There is a notion afoot that, in the last analysis, Science is largely respons- 
ible for the extent and persistence of much of the strain of modern life. I 
want to say, at once, that I regard this unloading upon Science as a mere 
pusillanimity. I hold the view that it is not too much Science, but too 
little Science, that has helped to get us into this trouble. Or rather should 
I say, not enough interest im Science and not enough direction given to 
Science. What interest does the average individual really take in Science, 
and to what extent is he prepared to encourage it? The answer is, almost 
nil. Which is odd when we reflect that he recognises quite fully—as how 
can he fail to do ?—that at the present time both politics and economics— 
and some would add even religion—regarded as systems existing for human 
betterment, seem to have failed him, and Science alone is not bankrupt. 
Science has, indeed, loaded man with benefits, but he has shown an indiffer- 
ence to them, or a carelessness and a prodigality in his use of them, which 
is quite pathetic. 

A Spanish writer says, in this connection that, speaking for himself, ‘. . . 
the disproportion between the profit which the average man draws from 
Science and the gratitude which he returns—or, rather, does not return to 
it: this is terrifying. I can only succeed [he continues] in explaining to 
myself this absence of adequate recognition by recalling that in Central 
Africa the negroes also ride in motor-cars and dose themselves with aspirin.’ 

Not only are we ungrateful in thought and attitude, but ungrateful in mis- 
handling the benefits accruing from scientific endeavour. Blame Science ? 
We need not drive a car so fast that it kills, nor make a loud speaker so loud 
that it deafens. Science was made for man, not man for Science, and the 
one thing that matters is control. Are we going to drive the machine or 
are we going to let it drive us? Mr. Wells, in one of his inimitable 
word pictures, portrays civilisation as a high-powered motor-car gathering 
momentum on a precipitous hill, a quaking, gibbering monkey at the 
wheel, impotent to check its increasing speed. Not complimentary, but 
terribly suggestive. 

And who cares about the direction along which Science produces her gifts 
to mankind ? We have an astronomer royal, but we have no biologist royal, 
still less a psychologist royal. Is this a survival from the days when we 
thought the stars controlled our destinies? But if ‘ the fault is not in our 
stars but in ourselves, that we are underlings,’ as I believe it is, should we 
not ‘ do something ’ about this ? Hygiene of the body—the idea seems, at 
long last, to have been grasped : ‘ mental hygiene,’ after a long and painful 
labour, is, I think, being born: what of spiritual hygiene, the hygiene of 
temperament? I believe that the spirit of man is fundamentally as amen- 
able to scientific investigation, if not to control, as is his body and his mind. 

I hope I shall not seem sententious in what I am now saying. It 
was the most doleful of the prophets who declared that ‘the heart is. . . 
desperately wicked,’ but even he was not without hope about it. After 
all, the two essential desiderata were laid down thousands of years ago. 
‘ Know thyself,’ said one of the ancient philosophers. ‘ All is in this, that 
thou govern thyself,’ said another. And these two things Science can, and 
doubtless will, eventually assist us in helping to accomplish. God may 
“move in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform,’ but the mystery is 


THE STRAIN OF MODERN CIVILISATION 4607 


continually being made clear to us, and by Science ; slowly, of course, because, 
like Nature, who is but the material upon which she works, Science does 
not leap. There may be Design ; we know there is Law—cause and effect, 
“the Chancellors of God.’ Genetic or conditioned, probably both, there 
are reasons why one man is sweet tempered and another truculent ; why 
one preserves his morale and another loses it ; why one is inclined to observe 
the Golden Rule and another is blind to its vast significance. We want to 
know the reasons, and Science can tell us. 

Even if there be Design it is very unlikely that the pattern would be 
perceived by the scientist, however humble-minded—if such there be. The 
poet, perhaps... 

Amongst the remedies for the ill effects of the strain of modern life, then, 
I place first more Science and especially Science directed towards the study 
and development of the mind and the spirit of man. Then it behoves us 
to guard and support all those amenities which are actually in existence or 
which are struggling for recognition: leisure for the artisan, the factory 
hand, the labourer, the shopman and shop woman, the housewife—and for 
“all who grunt and sweat under a weary life’; slum clearance; playing 
fields ; national parks; the National Trust; physical education; adult 
classes; pictures; poetry; music; museums; libraries; architecture ; 
quiet for the brain-worker and for others. 

Whether our outlook be mainly that of the eugenist or that of the en- 
vironmentalist, we must not ‘ cease from mental fight’ until we have, by 
these and other means, ‘ built Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant 
land.’ I risk platitudes once more but again the major premise holds. 

But the critic may be saying: ‘ That’s all very well; you are only 
dealing with the individual ; it is the mass for whom you must prescribe, 
the mass that is arising here, and there, and that will determine the trend 
of civilisation in the near future, and even determine whether it continues 
to exist or not.’ But, personally, I see little hope for the people of this 
country through mass movements. Fascist or Communist, when individual 
freedom has been sacrificed I see no chance of achieving that control in 
the spiritual sphere through which alone, I believe, salvation can come to 
the human race. What matters the colour of men’s shirts if these are soon 
to be their shrouds ? Or what matters their numbers? ‘The falling birth- 
rate in this country is causing some people concern. As a disciple of 
Francis Galton I am much more interested in the quality than in the 
quantity of our people. 

When the clash comes, if come it must, between these two hordes of the 
new barbarians—civilised barbarians if you like—it may well be that the 
salvaging of the world, or its doom, may depend upon whether Northern 
and Western Europe, and America, have been able to preserve an indi- 
vidualised Society, or, like the two opposed masses in the dictator countries, 
have yielded to the tremendous pressure of what may prove to be a bastard 
civilisation and have caught the infection of despair. If our own indi- 
vidualities refuse to be tub-thumped, or intimidated, into a pulp, all yet may 
be well and the clash may be averted. Meanwhile, ‘‘‘ a plague on both” 
their blouses!’ We had troubles enough of our own with which we were 
busily, and not altogether unsuccessfully, coping: the loud-speaker next 
door, the roar of the sports model car up the street (night-silence for hooters 
notwithstanding); and now comes another fire-eating speech from a 
dictator on tour, or an account of one of these orgies of human sacrifice by 
which an executive hopes to maintain its precarious control. No wonder 
our nerves are kept on edge. 

Much of what I have just been saying may sound like a statement of my 


468 DISCUSSION 


own views on international affairs rather than the contribution of a doctor 
towards the treatment of a disease. But I wanted to emphasise my opinion 
that remedies that depend upon parading or dragooning patients in the mass 
are spurious remedies, and are therefore unlikely to be finally effective in 
freeing the world from the strain that it is suffering. 

Recently we have been witnessing the invasion of Medicine by mass 
methods, by direct action, by force. The results have been very disappoint- 
ing. ‘Too often we have had to admit that many of these therapeutic efforts 
did little more than demonstrate the triumph of technique over reason. 
We had to start all over again, working out the particular case, and following 
the indications carefully. That is, we did this if the direct action method 
still left us a patient to treat. 

We remembered—what we never should have forgotten—that it is only 
by this segregation and study of the individual, and attention to his particular 
needs, that we have any good chance of restoring him to health. It is for 
this reason that I have dealt with mass movements as efforts towards 
restoring that sense of security which is essential to national and to inter- 
national well-being. ‘The analogy from medicine is all against treating the 
crowd and all in favour of treating the individual. 

But it may be advanced that what may not succeed in Great Britain may 
succeed in Russia or in Germany. On this it behoves us to hold an open 
mind. But it also behoves us to be vigilant lest we sell the birthright of 
our national characteristic, which is individual freedom and poise, for one 
or other of the vaunted panaceas that are offered us from outside. I say 
all this at the risk of being charged with egregiousness—a common charge 
against Britons. 

There is another characteristic in the British patient: to treat him success- 
fully he must be treated through his intelligence and through his will, not 
through his emotions. He responds badly to the ‘ ¢a passe’ method. 

Nor shall we, if we be wise, listen seriously to the various panaceas offered 
to us from within. There are several of these. In respect of the worrying 
menace of war and the perpetual anxiety it creates, there is the doctor who 
says: ‘Sign a post-card against war, say you won’t have war.’ Which 
sounds reminiscent of that old story, attributed to President Coolidge, who 
laconically summed up the preacher’s sermon on sin by the statement, ‘ He 
was against it.’ Or as who should say, ‘ I don’t hold with cancer.’ But 
who does? This sort of thing does not help anybody. Whereas the senti- 
ment implicit in the question, ‘Who stands if Freedom fall? Who dies 
if England live?’ does help, nor is the man or woman who is braced 
by such sentiment necessarily a jingo or a blatant patriot. Ideals are 
essential for us all, and are invaluable tonics, but the British patient does 
better on a practical and an attainable ideal than on one which is, in this 
present world, too visionary. ‘ The test of truth in matters of practice is 
to be found in the facts of life, for it is in them that the supreme authority 
resides.’ / 

Then, just as we get the hypochondriac in matters of the body and of 
the mind, so there is in some quarters, or so it seems to me, a tendency to 
spiritual hypochondriasis. ‘There are folk who, to use Carlyle’s significant 
simile, spend much of their time looking at their own navels, and even 
comparing them with those of their friends: much too subjective an 
occupation to be healthy. We break up the hypochondriac situation by 
exhorting the patient to be more objective in his outlook and to leave his 
body alone. His body troubles him less when once he effects this orienta- 
tion. If for ‘body’ we read ‘ soul’ the same result may be safely pre- 
dicted from the same treatment. Following a medical thought I regard 


THE STRAIN OF MODERN CIVILISATION 469 


these panaceas as being of the nature of quack remedies, because I do not 
think that they really deal with the facts inherent in the situation. We are 
asked if Soviet Russia can change human nature. Frankly, I doubt if it 
can, because I think the change must come from within and not from 
without. 

And if we are given time, and given freedom from paralysing fear—Fear, 
the Arch-Enemy—we can reduce these strains of modern life by effecting 
a better adjustment in ourselves to the rapidly changing conditions of our 
times, reducing the pace at which we live, and achieving control. Given 
time to meet, and to know each other better, we can pool our various national 
traits. In the last analysis we are mostly good fellows with similar needs 
and probably with similar destinies. : 

It may be noticed that I have not attempted that most difficult of all 
considerations in regard to the patient—a prognosis. In this connection, 
I can only re-state my faith in the individual and in the enormous potenti- 
alities of the human spirit. Individual, did I say? After all, is it not a 
handful of individuals that guides the vast moral experiment now proceed- 
ing in the East of Europe, another handful that drills humanity in the 
centre and one individual alone who balances himself dramatically, as on a 
tight-rope, before the breathless crowd in the South ? 

And even here at home, who knows how much turns upon whether a 
prime minister’s pipe is clean or foul, or if the head of the Foreign Office 
has had a sufficiency of sleep—so essential in the young, and especially in 
the young who possesses great gifts ? 

If doctors had political colour, like lawyers, it must needs be Liberal, 
and—I speak entirely without prejudice—I think a re-birth of that spirit 
in British politico-social life would be one of the best medicines that our 
strained lives could have administered to them. 

When Browning makes Paracelsus say: ‘ Make no more giants, God, but 
elevate the race at once,’ he seemed to subscribe to the element of charla- 
tanry with which tradition debits that romantic figure. As I have already 
said, I do not think the cure will come that way. I believe that only ‘ man 
can elect the universal man.’ But I have faith that the human heart is 
‘made of penetrable stuff.’ I do not think that ‘damned custom’ has 
‘braz’d it so, That it is is proof and bulwark against sense,’ though at 
this moment a morbid Hamlet, were he looking on, would doubtless take 
that view. 

I think, rather, that there are still enough people, ‘whose blood and 
judgment are so well commingled That they are not a pipe for Fortune’s 
finger To sound what stop she please,—enough of these sturdy folk to 
check the disease and to re-establish health. ‘The treatment is the treat- 
ment of the individual by the individual. Any physician who can inspire 
“Gentleness, Virtue, Wisdom and Endurance’ will help to hasten and 
ensure the cure. Any physician who cannot prescribe such remedies 
obstructs the cure and should stand aside. 

Is it permissible, in an assembly of scientists, to end on a transcendental 
note? If so, I would remind myself that the spirit of man, though often 
needing comfort and reassurance, and perhaps never more than now, is 
still the dominant factor in all the experiences that it meets, be those 
experiences in the bodily, mental and spiritual health of the individual 
or of the race. 

‘The Lords of life, . . 
I saw them pass, 
In their own guise, .. . 
Portly and grim, . . 


470 


DISCUSSION 


Surface and Dream, .. . 

Some to see, some to be guessed, 

They marched from east to west : 

Little man, least of all, 

Walked about with puzzled look. 

Him by the hand dear Nature took, 
Dearest Nature, strong and kind, 
Whispered, “‘ Darling, never mind ! 
To-morrow they will wear another face, 


|? > 


The founder thou ; these are thy race ! 


REFERENCES TO PUBLICATIONS OF 
COMMUNICATIONS TO THE SECTIONS 


AND OTHER REFERENCES SUPPLIED BY AUTHORS. 


‘The titles of discussions, or the names of readers of papers in the Sections 
(pp. 320-446), as to which publication notes have been supplied, are given 
below in alphabetical order under each Section. 

_ References indicated by ‘cf.’ are to appropriate works quoted by the 
authors of papers, not to the papers themselves. 

General reference may be made to the issues of Nature (weekly) during 
and subsequent to the meeting. 


SECTION A. 


Evolution of the Solar System, discussion.—Nature, 188, 3491, p. 532 
Sept. 26 (1936). 

Production and technical application of high voltages, discussion.— 
Nature, 188, 3493, p. 605, Oct. 10 (1936). 

Allibone, Dr. T. E.—World Power, Oct. (1936); Nature, 188, 3493, 
p- 605, Oct. 10 (1936). 

: Astbury, Dr. W.—Cf. Nature, 187, 803 (1936) ; Journ. Text. Inst., 27, 
282 (1936); ‘ Fundamentals of Fibre Structure,’ O.U.P. (1933); Phil. 
Trans. Roy. Soc. A., 232, 333 (1933) ; Biochem. Fourn., 29, 2351 (1935). 

Fairbrother, Dr. J. A. V.—Proc. Roy. Soc. A., Oct. 1 (1936). 


] 
Griffiths, Dr. E.—Cf. ‘ Simple Forms of Automatic Regulators,’ read to 
Conference on Automatic Regulators, Chemical Engineering Group, Soc. 
: of Chem. Ind., Oct. 15 (1936). 

Hartmann, Prof. Dr. J—To appear in Engineering and in part in Phil. 
Mag. ; cf. Videnskabernes Selskab. Mathematisk-fysiske Meddelelser (Copen- 
hagen), 1, 13 (1919); Phys. Rev., 20, 719 (1922); V.S.M.-f.M., 7, 2 
(1925); ibid., 7, 6 (1926); fourn. Scientific Instruments, 4, 101 (1927) ; 
V.S.M.-f.M., 10, 4 (1930); Proc. 3rd Intern. Congr. Appl. Mechanics, 
Stockh., 3, 329-334, Aug. 24 (1930) ; Phil. Mag.,11, 926-948 (1931); Journ. 
de Physique, 7, 49 (1936). 

Jeffreys, Dr. H.—(Solar system, discussion) ; cf. Monthly Notices, R.A.S., 
89, 636-641 and 731-738 (1929), ibid., 94, 823-824 (1934) ; (Temperature 
in earth’s crust), Gerlands Beitrdge z. Geophys., 47, 149-170 (1936). 

_ Lyttleton, R. A——Monthly Notices, R.A.S., 96, 559-568 (1936) ; Nature, 
138, 3491, pp. 532-533, Sept. 26 (1936). 
McCrea, Prof. W. H.—Nature, 188, 3491 pp. 532-533, Sept. 26 (1936) ; 
see also Lyttleton, R. A. 

Marshall, C. W.—Electrician, Sept. 25 (1936) ; Electrical Review, Sept. 18 
1936). 
Mathieu, Dr. M.—To appear in Journ. de Physique and Bull. Soc. Chim. de 
rance. 


Pa He rey 


472 REFERENCES TO PUBLICATIONS, ETC. 


Milne, Prof. E. A——To appear in Proc. Roy. Soc. A. (Kinematics, Dyna- 
mics, and the Scale of Time) ; cf. Proc. Roy. Soc. A., 154, 22-52 (1936) ; 
Proc. Roy. Soc. A., 156, 62-85 (1936). 


Speakman, Dr. J.—Yourn. Soc. Dyers & Colourists, 52, 335, 380 (1936) ; 
ibid., Nov. (1936). 

Vegard, Prof. L.—To appear in Geofys. Publ., Oslo; cf. Geofys. Publ., 9, 
11 (1932) ; ibid., 10,4 (1933) ; ibid., 10, 5 (1933); zbid., 11 (1935) ; Zs. 
Physik., 88, p.. 709 (1934) ; tbid., 94, p. 413 (1935) ; Norsk. Vid. Akad. Avh., 
1, 12 (1934) ; Nature, 187, p. 778 (1936). 


DEPARTMENT A*. 


Theory of complex atoms, report of discussion to appear in Nature. 

Erdés, Dr. P.—To appear in Bull. Inst. Math. et Mec. (Tomsk). 

Estermann, Dr. T.—To appear in Acta Arithmetica, 2, pt. 2. 

Offord, Dr. A. C.—Cf. Journ. Lond. Math. Soc., 11, 171 (1936) ; Proc. 
Lond. Math. Soc. (in the press). 

Swirles, Dr. B., cf. Proc. Roy. Soc. A., 152, pp. 625-649 (1935). 


Taussky, Dr. O.—Cf. Fourn. fiir die reine und angewandte Mathematik, 
168, pp. 193-210 (1932); zbid., 171, 19-41 (1934); ‘ Remark on Class 
Field Tower’ and ‘ Remark on Unramified Class Fields,’ to appear in 
Journ. Math. Soc. Lond. 


SECTION B. 


Electroplating, discussion.— Nature, 188, 3495, p. 707, Oct. 24 (1936). 
Appleby, M. P.—To appear in Chemistry and Industry. 

Cronshaw, C. J. T.—Chemistry and Industry, Oct. 23 (1936). 

Ellingham, Dr. H. J. T.— Metal Industry, 49, 324 (1936). 

Lampitt, Dr. L. H.—Yourn. Soc. Chem. Industry, 55, 770-774, Oct. 9 


(1936); cf. ‘Some Fundamental Scientific Problems in the Food Industry,’ 


Fourn. Soc. Chem. Ind., 58, 283-290 (1934) ; ‘ Food and the World,’ Journ. 
Roy. Soc. Arts, 84, 411-422 (1936). 


SECTION C. 


Correlation of Coal Measures, report of discussion, by Prof. A. E. True- 
man.—Nature, 188, 3495, p. 705, Oct. 24 (1936). 


Clift, S. G.—Cf. Quart. Fourn. Geol. Soc., 85, 1, p. 77 (1929); Trans. 
Inst. Min. Eng.,'78, 5, p. 266 (1930). 


Dix, Dr. E—Cf. ‘ Sequence of Floras in Upper Carboniferous,’ Trans. 
Roy. Soc. Edin., 57, pt. 3 (1934); ‘ Correlation of coal seams by micro- 
spores,’ Colliery Guardian, no. 3955, p- 748 ; ‘ Succession of fossil plants 
in S. Wales coalfield,’ Rep. Cong. Carb. Strat. Heerlen (in preparation). 

Mitchell, Dr. G. H—To appear in Summary Prog. Geol. Surv. for 1935, 
pt. 2, p. I (1936). 

Richey, J. E.,and Kennedy, Dr.W. Q.—To appear in Mem. Geol. Surv., 
‘ Summary of Progress,’ pt. 2 (1936). 


REFERENCES TO PUBLICATIONS, ETC. 473 


Slater, L—Cf. Report of Director of Fuel Research (D.S.1.R.), for years 
ending 1933-4-5. 

Smith, W. Campbell.—Cf. ‘ The Volcanic Region around the southern end 
of Lake Rudolf, Kenya Colony.’ To appear in Zeitschrift fiir Vulkanologie. 

Tonks, L. H.—To appear in Mem. Geol. Surv. 

Trueman, Prof. A. E.—Cf.‘ The Value of Non-marine Lamellibranchs in 
the Correlation of the Upper Carboniferous ’ (with Dr. E. Dix). To appear 
in Report of Congress of Carboniferous Stratigraphy, Heerlen. 


Weir, Dr. J.—Cf. Nature, 188, 3495, p. 705, Oct. 24 (1936) ; Trans. Roy. 
Soc. Edin., 58, pp. 697-751. 


SECTION D. 


Allan, Dr. D. A—Museums Journ., 36, 7, p. 308, Oct. (1936). 

Carpenter, Prof.G. D. Hale-—Cf. Nature, 188, 3494, p. 686, Oct. 17 (1936). 

Dakin, Prof. W. J.— Museums Fourn., 36, 7, p. 310, Oct. (1936). 

Ford, Dr. E. B—Cf. ‘ Mendelism and Evolution’ (Ford), 2nd edn., 
London (1934) ; Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 78, 345-351 (1930). 

Frost, Miss W. E.—Expected to appear in publications of Roy. Irish Acad.; 
cf. ‘ The Chironomical Fauna of the Mosses of the R. Liffey,’ by C. F. 
Humphries, with ecological data by W. E. Frost, R.I.A. (In the press.) 

Greenwood, Dr. A.W.—Expected to appear in Empire Journ. Exptl. Agric. 

Hardy, Prof. A. C.—Cf.‘ The Plankton of the South Georgic Whaling 
Grounds and Adjacent Waters’ (1926-27), pt. 5, Discovery Repts., 11, 
273-364 ; cf. Proc. Linn. Soc., 148, 64-70. 

Hinton, M. A. C.—Museums Journ., 36, 7, p. 309, Oct. (1936). P 

Mortimer, Dr. C. H.—Naturw. Fourn., 28, 476 (1935) ; Verhandl. deutschen 
Zoolog. Gesellschaft, p. 135 (1935) ; Zoolog. fahrbiicher abt. f. allg. Zoolog. u. 
Physiolog. d. Tiere., 56, 323 (1936). 

Spaul, Prof. E. A.—Expected to appear in Journ. Exptl. Biol. and Proc. 
Zool. Soc. 

Stendall, J. A. S.— Museums Fourn., 86, 7, p. 311, Oct. (1936). 

Stephen, Dr. A. C—Museums Fourn., 36, 7, p. 310, Oct. (1936). 


SECTION E. 


Doveton, Miss D. M.—Geog. Fourn., Oct. (1936). 

Gresswell, R. Kay.—Expected to appear in Geog. fourn.; cf. Southport 
Visitor, p. 20, Feb. 15 (1936); Rep. Southport Sc. Soc., 99-102 (1934-5) ; 
ibid., 149 (1935-6) ; ibid., 103-104 (1934-5). 

Henderson, Dr. W. O.— Manchester Guardian, Sept. 11 (1936). 

Hobbs, Prof. W. H.—To appear in full in Ann. der Hydrographie, See- 
warte, Hamburg; Tageblatt, Hamburg, p. 1, Oct. 13 (1936); Morning 
Post, Sept. 15 (1936) ; cf. Geografiska Annaler (Stockh.) ; Geog. Rev. (New 
York). 

Kimble, George H.—To appear in Mariner’s Mirror (Fourn. Soc. Naut. 
Res.) ; cf. Scot. Geogr. Mag., 49, Mar. (1933); Amer. Geogr. Rev., 28, 
Oct. (1933). 

Kitson, Sir A. E., Financial Times, Sept. 12 (1936) ; Colliery Guardian, 
Oct. 5 (1936). 


R 


444 REFERENCES TO PUBLICATIONS, ETC. 


SECTION F. 
Beveridge, Sir Wm. H.—Economica, Nov. (1936) ; ibid., Feb. (1937). 
Byng, E. S.—The Accountant, Oct. 17 (1936); Human Factor, Nov. 
(1936) ; to appear in British Management Review. 
Darling, G.—Reynolds Newspaper, Oct. 20 (1936). 
Digby, Miss M.— Year Book of Agricultural Co-operation (1937). 
Lee, C. A.—To appear in Human Factor. 


SECTION G. 


A general report of the transactions of this section, together with full 
reports as noted below, appeared in Engineering, Sept. 18 (1936), et seqq. 

Batson, R. G.—Engineering, p. 403, Oct. 9 (1936); zbid., p. 434, Oct. 16 
(1936). 

Davies, A.—Engineering, p. 321, Sept. 18 (1936). 

Deane, H. J.,and Latham, E.—Engineering, p. 329, Sept. 25 (1936) ; zbid., 
P- 377, Oct. 2 (1936). 

Fryer, E. H.—Engineering, p. 351, Sept. 25 (1936). 

Lanchester, Dr. F. W.—Engineering, p. 347, Sept. 25 (1936); zbid., 
p. 376, Oct. 2 (1936). 

Latham, E.—See Deane, H. J. 

Marchant, Prof. E. W.—Engineering, p. 457, Oct. 23 (1936). 

Rawlings, Dr. A. L.—Engineering, p. 429, Oct. 16 (1936). 

Stanier, W. A.—Engineering, p. 305, Sept. 18 (1936) ; Modern Transport, 
Sept. 19 (1936) ; Railway Gazette, p. 441, Sept. 18 (1936) ; Engineer, p.285, 
Sept. 18 (1936); Locomotive Rlwy. Carriage and Wagon Rev., p. 313, 
Oct. 15 (1936). 

Stiles, Dr. W. S.—Engineering, 3690, 372, Oct. 2 (1936) ; cf. ‘ Evaluation 
of Glare from Motor Car Headlights ’ (with C. Dunbar), D.S.I.R. Illumina- 
tion Res. Tech. Paper, No. 16, H.M. Stat. Off. (1936) ; cf. ‘ Comparison of 


the Revealing Powers of White and Coloured Headlight Beams in Fog,’ 
Illum. Eng., Apr. (1936). 


SECTION H. 


Davies, E.—Cf. Journ. Anthrop. Inst., 66, pp. 129-187 (1936). 
Dunlop, Miss M.—To appear in summary in Man. 


Earthy, Miss E. D.—The World’s Children, p. 8, Oct. (1936) ; to appear 
in Man. 


Gates, Prof. R. R.—‘ Recent Progress in Blood Group Investigations,’ 
Genetica, 18, 47-65 (1936); cf. Eskimo Blood Groups, Man, 35, 33-34 
(1935), and Tibetan Blood Groups, Man, 36, 110-111 (1936). 


Hornell, J—Cf. British coracles, pt. 1, fourn. Soc. Nautical Res. (The 
Mariner’s Mirror), 22, 5-41, Jan. (1936) ; pt. 2, ibid., 261-304, July (1936) ; 
cf. The curraghs of Ireland, zbid., 38, Jan. (1937) and Apr. or Jul. (1937). 

Lindgren, Dr. E, J.—Expected to appear in Journ. Roy. Anthrop. Inst. 


(1937) ; cf. ‘ Reindeer Tungus of Manchuria,’ Journ. Roy. Centr. Asian 
Soc., Apr. (1935). 


REFERENCES TO PUBLICATIONS, ETC. 475 


Paget, Sir R.—Cf. Proc. Roy. Inst., pp. 113-135 (1935); Nature, 187, 
3462, p. 384, March 7 (1936). 
Peate, I. C._—Antiquity, Dec. (1936). 


SECTION I. 


The architecture of life, discussion.—Nature, 188, 3493, p. 607, Oct. 10 
(1936). 

Collier, Dr. H. E.—Expected to appear in Brit. Med. Fourn. 

Gatty, O.—Cf. Proc. Roy. Soc. A., 155, 886, pp. 704-706, July (1936). 

Hallpike, C. S., Hartridge, Prof. H., Rawdon-Smith, Dr. A. F.—Cf. 
Nature, 188, 3498, p. 839, Nov. 14 (1936). 

Horder, Rt. Hon. Lord.—WNature, 188, 3491, p. 529, Sept. 26 (1936). 

Melland, W.—fourn. Nat. Playing Fields Assoc., Jan. (1937) ; to appear in 
Social Service Review. 

Miles, Dr. G. H.—Human Factor, Nov. (1936). 

Quastel, J. H— Cf. Biochem. Fourn., 27, 486 (1933) ; Biochem. Fourn., 20, 
166 (1926) ; Proc. Roy. Soc. B., 107, 168 (1930) ; Trans. Far. Soc., 26, 853 
(1930) ; Biochem. Fourn., 22, 689 (1928) ; Biochem. Fourn., 27, 1753 (1933). 


Vernon, Dr. H. M.—(Fatigue in Industry), Human Factor, Nov. (1936). 


SECTION J. 


Crew, Prof. F. A. E—Fourn. Genet., 38, 1, pp. 61-102. 

Fox, C.—Expected to appear in Hibbert Fourn.; cf. ‘ Educational 
Psychology,’ cap. 2 (C. Fox), Kegan Paul. 

Griffiths, Dr. Ruth.—Cf. ‘ Imagination in Early Childhood ’ (Griffiths), 
Kegan Paul; Austr. Journ. Psych. and Phil., Dec. (1932). 

Lindgren, Dr. E. J.—Cf. Brit. fourn. Psych., 26, pt. 2, Oct. (1935). 

Oakley, C. A——Human Factor, Nov. (1936). 

Oeser, Dr. O. A—To appear in Brit. Journ. Psych., 27 (1937). 

Oldham, Dr. Hilda W.—To appear in Educ. Journ. Psych. 

‘Thomas, F. C.—Blackpool Gazette and Herald, Sept. 12 (1936). 

‘Tyler, W. F.—Cf. Journ. Balneol. and Climatol., 8, Feb. (1904) ; Journ. 
Trop. Med. and Hyg., Apr. (1907) ; Proc. Shanghai Soc. Enginrs.and Archts. 
(1911); Journ. of State Medicine, 42, no. 2; Fourn. Roy. Met. Soc., 41, 
no. 261. 


SECTION K. 


Alcock, Mrs. N. L., and Foister, C. E.—Cf. Scot. Journ. Agric.,19, no. 3, 
July (1936). 

Brenchley, Dr. W. E—Cf. Fourn. Ecol., 18, p. 235 (1930) ; ibid., 21, 
p. 103 (1933) ; bid., 24, p. 479 (1936). 

Caldwell, J.—Cf. ‘ Movement of Virus Agent in Tobacco and Tomato,’ 
Ann. App. Biol., 21, pp. 191-205 (1934); ‘ Local Lesions of Tobacco 
Mosaic Virus,’ Proc. Roy. Soc. B., 119, pp. 493-507 (1936). 

Foister, C. E—See Alcock, N. L. 


Fritsch, Prof. F. E—To appear in ‘ The Structure and Reproduction of 
the Algae,’ vol. 2 (Fritsch), to be published in 1938. 


476 REFERENCES TO PUBLICATIONS, ETC. 


Harris, Prof. T. M.—To appear in Meddelelser om Groenland (Copen- 
hagen). 

Némec, Prof. B.—Cf. Berichten der Deutschen Bot. Gesellschaft, 58, 6 
(1935) ; ibid., 54, 4 (1936); Bull. Internat. Acad. des Sciences de Bohéme, 
Jan. 17 (1936) ; Rozpravy 2. Tridy Ceske Akademie, 46, 13 (1936). 

Noble, Dr. M.—Expected to appear in Ann, Bot. 

Penston, Dr. N. L.—To appear in New Phytologist. Cf. ibid., 34, 4, 
296-309 (1935). 

Reese, Miss M.—Long abstract in Water and Water Engineering, Jan. 
(1937) ; to appear in full in Journ, Ecol. 


Richardson, Dr. M. M.—Cf. Journ. Genet., 32, 3, 411-450. 


DEPARTMENT K*. 


Utilisation of home-grown timber, discussion——Timber Trades Fourn., 
pp. 843-848, Sept. 19 (1936). 

Agate, J. W. G.—Timber Trades Fourn., p. 844, Sept. 19 (1936). For. 
Fourn., Jan. (1937). 

Boulton, E. H. B.—Timber Trades Fourn., p. 848, Sept. 19 (1936). 


Donald, D. W.—Timber Trades Fourn., p. 846, Sept. 19 (1936); cf. 
Timber News and Sawmill Chronicle, 45, 2023, p. 58 (1936) ; Quart. Journ. 
For., 80, 2, p. 111 (1936). 


Long, A. P.—Quart. Journ. Forestry, Jan. (1937). 
Pearson, F. G. O.—Timber Trades Fourn., p. 845, Sept. 19 (1936). 
Smith, John T.—Timber Trades Fourn., p. 843, Sept. 19 (1936). 


SECTION L. 


Cultural and social values of science, discussion.—Nature, 188, 3492, 
p- 594, Oct. 3 (1936) ; Education, 68, 1760, Oct. 2 (1936). 

Dymond, T. S.—To appear in Agric. Prog., 14, Mar. (1937). 

Hall, Sir A. D.—To appear in ‘ Cultural and Social Values of Science’ 
(Hall), George Allen and Unwin (in preparation). 

Hogben, Prof. L.—Education, 68, 1760, Oct. 2 (1936). 

Russell, Sir John.—Cf. ‘The Rural School in the Modern World,’ 
Folkestone Conf., N.U.T. (1932) ; ‘ The Changing Countryside : How can 
we train the children for it?’ Address to Univ. Court; Univ. Wales, 
Denbigh, Dec. 14 (1933) ; ‘ The School and the Research Institute,’ Deira 
(Mag. Durham County Assoc. Teachers), Nov. (1934). 


Wintringham, Mrs. M.—Lecture Recorder, 6, 3, p. 70, Oct. (1936). 


SECTION M. 


Soil problems, discussion.—Nature, 188, 3495, p. 729, Oct. 24 (1936). 
Fenton, E. Wyllie —Expected to appear in Scot. Geog. Mag. ; cf. Torquay 
Nat. Hist. Soc. Trans. and Proc. (1926 and 1932); Scot. Geog. Mag., 49 


(1933) ; Scot. For. Journ., 49 ; fourn. Ecol., 28 (1935) ; Agric. Progress, 18 
(1936) ; Scot. fourn. Agric., 19, no. 2 (1936). 


REFERENCES TO PUBLICATIONS, ETC. 477 


Hall, Sir A. D.—To appear in Journ. Scot. Dept. Agric. 
Kay, Prof. H. D.—Scot. Journ. Agric., Jan. (1937). 


Murphy, Prof. P. A.—Farmers’ Gazette, Dublin, Sept. 19 (1936) ; Ulster 
Farmer, Belfast, Oct. (1936). 

Orr, John.— To appear in Scot. Journ. Agric., Jan. (1937) ; cf.‘ Grass and 
Hay Farming,’ Manchester U.P. 

Smith, A. D. Buchanan.—Expected to appear in Scot. Journ. Agric., 
Jan. (1937). . 

Watson, Prof. J. A.S.—Scot. Journ. Agric., Jan. (1937). 


EVENING DISCOURSES. 


FIRST EVENING DISCOURSE 
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER II, 1936. 


SCIENCE AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING* 


BY 
CLIFFORD C. PATERSON, O.B.E. 


THERE are here two lamps. A casual glance does not indicate any great 
difference between them. ‘That is because one of them is one of the very 
latest products of the research laboratories of the industry of modern lamp 
manufacture. It is the latest born of a family of which the brothers and 
sisters are very different from this, for they have the most varied colours 
and shapes. We see some of them high up on buildings—long stems of 
different coloured light; others as brilliant sources lighting our streets 
with yellow or with greenish light ; others in large reflectors floodlighting 
buildings with colours. The experience gained with all these other 
members of the family has in effect led research men to this latest simple 
and ordinary looking lamp. ‘They are modern—these lamps—the new 
generation of the lighting world. 

This other lamp is the youngest descendant of an ancient and illustrious 
line, an entirely different family, which started nearly sixty years ago at 
Newcastle, when Joseph Swan first showed how a fine stem of carbon could 
be made to glow in a vacuum when electricity was passed through it. His 
was one of the very earliest electric lamps. Since that day few industrial 
products have had lavished upon them a greater measure of scientific 
thought and research. This research has had for its object to obtain as 
much light as possible out of a current carrying filament, with as small an 
expenditure of electricity as possible. The result of all the effort has been 
to yield an improvement, of about ten times, of the modern filament lamp 
over Swan’s lamp of sixty years ago. 

Scientific research on the newer and more varied family of lamps is 
naturally being carried on with the greatest intensity. 

I want first to use these two lamps to illustrate the two fundamentally 
different methods for producing electric light. In the one we obtain light 
from solids, in the other from vapours or gases. In the newer kind of 
lamps the light comes from vapour which becomes brilliantly luminous 
when electricity is made to pass through it. The inner part of the lamp 
is only a container for a very small volume of vapour contained in a space 
about 1 in. long and } in. diameter. A current has to be made to pass 
along this little enclosure. The secret of success has lain, of course, in 
learning how to do this with the materials which nature and man’s art 
can put at our disposal. But we need not concern ourselves at the moment 
with how it is done. ; 

* Readers who wish to pursue this matter in greater detail are referred to the © 


Journal of the General Electric Co. Ltd., Wembley, Feb. (1937), in which the dis- 
course is printed complete with illustrations, and from which reprints are available. 


SCIENCE AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING 479 


It should be observed that it is the vapour which carries the electric 
current. The current is led up to this metal termination, or electrode, and 
leaves again from this similar electrode, at the other end of the space. 

Now, there is nothing in that space except molecules of vapour—in this 
particular lamp the vapour of mercury. When free molecules like this are 
compelled to carry electricity, they are at first somewhat reluctant to respond, 
but once they are put into a condition to respond they enter into the spirit 
of the thing with such excitement and vigour that their extreme activity is 
none too easy tocontrol. The intensity of the light in this lamp is a measure 
of the vigour with which the molecules of vapour are responding to the 
conditions of stimulation which we arrange for them. 

But the fact I want you to note is that the molecules will only respond 
in their own particular way and they show their peculiarities by the nature 
of the light they emit. Just as we can only get pansies from pansy seed 
and grass from grass seed, so does the mercury molecule, the oxygen, or 
the hydrogen molecule, or that of any other gas or vapour have its own 
characteristics. One of these characteristics is the peculiar composition 
of the light it gives out. A casual glance shows that the light from this 
mercury lamp has a special colour. If instead of letting the different 
components of the light come to our eyes as they are here, all jumbled 
together, we put them through a spectrograph, we can separate them and 
see precisely what are the colours which the mercury molecules are sending 
out and, when mixed up, give the particular colour which we see. 

This spectrum—or analysed light—from mercury vapour, is intended to 
represent pictorially the same thing. It will be noted that the colours are 
the same as in the actual spectrum. 

Here is the spectrum of a lamp in which the molecules of sodium vapour 
(instead of mercury vapour) are sending out the light. There is practically 
one colour only—yellow. 

Here is the spectrum of a lamp in which the molecules of neon gas are 
emitting light. 

This serves to show us what, from the point of view of the lamp maker, 
are the particular features of lamps in which electricity is made to stimulate 
the free molecules of vapours or gases. We shall return again to such 
lamps in a moment. 

But what about this other lamp—the familiar incandescent filament lamp ? 
This has a filament of tungsten metal which the electricity heats to a high 
temperature. Tungsten metal is also of course made up of molecules— 
tungsten molecules. Why do not the molecules of solid tungsten radiate 
light in the same kind of way as those of mercury which we have just seen ? 
They clearly do not, as you can see from this spectrum of the tungsten 
lamp which contains all the colours shaded into one another. Instead of 
sending out light of a few isolated colours it has light of all colours of the 
spectrum from violet to red. The spectrogram would be exactly the same 
as this if the material giving the light were any other incandescent solid or 
liquid. 

The reason is that the molecules of solid materials are not free, when 
stimulated, to radiate light individually. They become hot as the solid 
material which they compose is heated by an electric current ; the elements 
of which they are made up try to move in the way they would move if they 
were in free space. But they are constrained and fail to do so. Their 
efforts are degraded into a confused radiation of all colours. That is why 
solids, when incandescent, are all very similar in the nature of light they 
give out. Their light is very similar to that of the sun, which comes from 
incandescent vapours and gases under extreme conditions of pressure. 


480 EVENING DISCOURSES 


This reference to the sun’s light is by the way, but I mention it because its 
colour is on the whole what we like best for illuminating the people and 
things we ordinarily look at. ‘The incandescent filament being a rough 
imitation of the sun’s light also on the whole gives us satisfaction for 
illuminating purposes. 

You therefore ask, why do we want to break away from incandescent 
solids, and employ these vapours and gases which seem to give such highly 
coloured light ? ; 

The reason is easy to see if we look at this diagram. When we make 
light by causing electricity to stimulate mercury vapour the upper part of 
the diagram shows what we are getting from the mercury for the money 
we spend on the electricity : a stream of green light; somewhat smaller 
streams of blue and yellow light ; a trickle of violet light. There are also 
two other radiation streams which are not giving light, but which are 
nevertheless using up some of the electricity. One small stream is beyond 
the violet light. It is called ultra-violet, and we shall see in a moment how 
it can be used. The other stream is beyond the visible light at the other 
end and is called infra-red. This latter is heat without light ; very little 
of it is wanted. The electricity which is represented by this heat radiation 
is mostly wasted. But you see what a lot of useful light we get for the 
electricity we pay for in proportion to the amount which is wasted as heat. 

Now look at the lower diagram representing an incandescent solid—for 
instance, a filament. This shows what the filament gives us in return for 
the money we spend on the electricity which makes it white hot. The 
shaded part is the light we get. Look at the great torrent of energy wasted 
as heat and represented by the black area. 

Some of these vapours and gases are able to give us much more light in 
comparison with the wasted heat than the incandescent filament can ever 
hope to do. We therefore get from them more light for the money we spend 
on the electricity. 

That then is the lure of these electric discharge lamps. We like plenty 
of light and we like it cheap. 

Before we examine some of the very fascinating things connected with 
new electric discharge lamps, I want to spend five minutes thinking about 
filament lamps. They, too, have responded to research and skill expended 
with the object of making them more efficient. 

To make a filament lamp more efficient you can try to do either or both 
of two things. You can make the filament give out more light by running 
it hotter or, keeping the light the same, you can make it waste less energy 
by preventing it from losing so much of its heat. 

Before the war, when we had this ‘ cage’ type lamp, with its straight 
tungsten filament in a vacuum, we thought we had reached the end of lamp 
evolution. For tungsten, which is a most difficult material to work, has 
almost the highest melting point of any metal. It can therefore be run 
very hot, and no one could see how anything hotter, and at the same time 
more efficient, was possible. True, if the electricity were forced through 
this filament so as to bring it closer to its melting point, it became hotter, 
but the tungsten evaporated from the filament and the life was short. 

Why not then put gas in the bulb instead of having a vacuum, and thereby 
prevent the molecules of the tungsten being evaporated off ? 

The lecturer proceeded to show by experiment that the introduction of 
nitrogen into a lamp bulb containing a straight tungsten filament, diminished 
the light emitted from the filament by abstracting heat from it; further, 
that forcing more current through the filament in an attempt to increase the 
light output made the whole bulb so hot that it threatened to collapse. 


SCIENCE AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING 481 


Here was where research came to the rescue. A very brilliant series of 
experiments showed the unexpected fact that if we coil up the filament 
into a small space the movement of the gas past the filament is far less 
effective in carrying away the heat than if the same filament is stretched out 
straight. So we can use gas to suppress the evaporation and consequent 
wastage of the tungsten, and still retain a much larger amount of heat in 
the filament. 

Thus, here in this lamp is a similar filament wire coiled up into a fine 
spiral. It is amply brilliant. There is plenty of gas in this bulb, but the 
coiled filament is so much more retentive of heat in spite of the gas that we 
can heat it right up—hotter for the same life than when it was straight. 
When the lamp maker came to balance up the gain of light against the loss 
of energy by the gas he found he was distinctly to the good on the balance. 

Let us illustrate this effect of the difference between a closely coiled wire 
and an open coiled or straight wire. Here is a closely wound coil of thick 
wire. As we pass electricity through it it rises to a red heat. The compact 
form prevents the cooling air having very ready access to its surface and it 
gets quite hot. But note what happens as we now straighten out the spiral. 
There is the same electricity, everything is the same, except that now the 
cooling air has far readier access, and the wire readily loses its heat to the 
air which is streaming across it. 

Thus, we evolved the tightly coiled gas-filled filament lamp, and I hope 
its advantage can now be seen. It held the field for twenty years, in fact 
until a year ago. The coil of wire was extraordinarily fine, for it was 
necessary to spiral a yard of the finest wire into a coil only 14 in. long. 

You will already have been asking why, if this coiling improves things 
so much, we do not coil the coil, and make the hot element still more 
compact and therefore preserve its heat still more. This has now been 
done, but only after years of research—for the metallurgical and the 
electrical problems involved have been very baffling. Here is such a coiled- 
coil filament magnified. The larger proportion of the lamps made in this 
country for domestic use now have coiled-coil filaments and they give up 
to 20 per cent. more light for the electricity they use. 

Before we leave the filament lamp I think you ought to realise the skill 
and craftsmanship which goes to the making of one of these filaments. 
Consider the ordinary 40-watt lamp which we all use in our houses. The 
metal tungsten out of which the filament is made is one of the toughest and 
most refractory of metals. It is so hard that it has to be drawn hot through 
diamond dies, which therefore have to be pierced with holes—perfectly 
round holes—no more than the size of a fine human hair, for this is the 
size of the finished wire. ‘This wire diameter must be correct to within 
a half of 1 per cent., z.e. five millionths of an inch. Picture, therefore, a 
wire the size of a spider’s web thread, accurate in diameter and beautifully 
round and polished—and think of the craftsmanship of the girls who do 
this drawing. As one of them described it to me, ‘ It is like threading a 
wire you can’t see through a hole that isn’t there.’ This minute thread 
has then to be coiled with the greatest uniformity and equal precision, 
and this coil again coiled. Out of the 3,775 turns in the spiral of one 
filament not a single one must touch its neighbour, although there is only 
a space less than the thickness of a cigarette paper between any two turns. 
The whole diminutive structure has to carry electric current and stand 
being heated to within 25 per cent. of its melting point, and remain so for 
1,000 hours without distortion. Such filaments have to be made by the 
thousand and such are your black looks if one occasionally fails prematurely, 
that failures before 500 hours’ burning have been reduced to less than 1 per 


482 EVENING DISCOURSES 


cent. in the best makes. People think lamps are expensive! If the 
filaments were ten times larger so that they could be seen I believe people 
would think that they were worth more—notwithstanding the fact that 
they would be a hundred times easier to make. But the lack of gratitude 
in my fellows is not my theme this evening—so we will pass from the 
filament lamps. 


ELECTRIC DISCHARGE LAMPS. 


We saw just now that the enhanced efficiency of this vapour lamp was 
due to the absence of unwanted radiation. 

To show that the efficiency is actually much higher we have these two 
lamps, a vapour lamp and a filament lamp, both using the same amount of 
electricity. I think it is obvious from inspection that the vapour lamp 
contributes much more to the total light than does the filament lamp. 
Actually, in the comparison before us the amount is about three times as 
great. 

Now all vapours and gases are not so generous as mercury in the amount 
of light they give, so we have to choose carefully between them. 

There is a somewhat subtle fact here which we have to remember. Your 
eyes and mine are not equally sensitive to all colours. Here isa figure which 
shows by the height at different colours how much more readily our eyes 
can see with a given amount of radiation in one colour, say yellow-green, 
than with the same amount of radiation with blue or red colour. 

If we had two electric lamps giving out the same amount of light and 
both using a pennyworth of electricity a day, but one giving only blue light 
and the other only green light, the second one would appear to us to give 
five times more light than the other, because to our eyes, as we see from 
the diagram, the green light is more useful to see with ; in other words, it 
seems brighter. 

Here are the colours given out by the gas argon. You see the principal 
colours are in the red and violet end of the spectrum. There is also a little 
blue, but very little orange or green. Here is an actual lamp with argon 
gas in it. The colour is attractive, but you see it has not those colour 
elements to which the eye is more sensitive and the lamp in consequence is 
inefficient and on this account will hardly do for utility purposes. 

Here, on the other hand, is an electric discharge lamp which, in addition 
to argon, contains some solid sodium. On first switching current on to 
this lamp the colour obtained is very similar to that of the argon tube we 
have just seen. If, however, we vaporise the sodium by heating it, the 
brilliant yellow light characteristic of sodium is obtained. The colour is 
far from attractive for general lighting but it is efficient, first because its 
colour—yellow—is one to which our eyes are fairly sensitive, and secondly 
because there is so little other radiation of a non-visible nature. 

Here are a number of different gases through which electricity is passing. 
You see the large variety of colour which is possible, and can appreciate 
how it is that we have such cheerful colour effects in our city streets at night. 
For purely decorative work it is of course attractive to have as many colours 
as possible to choose from. 

Some of these tubes are fairly efficient, especially when considered as 
creators of coloured light. Neon gas, for example, with its rich orange-red 
light is about three times as efficient as a tungsten filament lamp in a red 
glass bulb and giving light of about the same colour. 

Each gas or vapour much prefers to operate alone. The presence of 
two gases or vapours in the same tube usually results in the suppression of 
the light from one of them, 


SCIENCE AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING 483 


Certain other additives—hydrogen for example—change the efficiency 
without much alteration of the colour. We have here a lamp with neon gas, 
fitted with a palladium tube for the purpose of admitting hydrogen. You 
will see when this is done that the light returns to normal as soon as the 
supply of hydrogen is stopped. Gases are not good mixers. 

Of all the gases and vapours you have seen three stand out as the most 
promising ones to use if we want light to be abundant and cheap. 

Cheap you say—yes, and what about the colour rendering of the human 
face? We have to go a step at a time. We have aimed first at high 
efficiency, and if this could be attained we have been confident that we could 
in time improve the colour. We will try to see how science and research 
have brought us, so far, in the direction of combining high efficiency with 
tolerable colour. I am going first to floodlight you successively with the 
light from sodium, neon, and mercury. Don’t look at the lamps themselves 
but at your surroundings. 

The sodium lamp is pretty bad and we don’t yet know a good way of 
correcting its colour—which is a pity, for at present it is the most efficient 
of all. It gives out, as we saw, just yellow light, and all objects, including 
our faces, are a monotone in yellow-brown. When it is used at the relatively 
low illuminations which prevail in street lighting it is tolerable, and is 
being employed for this purpose, for which it has certain advantages. 

Here is a colour chart which we will illuminate first by a tungsten lamp 
and then with a sodium lamp. It is obvious how such a lamp, used for 
general illumination, would take all the interest and colour out of our 
surroundings. 

The neon lamp has been used for floodlighting red-brick buildings, for 
which it is particularly suitable, and for obtaining other colour effects. 
Its luminous efficiency is about the same as that of the familiar gas-filled 
tungsten filament lamp. The light is, however, almost completely deficient 
in green and blue rays and considered as a lamp for general illumination 
purposes, neon has little to commend it. It has, however, been used 
together with special green tubes for efficient interior lighting—lighting, 
that is to say, which must give reasonably faithful colour rendering—and 
which, by the way, must be just sufficiently unfaithful to the complexion 
to be flattering. 

Owing to the high efficiency of the green tube used in these combined 
lighting units, the overall efficiency of the combination is approximately 
twice that of the tungsten filament lamps. But I would like to show you 
the beginning of something better—the result of some recent investigations. 
We find that if we coat the inside of a neon tube with a special luminescent 
powder. the activity of the gas in the tube excites the characteristic 
fluorescence of this powder. It therefore gives out light, light of the 
colour we want which, as it mixes with the red light from the neon gas, gives 
us a series of agreeable colours very suitable for interior lighting. 

Here are three such tubes. The left-hand ends have been left uncoated 
so as to show what the light is like without the powders. In these coated 
tubes the presence of the powder not only improves the colour but doubles 
the light from them. 'The lowest of these gives a very fair white light. 

Hitherto it was only found possible to excite fluorescence to an appreciable 
extent by direct excitation of the powder by the electrons of which the 
current consists, or else by means of the mercury discharge, which is very 
rich in ultra-violet lines. 'The great advance lies in the discovery that neon, 
which is comparatively poor in ultra-violet light, can in certain circumstances 
and with suitable powders be made to excite luminescence. 

' I want to return to these luminescent materials shortly. But before 


484 EVENING DISCOURSES 


doing so let us examine the last of the three most promising vapours or 
gases. 

This is the mercury vapour lamp with which we are now floodlighting 
this hall. This in my opinion is the most interesting of the three, and we 
hope to demonstrate its considerable possibilities. The first thing you 
have noted is that it is anything but flattering to the complexion. True— 
and that is the worst of it. 

If our complexions had no red in them and were blue or yellow it would 
do excellently, for mercury, as we saw, has both these colours. It has also 
violet and, still more important, ultra-violet. Red is all it really lacks. 
We see this at once when we turn the light on to the colour chart. You 
will note that yellows, green and blues all show well—only red is deficient. 
Thus, light from mercury—unaided by luminescence—is better than that 
from either sodium or from neon, on account of the greater variety of colours 
in its light. Let us pass the colour chart across the sodium, neon and 
mercury lights in turn. There is no doubt that mercury gives the most 
colour. 

But one of the important advantages of mercury lies in the presence, in 
its radiation, of plenty of ultra-violet. This you will remember was 
radiation with a shorter wavelength than the visible blue—just too short 
to excite the seeing functions of our eyes. This ultra-violet radiation can 
be put to good use in exciting fluorescence. If the tube is not operated at 
a high temperature, the fluorescent powders may be applied to its inside 
surface, when the strong ultra-violet lines of mercury are able to exert 
their full effect. Here is such a tube. The right half of it is coated 
internally with a green luminescent material. ‘The left half displays the 
mercury discharge without the addition of luminescence. The increase in 
light due to the fluorescence is in this case about eight times. 

Now the glass walls of the intense mercury lamps (such as all here have 
probably seen in use for street lighting) are too hot to permit the powder 
to be applied directly. So in this case we must apply it to an outer envelope 
which does not become so hot. 

We now know of luminescent materials which, when stimulated by 
ultra-violet light failing on them, will give out visible light having a red hue. 
If we coat an outside bulb with this material the useless ultra-violet light 
is converted by the powder into useful red light and the colour of the light 
from the combination is thereby improved. It is not perfect, but it is 
greatly improved. 

Here is such an outside envelope coated with powder. Underneath it 
(and screened from you so that it does not dazzle) is an electric lamp using 
mercury vapour. Here is a length of multi-coloured cloth placed so that 
the light from the mercury vapour falls on it. We now lower once or twice 
the envelope over the lamp, and you will observe how the colour renderings 
are improved. ‘There is no loss of efficiency when this envelope is in place 
because the powder adds as much new light as it absorbs of the original 
light falling on it. 

These luminescent materials bid fair to play a considerable part in 
electric discharge lamp lighting. Whilst they have been known and used 
for different purposes for over a hundred years we are only now discovering 
how extremely bright they can be made, and how effectively the different 
methods of exciting them can be employed. 

As an example of this I have an experiment here which shows how 
powerfully these powders can be excited by the electrons present in the 
discharge. The tube is coated internally with a powder. At present 
there is a gas in the tube and the electrons which comprise the electricity 


SCIENCE AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING 485 


and which are passing along the tube are absorbed by the gas before they 
can reach the coating on the walls. This is therefore only feebly excited 
by the discharge. By means of a charcoal side-tube, cooled in liquid air, 
the gas can be absorbed and thus removed from the tube. As the pressure 
falls the distance the electrons can move without being interfered with by 
the molecules of gas increases, until they are able to strike the luminescent 
powder on the walls with increasing force. The powder is then seen to be 
excited to a brilliant fluorescence, which stops as soon as the gas pressure 
falls so low that no more electrons are present. If the charcoal is heated 
again by removing the liquid air the sequence of happenings takes place 
in the reverse order. 

Before leaving this interesting and important subject of fluorescence we 
should like to show some of the colours obtained by exciting these powders 
by a lamp from which the visible light has been removed by a special dark 
glass, thus leaving the invisible ultra-violet light only to come through. 
In order to show these effects in this large hall I have had the powders 
applied to sheets of cardboard, which we will now place successively in the 
beam of ultra-violet radiation. First of all here is an uncoated piece of 
white cardboard which does not fluoresce. This shows how little visible 
light comes from thislamp. Here is the powder with a reddish fluorescence 
which we have just used to improve the colour of the mercury lamp. You 
will observe how some of the powders continue to glow—or phosphoresce, 
as we call it, when the beam of ultra-violet light is cut off. 

All this, I hope, shows that the resources of science are by no means 
exhausted in helping us, without using any more electricity, to add the 
missing colours to light given out by some vapours and gases, thus making 
objects illuminated under such light look as they do in daylight. 


HicH-PrREssuRE Mercury Lamps. 


But that does not finish the story of the mercury lamp and its possibilities. 
In the lamps we have been examining so far, the mercury vapour is at a 
relatively low pressure when the lamps are burning. When we speak of 
the vapour being at a low or a high pressure we simply mean that there are 
respectively a smaller or a larger number of molecules of the vapour filling 
the space in the tube and through which the electricity passes. 

It was found four or five years ago that very great yields of light could be 
obtained from the passage of electricity through mercury vapour, if the 
pressure of the vapour were increased to about one atmosphere, as compared 
with about ;35 of an atmosphere in the older types of lamp. Further- 
more, research showed the way by which the higher pressure lamp could 
be made of simple construction. The result has been the improved lighting 
of hundreds of miles of streets in Great Britain. There are, in fact, some 
20,000 street lighting posts now fitted with these lamps. I have one of 
these lamps here. They are well known now, but I would like you to look 
at this projection of the luminous part of one of these lamps. The naked 
lamp is too bright and too small to see properly from a distance, but the 
greatly reduced brilliance of the projected image gets over this. It should 
be noted how the discharge concentrates itself in a sort of central cord of 
luminous glow. 

Now the increased intensity of this central luminous cord is the result 
of the electricity tending to confine itself to this narrow track, which it 
makes for itself through the molecules. The greater the number of 
molecules of vapour present (i.e. the higher the pressure) the narrower does 
this luminous cord become for the same electric current passing. This, 


486 EVENING DISCOURSES 


of course, makes the luminous cord intrinsically much brighter. We can 
in this way force electricity to make its track through denser and denser 
masses of molecules, with the result that we achieve brighter and brighter 
luminous cords. The temptation to push this process to the limit is thus 
very great, for although we do not necessarily obtain much more light for 
the electricity we use, we do obtain sources of light which have a most 
remarkable brilliancy—a quality which has important practical uses. 

The tube containing the discharge naturally gets hotter during this 
process of forcing electricity through it, and we soon find that the keeping 
of this tube cool is the main problem before us if we would push the process 
to extremes. 

Let us examine the phenomenon in stages. We are looking at the lamp 
in which the mercury vapour pressure is one atmosphere. The envelope 
is made from a special hard glass to withstand a temperature of about 
600° C. It takes 10 volts per centimetre of arc column to operate the 
discharge, and the brightness is 150 candles per square centimetre. 

Here is a small edition of the same lamp, using about the same amount 
of electricity but operating at a mercury vapour pressure of 10 atmospheres. 
The transparent envelope is of pure quartz, since the temperature now rises 
to about 1,000° C. It takes 50 volts per cm. to operate the discharge, and 
the brightness of the column is 700 to 800 candles per sq. cm., which is 
about five times as bright as the previous atmospheric pressure type. The 
bare lamp simply seems to have the same intense light as the previous 
atmospheric type ; this, however, is an optical illusion. We can perhaps 
appreciate better the difference in the brightness of these two sources if 
we project their images side by side on the screen. On these images, the 
smaller one is about five times brighter than the other. 

However, even quartz will not stand up to the very high temperatures 
it is possible to attain, and unless we make provision for adequately cooling 
the quartz envelope, the life of the lamp would be very short. 

In the next example we help matters further by keeping the quartz cool 
with a stream of water. In this way we are able to dissipate still more 
power in the tube. The volts per centimetre of arc column are now 300 to 
500, and the brightness reaches 30,000 candles per sq. cm., which is 
comparable with that of the high current density arc used for cinema 
projection and searchlights. We will look at the projection of its image 
first, it is above the other two. In comparison with the previous two lamps 
the greater brilliancy is obvious. We will now switch on a naked lamp. 
It does not do to look at it direct, or after image on our eyes may bother us 
for five or ten minutes. 

When we tax the qualities of quartz to the limit we can reach 150,000 
candles per sq. cm., 7.e. 1,000 times brighter than our first lamp. This is 
comparable with the brilliance of the sun itself. But under these conditions 
the quartz lasts only for a few minutes or seconds, even when cooled with 
water. 

Lamps of this type, when they become practicable, have one main 
purpose. Used in conjunction with mirrors or lenses they may take the 
place of carbon arcs and tungsten lamps for projectors—whether in aero- 
dromes, cinemas or searchlights—where they may possibly have advantages 
over the lamps in use for these purposes at present. 

Through the medium of these experiments I have been trying to picture 
to you the outlook at the moment of the scientific worker in the field of 
electric lighting. 'That outlook changes rapidly. We have seen that only 
during the past four years an increase of three times has been achieved in 
the amount of light obtained from a given amount of electricity. Secondly, 


SCIENCE AND ELECTRIC LIGHTING 487 


that during the same period the possibility has been demonstrated of making 
lamps of which the luminous component is certainly a hundred times 
brighter than the brightest filament previously available. 

These are very considerable technical achievements in which this country 
has been a pioneer, and industry in this country is not being slow to 
exploit them. 

Light is now becoming so cheap that it is folly to spare it, for its liberal 
use can contribute so greatly to safety and beauty in highway and garden, 
in our workshops and homes. 


APPENDIX 


A 
SCIENTIFIC SURVEY 
OF 


BLACKPOOL 


AND DISTRICT 


PREPARED FOR 
THE BLACKPOOL MEETING 


1936 


BY VARIOUS AUTHORS 


EDITED BY 
ARTHUR GRIME 


CONTENTS. 


I.—Preface : A Modern Holiday Resort. By ARTHUR GRIME. . oe 

II.— Amounderness’: A Regional Survey of the Fylde. By 

E. PRENTICE INTAWSON, Aoki sclescrensinr'« + nino siete olay aelo ree 

III.—The Fylde: Geology and Physical Features. By R. K. 
(GRESS WELL areietore vests svetsur teats tae thes eperenetene orale Paneer 16 
IV.—The Fylde: Phytogeography. By Marcaret DUNLOP... 20 
V.—The Peat Mosses of the Fylde. By F. WaALKER.......... 27 
V1I—HistoricaliGeography . 0) of 33. 2 foo b Seas cece e cece se 31 
VII.—Climate of the Fylde. By WILFRED SMITH ............. 34. 
VIII.—Main Centres of Population. By R. E. THomMpson ....... 39 
IX.—Place Names of the Fylde. By Emmert EkwWALL ......... 41 

X.—Agrarian Evolution since the Eighteenth Century. By 
WILFRED SMITH...........0.00: Piaiejet oiiaw et Shai ial oh ened 44. 
XI.—Agriculture of the Fylde. By J.J. GREEN.............. 50 

XII.—Transport in the Fylde by Road, Rail, Sea and Air. By 
ASHTON@DIA VAESYSE 1 S57 FRAME SE occ coo ere, weston 58. 

XIII. Lancashire Sea Fisheries. By Prof. J. H. Orton and 
EL SBAYINTER ri cuesat’s shoe eda Soleil iovs eter ae ae ee ns, abe reke 69 

XIV.—Growth of Blackpool as a Health and Holiday Resort. By 
Wis PO CURNOW 50's Heid aise eb eauteldce nto loaciae Dieiee Se eRe 74 
XV.—Municipal Life of Blackpool. By D. L. HaRBoTTLe...... 85 
XVI.—Blackpool Coast Defence Works. By H. BANKS......... 904 
XVII.—Education in Blackpool and District. By A. E. IkIn...... 103 
XVIII.—Water Supply. By JoHN HALL ..................00085 118 

XIX.—Vertebrate Fauna of the Blackpool District. By J. R. 
GRARNLEV inate apps Sceaperaiep agiinia oko 6s ets cele eee 119 
XX.—The Lake District: Geology. By T.Eastwoop ........ 129 
XXI.—Botany of the Lake District. By W.H. PEARSALL ....... 134 
XXII.—Mammals of the Lake District. By H.J. Moon........ 139 


XXIII.—Summer Bird Life of the Lake District. ByH.J.Moon.. 141 


XXIV.—Scientists of North Lancashire and Vicinity. By D. N. 
TEOWE «3; tbe a tuies os kos 5 sur onensta pl eae ens eee 143 


A’ SCIENTIFIC: SURVEY. OF 
BLACKPOOL AND. DISTRICT 


I. 


PREFACE: A MODERN HOLIDAY 
RESORT 


BY 
ARTHUR GRIME. 


Unuike the city of Norwich, where the British Association meetings were held 
in 1935, Blackpool is strictly of modern growth. It was a mere collection of 
ate hanees lids cliff, on the Fylde coast, in the Hundred of Amoundemess, at 
the end of the seventeenth century. When the order for incorporation as a 
municipal borough was granted in 1876, the population was only about 


Growth in the intervening period has been phenomenal. Blackpool has 
easily outstripped Fleetwood and Lytham, neighbours which once regarded it 
as'of secondary importance. It has now a resident population of about 


125,000, and at the height of the holiday season is liable to be invaded by 


debdile that number of visitors. 


. Blackpool exists primarily as a holiday resort. Together with its near 
neighbours, it acts to some extent as a dormitory for professional and business 
men who are engaged during the day at Manchester and East Lancashire 
towns, but its chief revenues are derived from the savings of the people who 
come for health and pleasure to its shore. 


Apart from one or two ill-defined residential areas, the whole of Blackpool 
is laid out for the entertainment of visitors. It has a few light industries, 
chiefly employing female labour, but there are few avenues for employment 
such as can be found in industrial towns of comparable size. 


Blackpool’s administrators keep steadily in mind its mission to cater for 
visitors. ‘They were the first to extract from Parliament (in 1879) the Rea 
to spend on advertising the town a sum equivalent to twopence in the 
the rateable value. Last year the Publicity Department had nearly £16, 000 
to devote to this purpose. 


6 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


The growth of the town continues. Already Blackpool’s buildings straggle 
almost continuously, but not quite, to Fleetwood on the north and Lytham 
St. Annes on the south. These towns will overlap before many years are past. 


In the meantime schemes for the betterment of Blackpool are under 
unceasing consideration. A new Town Hall is badly needed. So are 
adequate parking facilities for the motor-cars which flow into the town every 
fine day in summer in embarrassing numbers. 


By a rare combination of municipal and private enterprise, Blackpool has 
been made a prosperous holiday resort of world-wide fame in 60 years. The 
same persistence and ingenuity will be required to adapt it to the changing 
conditions of the past few years. 


Il. 


‘AMOUNDERNESS, 
A REGIONAL SURVEY OF THE FYLDE 


BY 
E. PRENTICE MAWSON, F.R.I.B.A., F.1.L.A., M.T.P.I. 


“We look backward that we may the better look forward’ might well be 
adopted as the town-planner’s motto. The present state of physical, 
economical and social development reached by this country, or, indeed, any 
part of it, has been brought about by a process of evolution dating back to the 
commencement of the Roman occupation, if not beyond. 


Every regional planning report which has so far been published contains a 
lengthy history of the area under review, and a close analysis of existing 
conditions. It is only by such study that the possibilities and potentialities 
of the future can be envisaged and guided along proper channels, and con- 
flicting interest harmonised. 


It is a far cry from the Roman occupation of England to the present day, 
and yet the fact remains that the foundations of our arterial road system was 
laid by the Romans. So beautifully was this system adapted to the contours 
of the land, so perfectly were the roads planned in relation to the natural 
resources of the country and the linking up of deep water harbours, that some 
of our most eminent engineers have stated that if the system had had to be 
planned in modern times, ab initio, it could not have been improved upon. 
In several instances in the post-war period when new arterial roads have been 
planned and built, the foundations of Roman roads forgotten and covered with 
the debris of centuries have been unearthed. 


*AMOUNDERNESS*: A REGIONAL SURVEY OF THE FYLDE 7 


Our castles, churches and monuments are heritages of the past. Our 
beautiful, ordered, rural scenery, with its hedges and trees, is for the most 
part the work of loving hands mellowed by time. 


The growth of population and the exigencies of industrial development and 
modern forms of transport have created, and must continue to create, many 
problems difficult but not impossible of solution if we would preserve this 
heritage of natural beauty and archeological interest. The word ‘ amenities,’ 
now so frequently used in Acts of Parliament, relating to town and regional 
planning, has a very real significance for all of us. 


There are few areas so rich in antiquarian and archeological interest and 
with such a virile and continuous connection with the history of England as a 
whole as the ancient Hundred of Amounderness—a history which takes us back 
2,000 years to the time when the area was peopled by the Setantii or Segantii, 
a branch of the Bregantes. They were not a building or planning community, 
however. So far as any traces of their occupation remain, they would appear 
to have had a few strongholds, but that is all. Their urns, tools, implements, 
canoes and so on are dug up at intervals all over the area, the principal 
discoveries being the following :— 


STREET Remains of Roman bridge. 

BLEASDALE ..... The Bleasdale circle, stockade and cinerary urns. 

Lunp Cuurcu Roman altar now used as a font. 

WESTON Several urns, and pottery discovered on a barrow 
or cairn. 

Wyre Cuirass picked up on the banks of the Wyre. 

KIRKHAM Boss or umbo of a shield. 

VALLEY OF THE 

Main Dyke Two or three hide-covered wood-framed canoes. 

KIRKHAM Roman coins. 

KIRKHAM Roman pottery, stones, prepared for building 
eight or 10 urns (some cinerary), stone hand- 
mills, axes, horse-shoes. 

DowsrIDGe.... Ancient medicinal spring and roadway, urns and 
ivory needles. 

RossALL 400 silver coins of Trajan, Hadrian Titus, 
Vespasian, Domitian, Antonius, Severus, 
Sibinia, etc. 

Cocie HALi Oak box fastened together with oak pins, con- 


CLauGHTON HALL.... 


VARIOUS. .... 


taining celts, arrow-heads, etc., now in 
Warrington museum. 

Two large convex brooches to form a box to held 
two beads of coloured paste and a mortar tooth 
enclosed in a wooden case. Also an axe and 
hammer, a stone axe maul head, iron spear head 
and iron sword, also an urn of baked clay 
containing charred bones. 

Celtic hammers, axes and spears taken from the 
Mosses in the district, also ‘ Druids’ Eggs’ or 
ornaments worn by the ancient British priests. 


8 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


These show that they must have inhabited it in considerable numbers and for 
a long period, but the sites worth preserving are few, the most noteworthy 
being the Bleasdale Circle. Those interested will find a full account in the 
Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society for 1889 
and 1900, Vols. XVII. and XVIII.; in the first, a short paper by the dis- 
coverer, S. Jackson, Esq., and in the latter, a full and complete description 
with scale drawings by Professor Boyd Dawkins, D.Sc., F.R.S., F.S.A. 


While the Setantii did not plan, their name, and that given in very early 
times to the region they inhabited, give us a clue to the nature of the area as it 
was in the early days in which they lived, and of factors which then existed and 
which possessed such individuality that they have controlled and explain much 
that we find to-day in the region.. Their name means ‘the dwellers in the 
country of the waters,’ and that of their country ‘Amounderness,’ from the 
Gaelic Ac, an oak; Mund, protection; and Ness, a promontory, clearly 
indicated that their country was a promontory densely covered with oak forests 
and protected by the sea on three sides, by dense forests on the higher and 
drier parts, and by bogs unpassable to anyone but those who knew them well, 
and were inured to considerable periods of immersion in water, thus giving 
them sanctuary, either from more warlike tribes, or those from which they had 
fled outcast. 


And the same picture of our area is conjured up by what we find wherever 
the old peat deposits are cut in two. Under Marton Moss, for example, lay 
the remains of a great oak forest obviously felled in its prime by an inundation 
of the sea, probably accompanied by a furious hurricane ; and elsewhere are 
indications of the same state of things : where land has been swallowed up by 
the sea, the stumps of a forest remain visible at very low water. 


This is what the Romans discovered when they arrived, and bearing this in 
mind, there has always been a large element of scepticism on the part of modern 
antiquarians as to the Romans ever having set foot in the area, notwithstanding 
the fact that it has been littered all over with Roman remains. The position 
would seem to be this—What should the Romans want to come here for ? 
If there are Roman remains, surely they may be accounted for by the fact 
that Roman methods of life were adopted by the Britons ? 


All the known facts, however, seem to be against the opposition, because 
in a close examination of the region we find so much in conditions as they are 
to-day which is most easily accounted for by the more popular tradition that 
Romans did come here. Indeed, we find the key to the whole position in 
Ptolomy’s map of the coast, which gives us substantial grounds for supposing 
that the Roman port, ‘ Portus Setantiorum,’ known to have existed in the 
neighbourhood, was in fact at a point where the channel of the River Wyre 
discharges into Lune Deeps, as the measurements he gives correspond more 
nearly with that position than with any other. We have this further fact to 
our aid, that at this point the channel has a vertical wall. Local navigators 
confirm this by the confident assertion that there is a masonry wall, the 
remains of a big wharf now sunk beneath the sea. Local antiquarians, on 
the other hand, postulate an outcrop of rock with a vertical face, either of 
sandstone like the neighbouring Preesal Hill, or limestone found a few miles 
away at and around Warton and the Carnforth district. In either case we 


AMOUNDERNESS’': A REGIONAL SURVEY OF THE FYLDE 9 


have corroborative evidence for the position as the site of ‘ Portus Setantorium.’ 
If there is a massive masonry wall there, no one but the Romans could have 
built it. If, on the other hand, before the sea encroached beyond it the rock 
foundation provided an almost perfect natural wharf, with deep water 
approaches and, at its eastern extremity, safe anchorage, in the (then) estuary 
of the River Wyre, what more likely than that it would be seized upon by such 
eminently practical colonists as the Romans, especially in yiew of their policy 
of conquest and colonisation of Ireland. 


Dane’s Pap AND Kate's PAp. 


I have dwelt at some length on the point of the position of the Roman port 
because, if it existed, it solves so many problems as to the nature and meaning 
of other features. The chief of these is that artificial ridge elevated above the 
surrounding moss, of which little remains to-day, but which was undoubtedly 
used by the Danes in their incursions on the coast as a highway, and which 
to this day is known as Danes Pad’. The late John Just, in a paper read before 
the Historical Society of Lancashire and Cheshire in 1850 said : “ Within a mile 
of the town of Poulton-on-Fylde are seen the first indications of the Roman 
road, connected with an occupation road from a farmhouse which stands 
eeieeast of the town down in the valley . . . But having got on to the 
high ground and to a part of the flats of the Fylde district, we meet the striking 
remains of a road on the turfy ground, where it has been piled up in an 
immense bank or agger, and serves, as it has done for years past, as a gravel 
bank for getting materials to mend and keep in repair the common road of the 
country. Across this mossy flat the line is very distinct, and as therein ditches 
separate the fields in lieu of fences, frequent sections of the road are made, 
particularly by the water cuts made for the drainage of the district years ago. 


* On the higher ground the whole line has long been obliterated and we are 
not favoured with any other evidence of the course it has taken until we again 
detect it in a low hollow towards Weeton Moss, which has not come within the 
influence of the general drainage just mentioned. Here is an immense 
embankment of several yards in height, its base standing in the water, which 
cannot get off from the isolation of its position. 

“Then over the higher ground, which is dry, we can observe but slight traces 
of the road in the gravelly substratum it has left upon the ground until we 
reach Weeton Moss, where again we have a good specimen. Here too, modern 
plunder is fast despoiling the laborious workmanship of the Romans. The 
gravel seems to have been brought from the debris of some river. The line 
hence directs itself up the rising ground to Plumpton, and as usual in this 
part, the line has been mainly obliterated by the cart and plough of the 
modern. From Plumpton, it directs its course to the windmill on the high 
ground between Weeton Moss and Kirkham, which there opens to the view. 
Slight tracings all along verify the track the road has taken. Near the wind- 
mill the road forms an angle, and thence joins the public road in a long, 
continuous straight line towards Kirkham. Numerous Roman remains may 
be detected in walking along the side of the modern road. The modern 
road diverges to the right at the foot of the hill, and the Roman road continues 


1See Map on page 59. 


10 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


straight forward through the well-cultivated fields to Kirkham without a single 
trace having been left on the ground. About midway within the long town of 
Kirkham, the line of the Roman road falls in with the main street and continues 
up to the windmill at the top of the town.’ 


The whole description, too long to quote here, goes on to trace the road 
through Clifton Church and thence to Fulwood, though, as he says, the 
evidence for this portion is slight. 


Porter, in his ‘ History of the Fylde of Lancashire,’ published in 1876, 
completes the route sketched by Just in the above quotation, when he says : 
“At the shore margin of the warren of Fleetwood, there was visible 

about 40 years ago (i.e., 40 years before 1876) the abrupt and broken 
termination of a Roman road, which could be traced across the sward 
along the Naze below Burn Hall, and onward in the direction of Poulton.’ 


These quotations would seem fairly conclusive were it not for the fact 
that local archeological opinion has varied in a totally different direction since 
they were written. 


J. Burrows, Esq., the present local representative of the Ancient Monuments 
Board, writing to the author in January, 1934, said : ‘ With regard to Dane’s 
Pad, the only evidence that exists relates to a raised path, probably of neo- 
lithic age, which stretched in Porter’s days from near Weeton Railway Bridge 
across the valley of the Main Dyke to Mythop. It has long since vanished. 

All the rest of the ““ Roman Road” from Ribchester to Poulton rests 
on the imaginative accounts of Just and Thornber, both of whom were without 
any status as observers. The rest of the authorities are mere quoters from 
Thornber. The late Mr. Clemesha and I actually walked over the whole of 
the alleged route, armed with the 6 inch Ordnance Survey Map, and nowhere 
found the slightest resemblance on or under the ground of a paved road.” 


The finds referred to are the existence of a made road and the abutments 
of a bridge across the Dow Brook close to Dow Bridge, together with the 
ancient medicinal spring, which have already been mentioned, all palpably 
very old and generally popularly assumed to be Roman. 


Whilst there is a conflict of opinion, the questions involved bear witness 
to the only point really material to the subject—that there was in, and possibly 
before the Romans came, a great elevated track, mound earthwork or causeway, 
giving a dry and elevated road across the marshes, in those days feet deep in 
water in parts, and that it connected the natural broken ridge running east 
and west, through Kirkham with Poulton-le-Fylde and the peninsula on which 
Fleetwood now stands. 

While this track may not account for the existence of these two old towns, 
often referred to as the northern and southern “ capitals’ of the Fylde, there 
can be little doubt that its presence has resulted in both their permanence 
and importance throughout the intervening ages, until the draining of the 
marshes, followed by the making of the railway, gave them a fresh lease of life 
as railway junctions. 

There was undoubtedly another track of great antiquity across the area, 
called locally Kate’s Pad®, and there would seem to be more general agreement 


2See Map on page 59. 


*AMOUNDERNESS.: A REGIONAL SURVEY OF THE FYLDE 1 


as to its origin as a Roman engineering feat, but its general route only is known 
as, although Thornber said in 1837 that large stretches of it existed in the 
then memory of living man, it was across the peat marshes, and, being a kind 
of * duck-board ’ walk elevated above the water on piles, the peat cutters have 
entirely removed it. Porter says that it ran across the mosses of Rawcliffe, 
Stalmine and Pilling, and Mr. Burrows, the present authority, says that it ran 
from the high ground near the ends of Aldwath (the old name for the ford 
which existed near the site of Shard Toll Bridge) towards Cockerham. 
Being of a lighter construction than Dane’s Pad, and therefore liable to 
destruction at points along its route from time to time, it is quite evident that 
it would not influence the original planning of the Fylde to anything like the 
same extent. A description of the earliest road system of the area would, 
however, be manifestly incomplete without its mention. 


Two other ancient roads, of which only traces remain and almost certainly 
of Roman origin, crossed the area in a north-westerly and south-easterly 
direction, the one connecting Lancaster with Preston, and the other Lancaster 
with that ‘Clapham Junction’ of the Roman transport, Ribchester, or to give 
it its Roman name, Rigodunum. It is only necessary to add that, of the Roman 
bridge shown on the route of the more easterly road, only the abutments 
remain. Their authenticity is, I understand, quite unimpeachable. 


Those parts of the general history of the Fylde, from the close of the Roman 
occupation to the more settled periods following the Stuart wars of succession, 
are one long series of growth and expansion of a particularly fertile and naturally 
prosperous district. But these settled periods were unfortunately alternated 
with barbaric destruction by one invader after the other, beginning with the 
Danes and persisting with distressing regularity to the days of the Roundheads, 
Cavaliers, Jacobites and Royalists. The fact that the district was so much less 
affected by the spirit of the Reformation can perhaps be accounted for by it 
being peopled to a large extent by persons of the Roman Catholic faith, and 
therefore Jacobite sympathies undoubtedly accounted largely for this and for 
the fact that settled and uninterrupted opportunity to make the most of the 
fertility of the soil and the mild and equitable climate, was only possible fairly 
late in its history. . 


How things stood at the time of the Norman Conquest may be seen fairly 
clearly from the fact that all the local place names in the Doomsday Book 
(that wonderful prototype of all modern regional surveys) represent places 
existing to-day, and, moreover, if we accept the Fylde Coast pleasure resorts 
of recent creation, those still of the greatest importance. Only two churches 
are mentioned (three in the whole of Amounderness), those at Kirkham and 
St. Michaels Wyre, but a third at Poulton-le-Fylde was erected very soon 
afterwards, even if it were not in building at the time. 


* The rest are water’ says the Doomsday Book, and, if the areas attached 
to each * vill’ in carucates is totalled and subtracted from that of the region as a 
whole, it will be seen how very large a proportion that water was. The 
Romans had doubtless begun the work of clearing the forests and draining 
the marshes, but it was not completed for a long time. Since then 
many valuable screen plantations have been planted and come to maturity, 
but much still needs to be done in this direction, and the preservation of that 


12 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


which exists, and all that can be done towards the encouragement of further 
planting should be a part of every statutory town-planning scheme for portions 
of the region. 


Turning now from the history of roads, and of the centres of population 
dependent on them, or rather mutually dependent upon one another, to the 
equally important subject of history as expressed in ancient buildings, one’s 
mind goes naturally, first of all, to the area’s only outstanding medieval 
fortress, Greenhalgh Castle. Secondly, the Premonstratensian Abbey of 
St. Mary-of-the-Marsh, known as Cockersand Abbey, which, whilst perhaps 
just over the border line of the area under review, i.e., the Fylde, nevertheless 
belongs to the ancient marsh area. Sufficient remains of both the castle and the 
abbey to form conspicuous and interesting features in the area. 


Greenhalgh Castle, originally a fortress, took the form of a square with a 
tower at each corner similar to that of which the ruins remain. It was erected 
by Thomas, Earl of Derby, as a protection against the outlawed barons and 
their outlawed and cut-throat followers under the depositions following the 
rebellions of that period. It led effectively to the pacification of the 
surrounding country, and remained until the Civil War, when it withstood a 
siege of two years in the Royalist cause. By 1649 the castle had been dis- 
mantled and lay in ruins. 


Cockersand Abbey lies near the estuary of the Rivers Lune and Cocker, on 
the verge of the shore. To this day the site is very remote, and lies away 
from the main roads. In earlier days access was even more difficult and 
dangerous. Founded in 1190, it takes its origin from the hermitage founded in 
1180 by Hugh Garth. The hermitage gave place to a hospital for the infirm 
and lepers, and belonged to Leicester Abbey. It was given to the White 
Canons of Croxton, who first founded a priory which was confirmed by Pope 
Clement III. in 1190, and within a further 10’ years rose to the status of an 
abbey. The only part of the building that now remains intact is the chapter 
house, which appears to be the only example of octagonal form in a Pre- 
monstratensian house in this country. A full account of the abbey is given 
in the ‘ Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society,’ 
Vol. XL. 

Most of the places mentioned in the Doomsday Book became the seats of 
families who ruled their neighbouring country for many generations, and in 
a few cases, at least, such as the Cliftons, of Lytham Hall, and their collaterals. 
persist to the present day. 


It is not, however, with the persons as with their seats and other buildings 
of historical interest for which they were responsible, that such a survey as this 
is most directly concerned. The outstanding fact seems to be that, most 
unfortunately from the archeological and artistic pomts of view, most of them 
have either been pulled down and re-built as farm houses, sometimes of a 
deplorably utilitarian kind, or have been re-faced with stucco and modernised 
internally, and thus have lost their original aspect so completely as to be almost 
incapable of restoration, even if the owners wished it. But some of them 
retain enough of their original character externally, such as Lytham Hall, 
Hackensall Hall, at Knott End, Naine Hall and Burn Hall, to be of the greatest 


interest to the artist, architect and antiquarian. 


*AMOUNDERNESS’: A REGIONAL SURVEY OF THE FYLDE 13 


The uninformed enquirer might naturally suppose that in this part of the 
country, untraversed as to its western portion by any of the great through 
routes of traffic and surrounded on three sides by water, on two of which, 
though fording would be possible, it would be very difficult, and in the third 
by the open sea, we would have found a sleepy backwater which would have 
allowed the world to go by without taking much part in its stirring events. 
The very opposite is the case. This is doubtless partly to be accounted for by 
the fact that from the very earliest times the lands of the areas were alternatively 
in the hands of and the gift of the Crown, or in the possession of important 
monastic houses, the latter at least as early as A.D. 936, and again at a number 
of dates in the succeeding centuries. There would be, therefore, a great going 
to and fro between the seats of Government and the palaces of priest prelates 
on the one hand, and the great houses of the area on the other. There are, 
also, the factors which lead to the heads of the grand houses of their day taking 
an active part in the Wars of the Roses and Jacobite risings, to which reference 
has already been made, and which ultimately led a good many of them to 
London for trial, imprisonment, banishment or fine, and a few to Tower Hill. 
The history of the area is thus a very fascinating study. 


It has been said more than once that all history is merely a record of a 
country’s sorrows. ‘That of our area is no exception. Invasion by foe and the 
elements, rapine, loot, earthquake, famine, pestilence, unfortunate religious 
and political partizanship, have all played their parts to an equal and even 
intensified extent, and have helped to mould the physical and political con- 
ditions which we find to-day. To enter into a description of them all and. of 
their results would be beyond the scope of this article. 


There are two other matters especially germane to our subject. Reference 
to archeological or historical maps show the area dotted all over with ancient 
crosses and their sites or remains to an extraordinary degree. All those shown 
are very ancient, though none would appear to approach the age of the Runic 
crosses to be seen in surrounding districts. Taylor, in his ‘ Ancient Crosses 
and Holy Wells of Lancashire,’ gives a list of no less than 59 crosses, or remains 
of crosses in the Hundred of Amounderness. The following are a few :-— 


Bispham Churchyard Cross. 
Bradshaw Cross, Street. 

Buck’s Cross, Holleth. 

Breck Cross, Poulton. 

Brunahill Cross, Garstang. 
Cabus Cross, Cabus. 

Car House Cross, Garstang. 
Cathouse Cross, Garstang. 
Catterall House Cross, Catterall. 


Charnock House Cross, Catterall. 


Combelaw Cross, Staynall. 
Cook Green Cross, Forton. 
Crawley’s Cross, Stake Pool. 
Cross Hill Cross, Scorton. 


Fox Lane Ends Cross, Wrea Green. 


Forton Hall Cross, Forton. 


Garstang Market Cross. 

Garstang-Churchtown 
yard Cross. 

Garstang-Churchtown Village 
Cross. 

Grizedale Cross, Grizedale Reser- 
voir. 

Hag Wood Cross, Garstang Bye- 
pass. 

Hall Cross, Kirkham. 

Higher House Cross, Kirkham. 

Kirkham Market Cross. 

Langtrees Cross, Claughton. 

Laurence’s Cross, Stalmine. 

Lund Cross, Clifton. 

Lytham Churchyard Cross, 


Church- 


14 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Moorhead Cross, Forton. Shepherd Hill Cross, Claughton. 
Potter Breck Cross, Bay Horse. Sturzaker Cross, Garstang Station. 
Poulton Market Cross. Whittingham’s Cross, Barnacre. 
Ringing Hill Cross, Garstang 

Station. : 


This brings up an important point. The vast majority of those which 
remain, being either wayside crosses or landmarks, lie in hedgerows where 
they are liable to be removed or even destroyed by anyone who finds them to be 
in the way of his operations or inconvenient for his business, and unless they 
are scheduled under a statutory town-planning scheme, it may not be long, 
in these days of rapid change and development, before few are left, and even 
those few so removed from their original site as to be of little value as marking 
their ancient station and purpose. None within this area have so far been 
scheduled under the Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act, 
1913, as amended by the Ancient Monuments Act, 1931, and in view of the 
magnitude of the task before the Ancient Monuments Board and the Office 
of Works, whose list already includes more than 3,000 monuments, it would 
seem unlikely that the ancient cross remains, mostly boulders slotted for a cross, 
would be considered important enough to receive priority over larger 
monuments of greater intrinsic and national interest. 


Action such as | have suggested under a statutory town-planning scheme 
would seem the only means available for insuring their preservation, or, where 
this is really impossible, provision in such a scheme that they shall not be 
disturbed until proper and sufficient records have been taken under expert 
Spans normally that of the local representative of the Ancient Monuments 

oard. 


In assessing the value of any individual cross or its remains, it is important 
to have a clear understanding of its purpose, which in some cases may make 
the position of more importance than the remains themselves, while in others. 
the reverse may be the case. Not all of them had, as might be supposed, a 
religious origin, though in some cases it is evident that those originally put 
up as landmarks and otherwise have, in the course of time, become objects. 
of veneration. In the proceedings of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian 
Society for 1898 such crosses are divided into nine classes, as follows :— 


1. Preaching crosses. 6. The cross at cross roads. 

2. Churchyard crosses. 7. Crosses at holy wells. 

3. Roadside or weeping crosses. 8. Sanctuary crosses. 

4. Market crosses. 9. Crosses as guide posts, 

5. Boundary crosses and meare memorial and murder 
stones. crosses. 


The first in the list, preaching crosses, are probably the oldest of all. 
Generally, they will be found to be synonymous with the churchyard crosses. 
At places where there was no church, a cross was erected to mark the preaching 
place. The church being subsequently built there, the two are found in close 
juxtaposition, as at Garstang, Lytham, Bispham and elsewhere. Almost 
invariably the cross is to be found at the south side of the chancel, if in its. 
original position. It might seem that in such surroundings its preservation 
was assured, and no other action, whether under a statutory planning scheme- 


‘AMOUNDERNESS’: A REGIONAL SURVEY OF THE FYLDE 15 


or otherwise, would be necessary. This is by no means the case. For 
instance, in Garstang Churchtown churchyard, the heavy base of the old 
cross has been torn from its traditional site and used as part of the base of a new 
and modern cross to the east of the chancel, only a portion of the old shaft 
being left to mark its original and traditional position. 


The term ‘ weeping cross’ may not be familiar. Before the days of the 
hearse, when the dead were necessarily borne by the mourners all the way 
to the church, funeral parties used to stop at places en route to rest the bearers. 
These established places were marked by crosses, and Fishwick in his History 
of Garstang, says : 


‘There are people still living who remember seeing Roman Catholic 
funeral processions pause and rest the cofhn at the remains of the cross 
near Cross House in Kirkham.’ 


Market crosses may in many instances have begun as preaching crosses, 
though later on they attained a more secular use. The extent was remarkable 
to which they served to sanctify a bargain, or give authority to a proclamation, 
and even a highway robber or other cut-throat would leave immune a lonely 
traveller who could reach a cross before being overtaken. 


Boundary crosses had primarily a secular purpose. Indeed, some of those 
marked on the map, and the remains of which, still exist, may, quite con- 
ceivably never have been crosses at all, but merely upright, armless posts. 
That at Greenlands, now standing uprooted at the side of the Garstang bye-pass, 
has every appearance of being of that class, and its removal, however necessary, 
is thus the more to be deplored as rendering any reference to it unintelligible 
which may occur in any ancient monastic or other records. In other cases the 
boundary stone did take the form of a cross, especially when it marked the 
confines of or other points on the lands of Cockersands Abbey. Crawley’s 
Cross, at a sharp angle in the northern boundary of the area east of Stake Pool, 
and thus on the boundary of the Hundreds of Lonsdale and Amounderness, 
partakes of the latter character. Doubtless this form of landmark was 
definitely more inviolable, especially in superstitious days. 


The existence of three holy wells which were at one time within this area 
has been traced as follows :— 


1. The Fairy Well, Preesall. 
2. St. Ellin’s Well, Bleasdale. 
3. The Holy Well, Bispham. 
None of these remains. The site of that just north of Preesall Hill is 
marked on the Archeological Map, and the one at Bispham, though in existence 


in 1867, has since been filled up. None had crosses so far as can be traced ; 
if they had, they have disappeared. 


16 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


ILI. 
PE pspeisibds Yd fdpife 


Tue Fylde has been so named as a distinctive region or pays in the French 
sense from at least the late thirteenth century. Camden (1590) says that the 
ancient hundred of Amounderness ‘has rich pastures especially on the sea 
side which is partly champain, whence part of it seems to be called the File, 
g.d. the Field.’ _ Later forms are Field, File, Filde and Fylde, the last accepted 
as the modern name of the rural district. ‘The etymology of the name may not 
be that suggested by Camden. 

It is popularly assumed to include the plain between the Ribble Estuary and 
Morecambe Bay west of the Preston-Lancaster main road, but originally it 
was bounded north of the river Wyre by Pilling, Winmarleigh and Cockerham 
mosses, forming the Over-Wyre district. 

Its eastern boundary was probably that of the modern rural district about 
five or six miles west of the main road mentioned. Within that area occur 
all the windmills for corn-milling, for which the Fylde was famous, and most of 
the villages with the appellation le-Fylde, to distinguish them from villages 
of the same name in other parts of the county. 

On the western side of the line lies the village of Field Plumpton, on the 
eastern that of Wood Plumpton. 

Not until the nineteenth century did the needs of the industrial north bring 
into existence the belt of littoral resorts which to-day make the sharp contrast 
between the urbanised coast and the still essentially rural interior. Of these 
Blackpool in the centre and Lytham St. Annes in the south-west corner are — 
the largest. In the north-west the port of Fleetwood, at the mouth of the 
ae has developed great fishing activities and has also acquired a residential 
character 


GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES 


BY 
R. KAY GRESSWELL, M.A., F.R.G.S. 


THE underlying Triassic Keuper Marl, giving place along a N.-S. fault-line 
to Bunter eastwards and probably some Permian in the north-east, is hidden 
everywhere by thick glacial drift with superimposed peat, alluvium and blown 
sand. The hummocky surface forms 50-100 feet cliffs between Blackpool 
and Bispham, falls eastward to a line of low Carrs continuing southwards 
the line of the lower Wyre, and then rises eastwards to somewhat over 100 feet. 


THE FYLDE: GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES 17 


The river Wyre is formed by the union of streams from Tarnbrook and 
Marsham Fells, and then flows south to Garstang, south-west to Poulton, and 
finally north to Fleetwood. 

The Pleistocene glacial drift, laid down on a denuded platform, includes 
Lower and Upper Boulder Clays sometimes distinguishable because Middle 
Sands and Gravels occur between. The basic study is by De Rance, who found 
at Eagberg Brow, Norbreck, a 30 feet high dome of Boulder Clay covered by 
silt-laminic (3 inches to 5 inches), green and brown or purple, and containing 
large erratics. The erratics near the top are smaller and layered. The Middle 
Sands and Gravels are variable, with 2 feet to 4 feet layers of sand and gravel 
alternating for some 14 feet and a cover of 16 feet of sand ; they show current 
bedding. These Middle Sands were laid down in waters held up in front of 
the earlier ice-sheet as it retreated, and their undisturbed state shows that they 
were frozen when the ice bringing the Upper Boulder Clay advanced over them. 


The Middle Sands and Gravel underlie almost the whole of the Upper 
Boulder Clay of the Fylde, but at several places the capping of the latter has 
been removed, and the Middle Sands form the present surface. The largest 
outcrop in the Fylde has an area of about half a square mile, and is midway 
between Inskip and Elswick, two miles south-south-west of St. Michaels. 
Two-and-a-half miles west of this, there is another about half the size by the 
hamlet of Thistleton. The western portion of Kirkham is on Middle Sand, 
and there are several other very small scattered outcrops. 


In the spring of 1936, owing to imperfections in the grass cover just south of 
Bispham, the Middle Sands could be seen at the top of the cliff, overlying the 
Lower Boulder Clay. North of Norbreck, the cliff becomes fairly low, and is at 
present untended in its upper portion, and consists of a steep slope of Boulder 
Clay almost entirely obscured by grass. 


The Upper Boulder Clay is fairly constant in character, although collections 
of erratics differ even when made in much the same locality. There seem 
usually to be from 40 to 50 per cent. of Lake District volcanic rocks, from 
40 to 60 per cent. of Silurian grits, from 0 to 20 per cent. of Carboniferous 
eo some Coal Measure sandstones, and occasional Permian and other 
rocks 


The following shells were recorded by De Rance! as having been found 
in the Blackpool district, the nomenclature having been brought up to date’. 
Where the modern name differs from that given by De Rance, the latter’s is 
placed in brackets after it. 


L. = found in Lower Boulder Clay. 
M = found in Middle Sands and Gravel. 
U = found in Upper Boulder Clay. 
— M — Patella vulgata L. 
— M — Gibbula cineraria (L.). (Trochus cinerarius, Linn.) 
— M — Littorina littorea (L.). 
' De Rance, ‘ Superficial geology of . . . . south-west Lancashire,’ Mem. Geol. Survey, 
1877, p.p. 128-130. 
2 For revising this list in accordance with the arrangement and nomenclature as in Winckworth s 
1932 list (Journ. Conch., vol. 19, pp. 217-252), I am indebted to Miss N. Fisher, of Liverpocl 


Museum. 


18 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


—M U _Littorina saxatilis (Olivi). (Litterina rudis, Don.) 

— M — Littorina littoralis (L.).  (Littorina obtusata, Linn.) 

L MU  Toarritella communis Risso. (Turritella terebra, Linn.) 
—M — Aborrhais pespelicani quadrifidus da C. (Aporrhais pespelicani, 


Linn. 
M — Natica catena (da C.). 
M — Trivia sp. (Cypraea Europaea, Mont.) 
M — Trophon clathratus L. 
M U_ Neucella lapillus (L.). (Purpura lapillus, Linn.) 


L M — Ocenebra erinacea (L.). (Murex erinaceus, Linn.) 

— M — Neptunea antiqua (L.). (Fusus antiquus, Linn.) 

L M — Buccinum undatum L. 

L M — Nassarius reticulatus (L.). (Nassa reticulata, Linn.) 

L —— Nassarius incrassatus (Strom). (Nassa incrassata, Miller) 
— M — Lora turricula (Mont.). (Pleurotoma turricula, Mont.) 
— M — Lora rufa (Mont.). (Pleurotoma rufa, Mont.) 

— M — Lora pleurotomaria (Couth.). (Pleurotoma pyramidalis, Strom) 
— M— Mangelia nebula (Mont.). (Pleurotoma nebula, Mont.) 

L —U_ Dentalium entalis L. 

— M— Nucula sp. 

L —— Mbgtilus edulis L. 


L MU Ostrea edulis L. 

——U _ Chlamys opercularis (L.). (Pecten opercularis, Linn.) 
— M — Astarte sulcata (da C.). 

— M— Cyprina islandica (L.). 

— M — Cardium aculeatum L. 

——U  Cardium echinatum L. 

——U  Cardium tuberculatum L. 

L MU _ Cardium edule L. 

—MU (Callista chione (L.). (Venus chione, Linn.) 

— MU = Macoma balthica (L.). (Tellina Balthica, Linn.) 

L MU Gari fervensis (Gm.). (Psammobia Ferréensis, Chemn.) 
— M— Mga truncata L. 

L — — Hiatella gallicana (Lam.). (Saxicava rugosa, Linn.) 
L —U  Zirfaea crispata (L.). (Pholas crispata, a. ) 


All these are salt-water species, and only five are unknown on the Lancashire 
coasts to-day. 


After the deposition of the Upper Boulder Clay, streams washed shingle out 
of the clay and caused it to collect in several small areas, notably at Preesall, 
from which the deposit has derived its name of Preesall shingle, and several 
small patches west and south-west of Garstang. 


As the surface of the Upper Boulder Clay was a surface of deposition, not of 
erosion, there are in its surface numerous swamp hollows without outlet. 
They are covered with peat deposits, often thick, which also occupy several 
other large ill-drained areas, such as Pilling and its associated mosses. 

The present surface of the peninsula west of the Wyre, between that river 
and the coast, north of an irregular west-east line about a mile north of 
Norbreck, now consists of tidal alluvium, as also does the area between the 


THE FYLDE: GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL FEATURES 19 


Pilling and Cockerham mosses and the coast. Much of the valley of the Wyre 
and its tributary streams is river alluvium. An especially wide tract occurs 
just east of St. Michaels. 


Estuarine alluvium occupies a large area on the north bank of the Ribble, 
east of Freckleton, and forms the area known as Freckleton Marsh. This is 
now embanked and drained, and is crossed by the main road from Preston to 
Blackpool via Lytham St. Annes. Outside the embankments there are 
extensive salt-marshes and mud-flats, and on the south bank of the river much 
land has been reclaimed by first encouraging the marshes to increase their 
extent by planting ‘ saltings,’ consisting of sods of marsh grass laid about two 
yards apart on the sand or mud. These sods spread and join up with one 
another in a very few years. They are covered by the sea at every full tide, and 
during the slack the mud, which has been brought down by the Ribble, and 
which is in suspension in the water, is deposited and is held by the grass during 
the subsequent ebb. Thus the level of the marsh is raised by the deposition of 
an extremely thin, leaf-like layer of alluvium at each tide. When the area is 
raised sufficiently, it is embanked, and fresh saltings are often planted on the 
seaward side of the new coastline. 


Coastline. Eastwards of the mouth of the river Wyre, Pilling and Cockerham 
salt marshes border the beach, and are partly covered during each full tide. 
Since the coast here faces north, and the dominant wind and most gales are from 
the west, it does not face the full strength of the largest waves. 


From Fleetwood the coast continues to face northwards for over a mile and 
a half from the mouth of the Wyre. Rossall Point is then reached, and from 
here to South Shore, Blackpool, the coast faces due west. Observations made 
at the numerous groynes between Fleetwood and Blackpool show that there 
is a fairly powerful longshore drifting of beach material northwards. North 
Wharf, a bank which extends northward of the Fleetwood to Rossall Point 
coastline for a distance of two miles, may probably be explained by this 
northerly drift’s failing to round Rossall Point, and continuing northward until 
checked by the tidal stream of the river Lune. 

From Fleetwood to near Cleveleys there is a very large amount of shingle 
on the foreshore, and on the bend of Rossall Point there are several examples 
of shingle ridges, continuing northwards although the land falls away eastwards 
behind them. 

From Cleveleys to North Shore the shingle gradually decreases in amount, 
until at North Shore there is only sufficient to form a triangular patch on the 
southward side of each groyne. From North Shore to South Shore, Blackpool, 
there is no shingle, the beach consisting entirely of quartz sand. 


Sea walls protect the whole 12 miles of coast from Fleetwood to South 
Shore, Blackpool. A low alluvial coast stretches from Fleetwood to just south 
of Cleveleys, where peat outcrops on the foreshore. Then cliffs of Boulder 
Clay gradually rise to a maximim of 100 feet at North Shore, Blackpool, 
decreasing again and near the Tower giving place (although hidden by the 
sea wall) to low cliffs of blown sand, which forms the coastline to Freckleton 


Marsh beyond Lytham. 


From the end of the Promenade at South Shore to Freckleton Marsh, 
there is a variable band of shingle on the backshore, the foreshore consisting 


20 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


of sand as elsewhere. From South Shore to St. Annes, the only portion of 
the coastline still unprotected, dunes of blown sand are covered principally with 
starr grass (Psamma arenaria, Beauv.). These dunes are in need of protection 
from wind erosion and holiday-makers. 


From St. Annes as far as Lytham, sea walls again form the coastline ; beyond 
this to Preston salt marsh reigns again. 


IV. 
PHYTOGEOGRAPHY 


BY 


MARGARET DUNLOP. 


THE utilisation of the Fylde for food production and recreation has been carried 
so far that opportunities for natural vegetation have been much reduced, and 
most former peat bogs are identifiable only by their flatness, the high organic 
content of their soil, and the regularity of their field divisions. 


The resultant vegetation is rich with a tendency to rankness, resulting from 
heavy manuring, and, inland, sluggish drainage. There is not the slower and 
steadier growth associated with the drier soils of the Midlands or Southern 
England, where there is, in addition, a longer ripening period. Dense hedge- 
rows above wide alga-filled ditches along the lanes and masses of Funaria among 
grazed turf, also testify to this. 


Only in one or two centres is the vegetation a direct reflection of topographic 
conditions. South-west of Winmarleigh (Sheet 24, H 12),! at distances of 
one mile and one-and-a-half miles from the village, are two patches of woodland, 
largely coniferous timber and elm, founded on two deposits of Preesall shingle, 
and quite distinct from the former peat bog surrounding them. Thistleton is 
largely an area of woodland, to some extent planted on sands and gravels. 
There have been mosses all around the village in former times. As at Win- 
marleigh, many houses date from the early eighteenth century, i.e., before the 
main reclamation, indicating early recognition of the value of sands and gravels 
in mainly Boulder Clay country. Cockerham, at the north-eastern extremity 
of our region, is above the marshes, but it is on the solid, the main road from 
the west entering the village through a small cutting. 


There are no extensive woodlands, and no trees of any antiquity to record. 
The largest in natural woodland are probably those by the brook near Kirkham 
Railway Station. Very often the tree belts are narrow, and are preserved only 
as wind-breaks. Nevertheless, in cultivated areas the relatively undisturbed 
surface which the woods provide continues to support a few heaths and, less 


1 The | in. (Popular Edition) Ordnance Survey Maps. 


2 PHYTOGEOGRAPHIC REGIONS OF THE FyLDE. 


Tae M. 


——. 
« . 
ain eens ae 
ta 

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tas, 


i 
P| ~ sneapiee 


be ree} as 

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J F 

aly 5 

cms ; , 

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T Mason PHyTOGEOGRAPHIC REGIONS OF THE 


cole |"=2mis (app) 


THE FYLDE : PHYTOGEOGRAPHY 2} 


icity, bog plants. The undergrowth is never very dense, as rabbits are 
frequent. Elder is a common constituent of it. Acer is common where the 
Middle Sands predominate, e.g., at Plumpton (Sheet 29, C. 9), but it is 
replaced largely by Ulmus on the clays. Conifers are rare outside plantations. 
The flatness means severe exposure for some distance inland, and trees are 
much slower in both seasonal and annual development than is normal for 
Northern England. Willows (Salix pentandra, S. alba, S. viminalis, S. 
Caprea, S. aurita) are very common along ditches (S. repens was formerly 
ubiquitous on the dunes), but the sluggish streams are rarely wooded, by 
reason of the embankments piled up from year to year in clearing them. 


Tue Main PHyTOGEOGRAPHICAL DtvIsIONs. 
Areas J. anp II. 


Most of the former bog north of the Wyre is now pasture and arable land, 
and there is no great development of poultry farming as in the Fylde proper. 
The woods are few. The former extent of the woodland may be judged 
roughly from sections along field margins, although no pollen analyses are 
available. Nevertheless, from these sections it is obvious that the trees of the 
“Mixed Oak Period’ were well represented. 


The West Lancashire peats have very little commercial value. Mining into 
the Trias for salt comparable in age to that of Cheshire takes place below the 
superficial deposits around Preesall. (Sheet 24, G. 10.) 


In the coastal areas the mudflats, stretching from the mouth of the Cocker 
to a point about a mile west of Pilling, are distinct from the dry, sandy tract 
with shingle, partly enclosed behind a sea wall, which reaches westward 
from this point to the eastern side of the mouth of the Wyre at Knott End. 
(Areas I. and II. respectively on the map.) Along the coast in this last 
division is an area of blown sand smaller than the similar belt around St. Annes ; 
inland, sand gives place to alluvium. 


The marsh is wider in extent in Cockerham Moss than in Pilling Moss. 
There are fewer streams, and the salt marsh surface is firmer. The improved 
drainage brings in Ulex and Urtica in profusion. Near the sea the ubiquitous 
Ranunculus ficaria (Lesser Celandine) and more common Umbellifers are 


found in all but the tidal ditches. 


Writing in 1907 Wheldon and Wilson gave the following rarer species for the 
eastern mud flats’ :— 


(English names have been added where practicable.) _ 


Cochlearia officinalis .... ... Seurvy Grass. 

Cochlearia Anglica ........ English Grass. 

Apium graveolens C.. ... Celery. 

OEnanthe Lachenalii_.... .... Cylindrical Water Dropwort. 
Aster Tripolium.... a ... Sea Aster. 

Artemisia maritima _.... .... Marine Wormwood. 

Statice Armeria... is, ... Plantain Thrift. 

Glaux maritima... 4 ... Sea Milkwort. 


1 Wheldon, J. A., and Wilson, K: The Flora of West Lancashire, 1907. 


Plantago maritima 
Atriplex littoralis 
Salicornia europea 
Suaeda maritima 
Juncus maritimus 
Juncus Gerardi .... 
Triglochin maritimum .... 
Scirpus maritimus 
Carex distans 
Sclerochloa maritima 
Leptur us filiformis 


For the western, drier, division, the 


Cakile maritima.... 
Trifolium arvense 
Trifolium fragiferum 
Eryngium maritimum .... 
Chaerophyllum anthriscus 
Limonium vulgare 
Limonium binervosum .. 
Limonium humile 
Obione portulacoides 
Atriplex littoralis 
Atriplex Babingtonii 
Atriplex laciniata 


SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Sea Plantain. 

Sea Arrow Grass. 
Marsh Samphire. 
Herbaceous Sea Blite. 
Sea Rush. 
Round-Fruited Rush. 
Sea Arrow Grass. 
Sea Scirpus. 

Distant Sedge. 

Sea Sclerochloa. 
Curved Lepturus. 


following are characteristic :— 


Sea Rocket. 

Hare’s Foct Clover. 
Strawberry Clover. 

Sea Holly. 

Burr Chervil. 

Sea Lavender. 
Bi-nerved Sea Lavender. 


Sea Purslane. 
Maritime Orache. 


Frosted Orache. : 


Salsola Kali Saltwort. 

Polygonum Roberti 

Carex arenaria .... Sand Sedge. 

Triticum junceum Quitch. 
Area III. 


A small tract of country along the river Cocker below Cockerham 1s worthy 


of some mention. 
yields the following :— 


Ranunculus Baudotii 
OEnanthe fistulosa 

Bidens cernua 

Hottonia paiustris 
Samolus Valerandi 
Callitriche autumnalis .... 
Hydrocharis morsus-Ranae 
Carex disticha .... 


It consists of low, flat alluvium drained by ditches, and 


Water Dropwort. 
Burr Marigold. 
Water Violet. 
Brookweed. 

Autumn Starwort. 
Frogbit. 

Slender Sand Sedge. 


Clean-cut ditches along the Cocker below Cockerham are rapidly clothed 
with lichens, whilst the surface of the water soon becomes a mass of algal 
filaments. Algae are very common throughout the sluggish Fylde ditches, 


and benefit by the drainage of the heavily-manured fields. 


Potamogeton 


natans (Broad Pondweed) is common throughout the Fylde ditches and 


numerous ponds. 


THE FYLDE : PHYTOGEOGRAPHY 23 
Area IV. 


The more typical undrained portions of Cockerham Moss, the average 
elevation of which is 30 feet, are not unlike the great red bogs overlying the 
Irish glacial material. The northern side, approximately one mile from the 
sea, 1s more attractive to the botanist, much of it being pure sphagnum bog, 
quaking underfoot as in Ireland. Here one finds :— 


Drosera rotundifolia _.... .... Round-leaved Sundew. 
Drosera anglica .... he ... English Sundew. 
Vaccinium oxycoccus .... .... Cranberry. 
Andromeda polyfolia .... .... Marsh Andromeda. 
Erica tetralix _.... tg .... Cross-leaved Heath. 
Narthecium ossifragum.... ... Bog Asphodel. 
Eriophorum vaginatum.... ... Sheathing Cotton Grass. 
Rhynchospora alba _.... ... White Beak Sedge. 
arex canescens... ae ... Whitish Sedge. 

Carex limosa ..... i ... Mud Sedge. 
Molinia coerulea 2. ... Purple Molinia. 

And where the surface is drier and more uneven :— 
Rubus plicatus .... 3 .... Plicate Bramble. 
Calluna vulgaris a ing: 
Melampyrum pratense .... .... Crested Cow Wheat. 
Betula pubescens = .... Common Birch. 
Salix cinerea... _ ... Grey Sallow. 
Myrica gale _.... see ... Sweet Gale. 
Empetrum nigrum » ..... Crowberry. 
Orchis latifolia .... — .... Marsh Orchis. 
Juncus bulbosus.... = .... Bulbous Buttercup. 
Eriophorum polystachion .... Common Cotton Grass. 
Lastrea spinulosa 2) Broad Shield Fern. 


The middle Wyre floods, and has artificially-strengthened banks, but 
the cliffs of the lower course are natural. At Shard Bridge the Upper Drift 
of yellow-brown clay forms the 35 feet northern bank, and supports small 
plantations ; the south bank is formed by Upper Boulder Clay. A tidal 
flat below the cliffs supports the following :— 


Cochlearia anglica _.... ... English Scurvy Grass. 
Brassica monensis ee ... Isle of Man Cabbage. 
Aster Tripolium.... oh ... Sea Aster. 

Tanacetum vulgare _.... ... SRY. 

Ariemisia maritima _.... ... Sea Artemisia. 
Limonium vulgare 4 ... Sea Lavender. 
Limonium humile : 

Limonium binervosum .... .... Brnerved Sea Lavender. 
Atriplex littoralis Hie .... Maritime Orache. 


Atriplex deltoidea 

Atriplex Babingtonii 

Atriplex laciniaia i. ... Frosted Orache. 
Obione portulacoides _.... ... Sea Purslane. 


24 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Suaeda maritima ihe .... Herbaceous Seablite. 
Triglochin maritimum .... ... Sea Arrow Grass. 
Carex distans _.... vi ... Distant Sedge. 
Carex extensa .... tt .... Long-bracted Sedge. 
Triticum pungens v. littorale .... Sea Wheat. 

Pottia littoralis .... i... «.. Shore Poltia. 


Tortula aloides 
Area V. 


Building and with it destruction of the sand-dune belt is progressing rapidly. 
Utilisation for golf links has also increased. “ It is painful to think how many 
of these plants have now gone, and none of the old marshy ground remains in 
its original condition. Where not already built upon it is “ improved ” and 
drained, and given over to crowds of excursionists, or converted into golf 
links. Here amongst a silvery carpet of dwarf willow (Salix repens v. 
argentea) grew a rich profusion of Epipactis longifolia (Marsh Helleborine), 
Orchis incarnata (Narrow-leaved Marsh Orchid), Pyrola rotundifolia v. 
arenaria (Small-leaved Larger Wintergreen), Parnassia palustris (Grass of 
Parnassus), and the curious Monotropa hypopitys (Yellow Bird’s Nest). In 
July the damper spots were pink with Anagallis tenella (Bog Pimpemel), and 
with it flourished Carex Oederi (Short-beaked Yellow Sedge), Selaginella 
selaginoides (Lesser Clubmoss), Equisetum variegatum, Bryum Warneum, 
Bryum lacustre, Hypnum Wilsoni, v. hamatum, Hypnum lycopodioides, and 
other interesting species. On drier ground about the foot of some of the 
dunes grew Convolvulus soldanella (Sea Bindweed), Brassica monensis (Isle 
of Man Cabbage), and Vicia lathyroides (Spring Vetch), whilst in many parts 
the sand was gay with bright patches of rest harrow, yellow bedstraw, skullcap, 
and centaury, of which latter three species were abundant.’ ' 


The following list is representative of present and former flowering plants 
around St. Annes, where the curve of the coast gives this region advantage of 
aspect over e.g., the Rossall dunes, and where the former practice of poultry 
farming, proximity to the Ribble, and greater mass of dunes to the south of the 
estuary, have made introduced species more common than elsewhere. 


The reflection of an excess of silica and deficiency of humus and free water 
is well shown in the occurrence of many xerophytes and highly modified species. 
This deficiency of moisture and of humus greatly limits the cryptogams, and 
above all the fungi. 


Thalictrum dunense _.... ... Sand Meadow Rue.! 
Ranunculus Baudotii 

Cochlearia danica ot .... Danish Scurvy Grass. 
Sisymbrium Thalianum ... Thale Cress. 

Brassica monensis ... * .. Isle of Man Cabbage. 
Diplotaxis muralis v. Babingtonii Stinkweed. 

Cakile maritima... aut ... Sea Rocket. 

Reseda lutea _.... eee .... Cut-leaved Mignonette. 
Viola canina _.... = ... Dog Violet. 

Viola Curtisii .... bt ... Sand Pansy. 


1 Wheldon and Wilson, Op. cit. 


THE FYLDE: PHYTOGEOGRAPHY 25 


Viola Pesneausii 
Polygala oxyptera 
Saponaria officinalis 
Silene maritima .... sf 
Cerastium tetrandr um .... 
Cerastium semidecandrum 
Arenaria Lloydii 
Trifolium arvense 
Trifolium suffocatum .... 
Trifolium fragiferum 
Vicia lathyroides 
Rubus caesius 
Rosa spinosissima 
Parnassia palustris 
Eryngium maritimum .... 
Erigeron acris 
Inula vulgaris .... 
Carlina vulgaris... 
Cichorium Intybus 
Hieracium umbellatum v. 
coronopifolium.. 
Taraxacum aopficinialé v. 
erythrospermum 


Pyrola rotundifolia v. arenaria.... 


Monotropa Hypopitus .... 
Glaux maritima.... 
Anagallis tenella 
Samolus Valerandi 
Erythraea vulgare 
Erythraea pulchella 
Gentiana baltica I. 
Cynoglossum ate La 
Myosotis collina .. 

Echium vulgare ... = 
Convolvulus Soldanella 
Cuscuta Epithymum 
Lasiopera viscosa 
Calamintha vulgare 
Scutellaria galericulata 
Salsola Kali 

Atriplex littoralis 
Euphorbia Paralias 
Euphorbia portlandica .... 
Triglochin maritimum .... 
Epipactis longifolia 
Epipactis Helleborine 
Orchis latifolia .... 
Eleocharis uniglumis 
Blysmus rufus. .... 


Linear Milkwort. 

Soapwort. 

Sea Bladder Campion. 
Branched Mouse-Ear Chickweed. 
Slender Mouse-Ear Chickweed. 
Lloyd’s Sandwort. 

Hare’s Foot Clover. 

Suffocated Clover. 

Strawberry Clover. 

Spring Vetch. 

Dewberry. 

Burnet. 

Grass of Parnassus. 

Sea Holly 

Fleabane. 

Small Fleabane. 

Carline Thistle. 

Chicory. 


Umbellate Hawkweed. 


Large-bracted Dandelion. 
Small-leaved Larger Wintergreen. 
Yellow Bird’s Nest. 

Sea Milkwort. 

Bog Pimpernel. 
Brookweed. 

Common Centaury. 
Annual Centaury. 

Baltic Gentian. 

Common Hound’s Tongue. 
Early Forget-me-not. 
Viper’s Bulgloss. 


01 SéanBindweed: 


Lesser Dodder. 


Wild Basil. 

Common Skullcap. 
Saltwort. 

Narrow-leaved Orache. 
Sea Spurge. 

Portland Spurge. 

Sea Arrow Grass. 
Narrow-leaved Helleborine. 
Broad Helleborine. 


Marsh Orchid. 
Single-glumed Scirpus. 


_. Narrow Blysmus. 


26 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Carex arenaria .... nn ... Sand Sedge. 

Carex OEderi .... — .... ... Yellow Sedge. 
Phlaeum arenarium _.... ... Sand Cat’s Tail Grass. 
Festuca fasciculata 

Triticum junceum shee ... Sand Quitch. 

Elymus arenarius f: .... Sand Elymus. 
Equisetum variegatum .. ... Variegated Horsetail. 
Selaginella selaginaides: 2 .... Lesser Clubmoss. 
Chara vulgaria v. longibracteata Long-bracted Chara. 
Nitella glomerata vi: . Brackish Nitella. 


The most interesting aliens are OEnothera Lamarkiana, the striking 
Evening Primrose, which still exists in great profusion on the St. Annes dunes, 
Ambrosia artepiaolia (American Wormwood), and Sisymbrium pannonicum 
(Tumbling Mustard), found elsewhere along the Fylde coast, which are also 
maintaining themselves.” 

Tue Buitt-up AREA. 


Rossall Point, and the dunes to the south as far as Rossall School, are more or 
less free of property. ‘The northward extension of the built-up area associated 
with Blackpool is first met at Cleveleys, although here it does not extend far 
inland. One-and-a-half miles down the coast is some of the most recent 
evidence of the popularity of Blackpool for both seasonal and permanent 
residence, and to-day, as may be seen from the map, Norbreck, Bispham, 
Carleton (Sheet 29, B. 3), and Poulton-le-Fylde, are ever-widening groups 
linked by long lines of houses. Blackpool stretches due east from the Central 
Pier to Great Marton (Sheet 29, C. 3) and into the former bog land around 
Marton Mere. Market-gardening, mainly for the provision of green vegetables 
and spring flowers, is a big feature of this reclaimed land, and reaches south- 
ward to Blowing Sands (Sheet 29, D. 3), where large glass-houses are common 


Blackpool is stretching southward and St. Annes eastwards, but there 
remains a mile of untouched dune between the two, whilst between St. Annes 
and Fairhaven, the dunes, although backed by houses, are still in evidence ; 
Lytham has increased relatively little. At Warton (Sheet 29, E. 6), poultry 
farming is a popular means of remuneration, and a phenomenon as catastrophic 
for the botanist as building, apart from the interesting casuals which the 
poultry food provides. 

Area VI. 


Grazing land in the Marton region is very wet, with poor grass, and much 
rush and sedge. South of Inskip the moss has been converted into rich 
arable land, which formerly supported corn. 


The region enclosed within lines drawn through Marton, Weeton (Sheet 29, 
C. 5), Singleton (Sheet 29, B. 5), and Poulton-le-Fylde, supports the 
following :— 

Castalia alba _.... wt. ... White Water Lily. 


Pimpinella major ee ... Greater Burnet Saxifrage. 


2 For a detailed statement see Charles Bailey, On the Adventitious Vegetation of the Sandhills 
of St. Annes-on-Sea. Memoirs and paneer ep of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical 
Society, 1902-3, 1907, and 1909-10 


THE FYLDE : 


OEnanthe fistulosa 
Bidens cernua .... 
Bidens tripartita.... 
Hottonia palustris 
Typha angustifolia 
Sparganium inp Saul 
emna gibba 
Potamogeton obtusi ifolitis us 


PHYTOGEOGRAPHY 27 


_ Water Dropwort. 
Bur Marigold. 
Three-cleft Bur Marigold. 
Water Violet. 
Lesser Reedmace. 
Long-beaked Branched Burr-Reed. 
Gibbous Duckweed. 
Obtuse Pondweed. 


Scirpus lacustris... Bulrush. 
Glyceria aquatica Reed Poa. 
Area VII. 


(The inland area around Kirkham.) 


We are now left with the region east of that last dealt with. CGeologically, 
the Kirkham neighbourhood consists of Triassic Pebble Beds, and Triassic 
Marl, overlain by deep deposits of glacial drift and Boulder Clay. The 
country around Catforth and Inskip was, together with Region VIla., i.e., 
that now drained by Woodplumpton Brook, extensive bog. The species of 
interest are bog survivals and plants of the ditches :— 


Potamogeton obtusifolius 
Sparganium simplex 
Scirpus sylvaticus 


Thalictrum flavum 
OEnanthe aquatica 
Bidens tripartita.... 


be 


Obtuse Pondweed. 
Simple Burr-Reed. 
Wood Scirpus. 


Common Meadow Rue. 
Water Dropwort. 
Three-cleft Bur Marigold. 


Farming in this district is probably the most varied and most successful 


in the Fylde. 


V. 


THESBEAT MOSSES, OF THE, EFYLBE 


BY 


F. WALKER. 


THE peat mosses of the Fylde form one of the most interesting features of the 
physical geography of the district, and there have been frequent references 
to them since the mediaeval period. 


At the foundation of the Lytham cell at the end of the twelfth century the 
position of a great moss in south-west Fylde was used in dividing land between 


28 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


FitzRoger and Moreton,'! while in 127] a boundary decision in the Duchy 
Court mentions the same moss between Merton (Marton) and Lithum 
(Lytham).? Further, an act in the Coucher Book of Walley in the thirteenth 
century relates to disputed rights in the marsh, and grants of land to the Abbey 
of Cockersand during the period refer to the moss.’ North of the upland of 
central Fylde, and west of the Wyre at Thornton, a somewhat smaller area of 
marsh is mentioned in an early thirteenth century grant in Frankalmoign to 


the Cockersand Abbey from W. de Quinequike.' 


East and north of the Wyre, Garstang covered an area of rather more than 
28,000 acres at Domesday; less than 1,500 acres of it were cultivated, 
probably because of the extent of marshy land, since Kirkham on the higher 
and drier water parting had 5,000 acres of cultivated land out of a total of some 
30,000 acres. There are a great many references to the mosses of Preesall, 
Rawcliffe, Stalmine, Winmarley and Pilling in this area in the Chartulary 
of the Abbey of Cockersand, while Pilling is referred to as being within the 
forest of Wyresdale. 


Even in the most economically advanced parts of England, however, no true 
reclamation of marsh took place before Tudor times, and in the late sixteenth 
century the existing peat mosses of the Fylde covered almost all the areas 
where peat can be shown to have existed. Saxton’s map (1577) shows two very 
large areas of moss in this district, Pyllyn Moss to the north-east of the Wyre, 
and Marton Moss to the south-west ; the third area of moss at Thornton is not 
indicated. Pyllyn Moss covers the whole of the moss area within the curve of 
the Wyre, which later became known separately as Pilling, Stalmine, Rawcliffe, 
Winmarley and Cockerham mosses. It was roughly circular in shape within 
the following limits :—on the south a strip of land parallel to the Wyre and about 
half-a-mile wide, on the north the coast, and on the east the town of Garstang ; 
on the west it reached within a mile of the Wyre estuary. 


The south and west limits of Marton Moss on Saxton’s map are formed 
by the coast, the northern edge is marked by Marton Mere, while its landward 
extent is defined by the line Plumpton-Westby Hall-Lytham. Similar dis- 
tributions of moss are shown on the maps of Speed (1610), Janson (1645), 
and Blaeu (1642), and Drayton, in his ‘ Polyolbion ’ (1613), says of the river 
Skippon in Fylde :— 

* She in her crooked path to seaward softly glides, 
Where Pellin’s mighty moss and Merton’s on her sides 
Their boggy breasts outlay and Skippon down doth crawle 
To entertain this Wyre attained at her fall.’ 
While James, in ‘ Iter Lancastrense’ (1676) says :— 
‘ But greater wonders call me hence : ye deepe 
Low spongie mosses yet remembrance keep 


Of Noah’s flood.’ 


That the mosses had long been important as pasture and for fuel is shown 
by the number of grants of pasture and turbary mentioned in the Chartulary 


rl Chartulary, quoted at length in History of Lytham (Chetham Society). 
eg rd of Cockersand Abbey (Chetham Society). 


THE PEAT MOSSES OF THE FYLDE 29 


of the Cockersand Abbey (e.g., et pasturae tocius mussae circumadjacentis),' 
and later entries in the Duchy records and elsewhere in which rights of pasture 
and turbary are disputed (e.g., Woodplumpton, 1542-3).° Increased cutting 
and more constant utilisation reduced the mosses, and on Morden’s map of 
1700 both Pilling and Marton mosses are smaller than on earlier maps. On 
Moll’s map of some years later Pilling moss occupies only a compact ellipse of 
land at a considerable distance from the Wyre on the south and the coast on the 
north, while Marton moss no longer continued to the coast at Lytham in the 
south, but ended near the present site of St. Annes. 


In 1731 ascheme to improve the Marton area was agreed upon, and although 
by 1741 no progress had been made yet in 1780 reclamation was going ahead 
well.* Presumably as a result of this scheme Marton moss does not appear 
on Bowen’s map (1767), or on that of Harrison (1789), and on the latter a road 
appears from Latton (near the present Blackpool) to Lytham. A much 
larger map by Yates and Billinge in 1786, however, shows that a considerable 
area of moss still remained between Higher Ballum and Moss Side, while a 
small patch of moss is also shown in Weeton just south of Mythorp. On the 
larger and very much more accurate maps of the early nineteenth century 
(Smith 1808, and Greenwood 1818), these patches of moss still remain, though 
on Hennet’s map of 1828-29 the Weeton moss is not marked. In 1810 Marton 
moss is mentioned by Britton and Brayley* as one of the principal mosses of 


Lancashire and the digging of moss at Morton is mentioned in Butterworth’s 
statistical hand-book (1841). 


The | inch O.S. map (1842) shows reclamation completed, since no moss is 
marked in the south-west of the Fylde, though Lytham Moss and Marton 
Moss are both named, and in the same district the place names, Moss Hall, 
Moss House, Moss Edge, West Moss, Brown Moss Edge, Lower Brown Moss, 
on the map indicate former conditions. The moss of St. Michaels, between 
that town and Sowerby, and the moss to the north and north-west of Catforth, 
appear on the map of Yates and Billinge (1786), though omitted on the earlier 
maps, probably because of inaccurate surveys ; neither is marked on early 
nineteenth century maps. The small marsh at Thornton, also, was reclaimed 
by the beginning of the nineteenth century. Although earlier evidence of its 
existence is available, this marsh is first shown on the 1786 map as a small 
V-shaped area from the coast. In December, 1798, however, a private act 
for reclamation of this marsh was promoted and passed.’ In the accompanying | 
petition the marsh is said to have occupied 800 statute acres. 


As regards the north of the Wyre, Dr. Pococke (1745) wrote,’ ‘From 
Pyling we passed near Preesall, and in about three miles came to Stalmine, 
having gone on two side of Pylin moss or bog’ (i.e., the west side), and later 
at Garstang, ‘ we saw to the west the great moss or bog of Piling.’ During this 
period the moss is shown as a single compact area under the collective name of 


Pilling Moss on the maps of Bowen (1767), Yates and Billinge (1786) and 
1 Op. cit., p. 179. : 


* Duchy Pleas, Accounts and Inv., post, mort., passim. 
3 History of Poulton-le-Fylde (Chetham Society). 

‘ Topograpical account of Lancashire. 

®° Commons Journals, LIV., p. 83. 

5 Camden Society publs. of his journey. 


30 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Harrison (1789). In the map of Yates and Billinge, however, along the line 
of the stream from Nateby to Pilling, the main area of Pilling moss was separated 
from the section lying in Cockerham except at a point south of Bonehill. 
Moreover, in the south a road marked in dots across the moss from Rawcliffe 
to Stalmine, and the presence of Skitham and Heskham Houses on it, indicated 
the coming separation of the moss of Upper Rawcliffe. Finally, an enclosure 
of solid land appears to the south of the town of Pilling. On maps of 
Greenwood (1818) and Hennet (1828) the marsh of Cockerham is separated 
from the Pilling area along the line of the stream from Nateby to Pilling, while 
roads divide the Pilling moss west of the stream into two almost equal areas 
and a smaller patch called Out Rawcliffe moss. South of the road from 
Rawcliffe to Garstang there is the moss of Rawcliffe with Tarnicar. However, 
a petition for a private enclosure bill (February 16th, 1825) said that these 
mosses were still liable to flood and overflow,’ and in 1833 a private bill 
legalised reclamation and enclosure, though in Pilling itself the work was done 
under the General Enclosure Act. 


Little change had occurred by the time of the survey for the 1842-9 | inch 
O.S. map. The eastern half of Pilling moss is divided into two halves, while 
Out Rawcliffe moss now occupied an extremely small area. Similar reductions 
had occurred in the size of the moss of Rawcliffe with Tarnicar, but Cockerham 
moss still remained largely unchanged. On the 6 inch map of 189] reclamation 
is virtually complete in the area west of the stream from Nateby to Pilling, 
that is, in the moss of Pilling, Rawcliffe, Stalmine and Tarnicar, much less 
than five per cent. remaining as moss. 


In Cockerham, though considerable progress was made in this period, a 
comparatively large area of moss about one mile long from north-east to 
south-west and half-a-mile from north-west to south-east still existed, but 
round it considerable progress had been made. Several isolated marsh fields 
within the circle of the road to the west through Moss House, Moss Edge and 
Moss Farm, and similar patches south of Winmarley indicated the former 
extent of the moss. In the 1911 survey all the isolated marshy fields had 
disappeared, and only the names on the map indicate their former existence, 
while the sole remaining moss of Cockerham had greatly shrunk, and Crowley's 
Dyke dividing it showed reclamation in progress. 


Thus, in the later eighteenth century, the moss round Marton, and, in the 
second half of the last century, the mosses to the north of Wyre yielded to 
organised reclamation. 


Marton Mere was formerly a very large expanse of water some six miles 
by one-and-a-half miles lying north of the moss already described, and as 
such it was marked on all the maps of this area until the late eighteenth century. 
During the mediaeval period it was important for both fishing and water 
supply ; a thirteenth century grant from Theebald Walter le Botiller gave the 
abbots of Stanlawe the right to make a pool and use the water for their mill 
at Staining," while the fishing rights were let out separately.’ However, with 
the process of silting the mere became more and more like the surrounding 


7Commons Journals, 16th February, 1825. 


® Coucher Book of Walley Abbey, p. 424. 
9 Lancashire Survey. Chetham Society, LXXIV., p. 55. 


THE PEAT MOSSES OF THE FYLDE 31 


moss in character, and it is difficult to consider the draining of the moss and 
mere separately. 


Thus the 1731 proposal of drainage was concerned with a “ standing poole 
or water,’ but in 1780 it was stated that ‘such a fall is obtained that if the 


land-owners in Marton perform their part the moss will be effectively 
drained.”" 


By the beginning of the nineteenth century, therefore, the maps indicate 
an area of water less than a mile square, and by the present time the site of the 


mere is marked by one of the few remaining areas of incompletely drained 
moss. 


VI. 
HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 


PHYSICAL conditions, and especially the mosses, suggest reasons for paucity of 
prehistoric finds. The Pennines and their slopes towards the Fylde have 
yielded small worked flints of types which were brought into Britain with or 
after the disappearance of the Pleistocene Ice, but lasted on in use in some 
cases until the historical Middle Ages, and they may accordingly be found 
along with objects from later periods. In the latter half of the third millennium 
B.C., there spread into Britain the arts of cultivation, stone-grinding, poitery- 
making, and so on, and at about the same time there developed coastwise 
maritime intercourse. Ground or polished stone implements have been found 
in a few places in the Fylde, two at Weeton, two near Blackpool, and one at 
Salwick, but these again need not antedate such changes as the introduction of 
metals ; they also remained in use afterwards for a time. A flat bronze or 
copper axe with lateral expansion of the edge has been recorded near Pilling 
Hall. Weeton has yielded a bronze axe of the type with high flanges, but, as 
yet, no transverse stop-ridge, while from Marton there is one with a stop-ridge 
and a lateral loop for attachment ; this latter had a handle a yard long when 
it was found. A hoard of eight socketed celts, some spear-heads and a dagger 
was found at Winmarleigh Moss, Over-Wyre, in the early nineteenth century, 
as also a spear-head in Stalmine Moss, Over-Wyre, and two socketed leaf- 
shaped spear-heads near Preston. At Copthorpe, near Garstang, about a mile 
from the Winmarleigh find, there was found a bronze sword of Peake’s Type B, 
27.5 inches long, with six medium rivet holes.! No pottery that might antedate 
the introduction of metal is known from the Fylde, but cinerary urns of the 
Bronze Age are known from Weeton, and, some distance inland from the Fylde, 
at the interesting monument at Bleasdale. Here a circle of oak posts surrounded 
by a timber-lined ditch had a fore-court between the above circle and an 
10 History of Poulton-le-Fylde. Chetham Society. 


11 [bid 


1 See Antig. Journal, April, 1934, pp. 178-80, note by Dr. J. Wilfrid Jackson. 


32 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


eccentric outer palisade. The monument is apparently to be dated fairly late 
in the Bronze Age, and is unique in view of the fact that the actual wooden posts 
and ditch-lining were found. They are preserved with the urns (which are 
of a type found in the Pennines) at Preston Museum, and the sockets of the 
posts have been appropriately marked by Mr. W. J. Varley. The monument 
appears to be related to the emergence of a trans-Pennine route on to the 
Lancashire lowlands. 

Cairns of uncertain date occur near South Shore, at Blackpool, as well as 
near Hardhorn, Salwick and Weeton. ‘Two ancient dug-out canoes have been 
found near Preston, as also a group of human skulls. Marton has yielded 
two skin-canoes, and Stalmine, Over-Wyre, a fibula and some other objects ; 
these last finds may be of Roman, or perhaps pre-Roman date. Roman 
pavement occurs near Kirkham and near Fleetwood, and a few other items, 
including coins, have been found. There was a Roman Causeway from the 
neighbourhood of Ribchester, through Kirkham and on to Little Poulton, 
and, perhaps, Fleetwood. ‘This was later known as Danes Pad, and consisted 
of a lower path three yards wide composed of shingle, and hard enough for 
horses, and a higher sandy one 10 yards wide for foot soldiers. A drainage 
trench separated the two, and it is likely that the lower one was a prehistoric 
trackway, especially as a number of the relevant finds made in the Fylde have 
come from near it. Kirkham was a pre-~Roman site, apparently adopted by 
the Romans during a temporary military occupation. 


Like the remainder of the north-west of England, north Lancashire, including 
the Fylde, was for a time in the possession of Celtic-speaking people. The 
river name, Wyre, and the village name, Treales, are Celtic, and there are 
others, with which another article is dealing. 


Athelfrith of Northumbria (613) conquered Lancashire south of the Ribble, 
and a later king, Oswy, took Ribchester and north Lancashire. When Mercia 
became the leading power it took Lancashire south of the Ribble, and this 
distinction between the north and south of the county long maintained itself 
ecclesiastically, the north remaining in the diocese of York until 1541. 


It is thought that the Danes attacked the Fylde between 869 and 894. The 
Danes were defeated in the Ribble valley about 911, and a hoard of silver coins 
at Overdale has been supposed to be the treasure of their army.- In the Fylde 
the Danes settled either near the shore (Warbreck, Norbreck, Anchorsholme), 
or near the Roman Road which, as stated above, became known as Danes 
Pad. The Wyre entry was also fairly densely occupied, as place names show. 
Names ending in -ham and -ton, on the other hand, and some others, are 
thought to point to settlements of earlier date by people from Northumbria. 
The division into hundreds occurred in the late ninth century, when Danish 
invasions were very active, and the hundred-name, Amounderness (Agemunder- 
ness in 930) is Danish. Lancashire is not mentioned as such in Domesday, 
but Henry I. created the Honour of Lancaster in 1118, and this determined in a 
general way the outline and extent of the county. 


At the time of the Domesday Survey a great deal of the Fylde was waste, 
but the most settled part seems to have been in the later parishes of Bispham- 
with-Norbreck, Carleton and Thornton, with eight, four and 10 ploughlands 
respectively on the alluvial soils of the peninsula ; the first-named was in a 


HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY 33 


large measure under cultivation. Nucleated settlements seem to have arisen 
at Poulton, Kirkham, Little Marton, Layton, Bispham and Singleton, 
apparently names due to Northumbrian settlers, while it has been said that 
Danish settlements were inclined to straggle along a road. Elswick is an 
interesting type of village with three parallel roads, the middle one the chief, 
and cross connections ; Newton has analogies with it. ‘Double’ villages 
occur in the Fylde named great and little respectively, e.g., at Marton and 
Bispham. 

Mediaeval conditions in the Fylde went on into the seventeenth century, 
by which time, however, the name Fylde had come into use as a general 
designation, showing a popular consciousness extending beyond the manor, 
but the areas important at the time of Domesday remained important still. 


The villages are mostly at or above the 25 feet contour, and the lower limit 
of cultivated land, of old days, might be about 20 feet, or the edge of the moss. 
Most land below 20 feet remained as waste or hawes with common rights of 
pasturage and of gathering rushes for thatching ; much of this old waste land 
is now split up into smallish fields drained by dykes. The old cultivated 
fields were often called townfields, and were divided into strips for the families 
of the village as usual. More land might be added from the waste when 
necessary, and apparently monastic influence, exerted from Lytham, promoted 
this. Towards the eighteenth century enclosures took place, and pasturing 
and individual cultivation, followed by the spread of the practice of marking, 
came into general use, large landowners generally profiting at the expense of 
the small ones. There are no Acts of Parliament about enclosure of common 
fields in the Fylde, but several from 1761 to 1801 deal with enclosure from 
the waste, a process which, accompanied by drainage, had begun early in the 
century ; and before the end of the eighteenth century nearly all common 
fields had been enclosed, and the Fylde had become the granary of Lancashire, 
a change accompanied by a notable development of windmills. 


Not far from the Fylde is the ancient chapel of St. Patrick at Heysham, 
a reminder of the influence of the Celtic church. The hundred of Amounder- 
ness came to be attached ecclesiastically to York, but Lancashire between 
peal and Mersey belonged to the diocese of Lichfield from 923 onwards until 

41. 

When archdeaconries were created, Amounderness was in the archdeaconry 
of Richmond, and Lancashire between Ribble and Mersey in that of Chester. 
A see of Chester was created in 154], and Lancashire was divided into two 
archdeaconries belonging to it. Modern changes have brought Amounderness 
first under Manchester and then under Blackburn. Professor James Tait 
infers that churches existed at Kirkham, Poulton and St. Michaels-on-Wyre 
at the time of the Domesday Survey, and the two first are mentioned in a 
document of 1093. In a Taxatio of 1291 additional parishes of Lytham and 
Garstang are mentioned. By the end of the twelfth century a Benedictine 
priory had been founded as a dependency of Durham at Lytham with a 
dedication to St. Cuthbert inherited by the modern church. 


Just beyond the Fylde to the north-east were the Praemonstratensian abbey, 
St. Mary of Cockersand and a house of Austin Canons at Cockerham. 
Ecclesiastical records indicate that the district suffered very severely from the 


34 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Black Death. By the seventeenth century, in addition to the old parish 
churches already mentioned, there were churches or chapels at Bispham, 
Singleton, Elswick, Lund, and a new church then built at Marton as, it was 
stated, the people of Layton, Rakes and Blackpoole hamlets had often been 
cut off from any church by water in winter. Lund is mentioned as an oratory 
as early as 1349, but it is supposed to have gone out of use between the 
Reformation and the Commonwealth. It contains a font modified from a 
Roman altar. The Fylde area seems to have been conservative at the time 
of the Reformation of the sixteenth century, and to have had some families 
which long subsequently remained Roman Catholic. Most of the Fylde 
churches have been rebuilt within the last two centuries. 


VII. 
THE CLIMATE OF THE FYLDE 


BY 
WILFRED SMITH. 


Tue Fylde has the mild climate of the western seaboard of Britam. The mean 
temperature of Blackpool for February, the coolest month (39.9°F.),’ is 
higher than that on the east coast, but below that in North Wales or the South- 
western Peninsula. From October to May, inclusive, frost is liable to occur 
but for each of these months there is at least one instance during the years 
1900 to 1934 in which none has been recorded. Snow rarely lies on the 
ground for more than two or three days, and occasionally none falls throughout 
the winter. There is a marked contrast in this respect between the Fylde coast 
and the industrial area of Lancashire and the West Riding. The mean 
temperature of the warmest month (barely 60°F.) is lower than that on the 
east and south coasts, but above that in Anglesey or the Isle of Man ; the 
summers, though warm, are rarely hot. The range between night and day is 
slightly less than for inland stations in Lancashire with a similar mean 


temperature, partly owing in summer to the phenomenon of the land and sea 
breeze (v. i.). 


The Fylde has a relatively low rainfall for the west coast. The lowest falls 
of the whole western seaboard occur in the Dee Estuary and the Wirral 
Peninsula, in the rain-shadow behind North Wales. Thence rainfall gradually 
increases northward along the Lancashire coast ; it is 2 to 3 inches more at 
Liverpool than in the Dee Estuary, and 3 to 4 inches more at Blackpool than 
at Liverpool. But the mean rainfall at Blackpool for the 35 years 1900-1934 


1 The means for Blackpool, which are quoted to indicate the general climatic features of the 
Fylde, refer to the years 1900-34, a 35-year period. 


JFMAMJJASOND 
60- 


MEAN 
TEMPERATURE 


50- 


MEAN 
SUNSHINE 


ae MEAN 
RAINFALL 


I+ — LowER QUARTILE 


INCHES. 
EMEP MEAN 


PRESSURE 
iO1S - 


MILLIBARS jo 10 - 
JFMAMJJASOND 


35 


36 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


is only 35.67, compared with the postulated 40 inches as the average general 
rainfall of the British Isles. Eastwards this level is not reached until the land 
rises up the slopes of Bowland. 


Rainfall is least from February to June, with a minimum in April ; ; it rises 
in July and in August reaches a level twice that of April ; it falls in September, 
but rises aga im October as high or higher than in August ; it is less in 
November and in December and January, and is at a level imbenaieiiate 
between October and September. The transitions between the relatively 
dry season of February-June and the relatively wet season of July-January 
(with a break in September) are graded and without discontinuities, in the 
sense in which the term is used by Crowe and Matthews (see footnote). The 
range of variation or dispersion within each month is indicated by the quartiles 
given in the statistical tables.? It will be seen that the lower quartiles of 
July and September are as low as the lower quartiles of the months—February 
to June inclusive—of the relatively dry season, but that their upper quartiles 
are much higher than the upper quartiles of March-June. In other words, 
one quarter of the rainfalls of September are as low as one quarter of the rain- 
falls of April, but while there are very wet Septembers (e.g., September, 1935), 
the rainfall of April is never very high. July and September are clearly 
intermediate between the relatively dry and relatively wet seasons, sometimes 
belonging to the one and sometimes to the other. But the lower quartile of 
August is the highest of all and, ironically in this holiday month, the expectation 
of rain is the greatest. 


The wide range between the sunshine maximum of June and minimum 
of December implies that the influence of solar control is accentuated by the 
contrast of anticyclonic weather and clear skies in the former, and of cyclonic 
weather and cloudy skies in the latter. On the Lancashire coast sunshine is 
at a much higher level than in the inland districts nearer to the foot of the 
Pennines, whether they be industrial or not. In the industrial districts 
domestic and factory smoke still further obscures the sky, so that sunshine is 
often only two-thirds of what it is on the coast. The discrepancy is greatest 
in December and January when the industrial towns receive on the average 
less than one hour’s sunshine daily. In summer the extra sunshine of the 
coast is a contributory meteorological factor in the temporary seaward migration 
of population. 


The land and sea breeze circulation considerably reduces summer heat 
along the Fylde coast. It is developed only during calm, anticyclonic weather. 
The sea breeze develops during the forenoon from the south-west, gradually 
freshens and veers through west to north-west in the afternoon. It dies down 
about sunset and a light land breeze from the east soon develops and blows 
until daybreak, after which it gradually veers through south-east and south 
to emerge again as a sea breeze in the forenoon. ‘The effect of the sea breeze 
is usually pleasant, for the sunshine remains, though the air is cooler, but 
occasionally a distinctly unpleasant “ sea-fog,’ half-saturated with vapour drawn 
up from the sea by the hot sun, spreads over the coast. This circulation 


® For a discussion of the value of the median and quartiles in rainfall interpretation see papers 
by P. R. Crowe and H. A. Matthews in the Scottish Geographical Magazine, March, 1933, and 
March, 1936, respectively. 


CLIMATE OF THE FYLDE 37 


is purely a product of convectional causes and is confined to the summer 
half-year when the air over the land is warmer than over the sea. Dry 
summers with anticyclonic weather such as 1911 and 192] are particularly 
favourable to its development. The daily anemometer charts for these two 
years at Blackpool show that it was most frequent in May, June, July and 
September and less frequent in August. During the six months April- 
September, inclusive, the sea breeze was developed on 21 per cent. of the 
possible occasions. These years were exceptional, but this circulation is an 
important element in the seaside climate. 


In its more general features the climate of the Fylde is uniform, but there 
are some interesting differences both between the sands and the clays and 
between the several seaside resorts. The differences in soil temperature 
between the sands and clays are significant. The sand (at St. Annes) is as 
much as 2°F. colder in winter than the clay (at Blackpool), but warms up 
more quickly in the spring, and is up to 4°F. warmer in the summer. The 
differences are more pronounced at 4 feet than at | foot below the surface. 
They are of considerable agricultural importance and help to explain why 
there is market-gardening at Marton on the warmer sandy soils. The differences 
between the seaside resorts are easily perceived, but more difficult to under- 
stand. Blackpool is described as having a more bracing climate than St. 
Annes.’ The mean temperature of St. Annes, however, is practically identical 
with that of Blackpool, except in winter, when it is slightly lower. The mean 
maximum monthly temperatures are a little lower at St. Annes, but the mean 
minimum are slightly higher, except in the mid-winter months. It is these 
somewhat higher minimum temperatures which explain the common 
impression that St. Annes is the warmer of thetwo. The only general inference 
that can be drawn from the humidity tables is that St. Annes has a somewhat 
lower humidity, except in spring, due no doubt to its porous, sandy soil and 
lower rainfall. The record at St. Annes is too short to allow of an accurate 
statement, but, on the evidence of the || years available, St. Annes rainfall 
is about 7 per cent. below that of Blackpool. St. Annes has thus a slightly 
drier and less humid climate, with rather higher minimum temperatures. 
Differences of elevation and exposure as well as of soil account for the contrast. 
St. Annes stands on a low-lying sand-dune coast. Blackpool is mainly built 
on low cliffs, which implies freer movement of air and is one of the causes of 
its more ‘bracing’ character. Blackpool and St. Annes have been selected 
as examples of the differences which obtain, as they have the longest series of 
records available. 


® The data available for St. Annes covers only an ||-year period (1924-34), so that conclusions 
based on them can only be tentative. For a discussion of the difficulties involved in interpreting 
the differences between “ bracing’ and ‘ ee bie see papers by W. F. Tyler and E. Gold 
in Quarterly Journal, Roy. Met. Soc., July, 19 


SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


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MAIN CENTRES OF POPULATION 39 


VIII, 
MAIN CENTRES OF POPULATION 


BY 
R. E. THOMPSON. 


Ar the opening of the nineteenth century a very even distribution of population 
reflected the agricultural character of the Fylde. Town life had developed in 
two centres only, namely at Kirkham and Poulton. As the oldest settlement 
in the district and suitably placed with reference to the principal agricultural 
areas, Kirkham naturally developed into the local market town. The occurrence 
of a small patch of sand and gravel here had encouraged settlement by the 
Northmen, for the site afforded spring water. which was a rarity in the district, 
covered as it was by boulder clay. One of its chief activities was the cattle fair, 
and, though the market is now obsolete, three cattle fairs are held each year. 
Before the Norman Conquest the parish of Kirkham embraced no less than 
33,564 acres. In its parish registers of 1539 is the oldest entry in the whole 
of the Fylde. In 1829 came the introduction of industry based on the 
importation of flax and hemp from Belfast via Poulton. This gave rise to the 
manufacture of sail cloth and cordage, coarse and fine linen and some cotton 
under the instigation of the local gentry. While the production of * waste’ 
is still carried on, cotton weaving has become the dominant industry and is 
under the control of the Preston Chamber of Commerce. An interesting 
development has been the erection of a shed, the ground space of which is 
partitioned out and rented to individuals for weaving machinery as an encourage- 
ment to private enterprise. The township of Kirkham has grown up along 
the main Blackpool-Preston road, but industrial development has spread to 
the North along the road to and including Wesham, so that the towns are 
now co-terminous, the stream in the depression between them acting as 
the parish boundary. The increasing population of this zone was outstanding 
in the nineteenth century in contrast to the shrinkage of population in the 
surrounding agricultural districts. 


It was inevitable that some maritime life should develop at the mouth of the 
Wyre. Here is a bottle-necked estuary, which was early recognised as a suitable 
harbour for shipping in the phrase, ‘ safe and easy as Wyre water.’ It is 
possible that the Poulton area was originally settled by Saxons at the point 
where the Dane’s Pad crosses the river Wyre. Domesday remarks that its 
parish possessed two carucates (266 acres) of agricultural land. The actual 
port was at Skippool, but because of danger of flooding, the customs and 
commercial centre was located at Poulton. In 1590 the vessel trade to Russia 
must have been equal to that of Liverpool. The trade consisted mainly of 
tallow, flax and hemp, but afterwards there sprang up an entrepot trade in 
cotton, corn, timber and flax from Belfast, which was shipped to many points 


40 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


abroad. The trade in flax with Russia gave rise to a factory for sacking, sack 
cloth and sheeting, with flax dressing and twine spinning in 1816. After the 
middle of the nineteenth century, however, the port of Skippool could no 
longer compete with the facilities for ocean trafic now afforded by Fleetwood, 
so that Poulton’s commerce declined, and thereby the town lost its significance. 


The open aspect of the Fylde allows the westerlies to sweep unhindered 
inland, and imparts to the coast a freshness and clarity of atmosphere particularly 
associated with Blackpool. Here are other elements—firm sands, cliffs, 
accessibility to drinking water (tapped from the Bowland Hill drainage), and 
proximity to the industrial population of Lancashire—all essential factors of 
the success of a holiday resort. The undrained mosslands and bad roads 
prohibited development, however, until the nineteenth century. Speed's 
old map shows the site to be a large pool half-a-mile in width, situated _half 
a mile from the coast. It was drained by a small stream from which “ Black 
Pool Town” derived its name. A member of the Tyldesley family built a 
residence here at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and attention was 
first drawn to the spot by the arrangements he was making for hiding the 
Young Pretender. The name “Blackpool” first appeared on a map by 
Kitchener in 1750, while Bowen’s map of 1771 shows a little towered house to 
the north of the Black Pool. The local gentry were the first to use the village 
as a resort after the racing at Langton Hall, and in 1783 a regular coach service 
from Manchester was established. Those who had successfully sought refuge 
here from the cholera scourge of 1831 testified to the healthiness of its site, 
suitability of accommodation and the attraction of its sea front. There were no 


less than 1831 visitors in 1837. 


The success of Blackpool has encouraged other centres along the coast 
to attract holiday visitors, and a continuous line of habitations from Lytham 
to Fleetwood is no remote possibility Lytham St. Annes is largely residential 
in character, though at one time a large pool existed to the east of Lytham, 
which was utilised as a dock by large ships prevented from reaching Preston 
owing to the state of the Ribble. The growth of the long sandy ‘ stanners ’ 
left by the tides affords a very gradually sloping beach, while the sandy sub- 
soil of the interior forms an excellent foundation for golf courses. The site 
of the town on sand is also said to assist rapid evaporation, which, preventing 
damp, makes it attractive to invalids. Its growth has been specially noticeable 


since the beginning of the present century. With less than 8,000 people in 
1891 it has risen to over 25,000 in 1921. 


Fleetwood may be cited as another example of ‘mushroom’ growth along 
this littoral. Although it attracts a fair share of the holiday traffic, its 
commercial undertakings have been more prominent. A hundred years ago 
the district was a virgin tract of sandy waste. The advantages of its site for a 
dock within the Wyre mouth, where a deep channel connects it with Morecambe 
Bay, were first recognised by Sir Peter Fleetwood, who, as Lord of the Manor, 
was responsible for the formation of the Preston and Wyre Railway, Harbour 
and Dock Company. A harbour was constructed and linked by rail to 
Preston, and by 1841 the town had assumed considerable proportions. “Trade 


with Belfast in cattle was followed by connections with South Africa (guano), 
Russia (flax), the Baltic countries (timber), and the U.S.A. (cotton). The 


MAIN CENTRES OF POPULATION 4] 


tonnage dealt with at the harbour increased from 560 in 1850 to over 22,000 
in 1875. The success of this venture led to the construction of a new dock 
in 1877, and Fleetwood became the base for a fishing fleet of considerable 
size. Vast quantities of hake, haddock, cod and flat fish are regularly landed 
at the port by steam trawlers and smacks frequenting the North Sea and West 
Irish coast. Another important industry is the culture of American oysters, 
which are imported and fattened up for the market. The discovery of a 
rock-salt bed at Preesall, two miles east of the port, was naturally of prime 
importance to the fishing trade. In addition, the brine is now conveyed by 
pipes to the town to serve the United Alkali Company’s works set up in 1885 
to produce ammonia soda. The works utilize 3,000 tons per week, while the 
main centres of the Company at Widnes, St. Helens and Glasgow have been 
supplied with rock salt from Preesall since 1894. Since the foundation of the 
port the population has increased rapidly. Attaining 15,000 at the beginning 
of this century, it exceeded 25,000 in 1921. In spite of these commercial 
aspects, Fleetwood has continued to attract an increasing number of holiday- 
makers, and this activity, more and more, is shaping the character of the 


Fylde seaboard. 


IX. 
THE PLACE NAMES OF THE FYLDE 


BY 


EILERT EKWALL, 
PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, LuND UNIVERSITY, SWEDEN. 


In the present brief survey the Fylde is taken in a slightly wider sense than 
usual, and to embrace the flat district west of the main road from Preston to 
Cockerham, that is, the parishes of Kirkham (western part), Lytham, Bispham, 
Poulton-le-Fylde, St. Michael-on-Wyre, and parts of Preston, Lancaster and 
Garstang. The name The Fylde is from Old English gefilde, ‘ plain’ ; it 
also enters into the names Poulton-le-Fylde and Fieldplumpton (formerly 
Fildeplumpton and the like). 


Place-names embody important historical material, and those of the Fylde 
bear remarkable witness to the varied racial history of the district, more varied 
than that of most parts of England, or even of Lancashire. 


There is a remarkably strong sub-stratum of British names. Wyre, 
Cocker, Savick (Brook), perhaps Pilling are old British river-names. 
Wyre may be identical with Gaulish Vigora, while Cocker comes from an old 
adjective meaning ‘winding.’ British river-names are common all over 
England, but what is remarkable about the Fylde is that so many villages or 
hamlets have wholly or partly British names. 


42 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Tulketh, near Preston, is identical or cognate with Toulhoet in Brittany, 
Twllcod, near Llandaff, and means “hole in a wood.’ In Kirkham are 
Treales (formerly Treueles, identical with Treflys in Carnarvon, * the court 
of the settlement ’ or * village with a court’), Preese (from Welsh prys, pres 
‘brushwood ’), Little Eccleston, which has as first element an early form 


of Welsh eglwys ‘ church.’ 


Not far from Preese, in a detached part of Lancaster, is Preesall, whose 
first element is Welsh prys or pres. In St. Michael-on-Wyre is Great 
Eccleston (near Little Eccleston), and Inskip possibly contains Welsh 
ynys, ‘island.’ There are few areas in England with a similar number of 
British names within a small circuit. There must have been a considerable 
survival of British communities in early Anglo-Saxon times, possibly due to 
the fact that parts of the Fylde must have been difficult of access owing to the 
marshy nature of the district. 


The English settlements in the Fylde must be very old, and the first settlers 
were Northumbrians. Some place-names make the impression of being very 
ancient, as the names in -ing (Bryning, Staining); Whittingham just 
outside the Fylde may also be mentioned here. English names are in the 
majority among names of villages or townships. They are of the usual types. 
Names in -hdm are Bispham, ‘the bishop’s manor’; Kirkham. Names 
in -tiin are common, as Clifton, ‘ fan ona slope’ ; Hambleton, ‘ Hamela’s 
tin’; Newton, Plumpton, ‘plumtree tin’; Thistleton, Warton 
(first element O£' weard ‘ watch’), Weeton, ‘ willow tin’ in Kirkham par. ; 
Layton (first element o£ /dd, ‘ water-course’) in Bispham par. ; Marton 
‘tain on Marton Mere’ ; Newton, Poulton, ‘tan ona pool’; Thornton 
in Poulton par., Woodplumpton in St. Michael-on-Wyre. There are two 
names in -wic (OE wic, * dwelling ), viz., Elswick, ‘ Ethelsige’s wic,’ and 
Salwick, ‘ wic among sallows.’ Cottam is OE cotum dat. plur. of cot, ‘ hut.’ 
Wesham, formerly Westhusum, is * (at) the western houses.’ Lea is 
o£ léah, ‘ glade,’ while Winmarleigh is ‘ Winemaer’s léah.’ 


A fairly common element is 0£ holh, ‘ hollow,’ as in Greenhalgh, Ingol, 
Stanah, Staynall. The English names are not evenly distributed. The 
south-western portion, Lytham par., has an English name itself, but there 
are few English place-names there. The sane is trué of thé land north of the 
lower Wyre, where Ashton and Hambleton have English names, but most 
other places have Norse names. Both districts are low-lying and were 
apparently only to a small extent inhabitable or inhabited in early Anglian 

times. 

The colonisation of these low-lying parts does not seem to have been carried 
out fully until the Norsemen came about 900, and the Norse element is 
particularly prominent in these parts. But Norse influence is strong in the 
whole of the Fylde. The hundred of which the Fylde forms a part is called 
Amounderness, Agemundrenesse in Domesday (1086), which is a Norse 
Agmundar-nes, * Agmund’s ness. This may be an old name of the Fylde, 
which forms a headland between the rivers Ribble and Cocker. Ifso, Agmundr 
will have been a Norse chieftain who held the district. He has been identified 
with the Agmund Hold who, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, was 


, OE=Old English. 


PLACE NAMES OF THE FYLDE 43 


killed in 911. A hold was next in rank to an earl. But Amounderness may 
originally have referred to a special headland, e.g., Rossall Point. 

Scandinavian influence shows itself not only’ a) Siendinavian place-names, 
but also in modification (Scandinavianisation) of earlier English names. 
Both types of Scandinavian influence are noticeable in the Fylde. Rawcliffe 
is a Scandinavianised form of o£' Réade clif, “ red cliff, Redcliff.. Carleton 
is probably a Scandinavianised form of o£ Ceorla-tiin, ‘ tin of the churls.’ 
Bradkirk, * plank church,’ is a modification of OE Bred-cirice, Kirkham one 
of o£ Ciric-ham. 

Scandinavian or Scandinavianised names are numerous north of the lower 
Wyre. Stalmin contains ON’ mynni, ‘mouth of a river.” Staynall is ‘a 
Scandinavianised form of o£ Stan-holh, “stony hollow.’ Rawcliffe is also 
Scandinavianised. Preesall is a hybrid containing a British name and 
an ON word for ‘headland’; while Hackinsall is Norse Hakuns haugr, 
“Hakun’s mound.’ Nateby is obviously Scandinavian, and Tarnacre 
contains ON trani, ‘crane’ or a personal name derived from it. Of minor 
names may he mentioned Eagland (on Ejiki-lundr, ‘oak grove’) and 
Skitham (formerly Scytholm). 

In other districts we notice the curious circumstance that townships often 
have composite names consisting of one English and one Norse name, e.g., 
Bispham with Norbreck, Bryning with Kellamergh, Little Eccleston 
with Larbrick, Layton with Warbreck, Westby with Plumptons. 
Sometimes both are Norse, as Ribby with Wrea (Ribby from on Hryggbyr, 
‘ village on a ridge,’ Wrea from oN (v)rd, ‘ corner, remote place’). Treales, 
Roseacre and Wharles contains one British name (cf. supra), Norse 
Roseacre (formerly Raysacre, ‘ field with a cairn, ON hreysi) and English 
'’Wharles, from o£ Awerfel, “ circle’ and hldw, ‘ mound,’ the name very likely 
referring to the same ancient monument as Roseacre. 

The Norse names include names of the usual types, as names in -by 
{Ribby, Westby, Sowerby, the last being on Saurbgr, ‘village by a 
marsh’). But some names belong to characteristic types and give important 
special information. 

Place-names show that the Scandinavians in the Fylde were chiefly 
Norwegians, Norsemen, not Danes, as in the east of England. Danish and 
Norse place-names have certain distinctive features of their own. A Danish 
test-word is thorpe ; there are no Thorpes in the Fylde. Norse test-words 
are breck, ‘ slope, hill’ (from on brekka), scale, ‘ hut’ (from on skdli). Names 
in -breck are common in the Fylde, as Larbrick (first element ON leir, 

‘clay ’’), Mowbrick (first element on Mdili), Norbreck, ‘northern hill’ 
Swarbrick, (first element ON Svarti), Warbreck, ‘beacon hill,’ Esirhal 
(on Eski-brekka, * ashtree slope’). Scale is found in Scales. 

It is generally held that the Norse in Lancashire came over from Celtic lands 
in the west, Ireland, the Isle of Man, etc. Norse place-names here show 
unmistakable Celtic features. A common place-name element in the north- 
west is erg, ' shieling,’ from o1R airge. It is found in some place-names in the 
Fylde, but it is not so common as in the hilly eastern parts of Amounderness. 
Kellamergh, which contains an Old Norse personal name, and Medlar, 

“the middle erg,’ are cases in point. 


' OE=Old English. 2 ON=Old Norse. 


ds SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Besides the early names mentioned in this article there are in the Fylde some 
names of later date, some designating places now important, towns or holiday 
resorts. The old capital of the Fylde was Poulton-le-Fylde, but its place has 
now been taken by Blackpool, which was formerly Layton with Warbreck. 
Blackpool was the name of a peaty-coloured pool in the township, which gave its 
name to a farm, called Pull in the thirteenth century. The name Blackpool 
is recorded from 166]. 


Fleetwood, a town on the Rossall peninsula, grew up in the earlier half 
of the nineteenth century. It was named from Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood, 
the founder of the town. 


St. Annes-on-the-Sea is now a seaside resort. The place took its 
name from a church built in 1873 and dedicated to St. Anne. 


For a full treatment of the place-names of the Fylde | refer to my book, 
T he Place-names of Lancashire, published in 1922 by the Manchester University 


Press . 


X 


AGRARIAN EVOLUTION 
SINCE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 


BY 
WILFRED SMITH. 


By the end of the eighteenth century the townfields of the Fylde had wholly 
passed under enclosure, although much marsh and moss remained as common 
waste and common turbary. The urge to enclosure was provided by the rapid 
growth of the industrial population of South Lancashire and in the eighteenth 
century the Fylde had become the granary of the county. It was asserted 
at the end of the century that Lancashire grew corn sufficient to satisfy 
her requirements for only three months in the year, and the significance 
of the Fylde as a granary is indicated by the abundance of windmills, eight 
of which still exist to-day. Enclosure, however, had here preceded the 
New Husbandry. The improved crop rotations worked out in Norfolk, 
and the improved stock bred by Bakewell, were only beginning to be intro- 
duced. The natural fertility of the clayey loams of the Fylde was abused 
by constant cropping for corn. ‘Certain fields have been kept under cultiva- 
tion, it is asserted, for more than a century without intermission, wrote J. Holt, 
the Surveyor for the Board of Agriculture, in 1795. Oats were commonly 
sown for years together, varied occasionally by a summer fallow followed by 
wheat, or by beans and barley in alternate years, or by self-sown grass and weed 
seeds, which provided indifferent pasture prior to marling and renewed corn 
cultivation. Marling was the standard manurial treatment and marl pits, now 
filled with water, are still to be found in almost every field. 


AGRARIAN EVOLUTION SINCE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 45 


Oats was the most important cereal and oatmeal was still the labourer’s staple 
food. Wheat was of relatively recent introduction—Leland early in the 
sixteenth century had remarked that “ Whete is not veri communely sowid in 
thes partes "—but at the end of the eighteenth century its use was increasing 
with the rising standard of living. The strong loams of the Fylde are good 
wheat soils as well as good oats soils, though the climate is rather too wet and 
not sufficiently sunny for the highest yields of grain. The continuous 
cultivation of corn left no room for turnips and although clover was more 
generally sown, the tenant was generally under a covenant not to sow clover 
as a preparation for wheat—in flat contradiction to the principles of the New 
Husbandry. Potatoes were, however, very intensively cultivated and more 
successfully, so it was claimed, than in any other part of Britain. They formed 
with oatmeal the standard diet of the labourer and the chats were fed to fattening 
cattle. 


The Fylde at the end of the eighteenth century, though primarily a corn 
district, was not wholly so. Leland had noticed long before that of the 
enclosures more were for grass than for corn, but he was writing of the country 
east of the Fylde proper. In the eighteenth century the Fylde had been famed 
for its Longhorn cattle, and good stock implied good grass. At the end of the 
century more and more land was being laid down to grass partly because, so the 
Board’s Surveyor reports, of the exhaustion of the land by the constant cropping 
for corn and partly because of the drainage of labour and capital away from 
farming to manufacture. Some of the new grass was self-seeded end of poor 
quality, but there was much good grass that carried a cow in milk to every 
one-and-a-quarter acres, according to Arthur Young, who travelled from 
Lancaster to Preston in 1771. The Longhorn, ‘ the prime stock of which is 
bred in the Filde,’ was a general purpose animal. There had been big demands 
on the best stock in the course of the eighteenth century by breeders in 
Leicestershire and Warwickshire, and the Lancashire Longhorn formed the 
basis of Bakewell’s improved herd. The Midland graziers transformed the 
Longhorn inte a beef breed, but in Lancashire it was valued more for its milk. 
Its milk yield was, however, less than that of the improved Shorthorn and, 
although there were no Shorthorns in the Fylde at the end of the eighteenth 
century, they came to prevail there during the course of the nineteenth and the 
Longhorn has now entirely disappeared from the district. Dairying was mainly 
for cheese and the districts east of the Fylde proper still make the white 
Lancashire cheese. There were not many sheep kept at this time in the 
Fylde and they were mainly four-year-old Scotch Blackfaces fattening for 
the butcher. There were not many pigs either, which was a matter for 
surprise in view of the potato crop and of the cheese-making. On the other 
hand, there was an abundance of poultry : ‘the Filde,’ wrote Holt, ‘ is the 
principal district in this county which keeps a surplus stock of poultry.’ 
Cattle and poultry as the major items, sheep and pigs as the minor, were the 
features of the stock economy of the Fylde at the end of the eighteenth century, 
as they are to-day. It is possible, however, that this stock-keeping was 
relatively more important east of the Fylde than in the Fylde itself. Of the 
six farms near Garstang and Cockerham, of which Arthur Young gives 
particulars, all had more land in grass than in arable. 


46 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


By ihe middle of the nineteenth century the principles of the New Husbandry 
had become established in the district. The unending succession of corn crops 
had been replaced by a five or a six-course rotation which adapted the Norfolk 
four-course to the local economic and climatic conditions—oats, turnips or 
potatoes, wheat or barley, clover and rye-grass left down for two or three years. 
It had by this time become unusual to take two corn crops in succession, but 
where the practice survived the land was dunged heavily. The increasing 
head of stock kept increased the quantity of farmyard manure and leases often 
required its application to the arable every third year. Marling was ceasing 
to be general, the use of bone manure was becoming more common, and 
sulphate of ammonia from town gas works was just beginning to be used. 

The relative proportions of arable and grass had already begun to change. 
Every farm by the middle of the nineteenth century had a considerable acreage 
in grass mainly on the strong land. Dairying, previously an important 
subsidiary objective, was becoming the rival of com, and the Shorthorn was 
replacing the Longhorn because of its better milking qualities. The increasing 
head of stock which needed tying-up room in winter demanded the re- 
modelling of farm buildings. House and barn formerly combined under one 
roof were now separate, and shippons were constructed round the yard. Many 
of the new courtyard farms came into being just after 1850. While the strong 
land was being increasingly laid down to grass, the reclaimed moss went into 
arable as soon as it came into cultivation, and helped to maintain the acreage 
under the plough. The mosses within the Fylde proper had wholly passed 
under cultivation by this time and those of the Over-Wyre district were in 
active reclamation, though their improvement was not completed until quite 
recently. By 1850 the present day economy was fast developing. 

The accompanying table, which refers to the 25 civil parishes of the Fylde 
proper, enables us to gauge the rate of change statistically for the later part of 
the century. By 1870 (the first statistical returns were made in 1867) half 
of the cultivated land, excluding rough grazings, was under grass. This was a 
greater proportion of grass than in England and Wales as a whole but, relative 
to the rest of Lancashire, the Fylde was still an important arable district. 
Of the land under the plough, about half was in corn, a quarter in rotation 
grass, and another quarter in roots and bare fallow. These proportions indicate 
a four-course rather than a five or a six-course system. The two or three 
years’ grass ley, though practised on some farms, was not universal. Of the 
corn crops, wheat had a slightly larger acreage than oats. Even in this district, 
with an average rainfall of considerably over 30 inches per year, wheat was still 
profitable to grow, for wheat prices did not begin to fall catastrophically until 
the next decade. The land was too heavy for barley, but there was a con- 
siderable acreage under beans. On the strong land there was a good deal of 
bare fallow, which was not necessarily bad husbandry on these wheat and bean 
soils. Of the roots, potatoes occupied a much greater acreage than tumips, 
swedes and mangolds. The turnip crop has never been very important in the 
district. The strong loams are wheat and bean land rather than turnip and 
barley land, and the moss soils yield such huge crops of potatoes that potatoes 
form their most obvious root break. Moreover, turnips were not required 
by the stock economy as much as in eastern England with its sheep folded on 
roots and bullocks fattening in the yard. 


AGRARIAN EVOLUTION SINCE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 47 


The Fylde was in 1870 an important stock district. Half the land was in 
grass and much of the arable produced fodder crops. There were more head 
of cattle than of sheep, and if the sheep be reduced to cow-equivalents the 
relatively smaller part of sheep in Fylde stock economy is clearly demonstrated. 
Of the cattle, rather more than half were cows and heifers in milk and in calf 
(the dairy herd), over one-third cattle under two years old, and only one-tenth 
cattle over two years old other than the dairy herd (mainly fattening stock). 
Compared with the country as a whole, the young stock were in about normal 
proportions, but the dairy herd was relatively more and the fattening cattle 
relatively less important. Clearly the Fylde was then, as now, a dairying and 


not a feeding district. The density of cattle per 100 acres of permanent grass _ 


was higher than for the country as a whole. The implication is that the grass 
was of relatively good quality, for the use of artificial feeding stuffs in summer 
cannot have begun on any extensive scale at this date. 

From 1870 onwards change has been continuous. The acreage under the 
plough has steadily declined save for an increase during the later years of the 
Great War to the level of what it had been during the 1880-90 decade. It 
is now little more than one-fifth of the total cultivated land. The decline has 
been most pronounced on the strong loams, the corn-growing land of the 
eighteenth century and earlier, and least on the sands and reclaimed moss. By 
far the greater part of the arable in the Fylde is now on moss and sandy soils, 
and the strong land is predominantly in grass. The transference of arable from 
heavy to relatively light soils, newly brought into cultivation, amounted to a 
complete reversal of agricultural distributions and is a local example of a change 
common to the whole country. Within the reduced arable acreage there have 
also been changes in rotation. The proportion under corn has declined and 
under rotation grass has increased, save for the temporary reversal of the trend 
during the Great War. The proportion under grass reached its maximum 
immediately after the’ very low corn prices during the ‘ nineties,’ when the long 
ley became particularly common. The acreage under wheat has declined 
continuously save for a temporary recovery during the Great War and the 
contemporary recovery due to the Wheat Act. In the Eastern Counties the 
recovery in the wheat acreage had begun in 1932, but in the Fylde it was 
delayed until 1933. In general the decline in wheat has been balanced by an 
increase in the proportion under oats, which is now the only corn grown on 
many farms. The grain most natural to the district has re-asserted its pre- 
dominance. Barley and beans have practically ceased to be grown, and the 
practice of an occasional bare fallow has been discontinued. The disappearance 
of beans and bare fallow testifies to the withdrawal of the arable from the strong 
lands. The proportion under roots has increased, but particularly that under 
potatoes, for which there is a strong demand in industrial Lancashire. The 
steady increase in ‘ other crops’ is to a large extent accounted for by market- 
gardening on the Marton Moss, near Blackpool, and in recent years by land 
under glasshouse cultivation both on Marton Moss and on the main Blackpool- 
Preston and Blackpool-Garstang roads. 

There have been changes in stock of a somewhat parallel order. The size of 
the dairy herd has continuously grown, and there are to-day over twice as many 
cows and heifers in milk and in calf as in 1870. The dairy cow, with its 
requirements of grass and hay, now dominates the agricultural economy of the 


48 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Fylde. Dairying is for the liquid milk market and very little cheese-making 
now remains in the Fylde proper. Many farms, particularly those of small 
and medium size, have now no arable land at all, and few have more than 
one-third of their acreage under the plough. Where arable remains, the 
chief objective of cultivation is the provision of stock food, potatoes and wheat 
being usually the only crops sold off the farm. The number of young cattle 
grew side by side with the growth of the dairy herd until the end of the 
nineteenth century, but since that time they have steadily declined both 
relatively and actually. They are now too few to replenish cows drafted out 
of the dairy herd and many dairy farmers now buy in their stock newly-calved 
_ or about to calve from outside the district—from Ireland, from the Pennine 
dales, from the margins of the Lake District, or from South-West Scotland. 
On many farms the cattle are all cows or heifers in milk or in calf, with the 
addition of a bull. Milk is exported to the seaside towns or to industrial 
Lancashire and Liverpool. The Fylde helps to feed South Lancashire as it 
did in the eighteenth century, but the export is now of milk and eggs rather 
than of corn. The number of cattle being fed for the butcher has varied, but 
shows no pronounced trend. They are usually kept by a few specialist graziers 
or butchers, and many of them are imported Irish stores bought in at the 
beginning of the grazing season and mostly finished by its close. 


The number of sheep has fluctuated widely. They have increased in recent 
years owing to relatively favourable prices for mutton and lamb. There has 
been a progressive change in the proportion of lambs and of adult sheep. In 
1870 there were more adult sheep than lambs, but to-day the keeping of sheep 
in the Fylde is almost confined to the fattening of lambs for the seaside market, 
ewes being brought in from the hill districts of Northern England in the early 
autumn and sold fat with their lambs early in the following summer. The 
pastures are then left free for the dairy herd. The number of pigs has increased 
steadily throughout the period and is now over five times as great as in 1870. 
The increase has been general, but most pronounced in the neighbourhood of 
urban areas, where quantities of food refuse are available. Production is mainly 
for the pork market. The number of fowls kept has also greatly increased. 
Even in the eighteenth century the Fylde was an important poultry district. 
The most rapid increase was after the Great War, when specialist poultry 
farms with wired runs developed near the main roads. The general farmer has 
also increased his poultry business, and his fowls are now usually kept in 
flock houses in the middle of the pastures, instead of, as formerly, around the 
barn door. 


These changes in farming practice have had their influence on the quantity 
of rural population. The position is complicated in some parishes by the 
growth of the seaside towns and by the development of residential settlement 
along the main roads, but in those not so affected the course of change is clear. 
Population increased from 1801 to 1821, but subsequently declined. By 
1861 it had fallen to the level of 1801 and continued to fall until 1891, when it 
was about 90 per cent. of what it had been at the beginning of the century. 
Thereafter it has remained steady. In the moss parishes north of the Wyre 
the population continued to grow with reclamation and did not begin to decline 
until nearly the end of the century. The increase in the early years of the 


49 


AGRARIAN EVOLUTION SINCE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 


nineteent 


h century was common to all rural districts in England, but the 


decline began earlier in the Fylde than in the country in general, owing to the 


more rapid laying down of land to grass. 


Rural population continued to 


in the acreage under the plough 


decline in the Fylde with the progressive fall 


but, despite the continued decline of the arable, the rural exodus ceased after 
1891, owing to the greater number of head of stock carried 


additional labour which they have required. 


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50 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


XI. 
AGRICOLTURE OF THE FYLDE 


BY 


J. J. GREEN, B.Sc., 
SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, LANCASHIRE County CoUNCIL. 


THE popular conception of Lancashire is of a blackened countryside, a region 
of smoking chimney stacks and sulphurous slag heaps, where the farmer must 
wring his livelihood out of “the begrimed pastures that scarcely separate the 
towns.’ This conception is true, however, only of a small proportion of 
Lancashire, and although the industrial activities of the county as a whole 
tend to overshadow its agricultural interests, Lancashire is one of the foremost 
agricultural counties. 


Compared with other English counties, Lancashire ranks eighth in respect 
of the area under crops and grass, and tenth in respect of the area under arable 
cultivation. Potatoes, of which there were 37,180 acres in 1934, is the most 
important arable crop ; only two counties have a larger area under this crop. 
The chief cereal crops are oats (52,346 acres) and wheat (30,145 acres) ; 
practically no barley is grown. In respect of live stock, Lancashire occupies 
an even more important position. In 1934, there were over 137,000 cows in 
the county, a larger number than any other county except Yorkshire. 


Although over large areas of the county practically no sheep are kept, sheep- 
farming is important in the hilly districts of East and North Lancashire and 
in the Fylde, so that the sheep population is fairly heavy, being over 386,000, 
the county occupying ninth place amongst English counties im this respect. 
The pig population of over 115,000 is the seventh largest in the country, and 
represents an increase of nearly 40 per cent. in the number of pigs kept com- 


pared with 1930. 


Even a summary of the agricultural statistics of the county would be 
incomplete without reference to the magnitude of the poultry-keeping industry. 
The agricultural returns show that in June, 1934, there were over seven-and-a- 
half million fowls kept on holdings of over one acre. If to this is added the 
estimated number kept on smaller areas, the total poultry population of Lanca- 
shire must be over 10,000,000. This is more than one-eighth of the total 
fowl population of England and Wales. 


Arable farming is mainly concentrated on the plain which lies along the sea 
board between the estuaries of the Ribble and the Mersey ; Ormskirk, where 
the National Institute of Botany has established a potato testing station, may 
be regarded as the centre of this area, 


Between the western arable plain and the Yorkshire border is the great 
industrial area. The important manufacturing towns of Burnley, Blackburn 


AGRICULTURE OF THE FYLDE 5I 


and Accrington, and of Bolton, Bury and Rochdale lie respectively on the 
northern and southern slopes of the Rossendale Fells, and these larger towns 
are linked up by an almost continuous chain of smaller industrial towns and 
villages. The soil in this area is poor, and the cultivated land is practically 
all under grass. The type of farming is determined by the proximity of the 
large industrial population. The farms are small and almost invariably 
devoted to milk production. 


Although Lancashire farmers have had a very difficult time during the past 
few years, it may be said that on the whole they have been less affected by the 
recent depression than those in other parts of the country. Signs of the general 
neglect of the arts of good husbandry, so apparent in many parts of England, 
are not obvious in this county ; there are few derelict farms, and on the whole 
the standard of cultivation has been well maintained. Farms have been good 
to let, and changes in tenancy have not been exceptionally numerous. There 
has been no reduction in the number of stock kept, or any general movement 
to reduce costs at the expense of production. On the contrary, so far as 
available capital would allow, the tendency has been to meet by more intensive 
production the situation created by falling prices. 


Tue FY.pe. 


The plain which in the south-west provides scope for intensive arable 
farming is continued north of the Ribble estuary as far as Morecambe Bay 
but the character of the soil changes, and a different type of farming is followed. 
This area, hounded on the east by the Preston-Lancaster line, and on the west 
by the Irish Sea, with the towns of Blackpool and Fleetwood on its coast line, 
is known as the Fylde, and it is proposed to deal in greater detail with the 
agricultural features of this region. 


The climate is mild and open, with an evenly distributed rainfall. At the 
County Council Farm, Hutton, where the climatic conditions approximate to 
those obtaining in the Fylde, the average rainfall for the past 10 years has been 
37.6 inches. Crops very rarely suffer from drought. 


The soil, derived mainly from boulder clay overlying Keuper sandstones and 
marls, is generally a deep, fertile clay loam, but there are considerable areas of 
sandy loam, of peaty soil known locally as “ moss” land, and a belt of light, 
sandy soil round the coast. On the sandy loam and moss soils, arable and 
market garden crops are grown, but on the deep loam covering most of the 
Fylde mixed farming is the rule, with 60-80 per cent. of the land under grass. 
Both the soil and climate are favourable to the development of good grassland. 


Lancashire is chiefly a county of small farms worked mainly by the farmer's 
own family. In the Fylde, however, the farms generally are larger than in 
other parts of the county. There are a few farms of 250 to 500 acres, but the 
typical Fylde farm is between 50 and 100 acres. Rents are comparatively high. 
On the larger farms they usually range between 40s. and 50s. per acre, and on 
the smaller farms up to 60s. per acre. The minimum rate of wages for adult 
stockmen is 40s. per week of 60 hours, but most farmers pay rather more 
than this. 


52 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 
DAIrRYING. 


Primarily the Fylde is a dairying district, and most of the farms carry a 
relatively heavy stock of milch cows. ‘There are several herds of Friesians, but 
the usual breed is the non-pedigree dairy shorthorn or dairy shorthorn x 
Ayrshire. This latter is a very popular type, and is known as ‘the cock- 
horned cow.” There are several well-known herds of pedigree shorthorn 
and Friesian cattle in the district. 


Many farmers rear their heifer calves, but milk selling is the primary object, 
and reliance is placed chiefly on outside sources for herd replacements. Large 
numbers of cows come down from south-west Scotland, Cumberland, West- 
morland and from the Yorkshire dales, whilst probably over 30 per cent. of 
the total number of cows kept are of Irish origin. Weekly cow sales are held 
at a number of country markets, but the main centre is Preston, where every 
Friday about 500 (including 150-200 Irish) cows in milk change hands. On 


alternate Mondays 300-400 in-calf cows are also sold in Preston market. 


The operation of the Milk Marketing Board, by encouraging the sale of 
liquid milk, has increased the demand for cows and reduced the proportion of 
milk available for rearing, but some of the Fylde farmers, anticipating a scarcity 
of dairy heifers in the near future, are now paying more attention to the rearing 
of young stock. 


Although most of the milk is sold in the liquid form, a considerable propor- 
tion is made into cheese, and, to a less extent, butter. The Fylde may be 
regarded as the home of Lancashire cheese, and the old stone cheese presses 
which must have been in general use 100 years ago may still be seen (though 
not in use) on many of the Fylde farms. Up to the advent of the Milk 
Marketing Board the cheese was made on the farms. Unfortunately the 
operations of the Board, in the first instance at any rate, had the effect of 
discouraging farm cheese-making, as farmers could dispose of their milk in 
the liquid form at a better price than they could obtain by converting it into 
cheese, as well as being relieved of the somewhat arduous labour of cheese- 
making. 


As, except for the seasonal demand of Blackpool and other coast resorts, this 
milk could not be utilised for liquid consumption, a number of cheese factories 
were established in the area. As a result, the industry which has been built 
up by the Fylde farm cheese-maker has largely passed into the hands of 
manufacturers and factors, and this has accelerated the movement already in 
progress of putting cheese on to the market in a more or less immature condition. 
It is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain the more mature cheese which 
was available 20 years ago. The best Lancashire cheese is a whole-milk cheese 
with a clean acid flavour, and with a characteristic texture, which is due to the 
cheese being made of curd of different ages and at a lower temperature than 
is used in the manufacture of, say, Cheshire or Cheddar cheese. The Milk 
Marketing Board have now taken steps to secure that the home cheese-maker is 
not penalised compared with those who send their milk to the factories, and 
there has been some revival of home cheese-making during the past year. 


Arrangements have recently been made for the grading of Lancashire cheese, 
and its sale under the National Mark. It is estimated that farmhouse and 


AGRICULTURE OF THE FYLDE 53 


factory cheese-makers who are participating in the scheme convert during the 
winter months about 20,000 gallons and during the summer months about 


30,000 gallons of milk daily into Lancashire cheese. 


Pics AND Bacon. 


With the large quantities of whey available as a by-product of cheese-making, 
pig-keeping is an important branch of farming in the Fylde. The Large White 
is the popular breed, and many excellent herds of pigs are found in the district. 
Owing to their high rate of breeding it is possible to rapidly adjust the numbers 
of pigs kept in accordance with economic conditions, and as the Pigs Marketing 
Scheme has brought a measure of stability to an industry which had been 
subject to severe cyclical fluctuations in prices, there has been some increase in 
the numbers of pigs kept in the Fylde. A number of farmers have erected 
new pig-houses of the Scandinavian type, and closer attention is being paid to 
efficiency in management and feeding, as it is recognised that the margin of 
profit provided under the scheme is so small that only under a highly efficient 
system of management will pig-keeping be found reasonably remunerative. 


There is no large curing factory in the area, but there are a large number of 
comparatively small curers who cater for the demand for lean pork and fat 
bacon which is met with in Lancashire. For this purpose a pig of 10 to 
12 score carcase weight is required, from which before curing a length of lean 
is cut out for sale as fresh pork, the thick back fat being cured for bacon. 
Although the larger proportion of pigs are probably sold under contract through 
the Pigs Marketing Board at seven to eight-and-a-half scores, a considerable 
number are still fed to the heavier weight to meet the special requirements of the 
Lancashire curer. 


SHEEP AND Horses. 


Sheep do not play an important part in Fylde farming, but small flocks are 
kept on many of the farms. Ewes are purchased from Scotland or from the 
hill districts further north and sold fat after one or two crops of lambs. The 
ewes are mainly Mashams—the progeny of the Wensleydale ram and the 
Swaledale ewe—or white-faced half-breds, the cross between the Border 
Leicester and Cheviot. These ewes are usually crossed with a Suffolk tup 
with the object of catering for the early fat lamb market. The Suffolk Masham 
cross is very popular with the butcher. Lambing is common in February, and 
the lambs are sold at carcase weights of 30 to 40 lbs. There is no root- feeding 
of sheep, but many farmers buy half-bred lambs at the autumn sheep sales in 
the north for feeding on seeds or aftergrass. 


Beef-production in the main is confined to the feeding of cows no longer 
required in the milking herd, but some farmers make a practice of fattening 
a few cattle—mainly Irish stores—which are sold generally at about 8 cwts. 
live weight. The beef subsidy has helped to check the tendency to change 
over from beef to milk, and thus has indirectly helped the dairy farmer. 


Mechanisation on the land is not highly developed. Small farms and 
small fields do not provide suitable conditions for the application of power to 
farming, and cultivations are carried out mainly by horse labour. A few 


54 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Clydesdales may be seen, but the Shire holds pride of place. There are some 
well-known studs of Shire horses in this district, and many farmers run one 
or more brood mares, and sell the offspring off for heavy town work at five 
and. six years old. 


PouLTRY-KEEPING. 


Reference has already been made to the great importance of poultry-keeping 
in Lancashire, and the Fylde area may well be regarded as the most important 
centre of this industry. On the general farm, poultry-keeping is no longer 
regarded as a side-line providing pin-money for the farmer’s wife, but as 
occupying an important place in the economy of the farm, and there are few 
farms in the Fylde where poultry do not make a substantial contribution to the 
farmer's income. There are also a large number of holdings devoted entirely 
to poultry-keeping. On the general farm, poultry flocks range from 500 to 
1,000 birds, and there are many specialised poultry farms with a stock of from 
2,000 to 5,000 birds. The main object of the poultry keeper is egg-production, 
and only as a by-product the breeding and feeding of table birds. 


Up to recent years the usual practice has been for the egg-producer to raise 
his own stock for replacements, but latterly there has been a tendency towards 
specialisation, the stock being obtained from sources which specialise in the 
production and distribution of eggs for incubation, day-old chicks or young 
pullet stock. The popular breeds are White Wyandottes, White Leghorns and 
Rhode Island Reds, and these breeds comprise 90 per cent. of the poultry stock. 


Birds are usually housed in a type of house known as the “ Lancashire 
Cabin,” a type which is now becoming generally used in other parts of the 
country. The standard size is 24 feet by 12 feet, capable of holding 100 adult 
laying stock, a unit which is accepted as being most economical both from the 
point of view of egg-production and the saving of labour. Although this is the 
main type of house, there has been a tendency in the last few years to house 
birds in smaller, less costly and more portable houses. In these smaller units 
it is easier to prevent soil contamination and to control disease. 


A more recent development is the laying battery system of housing adult 
stock. On one holding of the Fylde 2,000 birds are housed on this system, 
which is spreading rapidly throughout the area. 


The poultry-farmer finds excellent markets for his produce not only in the 
adjacent towns of Blackpool and Preston, but in the manufacturing towns of 
south and east Lancashire. 


STOCKING OF FARMS. 


The farms are heavily stocked and a few typical examples are given below :— 
Farm A. 


Area: 80 acres, all grass. 
60 cows in milk. 
‘6 dry cows. 
15 ewes. 
200 pigs. 
1,000 hens. 


AGRICULTURE OF THE FYLDE 55 
Farm B. 


Area: 210 acres, 132 acres grass, 78 acres arable. 
65 cows in milk. 
20 in-calf cows. 
120 breeding ewes. 


Farm C. 
Area: 140 acres, all grass. 
60 cows in milk. 
25 in calf and other stock. 
70 breeding ewes. 
1,200 laying hens. 
Farm D. 
Area: 26 acres, all grass. 


20 cows in milk. 
13 other stock. 
35 pigs. 

20 ewes. 


1,000 laying hens. 
Crops. 


Grass is the most important crop on the Fylde farm. Heavy crops of meadow 
hay are produced, and the pastures carry a large number of stock. Large 
quantities of farmyard manure are available for dressing the meadow land, and 
the pasture land generally receives periodic dressings of phosphates, and 
frequently an early dressing of nitrogenous manure to hasten spring growth. 
The soil generally is deficient in lime, and the pastures and meadows receive 
occasional dressings of lime either in the form of cob lime or ground limestone. 
Hay-making commences early, usually about the first week in June. The 
hay is almost always carted into Dutch barns at the homestead. 


The grazing season is short and as the cows have to be kept indoors for 
practically seven months of the year, large amounts of purchased feeding stuffs 
are consumed. Many Fylde farmers are wondering whether expense under 
this heading could not be reduced by the adoption of the method of grass 
drying by machinery. Hay-making in the Fylde, on account of the high 
rainfall, is usually a most wasteful and costly operation, and if this new method 
of conserving the abundant crops of grass proves economically sound it would 
effect a great saving in the cost of purchased feeding stuffs. 


The arable land is generally farmed on the four-course system—roots, grain, 
seeds, grain ; although in some cases this may be modified to a three-course, 
cutting out one grain crop, and bringing in an extra root crop. 


Oats and wheat are the common grain crops. No barley is grown. Com- 
pared with other arable areas heavy seeding of cereal crops is practised ; oats, 
for example, may be sown up to the rate of 3 cwts. per acre. Although some 
_mangolds, swedes, and marrow stem kale are grown, the biggest portion of 
the root land is under potatoes. Eclipse is the earliest variety grown, and King 
Edward, Majestic and Kerr’s Pink are popular second early and main crop 
varieties. 


56 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 
HortTICULTURE. 


Adjoining the seaboard there is a belt of warm, sandy loam, merging into a 
peaty loam, known locally as ‘moss’ soil. These soils are admirably adapted 
for the more intensive forms of horticulture, specialising in the cultivation of 
out-of-season salad crops and those grown under glass. The Marton district, 
just on the east of Blackpool, may be regarded as the centre of the glass-house 
industry in the county. 


In this area not only is the soil suitable, but other factors, such as sunshine 
hours, equable atmospheric temperature, high rainfall, pure water supply and 
proximity to good markets, provide conditions favourable to the development of 
glass-house culture. This industry meets not only the local requirements of 
the adjacent towns, but large quantities of tomatoes, lettuce and other crops 
are consigned to East Lancashire and Yorkshire markets. 


Most of the glass-houses in the district are of the aeroplane type, which are 
usually built in a series of bays measuring 15 feet to 20 feet wide, 11 feet to 
12 feet to the ridge and having a height of 5 feet to 7 feet to the eaves and 
intermediate gutters. Some of the older houses are of the ‘ vinery’ type, 
having a height of 4 feet 6 inches to the eaves and about 10 feet to the ridge. 
Between these two types there are numerous structures of various widths and 
heights adapted for the special cultures for which they are best suited. 


CropPING SysTEM. 


The chief crops grown are tomatoes, chrysanthemums, winter and early 
spring lettuce, forced mint, forced bulbs, cucumbers, mustard and cress, and 
asparagus for foliage. While unheated houses may still be found in this 
district, the great majority are heated by hot water circulated on the thermo- 
syphon principle. 

During the months from March to September the houses are planted with 
tomatoes at the rate of 15,000 to 17,000 per glass acre. The preparation for 
the tomato crop is very thorough ; the land is deeply cultivated, and receives 
a liberal dressing of strawy horse manure at the rate of 20 to 25 tons per acre, 
which is supplemented by generous dressings of artificial fertilisers. The 
average yield of tomatoes is approximately 33 tons per acre. 


In a large majority of the houses the tomatoes are cleared by the middle of 
September, and they are again filled with winter-flowering chrysanthemums, 
which have been growing outside during the summer months. _ It is com- 
paratively rare to find chrysanthemums grown in flower pots, but the recent 
introduction of open wire pots has found favour, particularly in respect to 
certain varieties of chrysanthemums which are bad lifters. “The usual practice 
is to cultivate the land by mechanical cultivator after the tomatoes are cleared, 
and then lift the chrysanthemums by spade or fork and bring them into the 
houses, and plant them fairly close together in the borders previously occupied 
by the tomatoes. Usually 30;000 to 33,000 chrysanthemums are planted per 
acre. 

The cultivation of the chrysanthemums out of doors during the summer to 
bring them to the proper stage of development to flower at the required period 
demands a good deal of skill and a knowledge of the special requirements of 


AGRICULTURE OF THE FYLDE 57 


particular varieties. Growers in this district during recent years have con- 
centrated mainly on late December flowering varieties to meet the demands of 
the flower trade during the Christmas period, but many acres are devoted to 
earlier flowering varieties of chrysanthemums, which are marketed as cut 
bloom from the end of July onwards. 

As a rule the chrysanthemums are cleared from the houses by the end of 
January, and the land is again rapidly cultivated by mechanical cultivator 
and prepared for a late spring lettuce crop which has been previously sown in 
November. Winter lettuces are usually planted at 80,000 per acre at the end 
of January, and are ready for marketing by the middle of March ; a number 
of growers who do not grow chrysanthemums take two crops of lettuce off 
the land before it is planted with tomatoes. The cultivation of lettuces during 
the short days in winter demands great care and attention to cultural details, 
as it is the most exacting crop in the rotation. A row of early flowering sweet 
peas is often grown to the side of the pathway under the ridge of the aeroplane 
houses. 

It will be appreciated that this intensive form of cultivation entails heavy 
labour charges, estimated at £600 to £700 per glass acre. 

In certain sheltered localities cauliflowers are wintered in cool glass-houses, 
and in the spring are planted out in situations which are enclosed by rows of 
privet hedges, which provide protection against late spring frosts. By this 
method large numbers of cauliflowers are cut in June and early July. 

Small apple orchards are found on most of the Fylde farms, and these supply 
the needs of the farmer’s own family. While there are no specialist growers 
on a large scale in the Fylde, there are areas around Freckleton, Poulton-le- 
Fylde, Great Eccleston and parts of the Pilling district which have proved 
favourable for apple growing, and fairly extensive plantings of top fruit are 
to be found in these localities. Generally, wind and late spring frosts are the 
most important limiting factors in the fruit-growing districts. In recent 
years an effort has been made by the Lancashire Agricultural Education 
Committee to introduce the cultivation of black-currants as a side-line on the 
general farm, and demonstration areas of this crop have proved very successful. 


EDUCATION. 


Fylde farmers take full advantage of the facilities provided by the Lancashire 
County Council for all forms of agricultural education. The central teaching 
institution is at Hutton, about three miles from Preston. Courses of instruc- 
tion are provided in dairying, poultry-~keeping and horticulture, and there is a 
farm of 300 acres attached, which serves as an experimental farm and to provide 
milk for the Dairy School. The most recent development has been the 
extension of the area under glass, which now covers half-an-acre, and is 
designed to meet the growing needs of the glass-house industry for experimental 
and instructional work. Residential accommodation is provided for 30 
students, and considerable extensions in the residential and laboratory 
accommodation are in progress. Instruction in agriculture is carried out in 
association with the Harris Institute, Preston. During the winter session 
there are usually about 60 students attending the Courses at Preston and Hutton. 


Members of the staff are available not only for lectures and classes during 
the winter months, but to visit holdings for the purpose of giving advice on 


58 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


the technical problems met with by the farmer, poultry-keeper and market- 
grower. 


There are four successful Agricultural Discussion Societies in the Fylde, 
and the Young Farmers’ Club movement has recently made rapid strides in 
the area ; about 100 heifers’ calves are being reared this season by members 


of the clubs in the Fylde. 


Instruction in manual processes is very popular, local classes being held 
in hedging, walling and draining. 

Probably the majority of Fylde farmers visit the County Farm on the annual 
open day. On this occasion lecture-demonstrations are given in the various 
departments ; there are working demonstrations of new agricultural machinery 
and equipment, and a stock-judging competition for young farmers attracts 
competitors from all over the county. The popularity of this event is indicated 


by the fact that about 3,000 farmers and others interested attended the open 
day held last May. 


The county borough of Blackpool, which includes a considerable area of 
agricultural land, has an arrangement with the county education authority 
whereby the advisory facilities provided in the county are available to residents 
in the borough. 


I wish to acknowledge the help given in the compilation of this article by 
my colleagues, Mr. G. M. Robertson, Poultry Adviser ; Mr. N. J. Macpherson, 
Horticultural Instructor; and Mr. O. J. Pattison, District Agricultural 
Organiser. 


XII. 


TRANSPORT eIN. THE « PYE DE 
BY ROAD, RAIL, SEA AND AIR 


BY 


ASHTON DAVIES, O.B.E., M.Inst.T., Cuter CommerciAL MANAGER, 
Lonpon Mipianp AND ScottisH Raitway ComPANY. 


Just over 100 years ago the coast between the Ribble and the Wyre was little 
more than a waste of sandhills. To-day that same coast is famous as one of 
England’s foremost holiday centres, while at the mouth of the Wyre there 
has sprung up a thriving township which occupies a prominent place among 
our fishing ports. 


What has brought about this transformation ? Little, of course, could have 
been achieved without natural advantages and the foresight and acumen of 


59 


TRANSPORT IN THE FYLDE BY ROAD, RAIL. SEA AND AIR 


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REFERENCE 


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Lytham & Blackpool Railway 


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60 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


past and present generations of public-spirited citizens, but it may well be 
claimed that the development of transport, and of railway transport in 
particular, has played a leading part in the creation of the Fylde of to-day. 


In the following pages an endeavour has been made to trace the history of 
transport in the Fylde area from the primitive tracks of early times to the 
speedy aeroplane of the present age. 


TRANSPORT IN THE PRE-RAILWAY ERA. 


Remnants of a track or road made of the trunks of trees cut to a uniform 
length, found in the old peat beds of Pilling Moss, point to the Romans as. 
being probably the first people to attempt the actual construction of roadways 
in the Fylde district. “This track, known locally as “ Kate’s Pad,’ is believed 
to have been made by the Romans across the moor to link Lancashire with the 
Fylde via the Wyre ford at Poulton. Traces of Watling Street on the western 
side of Preston indicate that at one time a section of it ran from Ribchester 
to Kirkham, with branches (designated from time immemorial as the ‘ Dane’s 
Pad’) to the Wyre at Poulton and Fleetwood and to the Ribble at Freckleton, 
thus providing further evidence that there was some sort of transport in the 
district from early times. 


After the Romans left Britain, properly made roads were a rarity until the 
advent and establishment of the stage coach in the late eighteenth century, and 
even the best of the old coach roads was very crude measured by present 
standards. Writing in 1770, Mr. Arthur Young (‘ A Tour through the North 
of England ’) gives the following description of the road between Wigan and 
Preston :— 


“I know not in the whole language terms sufficiently expressive to describe 
this infernal road. Let me caution travellers to avoid it as they would the 
devil, for a thousand to one but they break their necks or their limbs by 
overthrows or breaking downs. They will meet with ruts, which I actually 
measured, four feet deep and floating with mud only from a wet summer. 
What, therefore, must it be after a winter > The only mending it receives is 
a tumbling in of some loose stones, which serve no other purpose but jolting 
the carriage in the most intolerable manner. These are not merely opinions, 
but facts, for I actually passed three carts broken down in this 18 miles of 
execrable memory.’ 


As this was the main road (Wigan—Preston-Lancaster), what must have 
been the condition of the minor roads in the Fylde? And to add to the 
difficulties of travellers, the highways were infested with footpads and robbers. 


Stage coaches appear to have commenced serving the Fylde on August Ist, 
1780, when the coach running on Mondays and Wednesdays from Manchester 
to Bolton, Chorley and Blackburn was extended to Blackpool. The journey 
from Manchester to Blackpool took the whole day, starting at 6-0 a.m., and 
after a change of vehicle and an interval for dinner at Preston, Blackpool was 
reached late the same night. 


It was not until 1816 that coaches began to run with any regularity between 
Preston and Blackpool, and there is no certainty that this service was con- 
sistently maintained, because the Rev. Wm. Thornber, in his * History of 


TRANSPORT IN THE FYLDE BY ROAD, RAIL, SEA AND AIR 6] 


Blackpool’ (1837), states that the highway to Preston was unpaved, and in 
winter or a wet summer became almost impassable. 


Ninety YEARS OF Raitway TRAnNsport (1831-1921). 


The most important stage in the development of transport in the nineteenth 
century was undoubtedly the invention of the steam engine, which gave to 
the world the locomotive and the marine engine, and from about 1840 onwards 
the transport of passengers and merchandise rapidly reached dimensions 
hitherto undreamed of. It is from this period that the growth and prosperity 
of the Fylde dates, for the ensuing years were to see a complete change come 
over the face of the landscape. 

The first step towards the penetration of the railways into the Fylde was the 
sanctioning by Parliament in 1831 of the North Union Railway, which formed 
an extension of the Wigan branch of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway 
to the town of Preston. 

In 1835 the Preston and Wyre Harbour and Dock Company, formed chiefly 
through the efforts of Sir P. H. Fleetwood, secured the necessary Parlia- 
mentary powers to construct a railway from the terminus of the North Union 
Railway at Preston to Fleetwood, and to establish a harbour and docks there, 
from which a service of steamers could be run to Scotland and Ireland. The 
opening of the Preston and Wyre Railway on the 15th July, 1840, not only 
linked the Fylde with Preston, Manchester and many other places with railway 
facilities, but also brought the important Preston Market within easy reach of 
a large number of farms in the district for the sale of their produce. 

About this time Fleetwood began to outrival its coastal neighbours, Blackpool 
and Lytham, as a holiday resort, and in 1844 the Preston and Wyre Railway 
Company, in conjunction with the Liverpool and Manchester and North 
Union Companies, commenced to run excursion trains to Fleetwood on 
Sundays during the summer months at reduced fares. 

These were among the first railway excursions ever run, even if they were 
not the first cheap trips of any kind. In July, 1846, the whole of the 1,300 
work-people of Richard Cobden visited Fleetwood by rail, and in the same 
month a Sunday School excursion, said to have consisted of 4,200 children and 
adults, arrived in Fleetwood for a day trip. In 1846 a day trip was run from 
Oldham, and as a special inducement it was advertised that !adies accompanied 
by gentlemen would be conveyed at half price. It is strongly suspected that 
some of the “ ladies’ on the train were actually members of the sterner sex 
masquerading in feminine garments in order to take advantage of the lower 
are. 

The growth of traffic on the Preston and Wyre Railway was rapid as will be 
seen from the following extracts from the official returns of the Company 
during its first five years of operation :— 


Passengers. Merchandise _ Total 

Number. Receipts. ane Receipts. 

One week ended Dec. 14th, 1842 .... 9 66 62 128 
Corresponding week, 1843 ..... 1,105 88 14] 229 
* ae 1844... 1,601 139 164 303 

% Fs 1845 ..... 1,997 144 235 379 


" FF 1846 .... 2,820 244 ~ 309 553 


62 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


In consequence of the: increased traffic it was decided in 1846 to double the 
line, and in 1849 the undertaking was leased to the L. & Y. and L. & N.W. 


Companies jointly. 


The year 1846 was one of outstanding importance so far as railway develop- 
ment in the Fylde is concerned, seeing as it did the opening for traffic of the 
branch line from Kirkham to Lytham in February, and another from Poulton 
to Blackpool (Talbot Road) on April 29th. 


The advisability of connecting Lytham and Blackpool was first mooted in 
1860, and the coastal railway line joining these two watering-places was 
opened on the 4th April, 1863—less than 75 years ago. At the time of its 
opening the railway consisted of a single line, seven-and-a-half miles in length, 
with stations at Hounds Hill (Central Station), Blackpool (South Shore) 
and Lytham. It had no physical connection with the line from Kirkham to 
Lytham, a disability which was overcome in 1874 when the Preston and Wyre 
Company, having taken over the Blackpool and Lytham Railway, doubled the 
track and installed the much-needed connection with its own system. 


From this time onward the growth of the district was rapid, and its 
popularity as a holiday-resort, particularly for North-country people, continued 
to expand. 


Excursion trafic became a regular feature, and to meet the ever-increasing 
transport demands the Railway Company expended large sums in quadrupling 
lines over certain sections, and re-building stations. It is worthy of note that 
as early as 1883 special facilities were introduced at Talbot Road Station for 
dealing with excursion traffic, 


The effect of these developments can be traced in the growth of the population 
of Blackpool. In 1870 the inhabitants numbered only some 7,000 ; by 1891] 
the number had increased threefold to 21,000, and at the end of the next 10 
years had mounted to 47,000, but by 1921 the 100,000 mark was almost within 
sight. 


Although, strictly speaking, not lying within the area of the Fylde, the 
transport history of the district would not be complete without some reference 
to the Garstang and Knott End Railway, in view of its close association with 
Fleetwood. 


Originally promoted with the intention of linking the L. & N.W. Railway 
and the market town of Garstang with the Port of Fleetwood by means of the 
ferry at Knott End, the portion of the Garstang and Knott End Railway 
between Garstang and Pilling, a distance of seven miles, was opened for 
merchandise in December, 1870. The promoters found themselves in 
difficulties at an early date. In the first place, the trains were hauled by an 
engine which the Company obtained on hire, and whilst this was undergoing 
repairs in 1872 the railway had to close down for two days. Soon afterwards 
the engine was seized by its owners in consequence of the hire purchase money 
not having been paid, and horse traction was introduced and used spasmodically 
during the next three years. An engine was purchased outright in February, 
1875, when the line was re-opened for goods traffic, and a passenger service 
was instituted in May of the same year. 


TRANSPORT IN THE FYLDE BY ROAD, RAIL, SEA AND AIR 63 


On July Ist, 1908, the Garstang and Knott End Railway Company was 
bought up by the Knott End Railway Company and the line extended a further 
four-and-a-quarter miles to Knott End. 


Tue Lonpon MIDLAND AND ScorttisH RAILWAY. 


One result of the Railways Act of 1921 was to bring the whole of the railways 
serving the Fylde area under one management, namely, the London Midland 
and Scottish Railway. This vast organisation has done much in recent years 
to foster the development of the Fylde and its coastal resorts. There are few 
of its 2,500 passenger stations throughout the country which do not display 
in some prominent position a pictorial appeal to the public to visit Blackpool, 
Cleveleys, Lytham, St. Annes, or other places in the Fylde. Since the 
amalgamation of the railways much has been done, and continues to be done, 
to speed up trafic and to provide better comfort for passengers. 


Outstanding among the many fine express trains serving Blackpool at the 
present time is the ‘Blackpool and Fylde Coast Express,’ leaving London 
(Euston) at 5-10 p.m. every week-day except Saturday, and arriving Blackpool 
(Central) at 9-53 p.m. In the reverse direction this train, which is composed of 
stock of the latest design, leaves Blackpool (Central) at 8-25 a.m., and reaches 
Euston at 12-50 p.m. The final stage of the journey of 158 miles from Crewe 

_ to Euston is run in 154 minutes at an average start to stop speed of 61.6 m.p.h. 


The number of passengers reaching Blackpool and the adjacent resorts by rail 
now reaches the huge total of nearly six millions annually, excluding the many 
thousands of journeys made by season ticket holders who have taken up 
residence in the district. During the week preceding August Bank Holiday, 
1935, the number of passengers passing through the station barriers exceeded 
half-a-million, while during the period of the * Illuminations ’"—that is, after 
the normal summer season had ended—the visitors arriving by rail were in the 


vicinity of 750,000. 

Apart from the transport of passengers, Blackpool's thousands of residents 
and visitors require food and the other necessaries of life. To cater for the 
needs of the district in this respect the L.M.S. Company maintains a 
number of well-equipped goods stations, of which that at Blackpool is being 
re-built on modern lines. A comprehensive system of road collection and 
delivery services links these stations with the commercial and agricultural 
interests of the Fylde. 


Kirkham (North Junction) might aptly be termed the ‘ hub of the Fylde,’ 
as during a recent 24-hourly period nearly 600 trains were dealt with at the 
signal box there, averaging one every two-and-a-half minutes. The frequency 
was, of course, much higher during the peak periods, as in the early hours of 
the day traffic is comparatively light. 


Tramway SYSTEMS OF THE FYLDE. 


The latter part of the nineteenth century saw the beginning of the tramways, 
which to-day afford such excellent local passenger services between Lytham 
and Fleetwood, following the coast for most of the distance. 


Tramways commenced running in Blackpool itself in 1885, when, on the 
29th September, was inaugurated what is believed to be the first electrical 


64 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


tramway in this country. The trams were propelled by current conveyed to 
small motors from a cable concealed in a conduit in the centre of the track. 
Stops were numerous and sometimes prolonged, because not only was there 
but a single track (except on the South Beach), with loops at infrequent 
intervals to permit cars to pass one another, but there was a constant risk of 
interruption to the service through the sea or sand affecting the cable. 


For the first seven years the line was leased to a private company, but was 
taken over by the Blackpool Corporation in 1892. The conduit system was 
abandoned for overhead trolley traction in 1894, and the line was extended 
considerably during the next few years, the Station Road tramway being 
opened on the 7th August, 1897, and the Promenade line extended to the Gynn 
in 1901. 


The Blackpool and Lytham tramroad was started by a private company, 
with a system of gas traction. It proved unsatisfactory, and the passengers 
had sometimes to get out and help to push the trams up certain inclines. 
In 1903 the overhead electric system was adopted, and in 1920 the nine miles 
of track was purchased by the St. Annes Council. 


The Blackpool and Fleetwood tramroad was opened on the 13th July, 1898, 
under powers obtained for the construction of a light railway. It has a length 
of 10 miles from Blackpool to Fleetwood, and is operated on the overhead 
trolley system. It was purchased by the Blackpool Corporation in 1919. 


The tramway service operated to-day by the Blackpool Corporation is right 
in the forefront of modernity, and during 1935 the cars, many of them of a 
new and specialised design, carried over 49 million passengers. The Corpora- 
tion also owns 64 motor buses, in which nearly 143 million passengers travelled 


in 1935. 
TWENTIETH CENTURY RoAaD TRANSPORT. 


The post-war period has been marked by the improvement and development 
of the internal combustion engine, and the private car and the motor bus and 
coach have added their quota to the volume of transport. 


The district is now served by an excellent system of roads, and some idea 
of the extent to which these are utilised may be gathered from the figures 
revealed by an official census taken at key points during the 1935 August Bank 
Holiday period, indicating the number of vehicles entering or passing through 
Blackpool on the three days :— 


No. Percentage. 
Motor cars ne ... 27,748 it 57% 
Motor coaches _.... .. 4,584 ws 9% 
Motor cycles vt .. 5,611 at 12% 
Lorries and vans.... 2,407 4 5% 
Bicycles _ .... pase aye 8,290 a 1794 
Horse vehicles _.... 7. 136 Hie — 
Total Me: ... 48,744 


Among the many road transport undertakings serving the area may be 
mentioned the Ribble Motor Company, which, with its subsidiaries and 


TRANSPORT IN THE FYLDE BY ROAD, RAIL, SEA AND AIR 65 


associates, connects Blackpool by express road services with 61 cities and 
towns as far apart as Glasgow and Edinburgh, Great Yarmouth, London and 
Torquay. The ‘Scout’? Motors also provide convenient services in and 


around the Fylde. 


TRANSPORT BY SEA, AND Ports OF THE FYLDE. 


The Fylde was in Roman times inhabited by the Segantii (" Dwellers of the 
Sea’), and there is historical support for the belief that they had a harbour 
or port at the mouth of the River Wyre. Since those days, however, the 
face of the coast has been altered by erosion, and the mouth of the river would 
at that time be about three miles further west than it is to-day. 


For more than 200 years before Fleetwood was even imagined the River 
Wyre had achieved some status in the commercial world, with harbours at 
Wardleys and Skippool, and a Customs House at Poulton. The Lancashire 
historian, Baines, described Wardleys in 1825 as ‘a small seaport on the River 
‘Wyre, where vessels of 300 tons register may discharge their burdens.’ 


Fleetwood owes its existence to a Lord of the Manor, Sir P. H. Fleetwood, 
who, residing at Rossall, first conceived the idea of converting a desolate 
warren at the northern extremity of the Fylde into a thriving seaport. He 
visualised a prosperous new port nearer the sea than Wardleys and Skippool, 


provided it could be linked by railway via Preston with the industrial towns of 
Lancashire and Yorkshire. 


As previously mentioned, the Preston and Wyre Railway was opened for 
traffic on the 15th July, 1840, Fleetwood having started as a distinct port in 
1839, with Customs established by order of the Treasury. Following the 
deepening of the channel by dredging, the North Lancashire Steam Navigation 
Company commenced operating in 1843 a steamboat service to Belfast for both 
passengers and cargo. Fleetwood soon became one of the principal ports of 
embarkation for Northern Ireland, and the excellent service to Belfast, which 
was subsequently run by the Railway Company's own steamers, proved highly 
popular, and reached very large dimensions up to the time when it was 
amalgamated with the Heysham service by the L.M.S. Company on the 30th 
April, 1928. 

The originally projected regular steamer service between Fleetwood and 
Scotland does not appear long to have survived, even if it actually started, but 
it is interesting to record that on Monday, the 20th September, 1847, Her 
Majesty, Queen Victoria, accompanied by the Prince of Wales and the Princess 
Royal, landed at Fleetwood off the royal yacht, ‘ Victoria and Albert’ from 
Ardrossan, and completed the journey to London by rail. 


Fleetwood is to-day widely recognised as an embarkation point for the 
two-and-a-half hours’ sea journey to the Isle of Man by the royal mail steamers 
of the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, which are amongst the most 
luxurious and fastest channel turbine steamers afloat. 


The present vast industry of fishing at Fleetwood had its beginning in 1844, 
when the ‘Fleetwood Fishing Company’ purchased one of the two pilot 
boats (the ‘ Pursuit’) stationed at Fleetwood, together with four more boats 
hired from North Meols. 


66 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


By 1876 Fleetwood could boast of 84 smacks engaged in fishing, whilst to-day 
there are about 200 steam fishing-vessels regularly operating from the port. 


The Railway Company have recognised the great possibilities of the situation 
of the port in relation to the fishing grounds, and its wonderful development is 
largely due to their foresight and enterprise. Apart from the general facilities 
at Fleetwood developed by the L. & N.W. and the L. & Y. Companies jointly, 
the L. & Y. Company many years ago provided a new dock on their Wyre Dock 
estate, which now, under the management of the L.MLS., is devoted 
exclusively to the accommodation of steam trawlers and other vessels engaged 
in the fishing trade. 


This fish dock, which has been equipped with the latest facilities for quick 
handling, is among the finest of its kind now in existence, and the L.MLS. 
Company have not spared pains or expense in keeping it up to date. Among 
recent developments of note mention might be made of the new electric 
coaling appliances of the most modern type, which enable coal to be fed direct 
from railway truck into the ship’s bunkers at a speed four times as great as was 
possible under the system of crane and bucket formerly in use. 


Forty years ago the landings of fish at Fleetwood were comparatively 
negligible. To-day they amount to no less than 60,000 tons per annum, 
while the coal taken for bunkers by the fishing fleet is not far short of 400,000 
tons yearly. Over 70,000 tons of ice are also taken on board the fishing boats 
annually, whilst another 15,000 tons is required by the traders for the purpose 
of packing the fish for despatch by rail. In the early days of the port all the 
ice used at Fleetwood was imported from Norway, but this has been completely 
displaced by ice produced on the Dock Estate itself, the Fylde Ice and Cold 
Storage Company having built a well-equipped factory immediately adjoining 
the fish dock. The daily output from this factory is about 400 tons of crushed 
ice. It is delivered to the fish market and on board the trawlers by means of 
shoots, thereby obviating handling. 


The trawling industry does not, however, exhaust the possibilities of 
Fleetwood as a port, ample facilities being also available for the general cargo 
trade, both at Fleetwood itself and in the Wyre Docks. 


STEAMBOAT EXCURSIONS FROM BLACKPOOL. 


There is not sufficient water at any one of Blackpool’s piers at low tide for 
vessels of large draught, but a number of pleasure steamers ply to various 
destinations during the holiday season. 


Blackpool's first steamboat was the ‘ Wellington’ in 1871, followed in 1879 
by the * Bickerstaffe.’ In 1895, these two boats were supplemented by two 
new cross-Channel boats, the ‘ Queen of the North,’ owned by the Blackpoo! 
Steam Ship Company, operating from the Central Pier, and the “ Greyhound,’ 
owned by the North Pier Steam Ship Company. Eventually these two 
concerns amalgamated. There is now only one excursion steamer in regular 
use during the summer, and this operates from the North Pier. 


THE Port or PRESTON. 


The town of Preston is situated on the River Ribble, 15 miles from the sea, 
and lies at the south-eastern corner of the Fylde. For many years it was the 


TRANSPORT IN THE FYLDE BY ROAD, RAIL, SEA AND AIR 67 


main focus point of all descriptions of traffic into and out of the Fylde, and 
its market was the magnet which attracted the produce of the Fylde. 


In its early days the River Ribble was an uncontrolled waterway wandering 
out to sea on an ever-changing course, rendering navigation very precarious. 
Moreover, the river was a source of potential destruction to the land through 
which it flowed, and it is not, therefore, surprising to find that the first efforts 
to obtain some control over the waters were made by the riparian landowners 
who were seriously affected by its sudden changes of course. 


A company was formed in 1806 to provide funds for the building of training 
walls on the banks of the river for a few miles towards the sea. Owing to the 
limited capital available, the results were somewhat unsatisfactory, and the 
company sought further borrowing powers in 1830, with the object of extending 
the sea walls still further towards the sea. As a result of the stabilising of 
the river channel within the length of the new walls, the trade passing on the 
river began to improve, and it was decided in 1838 to form a joint stock 
company known as the Ribble Navigation Company, to carry out certain 
further improvements to stimulate trade on the river. 


There was at this time no dock at Preston, and vessels, which were 
necessarily of shallow draught, had to lie at a short quay in the tidal river. 
In 1845 the Ribble Navigation Company and the North Union Railway 
Company jointly constructed a branch railway from the quay to the main line 
running through the town. This branch is known as the Ribble Branch 
Railway, and is still jointly controlled. In 1883 the Corporation of Preston 
finally secured full control of the Navigation undertaking, and it was decided 
to divert the river and to build a 40-acre dock on the old bed and the adjoining 
land. The foundation stone of the dock was laid on the 16th July, 1885, by 
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (afterwards King Edward VII.), and the dock was 
finally opened for traffic on the 25th June, 1892, by the Duke of Edinburgh. 


The equipment has been modernised from time to time to keep pace with 
requirements, thereby affording excellent facilities for the rapid handling of 
merchandise from ships to railway wagons alongside, and since the Corporation 
took it over in 1883 the history of the dock has been one of continual growth 
and expansion. 


Air TRANSPORT. 


The Fylde, represented by Blackpool, has always been in the forefront of 
aviation, and it was towards the end of the 1909 season that Lord Northcliffe 
suggested Blackpool should have an aviation week, This idea was received 
with much enthusiasm. After preliminary enquiries at Rheims, where France 
was holding its aviation “ premiere,’ a deputation was sent from Blackpool 
to that town to ensure the presence of the leading Continental aviators at 
Blackpool for what was hoped to be Britain’s first aviation week. Actually, 
however, Doncaster stole a three days’ march on Blackpool on this occasion, 
and commenced their meeting on October 15th, 1909 ; but it can be clashed 
that Blackpool’s aviation week; which began on October 18th, was on a larger 
scale, and included in its programme such world-famed pilots as Hubert 
Latham, Henry Farman, Paulhan and Leblanc, who were at that time making 
flying history. 


68 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Unfortunately, this first aviation week was not favoured with good weather, 
and consequently there was little actual flying. 


The venture was, however, repeated the following year, under the auspices 
of the Lancashire Aero Club, and proved most successful. This second 
meeting lasted from July 28th to August 20th, 1910, and on Monday, 10th 
August, at 4-0 p.m., M. Tetard, a French pilot, flew round the Tower. This 
was the first occasion upon which it had been encircled by an aeroplane, 
though an airship piloted by Captain Spencer is stated to have circumnavigated 
the Tower when it flew over Blackpool on October 20th, 1902. 


Having so early demonstrated a strong faith in the future of aeronautics, 
it is only fitting that Blackpool should to-day possess two airports which link 
it by regular air services with the Isle of Man, Liverpool, Manchester, London, 
Glasgow and Belfast. One of these airports belongs to the municipality, and 
is located at Stanley Park, only one-and-a-half miles from the centre of the 
town. It is thus most conveniently situated, and is complete with Customs 
clearance facilities and fine club-house. 


Planes belonging to British Airways, Ltd., leave the airport at regular 
intervals for the Isle of Man, Belfast, Glasgow, London, etc. The first air 
service between Blackpool and the Isle of Man was made from the Stanley 
Park Aerodrome by an amphibian machine on March 25th, 1932, the journey 
to the Island taking 40 minutes. 


In April, 1933, the Blackpool and West Coast Air Services brought into use 
their aerodrome at Squires Gate on the site of the old racecourse, conveniently 
situated immediately to the landward side of the L.M.S. Company’s Squires 
Gate Railway Station. At first no regular services were run, but planes could 
be chartered as required. On July Ist, 1933, however, the Blackpool and 
West Coast Company commenced a regular service to the Isle of Man, with 
connections to Belfast and other places. 


Railway Air Services, Ltd. (an organisation created by the four Main Line 
Railways) have, in collaboration with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company , 
formed a section designated “The Manx Airway,’ which commenced 
operating from the Squires Gate Aerodrome on the 17th April, 1935. By this 
collaboration air passengers to the Isle of Man are afforded the various luggage- 
in-advance arrangements familiar to passengers by railway and steamer. 
Subject to certain regulations, they are also enabled, having booked by air, to 
return by surface transport or vice versa, according to their choice. Con- 
necting air services are run daily from Blackpool to Manchester, Liverpool and, 
except on Sundays, Birmingham and Croydon. 


Not only are passengers carried by air from Blackpool to the Isle of Man, 
but the newspaper proprietors also take advantage of the speedy service to get 
the printed news on the breakfast table of the early-rising visitor to Mona’s 
Isle. 


The average journey time from Blackpool to the Island is about 40 minutes, 
but, helped by a strong following wind, one of the machines last year completed 
the trip in 29 minutes. Another notable record was from Liverpool to 
Blackpool in 13 minutes. A striking contrast to the journey by coach 150 
years ago ! 


TRANSPORT IN THE FYLDE BY ROAD, RAIL, SEA AND AIR 69 


In ConcLusIon. 


Thus has the growth and development of the Fylde been closely associated 
with railway enterprise, while in later years both road and air transport have 
arrived to add to the amenities of a district already famed for the wealth of its 
attractions. 


Apart from the business of carrying the huge throngs who annually visit 
Blackpool and its neighbouring towns on holiday bent, modern transport brings 
within reach of the visitor the Lake District and other beauty spots, thus, so 
to speak, providing a scenic background for those who wish to combine the 
bracing air and unlimited entertainment of the coastal resorts with the simple 
grandeur of mountain, lake, and stream. 


If transport has helped the Fylde, so also has the Fylde aided transport, for, 
backed by a vigorous and progressive policy, the district has earned a reputation 
national in character which draws the visitor over the length and breadth of the 
land. Let transport, therefore, in whatever form, live up to this epic of local 
achievement which it has itself assisted to create. 


XIII. 


THE LANCASHIRE SEA FISHERIES 


BY 


J. H. ORTON, Proressor or Zootocy, LiverPpooL UNIvERsITy, 
AND 
H. PAYNTER, Assistant District INSPECTOR OF FISHERIES, FLEETWOOD. 


A spirit of adventure can be detected as a persistent and important factor 
in the growth of the Lancashire Sea Fisheries. The almost enclosed epeiric 
basin, known as the Irish Sea, is virtually an enormous fish pond, on the shores 
of which the Lancashire Sea Fisheries have become the most important, with 
Fleetwood as the third principal port in England and Wales for fish landings. 
It is probable that the ascendancy of the Lancashire fisheries is due to the 
following main natural or historical causes :—the extent and configuration of 
the bed of the Irish Sea, with the partly correlated tidal currents and drifts, 
the existence of navigable and protected estuaries on the Lancashire shores, 
the proximity of a large industrial area, including coal mining, the development 
of steam engines in fishing vessels, for fishing gear and for land transport, and 
the existence of a spirit of enterprise and adventure amongst the sea-faring 
population and others associated with the fisheries. 


The bed of the Irish Sea is characterised on the western side by a deep 
channel with a depth of 50 to 90 fathoms, extending from the St. George’s 


70 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Channel in the South to the North Channel between Ireland and south-west 
Scotland, where greater depths to 149 fathoms occur, and on the eastern side 
by a shallower, shelving, sandy bottom decreasing in depth shorewards from 


about 20 fathoms off the Isle of Man. 


The sea is large enough to maintain its own fish population, of which plaice, 
dabs, skates and rays, gurnards, flounders and the sole are mostly resident 
and are commercially important. Other fishes invade the Irish Sea for feeding 
or spawning, such as hake, cod, haddock, whiting, mackerel, sea-perch, 
grey mullet and herring, possibly some plaice and sole, and provide valuable 
fisheries. The shallow waters and extensive foreshores of sand on the east 
make excellent rearing grounds for those forms of life on which fish food, i.e., 
small fishes, bivalves, crustaceans and worms, thrive, while the foreshores are 
suitable for the support of vast numbers of cockles and mussels and other 
molluscs. 


The propinquity of abundance of fish off the Lancashire coast with a large 
industrial population inland and near is linked by the development of a hardy 
race of fishermen. Some thousand sailing craft of various sizes, including 
about 120 of first-class standard, fished from the Lancashire ports in the 
early ’90’s, and landed about 57,000 cwts. of fish annually. But about this 
time steam-trawlers, viz. : boats propelled by steam and using the new otter 
trawl, which could be worked by machinery, arrived in small numbers, and the 
annual catch rose to 239,000 cwts. in 1900. From about that time steam- 
trawlers have increased in dimensions and numbers to a total of 146, while 
the sailing-vessels have gradually become reduced at the present day to three 
smacks fitted with auxiliary motors, with some 13 small motor-vessels filling 
in part of the gap in the inshore fishing left by the withdrawal of the larger 
sailing-vessels. 


Last year (1935) the total landings of wet fish amounted to one-and-a-quarter 
million cwts., chiefly at Fleetwood, whence about 36 per cent. was dispatched 
to London, 9 per cent. to Manchester, 9 per cent. to Liverpool, 5 per cent. to 
Birmingham, and the balance to the northern counties and more distant places. 
Thus the Lancashire fisheries are now supplying far more fish than is demanded 
in the immediate neighbourhood. This rapid expansion has been rendered 
possible by general improvements for equipping fishing vessels, and the 
development by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway Company of 
facilities for expeditious landing and treatment of fish and its dispatch from 
Fleetwood. The old timber pond was converted into a spacious and well- 
equipped dock with three cranes of the cantilever type capable of delivering 
50 tons of coal per hour, and recently two electric belt conveyors have been 
erected, each having a capacity of 200 tons per hour, and four more are to be 
provided. At the present time the trawlers consume some 400,000 tons of coal 
annually, which is derived mostly from the Lancashire and Yorkshire coal- 


fields. 


The modern trawler can nowadays discharge the catch directly on to the quay- 
side, where it is sorted into boxes in the early morning hours, ready for 
auctioning at 8-30 a.m. in the contiguous fish market. The general organisa- 
tion is so efficient as to enable the frequent daily dispatch by rail of 500 tons 
of fresh fish. For the preservation of fresh fish ice is consumed by the steam- 


LANCASHIRE SEA FISHERIES 71 


Schematic representation of the general movements in the sea of marked 
plaice liberated off the shores of N.W. Wales in the areas indicated by shading. 
The widths of the tracks are proportional to the number of plaice taking part 
in the subsequent movements. 


(From Report by R. J. Daniel and R. A. Fleming, Lancashire Sea-Fisheries Report for 1932.) 


72 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


trawlers at the rate of 80,000 tons, and by the fish merchants 20,000 tons 
annually, and is produced on the ammonia flooded system by the Fylde Ice and 
Cold Storage Co., by modern machinery. The ice factory can produce 
600 tons of ice daily, and has storage capacity for 8,000 tons. The ice is 
manufactured in 2 cwt. blocks, which are delivered by gravity chutes to the 
dock sides, and can be crushed at the rate of one ton per minute for delivery 
to the ships. Other ancillary activities are the manufacture of fish meal and 
fish oils, engineering, ship-repairing, trawl-net and box-making industries, 
and provisioning stores. Establishments have also arisen for the curing and 
preparation of dried salt fish in which there is a large export trade, as well as 
a school for instruction in navigation and engineering. 


The scene on the fish market from 8-30 a.m. to noon is one of very great 
interest ; the bewildering auctioning is followed by entertaining feats of skill 
and rapidity in preparing the flesh of certain fishes for the market, while the 
adjacent ice factory’ and the modern steam-trawler, with its wireless, depth- 
recording, direction-finding and fishing gear equipment, afford excellent 
illustrations of the application of science to industry. 


The character of the off-shore fishery is given by the amounts of the different 
kinds of fishes landed. Last year, in the whole of the Lancashire and Western 
area, which includes Cheshire and North Wales, the following weights of the 
commoner fish in cwts. were landed: cod (including codling), 182,131 ; 
haddock, 167,321; hake, 141,296; skates and rays, 102,950; herrings, 
76,455 ; whiting, 44,881 ; plaice, 32,203 ; mackerel, 23,651 ; soles, 8,406 ; 
dabs, 3,308. An important feature among these figures is the well-known 
decline in landings of hake, a fish whose value has enhanced greatly in the last 
20 years and is now the subject of much concern. There seems little doubt 
that this fish has been greatly reduced on the fishing grounds by over-fishing, 
and that care is required in the future interests of the fishery in maintaining 
adequate stocks in the sea. A certain quantity of hake is taken in the Irish 
Sea, including young ones which feed and grow there, and other fish which 
enter the sea in summer for feeding, after spawning in deep water ; most of the 
hake are, however, taken in the period February-March to July-August in the 
East Atlantic, mainly near the continental edge (about 100 fathoms) and often 
at depths of 150 to 300 fathoms or more. In this period there is a curious 
tendency for maximum landings about the time of full moon. The decline 
in recent catches led to the Fleetwood trawler owners combining with the 
Development Commission to carry out two exploratory voyages with a view 
to the discovery of new hake-fishing grounds. The results were satisfactory 
in that good catches of fish were made and new grounds opened up. These 
grounds have since been successfully fished commercially, but the hake 
deficiency problem remains as yet unsolved.” 


Cod, haddock, ling and coalfish are also taken in voyages to the Atlantic near 
the 100-fathom line from the north-west of Ireland to the north-west of 
Scotland. Regular visits are made to different regions off Iceland also for cod, 
haddock, plaice, halibut, lemon soles, catfish and coalfish chiefly. Nearer 


1 The Fylde Ice and Cold Storage Co. cordially invite British Association visitors to inspect 
the ice factory. 
2 See Buckland Lectures by C. F. Hickling on The Hake and the Hake Fishery, 1935. 


LANCASHIRE SEA FISHERIES 73 


home, in the eastern part of the Irish Sea and in the Welsh bays, regular fishing 

roduces mostly cod, plaice, whiting, skates and rays, some soles and bass. 
Gledare and mackerel are for the most part taken in the trawl in the summer 
months off Donegal, and in late summer and autumn off the north of Ireland 
and the west of Scotland. Herrings also enter the Irish Sea to spawn off the 
Isle of Man regularly in summer, and in Cardigan Bay in winter, and are taken 
in autumn in the Solway Firth. There are thus at least summer and winter 
spawning herrings in the Irish Sea. Only a small proportion of these, which 
are caught in drift nets, are landed in Lancashire. 


Notwithstanding the landing of one-and-a-quarter million cwts. of fish 
at the Lancashire ports, an addition of 15 new steam-trawlers at a reported cost 
of £25,000 each to the Fleetwood fleet is announced to take place this summer. 
The new boats will be equipped for fishing at great distances, and are 
anticipated to increase the landings of fish and subsidiary industries and 
employments ashore. 


The inshore fisheries have steadily declined as the steam-trawlers have 
increased in numbers, so that the total landings at the minor ports in the 
district last year was only 11,873 cwts. Plaice, dabs, flounders, rays and 
whiting constitute the greater part of the fish catch. Prawns and shrimps 
yield valuable fisheries off the North Lancashire coast and in the estuaries, 
some 11,500 cwts. being landed last year at a value of about £20,000. In 
the absence of rocky ground off the Lancashire coast, crab and lobster takings 
are negligible ; and native oysters do not apparently now exist nearer than 
Solway Firth. Other shell-fish, i.e., mussels and cockles, are taken in great 
abundance on the extensive sandy shores, and form important inshore fisheries. 
Last year about 50,000 cwts. of mussels and 11,500 cwts. of cockles were 
collected in the district, but these yields are small in comparison with former 
times ; for example, in 1911 about 74,000 cwts. of mussels and 65,500 cwts. of 
cockles were taken. The shell-fisheries are liable to fluctuations over a long 
period, and times of plenty and scarcity are a common feature of their history. 


The Lancashire Sea Fisheries are unique in respect of the scientific interest 
taken in them by the local District Fishery Committee, which is normally 
composed of laymen. Soon after the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Committee 
was formed, in the ’90’s, with Mr. John Fell, the first Chairman, and Mr. 
Robert Dawson, Superintendent, scientific investigation was begun, and 
continued actively for more than 40 years. Two laboratories were established, 
one at Piel and one in the University of Liverpool. Professor Herdman was 
given charge of the fishery investigations, with Andrew Scott and James 
Johnstone as assistants. These men laid the foundation of scientific fishery 
knowledge appertaining to the Irish Sea area. The life-histories and 
migrations of fishes (see Fig. 1) were investigated in relation to tidal currents 
and sea-temperature, data regarding which were accumulated in special re- 
searches. Important contributions on the habits, growth, food, parasites, 
diseased conditions, structure, seasonal change in food values and general 
biology of fishes, shell-fish culture and the scientific aspect of the general 
economy of life in the sea, were made. Extensive fishery statistical work, much 
of which was helpful in drafting necessary fishery regulations, and general 
planktonic and faunistic besides other scientific investigations were carried 


74 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


out and recorded in annual and other reports. The Quarterly Reports of the 
present Superintendent, Dr. J. T. Jenkins, also abound in valuable practical 
fishery information. Not content with scientific investigation, the Committee, 
in collaboration with the Lancashire Education Committee, organised courses 
of instruction in biology for fishermen in the laboratory at Piel, and later 
instituted successful courses in navigation and seamanship for fishermen. 
From these activities, Dr. and later Professor James Johnstone emerged as one 
of the most distinguished of British marine biologists. With the growth of the 
population the modern problem of the effect of sewage pollution on shell-fish 
was early experienced, and investigated by the local Commitiee, with the help 
of Professors Herdman and Boyce and Dr. J. Johnstone.’ 

A new station has recently been constructed at Lytham, near Blackpool, 
by the Lancashire County Council, for the self-cleansing of unclean mussels, 
so that the local fishermen will now be able to market a commodity which 
would otherwise be unsaleable for human consumption. At the present time 
the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Committee is showing special activity in helping 
to develop and prevent further deterioration of the inshore fisheries, which 
produce a type of man unsurpassed in any other occupation. 

The advance of the Lancashire Sea Fisheries may be largely due to natural 
causes, but these have been exploited by a competent body of vigorous fisher- 
men, far-seeing commercial bodies—amongst whom the railway company is 
an important one—and the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Committee, assisted by 
distinguished laymen and scientists. Co-operation of the Fleetwood fishery 
vessel owners, of the wholesale buyers (as the Fleetwood Fish Merchants’ 
Association) and of the inshore fishermen in fishermen’s co-operative societies 
under the Fisheries Organisation Society has also played an important part in 
the success attained. 

8 Dr. Johnstone made a special study of the self-cleansing of sewage-polluted mussels, which 
was followed later by extensive experiments by Dr. R. W. Dodgson at the Conway Station of the 
Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the development there of an ingenious and successful 
commercial self-cleansing process. (See Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Scientific 


th nvestigations, Series II., Vol. X., No. 1, 1928, Report on Mussel Purification.) The principle of 
this process is now applied to the cleansing, also, of oysters. 


XIV. 


THE GROWTH OF BLACKPOOL 
AS A HEALTH AND HOLIDAY RESORT 


BY 


W. I. CURNOW, B.A., 
Seconp Master, BLackpooL GRAMMAR SCHOOL. 


Tue Borough of Blackpool was constituted in 1876 out of the whole of Layton- 
with-Warbreck together with part of Bispham-with-Norbreck and part of 
Marton. Since that date the Borough has extended its boundaries three times. 


| 


GROWTH OF BLACKPOOL AS A HEALTH AND HOLIDAY RESORT 75 


In 1879 more of Marton was added. In 1917 the remainder of Bispham and 
part of Carleton and, in 1934, the remainder of Marton and parts of Carleton 
and Hardhorn were also added. 
The remarkable growth of Blackpool in the last hundred years is illustrated 
by the following figures :— 
GrowTH oF Biackpoot sINcE 1800. : 


Population. ates. 

Borough of Layton-with- Number of Rateable Value. 

Blackpool. Warbreck Assessments. £ 
1801 .... 8H We 4730, 38 — —_ 
181] — S800 218 — ae 
1821 — TAQ 2x’ = na 
1831 .. ts agit ort 3 = 3H 
1841 .. a 1,968 =... 201 ma 
185] = 2,564... — ae 
1861 .... = Ait HOOPS Bais O28 Tiaras +s 
15/1,,.4. — £3 yA a oe Cy) | — 
WL es 1 A4,229 1b.) AZZ ate SAARI, fo 104,709 
St 2 OAO,) or lawteiedens wi-ke 6,436... 178,377 
1901 ... 47,348... a eres (LOLOL Ry: 427,938 
| RG FS He ” — ey ORD TAS 532,177 
| 74 RR 2 1” oF ee SL RS 817,556 
Deere LOU ID, te Tyiaen — mdi Leal ry 1,308,758 
1932 .... 104,100 (Registrar General's estimate) sf 1,322,678 
1933 .... 104,100 r Ms i ay 1,347,380 
1934 .... 109,850 bs “ ws yA 1,432,240 
1935 .... 120,200 . 2 +, a 1,530,769 
1936 .... 125,000 (Estimated) Bre — ba 1,574,063 


A map of Lancashire, ‘ performed by John Speed’ in 1610, has the same 
omission. A chart of Morecambe Bay, however, surveyed in 1736-7 by 
Samuel Fearon and Inigo Eyes, marks the following :—Warbreck, Warbreck 
Gin, Little Bispham, The Red Bank, Fox Hall, The Black Pool, and Blackpool 
Town. Until the seventeenth century Blackpool was only a strip of land 
along the sea shore with a few small farm houses and isolated cottages some 
distance from the sea. Blackpool has never been a fishing village. On the 
contrary its history has been entirely that of a seaside health and pleasure resort. 

Towards the end ‘of the seventeenth century Edward Tyldesley, of 
Myerscough Lodge, married a daughter of Sir Thomas Fleetwood, Lord of the 
Manors of Bispham-with-Norbreck and Layton-with-Warbreck, and built a 
seaside resort called Vauxhall on land owned by his father-in-law. Later it 


76 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


became an inn, known as the Fox Hall, catering especially for the annual 
horse races on Layton Hawes. 


The early eighteenth century saw the rapid development of many seaside 
resorts when the ‘ seaside recess ’ became fashionable. Visitors soon began to 
arrive on this coast, and in 1735, Ethart a Whiteside adapted his cottage to 
lodge some of them. This cottage, a small dwelling covered in straw thatch, 
was situated in the fields now occupied by General Street. Richard Pocoke 
(1704-1765), who became Bishop of Meath in 1765, visited Lancashire between 
1753 and 1754, and has recorded that ‘ At Blackpool, near the sea, are accom- 
modations for people who come to bathe.’ In 1769, the whole hamlet contained 
only 28 houses, four of which had slate roofs, but three inns had been built. 
Of these Bonny’s (originally known as Old Marjory’s) charged 10d. a day, 
and the Old Gynn Inn 8d. a day. The third, a small inn on the site of the 
present Clifton Hotel, was the first in Blackpool. A cottage at the Lane Ends 
also catered for visitors. The Gynn Inn was built at the side of the creek 
marked in the 1738 chart of Morecambe Bay as Warbreck Gin. 


Thornber, in his History of Blackpool published in 1837, states ‘ The houses 
(in 1769) were few and scattered ; from the Church (St. John’s Parish Church) 
to the sea a small white cottage stood, a solitary dwelling (on the site of the 
Albion Hotel). From the hovel standing on the site of Bennett’s Hotel to 
Fumbler’s Hill (the vicinity of the Cocker Street Baths) eight cottages might 
be numbered, all of these, with the exception of Forshaw’s Hotel, merely huts ; 
and at the lower end of Blackpool were eighteen battered dwellings many of 
which are now washed down and the others dilapidated. These composed the 
village.’ He adds that by 1790 many improvements had been made. ‘ Several 
commodious licensed resorts (we dare not as yet dignify them with the title of 
hotels) had risen up and the hamlet before scattered was assuming a more 
compact appearance... ... Small as the village was and notwithstanding 
its humble conveniences, during the summer months an overflowing company 
constantly flocked to it ; barns and stables afforded a nightly shelter to the 
poorer class of aGigiehial Indeed, the visitor of rank and property deemed 
himself fortunate in securing a clean bed in a thatched cottage and was content 
with an humble pallet under a roof of straw in an apartment occupied by the 
family. Old people love to recall how the late Sir Robert Peel and his son, 
the now distinguished statesman, took up their abode in the cottage now 
occupied by John Parr.’ 


Before the end of the century Blackpool was being advertised in the Press. 
In 1783, the “Manchester Mercury’ announced that the Manchester to 
Blackpool coach would begin to run on Monday, June 9th, and every morning 
except Sunday at 6-0 o'clock throughout the bathing season. The inside fare 
was 14s. A Halifax to Blackpool coach service on three days a week was 
established in 1782, and was announced as for the Blackpool season. The Post 
Diligence left Halifax at 5-0 a.m., and the single fare was 18s. 6d. By the early 
years of the nineteenth century a regular coach service from all parts of Lan- 
cashire had been organised. In the “Manchester Mercury’ also, Lawrence 
Bailey announced that he had ‘completely furnished and fitted up a 
commodious genteel house in an eligible situation. A bathing machine will be 


kept for the use of friends.’ In 1787, John Bonny also advertised. that he had 


GROWTH OF BLACKPOOL AS A HEALTH AND HOLIDAY RESORT 77 


built ‘a large dining room with lodging for twenty beds.’ His terms were 
2s. 2d. per day for ladies and gentlemen, and |s. 6d. per day for children and 
servants. 

By the end of the eighteenth century Blackpool had already achieved fame 
as a health and holiday resort. In 1788, the Birmingham bookseller, William 
Hutton, published his * Description of Blackpool in Lancashire, frequented 
for Sea Bathing.’ In that year, according to Hutton, the number of visitors 
in August was about 400. The chief houses and farms had been enlarged and 
had become inns or coffee houses. The number of habitations had increased 
to 50 and these were spread over the space of one mile. Four additional inns 
had been built, Bailey's (now the Metropole), Forshaw’s (the Clifton), Hull’s 
(the Royal) and The Yorkshire House (the York Hotel). A promenade six 
yards wide and 200 yards long had been constructed between the Lane Ends 
(the County) and the Clifton Hotels. 


Hutton describes at some length the amusements to be enjoyed. Visitors 
might ‘ Ride or walk on the sands or the parade, or the pretty grass walk on 
the fringe of the sea bank.’ There were bowling greens, boats for sailing and 
butts for bow shooting. Excursions were arranged for visits to the Number 3 
Hotel, where the gardens and bowling greens were popular. There was also - 
in the summer months a theatre, though for nine months in the year it was the 
threshing floor of a barn. It was fitted with rows of benches divided into 
“pit ’ and ‘ gallery ’ and the charges were 2s. and Is. The total takings for a 
full house were £6. 


In 1790, some verses left by a visitor enumerate the hotels and lodgings 
from south to north and give the following list :— Mr. Bonny’s, Mr. Hull's, 
Mr. Hudson’s, Bailey’s (site of Metropole Hotel) : 

* The next house is Bailey’s so new and so neat, 
Much pains he has taken to make it complete. 
It stands on the beach far detached from the rest, 
And with a fine spring of good water is bless’d.’ 
Old Ned and Old Nanny at Fumbler’s Hill and The Gin complete the list. 
The space between Fumbler’s Hill (the neighbourhood of Cocker Street) 
and the Gynn remained without houses until 1846. 


Between Hutton’s visit and 1801, fifty new houses were built in four groups : 
the most northerly group at Fumbler’s Hill ; further south a group near and 
including the site of the County Hotel ; a third in the locality of the Royal 
Hotel and the most southerly in the vicinity of Foxhall. South Shore remained 
quite undeveloped until the eighteen-twenties. Most of this area consisted 
of the ‘ Waste or common called Layton Hawes, which had been enclosed in 
1767. In 1800, then, the whole hamlet was contained between Fumbler’s Hill 
to the north (excluding the Gynn) and the ruins of Foxhall to the south, and 
boasted five good-class hotels. (Porter. ‘ History of the Fylde of Lancashire.’) 


The first years of the nineteenth century saw a more rapid expansion in the 
growth of Blackpool. Much of this was due to the enterprise of the Banks 
brothers, the memory of whose services is perpetuated in the Arms of Blackpool 
by the inclusion of the fleur-de-lys. Henry (1759-1847) and Thomas (b. 1762), 
became tenants of the coffee house at the corner of Lane Ends. The owner was 
William Yates, of Oswaldtwistle, partner of Robert Peel, who started calico 


78 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


printing and later introduced Hargreaves’s Spinning Jenny at Brookside, 
Oswaldtwistle. William Yates later was partner and father-in-law of the first 
Sir Robert Peel. Henry Banks bought from William Yates the estate which 
extended from Church Street to the Royal Hotel and as far inland as Regent 
Road. He rebuilt the Hotel, erected a number of houses and a distinct hamlet 
arose extending from the sea front to Temple Street, St. Ann’s Street and the 
site of the Grand Theatre. 

Gradually the four groups were linked up. In 1811, the number of houses 
was 113, and these had increased to 148 by 1821. In that year, Henry Banks 
constructed a hulking and cobbled sea fence from the Royal Hotel to the Clifton. 


Between 1821 and 1851 the rate of expansion was more rapid still. In 
1827 there was an exceptionally prosperous season and the overcrowding of 
accommodation stimulated further building. In 1830, Mr. Whittle’ calculated 
that ‘ at the flux of the season there weré between 800 and 1,000 visitors.’ By 
1831, the number of houses had increased to 187. Thornber ascribes the 
increased. popularity of Blackpool at this time to the fact that, in spite of the 
great inrush of visitors from infected areas, Blackpool avoided the cholera 


epidemic of 1832. 


The year 1836 saw great improvements. Shops increased in number, 
cottages were constructed ‘on modern principles,’ public baths were erected 
on the beach adjoining the Lane Ends Hotel and 200 beds were added to the 
existing accommodation. In 1837 the Victoria Terrace and Promenade were 
erected. These consisted of seven shops and above them a Promenade 32 yards 
long which opened through folding windows upon a balcony six feet wide. 
Attached were a news room, library and billiard table. About this time, too, 
was erected Hygiene Terrace on the site of the present Palace Theatre buildings. 
By 1841, the number of houses was 305. 

This rapid development, which was accelerated by the opening of the railway 
from Preston to Poulton and Fleetwood in 1840, and to Blackpool and Lytham 
in 1846, brought with it urgent problems of local government administration, 
There was a scarcity of fresh water. The few pumps that existed were kept 
locked and the users charged heavily for supplies. Water was also brought 
from Marton Mere and retailed in barrels and tubs from carts. The inevitable 
consequence was severe epidemics from time to time, including typhoid. The 
only sewer was the one laid by Henry Banks. By 1849 the number of houses 
was 421, and in that year the number of births was 64 and of deaths, 74. It is 
not surprising, therefore, that a Petition was sent in 1849, to the newly-created 
General Board of Health, and on October 23rd, 1851, Layton-with-Warbreck 
was constituted a Local Board of Health. The name was changed to the 
Blackpool Local Board of Health District on July 31st, 1868. 

In 1853, in the first year of office of the new commissioners, the First 
Improvement Act, the forerunner of 16 other Improvement Acts, gave 
Parliamentary sanction to the Local Board to regulate street-making, building, 
sanitation, the proper lighting of the Promenade and town by gas, and the sale 
of marketable goods. This marks the beginning of that administrative efficiency 
without which Blackpool could never have attained its present popularity. 
From this time, Blackpool quickly began to assume its present outline. South 


1 His book, ‘Marina,’ is quoted in Porter's “History of the Fylde.’ 


GROWTH OF BLACKPOOL AS A HEALTH AND HOLIDAY RESORT 79 


Shore was rapidly developed. Talbot Road was opened out and the lower 
end formed into a spacious square. Several hotels and large houses were built. 
Carlton Terrace was built in 1863, and Claremont Park begun in the same year. 
In 1867, the Prince of Wales’ Arcade in Central Beach was opened, and in 
1868, the Arcade and Assembly Rooms in Talbot Square. 


In 1863 the Local Board took over from the lessee the gas undertaking, 
which for some years had been a losing concern. From the beginning a profit 
was made, and since that date to March, 1936, the total net profit has amounted 
to £627,683, £382,271 of which has been contributed to rate relief and 
£124,111 to ‘ other purposes.’ These include amounts assigned to annual 
Fetes, from 1878 to 1882, inclusive ; decorating the Parade and the Battle of 
Flowers, from 1889 to 1892 ; the Agricultural Shows of 1883, 1884 and 1894 ;: 
the purchase of pictures for the Art Gallery, and the Autumn I]luminations. 


The Second Improvement Act, 1865, empowered the Local Board to under- 
take the construction of a new promenade and carriage way from Carlton 
Terrace to South Shore. Two applications had to be made. The first failed 
because the expenses were to be borne by the whole body of the ratepayers. 
The second succeeded because the Bill empowered the Local Authority to 
levy tolls for the use of the Promenade. This power was not intended to be, 
and never has been put into force. This will readily be understood by all who 
have seen the Blackpool Promenade on any recent Bank Holiday. The 
Promenade and carriage way was constructed from Cocker Street to Dean 
Street at a cost of £88,000. It was opened on Easter Monday, 1870, by Colonel 
Wilson-Patten, M.P. Hoe Worthelancsbite (afterwards Lord Winmarleigh). 


Blackpool celebrates this year the Diamond Jubilee of the Charter of In- 
corporation, which was granted on January 2Ist, 1876. The Charter Mayor 
was Alderman William Henry Cocker, who shares with Henry Banks the 
position at the head of the list of those entitled to be called ‘ Makers of Black- 
pool.’ The Memorial in Stanley Park commemorates his services to the town, 
which are also honoured by the inclusion of the lion in the Arms of the Borough. 
The population in 1876 has been estimated at approximately 10,000. The 
rateable value was £76,838 and a penny rate produced £279. Dr. Cocker’s 
most famous achievement was undoubtedly the State Visit in 1878, of the 
Lord Mayor of London, the Sheriff of Middlesex, the Lord Mayors and 
Mayors of fifty cities and towns of the North and Midlands, together with 
their ladies, for the opening of the Winter Gardens. They were entertained 
for a week at the Hotel Metropole, a public subscription being raised for the 
purpose. This was a most effective piece of publicity and set the high standard 
in the art of advertising which Blackpool has ever since been obliged to maintain 
in a world of increasing competition. 

The necessity for advertising was soon grasped, and in 1879, the Third 
Improvement Act gave the new borough a unique privilege, repeatedly denied 
to rival resorts, which has since enabled her to levy annually a twopenny rate 
for advertising purposes. 

The Promenade Tramway, which Blackpool claims was the first electric 
tramway in the country, was opened in 1885. It was owned and run by a 
private company. In 1892, Parliamentary sanction was obtained by the 
Corporation to acquire the undertaking and the plant and rolling stock were 


80 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


bought for £15,750 in 1893. Parliament, however, till the late nineteenth 
century was reluctant to allow the municipal operation of public utilities. 
Liverpool, for example, was refused in 1889. Huddersfield broke through 
this restriction in 1892, and Blackpool ‘ took the law into its own hands and 
ran its tramway system for some time without having obtained Parliamentary 
Sanction.” Since that time to March, 1936, Blackpool transport has made a 
total net profit of £727,014, £223,497 going to rate relief and £413,874 to 
other purposes. 

Another profitable investment was the purchase of the foreshore rights, 
1889 and 1894, for £960. The net yield for rent of stalls in 1934-35 was £4,575, 
and in 1935-36, £4,466. 

In 1893, the generating station at Princess Street was opened by Lord 
Kelvin. Since that date to March, 1936, the electricity department has made 
anet profit of £556,466, of which £225,104 has gone to rate relief and £124,111 
to other purposes. 

The more recent events in the history of the municipality must be mentioned 
very briefly. In 1900 the Musical Festival was inaugurated and has since 
achieved such fame as to be an essential part of the autumn attractions, the 
most important item in which, however, is undoubtedly the Illuminations, 
which began in 1927. In 1904, Blackpool was constituted a County Borough, 
and in that year instituted the first motor car speed trials, when the Promenade 
became a racing track. In 1905, the New Promenade was opened and speed 
trials were again organised. In 1909, the first Aviation Meeting was held, and 
in 1912, the Princess Parade was opened by H.R.H. Princess Louise. In the 
following year Blackpool was honoured by the visit of Their Majesties King 
George and Queen Mary. The years 1921-23 saw the construction, at a cost of 
£95,118, of the Open-air Swimming Bath, in which the Olympic Trials of 1924 
were held. In 1926 Stanley Park, which to the present has cost £275,070, and 
the South Shore Promenade Extension, were opened by Lord Derby, on 
October 2nd. Lastly, another attempt to extend the season, but this time in 
the earlier part of the year, was successfully made by the introduction of Guest 


Week, in June, 1933. 


AMUSEMENTS RUN BY PRIVATE ENTERPRISE. 


It is in the chief hotels and public houses that we find the earliest 
organisation of entertainment. These provided facilities for games and 
dancing and some of them had “ singing rooms ” where professional entertainers 
were employed. Only one of them now remains, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin at 
North Shore. The Belle Vue Hotel, on Whitegate Drive, for example, in its 
early days had a famous bowling green, a ballroom which was also used for 
variety performances, and an outside dancing platform. There were also 
gardens, an orchard and a croquet lawn. Further afield, Cherry Tree Gardens, 
in Marton, and Castle Gardens, in Carleton, provided similar attractions and 
invited daily excursions by horse-brake and carriage. 


Tue Piers, 


In 1861 the leading townsmen held a meeting at the Clifton Hotel to discuss 
the provision of amusement for visitors. This led to the formation of the 


2 * A Century of Municipal Progress,’ ed. W. A. Robson, p. 321. 


GROWTH OF BLACKPOOL AS A HEALTH AND HOLIDAY RESORT 81 


Blackpool Pier Company, with a capital of £12,000, and the original North 
Pier, little more than an oversea promenade, was opened on May 2Ist, 1863, 
at a cost of £13,540. A Jetty for pleasure steamer traffic was constructed in 
1866, and in 1874 two wings were added. On one was built the Indian Pavilion, 
since replaced by a larger one after its destruction by fire, and now the home 
of Lawrence Wright’s annual ‘On With the Show.’ On the other were an 
open bandstand and shops. The Pier has since been widened and a pavilion 


and arcade added. 


The Central Pier was opened on May 30th, 1868, and soon became known 
as “ The People’s Pier,’ because of the popularity of the dancing and roller 
skating. The White Pavilion was erected in 1907, and ever since has been 
famous for its pierrot shows. 


The Victoria Pier, which was opened on Good Friday, 1893, attracts crowds 
to its orchestral concerts and its pierrots. 


Tue Rarxes HALL. 


The most ambitious and successful venture in entertainment until about’ 
1890 was the Royal Palace Gardens, or the Raikes Hall. The Hall, together 
with the estate of 40 acres, which included the Number 3 Hotel, was purchased 
for £14,000 by a syndicate, the Raikes Hall Park, Gardens and Aquarium 
Company. The grounds were opened in 1872, with the main entrance where 
the Grammar School now stands, and were laid out with a terrace, promenade 
and flower-beds, and, in 1875, a lake for boating. A large ballroom, an outside 
dancing platform, a conservatory encircling a skating-rink, an aviary and 
monkey-houses were added, and a music hall pavilion introduced to Blackpool 
many of the stars of the day. Elaborate fireworks at night gave representations 
of historic battles. 


In the early nineties, the Raikes Hall declined in popularity after the opening 
of the Tower. What was left of the estate came under the hammer in 1896, 
and 14 acres realised £80,000. The remainder, including the Number 3 Hotel, 
had already been sold. The blame for the loss to the ratepayers of a splendid 
opportunity is still a matter of some argument since the townspeople vetoed 
a proposal that the estate should be acquired by the Corporation and retained 
as an open space. 

Tue THEATRE ROYAL. 


The Theatre Royal, built on the site of the present Tivoli and Yates’s Wine 
Lodge, was originally the Arcade and Assembly Rooms. These were opened 
in 1868, and were described as containing ‘a basement and arcade of very 
elegant shops, a restaurant, together with a handsome and spacious saloon 
surrounded with a gallery and fitted with a neat stage for theatrical representa- 
tions.’ The Theatre Royal, once the most important in the town, also declined 
in popularity, and the entire block was offered to the Corporation for £16,000, 
but refused. This, again, is the subject of occasional argument when the 
suggested sites for the proposed Town Hall are being discussed. 


THe WINTER GARDENS AND Bic WHEEL. 


The Blackpool Winter Gardens and Pavilion Company was registered on 
August 7th, 1875, with a capital of £50,000, and purchased for £23,000 


82 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Dr. Cocker’s Bank Hey residence, ‘ with the conservatories, aviaries, forcing~ 
houses and about 18,000 square yards of land.’ The opening of the Gardens, 
in 1878, by the Lord Mayor of London, marks the beginning of large scale 
enterprise in Blackpool. They included a Pavilion, Skating-rink, Floral Hall, 
Fernery and Gardens. Her Majesty’s Opera House was opened on June 10th, 
1889, by the D’Oyley Carte Opera Company, in “ The Yeoman of the Guard.’ 
It was rebuilt and opened in 1911, and renovated in 1933, and has a seating 
capacity of 1,820. In 1896, the Empress Ballroom was built on the site of 
what had been successively a skating-rink and a circus. In 1897, the Pavilion, 
with a seating capacity of 2,000, was reconstructed, together with the Indian 
Lounge. In the last few years considerable improvements have been made at 
the huge cost of £250,000. Inthe present year the Gardens were able to house 
under one roof the 4,000 delegates to the International Rotary Conference. 
They give employment to more than 600 persons during the season, and in 
1935, paid more than £17,000 in entertainment tax. 


The Big Wheel was opened on August 22nd, 1896, and in 1916 was purchased 
by the Winter Gardens Company for £1,150, an additional £2,763 being spent 
on repairs. This famous landmark was demolished in the winter of 1928-29. 
The site is now occupied by Olympia, which was opened on June 7th, 1930. 


Tue Tower Company. 


The Blackpool Tower Company was registered on February 19th, 1891, to 
acquire for £94,000 the full benefit of a contract entered into by the Standard 
Contract and Debenture Corporation, Ltd., to purchase for £60,000 from the 
Blackpool Central Promenade Estate eae Ltd., the original aquarium 
and other buildings on the site of the present Tower 


In 1874, an aquarium, menagerie and aviary had been opened on what was 
formerly the site of West Hey, the residence of Sir Benjamin Heywood. They 
were sold in 1880, together with the Beach Hotel and surrounding property, 
to the Blackpool Aquarium Company for £46,000, and sold again in 1882, for 
£50,000, to the Central Promenade Estate Company, and yet once more in 
1888, to the Standard Company for £60,000. The Standard Company failed 
to carry out its contract to purchase, which was taken by the Tower Company, 
under the late Sir John Bickerstaffe, on condition that the price offered to them 
was reduced to £72,800. 


The foundation of the Tower was laid on September 25th, 1891, by Sir 
Matthew White-Ridley, and the Tower, Circus and other buildings were 
opened on Whit Monday, 1894. The ballroom, with a capacity of 6,000, was 
opened in 1899, and in the following year the Circus was remodelled to hold 
about 3,000. The height of the Tower to the top of the flag staff is 519 feet 
9 inches, to the crow’s nest, 480 feet. More than £150,000 have recently been 
spent on improvements, a huge expenditure justified by the fact that over 
40,000 have passed through the turnstiles in one day. 

The Palace was originally known as the Alhambra, the foundation stone of 
which was laid by Mr. George R. Sims, on December 4th, 1897. Opened 
on May 22nd, 1899, it comprised a Variety Theatre, Circus, Ballroom, Lounges 
and Refreshment Rooms, which were built on the site of the former Prince 


GROWTH OF BLACKPOOL AS A HEALTH AND HOLIDAY RESORT 83 


of Wales’s Theatre, Baths and Arcade. The Company went into liquidation 
in 1902, and the entire assets, estimated at £381,052 were purchased by the 
Tower Company for £140,347. Many alterations have been effected since 
then and the present buildings contain a Variety Theatre (seating capacity 
2,360), a Picture Pavilion (seating capacity 1,950), Lounge and Ballroom. 


The Grand Theatre (‘ Matcham’s Masterpiece ’) was opened on July 23rd,. 
1894, by Mr. Wilson Barrett, in ‘ Hamlet.’ It was purchased by the Tower 
Company in 1907, for £47,000. Its seating capacity is 1,660. 


On January 18th, 1928, the Tower Company offered the shareholders of 
the Winter Gardens, in exchange for their holdings, an equal number of fully 
paid-up ordinary shares of the Tower Company, which now holds the whole 
of the 105,000 shares of the other Company. Inthe season the Tower Company 
employs more than 1,500 persons, a number greater than the total population 
of Blackpool 100 years ago. In its four main buildings, 50,000 people can be 
accommodated at any one time. 


Tue PLeasure BEACH. 


The Pleasure Beach Estate Company was founded by the late Alderman 
W. G. Bean, in partnership with Mr. W. Outhwaite. The Pleasure Beach in 
1901 has been described as an unpretentious fairground, but since the War 
it has seen much alteration and enlargement. Its present Managing Director, 
Mr. Leonard Thompson, annually visits America and the Continent in quest 
of the new attractions which every year draw millions of visitors to South 
Shore. The strikingly effective designs of Mr. Joseph Emberton are the 
most pleasing examples of modern architecture to be found on this coast. 


CINEMAS. 


The first cinematograph show in Blackpool was in March, 1907. Very 
soon existing buildings were adapted, and in 1909 the first specially-constructed 
Cinema was opened, the Royal Pavilion in Rigby Road, now the Plaza. 
Blackpool now has 15 Cinemas with seating accommodation for more than 


20,000. 


BiackPpooL To-Day. 


This brief survey of the history of Blackpool may help to explain the present 
position of the town as third, after Liverpool and Manchester, in Lancashire, 
in rateable value, and third in rateable value also, after Brighton and Bourne- 
mouth, of the English seaside resorts. Its popularity shows no signs of 
diminishing in its power to attract both visitors and permanent residents. Its 
population is still growing. The number of visitors now annually exceeds 
6,000,000, and nearly 6,000 establishments cater for their lodging. The 
greatest increase in this respect is due to the long-distance visitor. While 
the last Autumn Illuminations attracted 733,000 passengers by rail and at least 
an equal number by road, it is of even greater importance that the number of 
period tickets sold on the railway in the last season was more than double the 


number in 1924. 


84 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 
ADVERTISING. 


Much of this expansion is undoubtedly due to the energy of the Publicity 
Department in devising successful schemes of advertising. More than 80 tons 
of holiday literature were circulated in the last season. In addition to the large 
Summer Guide, special programmes were printed for the Autumn Season, 
the Early Season and the Christmas Season, making more than a million copies 
in all. All the large industrial areas have special agents and part of their work 
consists of organising in workshops, clubs and Sunday Schools, saving societies 
for a Blackpool holiday. More than 200 such saving societies are already in 
existence. The Department uses every medium of public persuasion—the 
press, the poster, the printed lecture illustrated by lantern slide and film, and, 
of course, the cinema, through the making of successful movies by the Gaumont 
British Company. Lastly, the success of Blackpool as a “ Congress City ’ is a 
potent means of broadcasting the fame of its amenities. 


Economic PROBLEMS. 


The rapid expansion of the Borough has created problems of growing 
complexity which have been successfully solved by the administrative efficiency 
of the Corporation. Yet there have arisen also economic difficulties which 
are not so easy to solve. Most urgent is the problem of seasonal unemployment. 
Part of the rapid growth of population in the last few years is undoubtedly due 
to the influx, from the depressed areas, of seasonal workers who, at the end of 
the season, decide it is useless to return to industry and remain unemployed 
until the next summer, as permanent residents. The fluctuation in employ- 
ment is greater here than in the south coast resorts which have more visitors 
in the winter. This gives a greater urgency to what is perhaps the question of 
first importance to the business man—how to extend the season. 


CoNCLUSION. 


Blackpool has chosen as its motto the word ‘Progress.’ To the millions 
of visitors it signifies a promise of initiative and enterprise in catering for an 
ever-changing public taste. To the Borough Council it means the 
administrative efficiency which has enabled private enterprise to create for 
Blackpool a world-wide fame as the ‘ City of Health and Pleasure.’ 


My thanks are due to Mr. Ben Bowman, the well-known local historian, 
and to Mr. A. F. Warner, Chief Reporter of ‘ The West Lancashire Evening 


Gazette,’ for their generous help. 


MUNICIPAL LIFE OF BLACKPOOL 85 


XV. 
MUNICIPAL LIFE OF BLACKPOOL 


BY 
D. L. HARBOTTLE, LL.B., Town Cerk. 


BLACKPOOL was in its origin a small hamlet on the Lancashire coast inhabited 
mainly by fishermen. The earliest record of ‘de Poole,’ or ‘de Blackpoole,” 
is contained in the Parish Church registers of the neighbouring villages of 
Bispham and Poulton-le-Fylde between 1592 and 1602. In the reign of King 
Charles II., one Edward Tyldesley (son of Sir Thomas Tyldesley, killed in 
the battle at Wigan Lane, 1651) erected a hunting lodge here known as Fox 
Hall, near the sea shore, and not far from the present Foxhall Hotel. His name 
is also remembered by an important terrace of houses known as Tyldesley 
Terrace, a road named Tyldesley Road, and by Tyldesley Ward—a part of the 
borough for electoral purposes. 


This summer residence of the Tyldesleys was a small three-gabled building 
with a look-out tower, and over its main entrance was the Latin motto : 
‘ Seris Factura nepotibus’ (‘ As thou sowest so shall thy children reap ’), the 
headstone of the south gateway bearing a sculptured pelican feeding her young. 
It was built somewhere between 1655 and 1665, and towards the end of the 
seventeenth century the hunting lodge was extended into a large country seat. 
Gradually a village grew up around the country mansion, and in time visitors 
were attracted to the locality by the recuperative properties of the sea breezes, 
the expansive sands and the excellent bathing facilities. 


Blackpool obtained its name, as many other towns and hamlets, from its 
natural surroundings. Its ancient site was on the banks of an old pool, the 
waters of which were of a dark black colour and peaty nature. About the 
year 1851, the small village of Blackpool (then known as Layton-with- 
Warbreck) had grown to an appreciable extent. The population, according to 
the census of 1851, was 2,564. 


On the 23rd October, 1851, Layton-with-Warbreck was constituted a Local 
Government District by order of the Local Government Board, and a Local 
Board of Health was elected. The popular name of the township for many 
years had been ‘Blackpool,’ and in 1868 the name of the Local Board was 
altered, and the Board continued under the title of the Blackpool Local Board 
of Health. It became the Burial Board under the Burial Act, 1857, by virtue 
of an Order in Council dated 16th May, 1871. On the 2Ist January, 1876, a 
Charter of Incorporation was granted by Her late Majesty Queen Victoria. 
At that date the population was approximately 10,000, and the rateable value 
£76,838. To-day, in the Diamond Jubilee of its history as a municipal 
borough, the resident population approximates 125,000, and the rateable value 
is £1,530,769. These figures indicate to some extent the striking development 
of the town during the past 60 years. 


86 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


The boundaries of the borough have been extended on four occasions, 
namely : in 1879, by the addition of part of the township of Marton at the 
south-east end and part of the township of Bispham-with-Norbreck on the 
north; in 1918, by the inclusion of the urban district of Bispham-with- 
Norbreck and part of the township of Carleton on the north and north-east 
respectively ; in 1920, by the addition of a large strip of the foreshore, co- 
extensive with the western boundary of the borough, extending below low-water 
mark ; and lastly, in 1934, the borough was further extended to include other 
parts of the townships of Marton and Carleton and a part of the township of 
Hardhorn-with-Newton. The area is now 10,580 acres (including foreshore). 
The number of the Council at date of incorporation was 24. To-day it is 56. 
The borough has a separate police force and Commission of the Peace. 

Blackpool was raised to the status of a county borough on the Ist October, 
1904. For Parliamentary representation Blackpool forms with the adjoming 
borough of Lytham St. Annes the Blackpool Parliamentary Borough. The 
electorate is over 100,000 and a redistribution of seats is evidently much 
overdue. In spite of such an abnormal electorate it is only a single-member 
constituency. 

Some indication of the growing activities of the municipality may be gathered 
from the number of Acts of Parliament and Provisional and other Orders 
obtained since 1853—17 Acts and 33 Orders. 


In several important matters Blackpool, in obtaining Parliamentary powers 
for the good government of the borough, has been in advance of Parliament's 
general legislation. One outstanding instance in this respect is the power 
obtained by the Blackpool Improvement Act of 1879 to expend an amount not 
exceeding twonvence in the £ on the borough’s rateable value in advertising 
the attractions and amenities of the town. The amount expended under this 
heading by the Council last year was £15,854. 

Blackpool's principal asset is unquestionably its fine Promenade. 

As the erosion of the coast was becoming serious, Parliamentary powers were 
sought in the early Sixties to protect the sea front. The first Bill promoted in 
Parliament by the then Local Board was unsuccessful on financial grounds, as 
it was proposed to levy a rate equally over the district, whereas the Lords 
Committee in Parliament decided that the cost should be borne only by those 
having property on the front who would be directly benefited by the improve- 
ment. In 1865 a Local Act was obtained in which was a clause providing that 
a special parade rate should be levied on all frontagers, and the period for 
payment of this special rate has still 13 years to run. Under the powers of the 
1865 Act and a supplementary Act (1868) increasing the borrowing powers of 
the Board, the sea defence works and promenade extending from Carlton 
Terrace (just north of the Hotel Metropole) to the South Shore end (near 
Victoria Pier), a distance of about two miles along the sea front, were completed 


and opened on Easter Monday, April 18th, 1870. 

In 1876 that part of the sea front extending northwards from Carlton Terrace 
to the Gynn, a distance of about |,267 lineal yards, the property of the Clare- 
mont Estate Company, was sloped and stone pitched, and a broad marine 
parade and drive made, all at the cost of the Company. The erosion on this 
part was, however, so constant and serious that in 1893 the Corporation 


MUNICIPAL LIFE OF BLACKPOOL 87 


promoted and obtained an Act of Parliament authorising the construction of 
new sea defence works and promenade known as the “ North Shore Works.’ 
These works, constructed in three tiers, were popularly known as ‘ the three- 
decker,’ and comprised a carriage drive, middle walk, and lower parade. They 
were completed and opened in 1899. 


The Blackpool Borough Engineer and Surveyor (Mr. H. Banks) who from 
his early years has been intimately associated with the Borough’s sea defence 
works, gives elsewhere full particulars of what has been accomplished since 
1895. The Corporation are the owners of the foreshore from end to end of the 
borough, having acquired it at various dates from the Duchy of Lancaster, 
and, by purchase, the Lords of the Manor of Layton, which comprises a large 
part of the borough. 


Tue CorPoRATION’s UNDERTAKINGS. 


Few towns are, unfortunately, in the happy position of Blackpool as regards 
municipally-owned and operated undertakings. The Corporation own and 
work the following: Gas, Electricity, Markets, Tramways and Buses, Sea 
Water Works, Public Baths, Parks, Airport, Cemetery, Public Abattoirs, 
Public Libraries and Housing Schemes. 


Gas. 


With few exceptions the undertakings are commercially prosperous, and 
contribute substantial sums to the relief of the rates. The oldest is that 
concerning the manufacture and supply of gas and residuals. Gas was first 
supplied in Blackpool in 1851 by private enterprise. The works were not a 
success, and in 1862 they were taken over by the then Local Board, and leased 
for seven years. In 1869 the Local Board resumed possession, and the 
Corporation as their successors have administered the undertaking. Sixty 
years ago there were 2,000 consumers ; to-day the figure is 38,000. In 
1896 there were 53 miles of mains, and in 1936 over 250 miles. During the 
12 years preceding the town’s incorporation (1876) the price of gas ranged from 
5s. 10d. down to 5s. per 1,000 cubic feet. To-day the price varies from 2s. 3d. 
to 2s. 94d. per 1,000 cubic feet. Over 5,000 gas lamps are required to light 
the borough. 

The capital expenditure of the undertaking up to March, 1935, was 
£610,339. 


‘TRAMWAYS AND Buses. 


The formal opening of Blackpool’s tramway undertaking took place in 
October, 1885, and the most sanguine anticipations of the operators, the 
Blackpool Electric Tramway Co., Ltd., were realised. The Company 
possessed only 10 cars, each with a carrying capacity of 34 to 52 passengers, 
and it was thought they would be sufficient to meet requirements for all time. 


The lease to the operating company expired in 1892, and the Corporation 
then took over the undertaking. The electric conductors were originally 
placed under the road surface, on what was known as the conduit system, 
operated at 250 volts pressure, there being no system of overhead traction in 


88 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


operation in this country at the time. The close proximity of the tram track 
to the sea resulted in many stoppages, and with stiff westerly breezes both 
sand and water blew over to such an extent that the traffic had to be suspended 
for as much as two or three consecutive days, during which period it was 
necessary to caulk with ropes the slots in the tram track so as to minimise the 
filling up of the channels. After much controversy and a visit by a Council 
deputation to Continental cities, the overhead traction system was installed 
(1898), and to-day Blackpool has an exceedingly fine fleet of tramcars, older 
stock being gradually replaced by cars of the latest design. From the small 
beginning in 1885 with 10 cars, the undertaking has had a remarkable develop- 
ment. In 1919 the Corporation obtained an Act of Parliament confirming 
their purchase of the Blackpool and Fleetwood Tramroad Company’s under- 
taking, and became owners and operators of the tramways from Blackpool 
northwards to the borough of Fleetwood. 


In 1924 the re-laying of the track from Cocker Street (north) to the Gynn 
led to removing the tramway from the carriage drive. This was effected by 
converting the westerly footpath of the Promenade and part of the slope leading 
down to the Middle Walk into a separate tram track laid on a sleeper foundation 
(thus ensuring smooth running of the cars), and leaving the carriage drive free 
for vehicular traffic. A new footpath on the westerly side of the new tram 
track was formed by the erection of an overhanging cantilever, providing 
thereunder on the Middle Walk a sheltered walk throughout, with continuous 
seating. Colonnaded embayments were also constructed on the Middle 


Walk. The works were completed in February, 1925, at a cost of £42,000. 


The Corporation, under their statutory powers, and subject to the Road 
Traffic Acts, have also established excellent bus services in the borough, and 
mutual running powers to a certain extent exist both as regards tramcars and 
buses between Lytham St. Annes, the adjoining borough on the south, thus 
providing a well-equipped service of transport from Fleetwood on the north to 
Lytham St. Annes on the south. From the yearly profits of the transport 
undertaking handsome sums are contributed to the relief of Blackpool's rates. 
In 1896 the number of passengers carried was 1,440,570. Last year there were 
49,092,454 passengers on the tramcars and 14,318,995 on the buses, a total of 
over 63 millions. 


There are 196 tramcars and 82 Corporation-owned buses, and another 25 
are on order. The Corporation now possess power to operate electric trolley 
buses. 


ELECTRICITY. 


The Corporation were pioneers in the use of electricity for lighting and 
traction purposes. 


Powers were obtained in the Tramways Orders Confirmation Act, 1884, 
to run tramways along the Promenade on the conduit system by electricity. 
An Electric Lighting Order was obtained in 1890, and by July, 1892, a move 
was made in the erection of works. On 13th October, 1893, the works were 
opened for supply by Lord Kelvin, one of the foremost scientists of his day. 
Here again is an instance of the development of an undertaking being 
phenomenal. The Corporation began business with 30 consumers, their 


MUNICIPAL LIFE OF BLACKPOOL 89 


demand being for supply to 3,000 eight-candle-power lamps. During the 
last five years the number of consumers has grown from 20,960 to 33,264, 
and the sale of current from 38,326,532 to 47,068,115 units. With the 
exception (in its earlier days) of some five or six years, the undertaking has 
been commercially successful, contributing from its profits substantial sums 
to rate relief. 


The area of supply includes districts adjoining Blackpool which are supplied: 
under powers contained in Fringe Orders. The greater part of the current is 
now obtained in bulk from the Preston Corporation under orders of the Central 
Electricity Board. ‘The electricity mains total 676 miles, and the electric 
lamps for public lighting number 2,942. 


EpucaTION AND Pusiic LiBRARIEs. 


Close upon 20 Council schools have been erected since the first Board 
school was opened in 1902. As the result of recent Parliamentary and 
Departmental activity, the Corporation, as the Local Education Authority, are 
faced with the difficult and expensive problem of providing further school 
accommodation. At the two secondary schools, the Boys’ Grammar School 
and the Girls’ Collegiate School, there are over 800 children in average 
attendance. A fine Technical College is also nearing completion. 


The Free Library Acts (as they were then termed) were adopted as far back 
as 1879, and the Public Library was established in the Octagon Room of the 
Assembly Rooms (now. Yates’s Wine Lodge) in Talbot Square in 1880. 
This Library was officially opened on the |8th June of that year by the then 
Right Hon. the Earl of Derby. In March, 1895, the Library was removed 
to more commodious premises in the new Municipal Buildings, which had 
meanwhile been erected in close proximity to the present Town Hall. In 
the progression of time branch municipal libraries have been opened in several 
parts of the borough. Mr. Andrew Carnegie, on the |0th April, 1906, 
intimated that he would be glad to provide £15,000 for a Free Public Library. 
The building was erected at the corner of Maybell Avenue and Queen Street. 


An Art Gallery, the gift of Sir Cuthbert Grundy, J.P., and his brother, 
Mr. J. R. G. Grundy, was erected on the Queen Street side, adjoining the 
Library. Both buildings were officially opened on the 26th October, 1911. 
The Carnegie Library was opened by the Mayor (Councillor W. H. 
Broadhead, J.P.), and the Art Gallery by the Right Hon. the Lord Shuttleworth, 
Lord Lieutenant of the County of Lancaster. 


Pusiic Park. 


An extensive Public Park on the easterly side of the town was designed 
and the laying-out supervised by Messrs. Thomas H. Mawson and Son, of 
Lancaster. It was formally opened on the 2nd October, 1926, by the Right 
Hon. the Earl of Derby, K.G., and bears the name of Stanley Park. Parts of 
the park area were dennrbudly presented to the Corporation by the late 
Alderman Sir John Bickerstaffe, J.P., Thomas Marquis Watson, Esq., and 
William Lawson, Esq. 


90 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


A Municipal Golf Course adjoins, as also does the Blackpool Cricket Ground 
(the latter the gift of the late Sir Lindsay Parkinson, J.P., and his brother, 
William Parkinson, Esq., J.P.). 


There is a boating lake of some 264 acres in extent. Bowling, putting, tennis, 
cricket, and football are amply provided for. There are also children’s 
playgrounds, and a spacious open-air band stand and auditorium. The 
execution of the work has been spread over a period of five years, and on 
completion its cost will approach, if not exceed, £250,000. 


OPEN-AIR SWIMMING Poot. 


On June 9th, 1923, the Mayor of the borough, Councillor Henry Brooks, 
J.P., officially opened the South Shore Open-air Swimming Bath. Erected 
at a cost of approximately £80,000 by the Corporation, the bath is one of the 
largest and best-designed open-air swimming pools in the world. It covers 
an area of four acres, and provides accommodation for 3,000 bathers at one time, 
and 8,000 spectators on the half-mile of terraces. 


There are 868 dressing rooms, 500 lockers and 1,300 special clothes con- 
tainers. The latter are used in conjunction with the 268 gas-heated cubicles, 
completed this season, and the rooms are equipped with foot-baths, showers, 
etc. 

Another additional novel feature is the large sun-bathing terrace projecting 
into the water, erected in 1935. 


The area of the pool is 60,000 square feet, the extreme length 376 feet, and 
the width 172 feet. The depth of the Water variby from, [Fook @ anehts to 
4 feet 6 inches, except in the championship area, which is exactly 110 yards 
long by 25 yards wide, and varies in depth from 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 6 inches. 
The diving pool shelves'to a depth of 15 feet, and the diving stage consists of 
seven platforms, varying in height from 4 feet to 32 feet 6 inches (10 metres). 
A triple water chute and shower baths are provided, and a portion is reserved 
for instruction in swimming. 


The bath contains 1,600,000 gallons of filtered sea-water, which is being 
constantly changed, purified and aerated at the rate of 80,000 gallons per hour 
by powerful and electrically-driven pumps. The water is first pumped from 
the sea into a huge settling tank capable of holding half-a-million gallons, then 
transferred to the four filters, and finally pumped into the pool in a novel and 
artistic fashion through 20 fountain-like sprays and a cascade. 


BurIALS AND CREMATIONS. 


By 1873 land had been acquired by the Burial Board in the Layton district 
(east) adjoining New Road, now named Talbot Road. The Cemetery grounds 
—some 8 acres in extent—and the consecration ceremony took place on the 
3rd August, 1873. There have been several extensions of the Cemetery until 
all available land there has been acquired. Further accommodation became an 
acute question a short time ago and land was purchased at Carleton, also on the 
easterly side of the borough, and a Cemetery formed. A Crematorium has also 
been erected at this latter cemetery, and is now available for use. 


MUNICIPAL LIFE OF BLACKPOOL 91 
AVIATION AND AiR Port. 


The late Lord Northcliffe in the autumn of 1909 suggested an aviation 
meeting at Blackpool. A deputation made two visits to Rheims, and the 
outcome was the organising of a Flying Week at Blackpool. Many of the 
leading Continental aviators, such as Messrs. Farman, Paulhan, Latham, 
Le Blanc, Rougier, and our own countryman, A. V. Roe, accepted Blackpool’s 
invitation and gave daring and exciting exhibitions. The Corporation’s 
interest in aviation has never flagged. Other Air Pageants have been held, 
at one of which a display was given by members of the Royal Air Force. 


An airport, with clubhouse, has been constructed east of the Stanley Park. 
Here is an instance of Blackpool rendering a national service, the 
Council having expended no less a sum than £81,957 up to the 3lst March 
last year on this undertaking, and in the purchase of a large area of land 
adjoining. 

Housinc. 


The Corporation, on 10 housing estates and with houses acquired, have 
provided nearly 1,400 dwellings. 


The capital expenditure amounts to £1,177,310. Subsidies to the extent of 
£125,845 have been granted to 1,704 persons in respect of houses erected by 
them, and £245,867 has been advanced on mortgage under the Small Dwellings 
Acquisition Acts in respect of 387 properties. The Corporation housing 
rentals vary from 6s. 8d. to 13s. 6d. per week. 


Pusiic HEALTH SERVICES. 


The Medical Officer of Health, who is also the Chief School Medical Officer 
for the county borough, directs the varied activities of the Health Department. 
In addition to the general sanitation of the area, he is responsible for the 
hygienic condition of all factories and workshops, bake-houses and all milk 
and food preparation and storage premises. In a prominent health resort like 
Blackpool these duties are of the greatest importance in ensuring the provision 
to the general community of a pure and wholesome food supply. 


The Maternity and Child Welfare Scheme embraces the care of the 
expectant mother during the whole of her pregnancy, the provision of special 
ante-natal clinics in the northern, central and southern areas of the town, and 
the provision of a Maternity Ward. The working is in the hands of a special 
medical officer under the direction of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, and 
in addition to the ante-natal treatment, there are held in each area of the town 
Infant Welfare Centres where the children from birth to the age of five years 
are cared for, in order that on attaining school age they may be handed over to 
ae co Authority well in health and fitted to commence their scholastic 

uties. 


Periods of rest and quiet are provided at convalescent homes for the weakly 
mother, and great benefit results. Financial assistance is rendered to the 
midwifery profession when dealing with cases of distress or financial difficulties. 
Dental treatment is also provided for the expectant and nursing mothers and 
young children, and this has resulted in great benefit to the recipients. 


92 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


In the diagnosis and treatment of Tuberculosis the actual working of the 
Blackpool scheme is carried out by a specialist tuberculosis officer under the 
direction of the Medical Officer of Health. The scheme embraces visiting of 
patients and contacts, dispensary treatment, residential institutional treatment 
for both early and advanced cases, and the provision of additional nourishment 
where the patient is not requiring institutional treatment. 


In the care of cases of infectious disease much benefit has resulted in the 
appointment of a special nurse, by her advice as to the precautionary measures 
to be taken, and the segregation of the contacts. The Isolation Hospital of 
: bee is also under the superintendence of the Chief Medical Officer of 

ealth. 

The Public Abattoir. s also governed by the Health Department. The 
general supervision and inspection of all meat prepared for consumption at 
these premises is in the hands of a specially qualified meat inspector, so as to 
ensure that no diseased meat finds its way into the hands of the public. 


All offensive trades in existence in the borough, except fish frying, are 
confined to and carry on business at the public abattoir, and are under the 
constant supervision of the Medical Officer of Health. 


Pusiic CLEANSING. 


Great vigilance is exercised in the cleansing of the streets of the borough, and 
in the disposal of house and trade refuse. The department is well equipped 
with up-to-date motor vehicles. The disposal of all refuse is by way of 
incineration at recently-erected works, where the latest machinery is in 
operation. 


This department is also responsible for the daily removal of any refuse from 
the foreshore. 


Town PLANNING AND BUILDING DEVELOPMENT. 


The whole of the borough is affected by three schemes. The first resolution 
to prepare for Scheme | was in 1922, and from that year the Council acted 
under the powers they obtained in an interim development Order up to the 
time of approval of the scheme. 


No. | scheme embraces the unbuilt-up area ; No. 2 the area recently added 
to the borough ; and No. 3 scheme the built-up area of the town. 


No. | scheme, which was the first to be prepared, has been in operation since 
February, 1933, in reservations for a number of very important road proposals, 
areas for residential purposes, shopping, business and industrial buildings. 


Restrictions are also included with respect to the use of land and buildings, 
the control of advertisements, space about buildings, height and density of 
buildings, and other powers to control amenity and general development. 


Scheme No. 2 is in course of preparation, and will within the next few months 
be submitted to the Minister of Health for approval. The proposals contained 
therein are similar to those in Scheme No. |. 


Scheme No. 3 is of particular interest, as it deals with the built-up area of 
Blackpool, and is one of the first of its kind in the country to be submitted. 


MUNICIPAL LIFE OF BLACKPOOL 93 


It has received the approval of the Minister of Health, and is now awaiting 
submission to the House of Commons and the House of Lords for final 
approval. The provisions generally are for the preservation of existing 
residential areas, which is a necessity for a seaside town like Blackpool. It 
also gives the Corporation power to control the maintenance, use, alteration, 
extension and replacement of existing buildings, and the continuance of 
existing use of land and buildings and the provision of loading accommodation 
to business premises. 


Building development by private enterprise has been phenomenal in Black- 
pool during the last few years. An average of 1,250 dwelling-houses have 
been built each year for the past 10 years, and apart from this, a large amount 
of money has been spent on the re-building and the erection of new shops, 
stores, public buildings, hotels, licensed premises and boarding houses. The 
Corporation have powers to control the elevations of new buildings. 


ARTERIAL Roabs. 


Since 1920 a large number of widening and reconstruction schemes of the 
existing main roads within the borough has taken place, while a number of new 
roads giving better inter-communication have also been constructed. The 
principal road arteries leading into Blackpool are as follows :—from the south, 
Clifton Drive, Squires Gate Lane and the Promenade ; from the south-east, 
Preston New Road ; from the east, Newton Drive ; and from the north-east, 
Poulton New Road ; from the north, Queen’s Drive and Fleetwood Road. 
Undoubtedly the main artery into Blackpool is Preston New Road, which 
discharges into the junction of Whitegate Drive and Waterloo Road and Park 
Road, at which junction a trafic round-about is situated. From here the traffic 
bound southwards is borne along Waterloo Road, while that for the centre of 
Blackpool can travel by Park Road, and that proceeding to the north end of the 
borough along Whitegate Drive and thence by way of Devonshire Road to 
Cleveleys. 


The reconstruction and widening of Preston New Road to 100 feet was for a 
distance of 1.4 miles undertaken in conjunction with the Lancashire County 
Council, while the construction of Poulton New Road 60 feet wide was also 
undertaken with their co-operation. The total length of Class I. roads 
scheduled by the Ministry of Transport within the borough, widened and 
constructed during the period from 1920 onwards, is 19.70 miles, while the 
length of secondary roads, or those scheduled as Class II. by the Ministry of 
Transport, is 9.41 miles. The total mileage of unclassified roads is 
151.14 miles, making a grand total of 180.25 miles under the jurisdiction of 
the Corporation. The remodelling of these arterial roads involved the 
construction of four railway bridges, viz.: at Squires Gate Bridge Lane, 
Harrowside, Bispham Bridge, Devonshire Road Bridge. A large proportion 
of the expenditure involved in the construction of these roads was borne by the 
Government and the total nett cost to the Corporation was an expenditure of 
£697,675. The majority of the roads thus constructed have been surfaced 
with either bituminous or mastic asphalt, and have stood up remarkably 
well, and maintenance costs have been low, while the foundations have been 
constructed in 6 to | Portland cement, concrete or rubble. 


94 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


A boulevard, 60 feet wide, called Park Drive, encircling Stanley Park, 
has also been constructed, and as this has direct access to Preston New Road 
by means of South Park Drive, traffic wishing to proceed to the northerly end 
of the borough can by-pass the town by proceeding along West Park Drive, 
Collingwood Avenue, Plymouth Road, Bispham Road, thence along Devon- 
shire Road to Cleveleys. 


In concluding, | desire to express my appreciation of the valuable assistance 
rendered by Mr. Arthur S. Wright, formerly Chief Clerk in my department, 
and members of the Corporation staffs concerned. 


XVI. 
BLACKPOOL COAST DEFENCE WORKS 


BY 
H. BANKS, M.Inst.M. & C.E. 


Durinc the past 40 years the Blackpool Corporation has expended over 
£1,156,000 on the various sections of sea~defence works and promenades. 
The author will give a brief account of the sea-coast defence works carried out - 
at Blackpool during the above period. 


The County Borough of Blackpool is situated at the westward or seaward 
extremity of that part of West Lancashire known as the Fylde. The total 
length of the foreshore or sea-front is seven miles, and runs almost due North 
and South, now all protected by sea-defence works. 


The range of an ordinary spring tide is approximately 27 feet. The flow of 
the tide is from South to North, and the ebb from North to South-West. 
The flood tide is stronger than the ebb. 


Works From 1895 To 1936. 


Fig. No. | is a key plan showing the whole sea-front of Blackpool. 


The writer’s first experience of sea-defence works dates back to 1895, when 
the Corporation promoted and obtained an Act of Parliament to construct the 
North Shore works, extending from Carlton Terrace to the Gynn, a length of 
1,267 yards. 

The erosion on this part of the sea-front had been constant and serious, 
valuable property being jeopardised by the inroads of the sea. 

The scheme, which was designed by the late Mr. J. Wolstenholme, 
A.M.I.C.E., then Borough Surveyor, was carried out by contract. Work 
was commenced in 1895, and the scheme completed in 1899 at a cost of 


£150,000. 


hs 


mrs 


Wali 


~ 
We 
a 


. 


SRA eM ahs 


Sections of rat Sea Derence Wonks. 


FIG N22 
NORTH SHORE WORKS e201 iterion 
foate 


Sirersrery 


Concrete Blocks 


CROSS SECTION opposire cenTeaL Pier. FIG.N° 4. 
Sau 


sand filing 


Brdngnce Datum. 


2011 IECTION 


Seale 


wie se 


8035 Section 
BRincess Paaage 


SEACe 


(O03) SECTION ar x OLO_NOSTHERN ScuNDAeY 


beast foeng 
muon was 


Secrioss of THE Sea Derexce Worrs. 


; Lewcruswmas Stcriom FIG.NOS 


FIGN®I0.cooss section es 


epped apron 


Fic N°I2 Typical SECTION oe SEA WALL suo PROMENADE 


longihdag) te (ad 


pretiles 


TYPICAL SECTION OF SA WALL ¢ DOOMENLDE 
qouTw swoce FIG. N°! 


ark tide ker! 


ix 
i 


TYDICAL SECTION of SEA WALL su P2OMENADE semen 


perme ee SS ot BISPHAM 


LITTLE SISPAAM wo CLEVELEYS FIG. NS ¢ 


of 


Jf 


BLACKPOOL COAST DEFENCE WORKS 95 


Fig. 2 is a cross section of these works, the main feature being a concrete 
sea-wall and parapet, with a 2 to | apron formed of 15-inch granite cubes 
pitched on a bed of 6 inches of P.C. concrete, overlaying a filling of puddled 
clay. 

It was about the same time found that the promenade (from the south end 
of the newly-constructed North Shore works to South Shore) was rapidly 
becoming inadequate to cope with the ever-increasing annual influx of visitors, 
so in 1899 a scheme for widening that part of the promenade seawards for a 
uniform width of 60 feet was sanctioned by Parliament, at an estimated cost of 
£350,000. At this time Mr. J. S. Brodie, M.I.C.E., was appointed engineer to 
the Corporation, and he strongly advised the Local Authority to increase the 
widening from 60 to 100 feet. 


The requisite authority for the extra widening having been obtained from 
Parliament by the Blackpool Order (No. 1), 1902, the work was proceeded 
with at the South Shore end in the early spring of 1902 by direct labour under the 
supervision of the author, who was appointed Chief Resident Engineer. The 
author would here like to state that the sea walls, Figs. 3 to 8, were designed 
by his chief, the late Mr. J. S. Brodie, after inspecting all the principal sea- 
walls in the United Kingdom and on the Continent. 


The main length of wall, commenced in the spring of 1902, was completed 
and opened as far as the North Pier in July, 1905, a distance of 3,184 lineal yards. 


A sea-wall 380 lineal yards in length from the north end of the North Shore 
works to what was at that time the northern boundary of the borough, was 
commenced in August, 1910, and completed in January, 1911 


The sea-wall from the North Pier to Cocker Street (the southerly end of 
the North Shore works), a length of 400 yards, and called the ‘Princess 
Parade,’ was commenced in October, 1910, and completed in September, 1911, 
and was formally opened by H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, on 
2nd May, 1912. 


Fig. No. 3 shows the general section of sea-wall, a length of 2,384 lineal yards, 
from the Victoria Pier to the Central Pier. 


Fig. No. 4 shows the general section of the southern half, between the 
Central Pier and the North Pier, a total length of 800 lineal yards, and Fig. No. 5 
shows the general section of the northern half of this length. Fig. No. 6 shows 
the general section between the North Pier and Cocker Street (Princess 
Parade), a length of 400 lineal yards. 

Fig. No. 7 shows the section of the 380 yards length of sea-wall north of the 
North Shore works. 


It will be noti¢ed that no piling is shown at the toe of this wall, the reason 
being that the boulder clay was too hard to admit of pile driving, 


With the exception of 1,700 yards at the southerly end of the works, where a 
clay foundation could not be found at a reasonable depth, the walls and aprons 
were taken down to the red clay, and whole timber king piles driven 20 feet 
below toe level, and spaced at 8 and 12 feet centres : permanent whole timber 
walings are bolted to the king piles, and Karri-wood close sheeting (varying 
in length according to the nature of the ground) is spiked to the waling. The 


96 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


king piles and walings are pitch pine. The walls and aprons are all faced with 
basalt columnar stone, bedded and grouted in ground Portland cement mortar. 


With the exception of a small area of basalt pitching used on the Princess 
Parade length, and imported from the Giant’s Causeway, all the basalt stone 
was imported from the Rhine and delivered here at the remarkably low figure 
of 16s. per ton. 


The following figures give an idea of the it div age of the works carried out 
by the Corporation direct, and not by contract. 
213,000 cubic yards of P.c. concrete. 
750,000 cubic yards of sand filling. 
25,000 tons of basalt stone. 
192,000 square yards of asphalt and flagging. 


It will be seen from the cross sections, which show the level of the foreshore 
at the time of construction, and the level at the present time, that accretion 
is taking place at the southern end of the borough, and erosion is taking place 
at the northern end of the borough. 


Accretion is slowly but surely extending northwards, and is due, in the 
author’s opinion, to the dredging operations taking place in the Mersey and 
the Ribble, particularly the Ribble, where great alterations in the estuary have 
been carried out during the last 35 years. The dredgings (chiefly sand) are 
carried in suspension during the flood tide, and deposited on the foreshore at 
Blackpool. From the Victoria Pier to opposite Central Beach, a distance of 
2,800 yards, the accretion averages 5 feet, and extends to low-water mark of 
neap tides : from this point to opposite Princess Parade, a distance of 700 yards, 
the accretion averages 2 feet, and even further north, for a distance of some 700 
yards, the accretion averages about 6 inches. 


All this accumulation of clean, golden sand, has taken place since the com- 
mencement of the works in the spring of 1902. The author wishes to point 
out that 750,000 cubic yards of filling required in the construction of the work 
was get chiefly from the foreshore at the southern or Victoria Pier end of the 
works. 


Sea WALL FRoM Op BoroucH Bounpary To ARUNDEL AVENUE. 


One of the most bracing and enjoyable seaside walks at Blackpool is over 
the cliffs to Norbreck and Cleveleys in a northerly direction. These cliffs 
rise to a height of 100 feet above Ordnance Datum. 


The geological formation is, generally speaking, the lower boulder clay, 
attaining in some places an elevation of 50 feet above Ordnance Datum, and 
in two cases dipping down at a steep incline to 40 feet below o.p. (see 
longitudinal section, Fig. No. 8). Overlaying the boulder is a bed of sharp 
sand, containing deep veins of gravel, and averaging 40 feet in depth, which, 
again, is covered with the upper boulder clay, about 10 feet in depth. 


Prior to the commencement of these works in 1917, the erosion of these 
cliffs had been at the rate of 2 yards per year during the preceding 30 years. 
Chiefly in order to preserve them from further erosion (the cliffs have always 
been considered as greatly adding to the amenities of the county borough), 


BLACKPOOL COAST DEFENCE WORKS 97 


the Corporation favourably considered a scheme of amalgamation with the 
Urban District of Bispham with Norbreck, and, in 1917, promoted and 
obtained a Bill in Parliament to extend the borough in a northerly direction, 
with powers to construct a sea-wall to protect that length of cliff suffering so 
severely from erosion by the sea. 


Owing to the prohibitive cost of stone suitable for work of this description, 
coupled with the difficulty of getting delivery of same, it was decided, when the 
work was started, in August, 1917, to build a self-faced wall, built in situ, 
using a facing mixture of 4 to | P.c. concrete, 9 inches thick, with a backing of 
8 to | p.c. concrete, with a reasonable number of displacers for the bulk of 
the wall. The almost uniform level of the boulder clay along the line of the 
wall is 11.50 above Ordnance Datum, and has an inclination seawards of | in 20, 
with an average covering of 12 inches of gravel, where it meets the sandy 
foreshore at a mean level of 4 feet above 0.D. : the foreshore then falls seaward 
at an almost uniform gradient of | in 100 to low water. The excavation for 
the wall in boulder clay was taken down 7 feet below the surface level of the 
boulder, at the front of the wall, and then benched up. On account of the 
rock-like toughness of the boulder clay, gelignite was used to facilitate and 
cheapen the cost of getting out the trench : small charges were put in some 
3 feet away from the seaward side of the trench, so as not to break up the 
ground on the west side of the wall, and somewhat heavier charges were used 
for the centre and back. 


In the running sand foundation permanent king piles were driven at 12 feet 
centres and 18 feet below toe level : on account of the high cost and difficulty 
in obtaming balk timber suitable for the purpose, the author suggested using 
old tramway rails, 7 inch section, and weighing 98 lbs. and upwards per yard. 
Holes were drilled in the piles before driving, through which the permanent 
ane were bolted, and close sheeting piles, 10 feet long, were spiked to the 
walings. 


There was an ample supply of splendid gravel and grit suitable for concrete 
lying close to the line of the wall. Screening was unnecessary with the 
exception of the facing material, when all stones over ¢ inch were eliminated. 
The concrete was mixed on light portable stages fixed over or alongside the 
_ trench, and easily removed at high water. 


Fig. No. 9 shows the method the author designed to form the wall. 


Four-inch diameter cast-iron pipes were built through the wall 40 yards 
apart to act as ream water outlets : a substantial dry lining backing was built 
on the landward side of the wall at each outlet. 


Nine-inch diameter cast-iron pipes spaced 60 yards apart were also laid 
through the wall well above high water level to provide for the surface water 
draining of any future lay-out. 


Fig. No. 10 shows a section of the last 270 yards of the work, a reinforced 
P.C. concrete stepped apron having an 8 inch rise and a 15 inch tread, with a 
bull-nosed top, a light wall 3 feet in width built to form a “seal” on the 
landward side of the apron, and to carry the bull-nosed top, being the main 
features. A similar section was adopted in forming the apron to the first slade 
for vehicular traffic, and was completed in June of 1919. The work is standing 


98 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


well, and the back wash from a section of this description is reduced to a 
minimum. 


Two slades were provided for in the scheme, each 100 yards in length, 
7 yards in width, with an inclination of | in 14: also eight flights of P.c. 
ei steps, leading from the top of the wall to the foreshore, each 12 feet 
in width. 


A good many groynes were erected from the old borough boundary to the 
northerly boundary of the borough, for a distance of 4,900 yards. Four of 
the first to be built were constructed in pre-cast concrete blocks, stepped in 
section on both sides so as to minimise obstruction to pedestrians using the 
foreshore. 


In plan they are part of an ellipse, with the sharp part of the curve com- 
mencing at a tangent from the wall and leading away in a south-westerly 
direction. The height of these groynes abutting the sea-wall is 16 feet above 
0.D., and they continue at this level for a length of 48 feet, when they are 
ramped down | foot in every 12 for a length of 180 feet. This type of groyne 
has been very successful on this section of the foreshore. 


All the remaining groynes were built of timber, laced horizontally between 
steel tram rails as piles driven at 6 feet centres, the timbers being laid in slots 
formed in the rails and secured by iron clamps at the top. This method of 
construction is cheap, and has served its purpose admirably, many of the 
groynes having had to be lifted to prevent gravel travelling in a northerly 
direction. 


The groynes are generally spaced 200 yards apart, and are approximately 
80 to 100 yards in length. 


This section of the sea-coast protection works, a length of 1,980 yards, was 
completed in 1921 at a cost of approximately £80,000, including the seaward 
wall built opposite Uncle Tom’s Cabin to enclose the proposed open-air bath 
site at the then northerly end of the borough. This site at the present time 
is let as a boating pool. 


Attrition, due to gravel and boulders driven during the heavy seas against 
the self-faced wall, is, generally speaking, not so bad. As far as possible, 
the shuttering on the seaward side of the wall was struck, having due regard 
to the weather conditions and the height of the tides, during low tides and 
favourable weather. The lower profiles and shutters were struck after four or 
five days : the top profiles stood eight to 10 days before striking, and during 
high tides, coupled with unfavourable weather, the front shuttering was left 
until more favourable weather prevailed. 


In connection with this work a scheme was inaugurated to preserve the 
natural amenities of the cliffs. The face of the cliff from the base is retained 
in position by artificial rockery, and above, where the slope makes its natural 
inclination, grasses were planted, and after a number of experiments with 
various kinds, a degree of success has been obtained. 


From the top of the cliffs to the Lower Walk, footpaths have been constructed 
in a pleasing and artistic manner, natural stone rubble walling being built 
where necessary, and inclined pathways formed with crazy paving. 


BLACKPOOL COAST DEFENCE WORKS 99 


At Uncle Tom’s Cabin an electric lift capable of holding 25 people has been 
installed, and provision is made for an additional lift when this becomes 
desirable. 

SouTH SHORE PROMENADE. 


The South Shore new Promenade, opened by the Right Honourable the 
Earl of Derby, K.G., P.C., G.C.B., G.C.V.O., in October, 1926, is an extension 
of the Promenade reconstructed in 1905. It commences near the Victoria 
Pier, and terminates at the southerly boundary of the borough, adjoining the 
borough of Lytham St. Annes. The works were commenced in 1922 with the 
construction of an elliptical embayment carried seawards for the purpose of 
enclosing a sufficient portion of the foreshore for the erection of the Open-air 


Swimming Bath (completed in June, 1923, at a cost of £85,000). 


The sea-wall then continues for 2,420 yards to the southerly boundary of the 
borough. There are two slades leading to the shore for vehicular traffic, one 
opposite Watson Road and the other opposite Harrowside, and a number of 
ie pene from the Promenade to the shore are interspersed along its whole 
ength. 


Fig. No. 11 shows a cross section of this Promenade. 


The sea-wall is constructed entirely of concrete, approximately 9,000 tons 
of cement and 80,000 tons of gravel having been used : the whole of the latter 
material was obtained from the site. The thickness of the wall at its foot 
is 14 feet, and its necking 5 feet. Old tram rails were driven into the sand as 
king piles, 8 feet apart, to an average depth of 20 feet, the top being at a level 
of 7.5 0.D., which is the average level of the sand, and to the rail king piles, 
walings were bolted with 3 inch close timber sheeting to a depth of 12 feet, to 
form the toe of the wall. 


The wall is about 400 feet westward from the old beach, and, although 
unsupported, had to withstand exceptionally severe gales during construction, 
but not a fracture has occurred throughout its length. 


Rising about 15 feet above the sand level, a huge area had to be filled up to 
form the new Promenade : 300,000 cubic yards of sand were taken from the 
beach immediately north of Victoria Pier, and about 750,000 cubic yards from 
the sand dunes on the land between the railway and the foreshore. So exposed 
was the area that, with the heavy seas and high winds, it is estimated that 
100,000 cubic yards have been lost by being blown in all directions from the 
site. On several occasions the sea rose to a phenomenal height (about 5 feet 
over the normal and expected level) and came over the new Promenade, washing 
away the foundations of the carriage-way and a small portion of the sunken’ 
gardens then in course of construction. These gales added to the cost of the 
work, as in one case a sum of £1,800 had to be expended to repair the damage. 
Erosion has also had its effect on the sand at the toe of the wall, and several 
thousands of tons of old macadam, broken stone, etc., have been placed to a 
depth of from 2 to 3 feet and 10 to 15 feet from the wall, in order to act as a 
heavier barrier than the sand. Being more difficult to move, it has had the 
desired effect. 


The original design of the Promenade, as indicated on the deposited plans 
submitted to Parliament, showed a series of sunken gardens. It was thought 


100 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


that there would be less sand necessary for the filling up, but it was proved in 
actual practice that there was no advantage in such a design. The cost of 
forming and keeping the sand in position was more than would have been the 
case if it had been brought to the same level. As the sea frequently sprayed 
over the wall and the palisade, it was necessary to form a protection : otherwise 
the gardens would be frequently covered with water. The footpath was 
therefore made 25 feet in width along the edge of the sea-wall, and where 
sunken gardens were installed a substantial rustic stone-wall was built, broken 
up by shelters and seating accommodation, and preserving the sunken areas 
from being flooded except on rare occasions. It is anticipated that in the 
future sand will accumulate, and the risk of water coming over the wall will be 


still further reduced. 


The first sunken garden was built as a decorative feature. At either end is 
an ornamental fountain, with a sundial on a pedestal formed by one of the 
conglomerates found on the shore near the Gynn. It is maintained by the 
Parks Superintendent with floral beds, and provides a sheltered area for 
visitors. Each of the three sunken gardens is differently designed—quite 
distinctive in character, and therefore in some degree easily distinguishable. 


The central feature at Harrowside consists of four pylon-formed entrances 
at the northern and southern ends to a yachting pond. Here children, with 
their model yachts, are able to derive full enjoyment from that form of recrea- 
tion. The pond is raised above the footpath surrounding it, and there are 
two shelters and a colonnade and shelter in the centre. Ladies’ and gentlemen’s 
underground conveniences are also provided at this point. 


The aim has been to make this portion of the Blackpool Promenade varied 
in character, artistically attractive, and at the same time amply sufficient to 
accommodate our numerous visitors. Difficult though it may be to carry out 
on such a length, with so narrow a width, a design which is not stereotyped, 
it is hoped that the attempt has met with success. 


The separate tram track, which is linked up with the existing Blackpool and 
Fleetwood tramways, and with the tramways of the Lytham St. Annes 
Corporation, has a continuous run from Fleetwood to Lytham St. Annes 
along and near to the sea-front. On the eastern side of the Promenade is a 
large area of land which has been developed for building sites for hotels, 
boarding and apartment-houses and private residences. This land has 
provided exceedingly attractive sites along one of the finest sea-fronts on this 
coast, with excellent railway and tramway facilities close at hand. 


The cost of the sea-wall was £180,000, and the Promenade £110,000, 
making a total of £290,000. 


The whole of the work was designed and carried out by direct labour by 
Mr. Francis Wood, M.Inst.C.E., the Borough Engineer and Surveyor, who 
expressed his appreciation of the work done by Mr. H. Banks, the Resident 
Engineer, and to all under him who so ably assisted in carrying out the work. 


PROMENADE BETWEEN ARUNDEL AVENUE AND CLEVELEYS. 


Perhaps it would be of interest to describe the conditions existing prior to 
the construction of the sea-wall and Promenade on this length of coast. 


BLACKPOOL COAST DEFENCE WORKS 101 


Between Bispham and Norbreck the bottom of the cliffs was protected by 
a rough apron composed of rubble and concrete, which continued a short 
distance up the face of the cliff, the foreshore on this length having a layer of 
gravel for a distance of about 100 yards from the bottom of the cliff. 


The general level of the gravel at the bottom of the apron on this length 
was 17 O.D., so it will be realised that in heavy seas the clay face of the cliff 
was liable to erosion. 

From Norbreck to Cleveleys the cliff face was merely sandhills, but the 
gravel level on this length of foreshore was considerably higher than else- 
where, and thus afforded better protection to the cliff face. 


The work of construction of the new Promenade was commenced in August, 
1932, and consists of two separate sections. That from Bispham to Little 
Bispham comprises two separate promenades, the lower one built at a level of 
18 0.D., and the higher promenade at a level of 24 0.D., and Fig. No. 12 shows a 
cross section of this promenade. 

This length of the promenade is for the use of pedestrians only, and has no 
provision for vehicular traffic. 

The over-all width of this section of the promenade has a minimum of 
55 feet varying according to the slope of the cliff to the higher promenade. 
The bottom of the cliff is finished off to meet the promenade by means of a 
rockery wall provided with seating accommodation. 


From Little Bispham to Cleveleys, the promenade is at a level of 24 o.D., 
and is provided with a 30 feet carriage-way, and has an over-all width of 


100 feet. 


Fig. No. 13 shows a section of this promenade. 


At Little Bispham, below the level of the promenade, an underground 
car-park capable of holding 120 cars has been constructed. This has an 
over-all length of 300 feet, and is 40 feet wide, and is constructed in reinforced 
concrete with deck lighting, entrance and exit slades having a gradient of 
1in 10. It is fully equipped with ventilation plant and fire-fighting apparatus. 
This has proved a distinct success in the bathing season, as the public are thus 
enabled to park their cars in close proximity to the bathing beach for a moderate 
charge. 

It is also proposed to erect a series of beach chalets, in concrete and brick- 
work, built into the cliff face south of Little Bispham, and it is anticipated that 
these will prove a popular amenity. 

At Anchorsholme a large pumping station has been constructed below 
promenade level, complete with pumping plant and screening equipment 
capable of dealing with 445 cubic feet per second of water from the drainage 
of the northern part of the borough. At regular intervals along the sea-wall, 
steps and slades are provided to give access to the beach. 

I will endeavour to describe the method of procedure adopted in the 
construction of this work. 

After the line of the wall has been set out, a line of piles composed of old 
tram rails, 7 inch section, are driven at 8 feet centres. These are called king 
piles, and they vary in length from 14 feet to 18 feet according to the depth 
of the clay below the gravel and sand. 


102 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


When a length of about 50 yards of toe has been prepared in this way, the 
trench is excavated for the toe wall. This wall, which is 3 feet 6 inches wide, 
is taken into about | foot 6 inches of solid clay, and to form the timber shuttering 
to the front of the wall a timber waling composed of pitch pine is bolted to the 
king piles, and close timber sheeting is driven into the clay and spiked to the 
permanent waling. 


At the same time, a trench to form the main wall which supports the bullnose 
is commenced, and brought up to the correct level by timber sheeting. This 
wall is 3 feet 6 inches wide, and is taken down | foot 6 inches into the solid clay. 
After a period of three days, the shuttering is struck, and profiles are set up to 
give the stepping of the apron between the toe and the main walls. The sand- 
filling to form the apron is then deposited in position, and after this has been 
thoroughly consolidated 9 inches of 6 to | Portland cement concrete is placed 
on the filling to seal the apron thus formed. The timber sheeting to form the 
steps of the apron is then placed in position, and 6 to | concrete is placed and 
tamped and screeded to give a suitable finish. 


The shuttering for the bullnose is then erected, this being held in position 
by means of old tram rails let into the apron. Finally, the panelled wall and 
seating which surmounts the bullnose is erected. 


The steel rails which have been used for the construction of the bullnose are 
cut off to the required level by oxy-acetylene flame. This process is con- 
tinued in 48 feet lengths, and the average rate of progress attained was 50 to 
60 yards of sea-wall per week. At convenient distances bulkhead walls were 
taken across so that the process of depositing the filling to form the promenade 
could proceed. This was consolidated by a caterpillar roller, and when a 
convenient length was completed, the kerbing and construction of the concrete 
carriage-way and red concrete footpath was proceeded with. 


The greater part of the gravel used for the concrete in this work was. re- 
covered from the shore, and the filling was also obtained mainly from the 


sandhills and the shore. ; 


From observation of the foreshore, the level of the gravel adjoining the wall 
is constantly changing. It has been noticeable that after a severe S.W. gale 
coinciding with a high tide, the foreshore level has been lowered by as much 
as 4 feet in some places, so it will be realised that the precautions taken for the 
protection of the toe, by the construction of the timber sheeting, are necessary. 


The length of promenade thus recently completed is 2,940 yards, and the 
cost of construction £148,000. 


The writer would like to express his appreciation to Mr. D. J. Bell, the 
Resident Engineer, and all under him who so ably assisted in carrying out 
this work. 


In the construction of all these works described, 130 acres of land have been 
reclaimed from the sea, while the area of the sands at low-water mark of 
ordinary spring tides is 1,450 acres. 


There is no treacherous bottom or quicksand on any part of the foreshore, 
but during south-easterly winds there is a deposit of river sludge in low places, 
such as adjoining the piers. 


BLACKPOOL COAST DEFENCE WORKS 103 


Amongst the most important conditions affecting the design of a coast 
defence works are, in the author’s opinion :— 


(1) A knowledge of prevailing conditions of the foreshore extending 
over a period of years. 

(2) If accretion is taking place, what is the cause, and from where, and 
in what manner is the material conveyed to the foreshore ? 

(3) Is this beneficial action likely to continue, etc. ? 

(4) If erosion is taking place, what is the rate of erosion, and what 
methods are to be adopted to prevent it, since it is invariably more 
severe after the erection of a sea-wall ? 


In the author’s opinion, there is less erosion from a wall designed with a 
flat apron (say 4 to I, or even flatter), than from any other type of wall, 
particularly if the apron is stepped in section. 


The nearer the design of an apron conforms with the natural formation of 
the gravel beach at high water level of high spring tides, the less trouble there 
will be from scour. 


XVII. 


EDUCATION IN 
BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


BY 


A. E. IKIN, B.Sc., LL.D., 
D1REcTOR OF EpucaTIon, 1918-1934. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE educational system of any country at any time is determined to a great 
extent by the theory of Society held by the people of that country at that time. 
The educational system of England, which allows for individualism and 
initiative, is very different from that of Russia, Germany or Italy, where the 
interest of the State is considered to be superior to that of the individual. 
Should the external organisation mould the life of the individuals in the 
community, or should the organisation represent the mind and will of the 
people? In both Fascism and Communism there is an effort to create a social 
state of mind by establishing the type of organisation which it is hoped will 
produce it. 


When, in England, in Pre-Norman times there was little differentiation 
between Church and State, the chief members of the Church being the chief 
members of the State, when the Church might have been considered as the 
State in its spiritual aspect, education was provided by the Church for those 
intended to serve Church or State, and for centuries education was considered 


104 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


to be a prerogative of the Church. Anyone attempting to found a school 
independently of the Church was liable to be prosecuted, in early times, 
before the Ecclesiastical Courts (e.g., Beverley School Case, 1304), or, later, 
before the King’s Court (e.g., Gloucester Grammar School Case, 1410). As 
Latin was the language in which the Service Books of the Church and the 
Bible (Vulgate) were written, and as it was also the language of diplomacy, 
Latin was the chief subject taught in the schools, which later were called 
“Grammar ’ schools. 

When the State became differentiated from the Church, when the political 
aspect became apparently superior to the spiritual aspect of the State, ideas 
somewhat different from those officially expressed by the Church began to 
develop, and some attempts were made to deal with education free from the 
control of the Church ; especially after the King’s Bench had ruled in the 
Gloucester Case (1410) that * it is a virtuous and charitable thing to do, helpful 
to the people, for which he cannot be punished by our law.’ Some schools 
were founded separately from ecclesiastical influence. 

The London grocer, William Sevenoaks, founded Sevenoaks Grammar 
School in 1432, the master of which was to be ‘ by no means in Holy Orders.’ 
Similarly, in 1503, the Town Council of Bridgenorth made an order : ‘ There 
shall no priest keep no school.’ 

The Protestant Reformation introduced a new basis for elementary education, 
namely, the necessity of personal study of the Scriptures in order to secure 
salvation ; and the wider circulation of the Scriptures had been made possible 
by the development in the arts of Printing. It is 400 years last October 
(4th October, 1535) since the first complete English Bible was printed. 


Under the Puritan regime, during the Interregnum between the death of 
Charles I. (1649) and the Restoration to the throne of Charles II. (1660), 
attempts were made to found a State-supported system of education. In 
1649 (September 30th, 1649) it was agreed to provide £20,000 (£2,000 of 
which was for the Universities) chiefly from the first fruits and tenths fund 
created by Henry VIII. for the salaries of * preaching ministers and school- 
masters. It is, however, difficult to say how far this Act was carried out. 


It is a strange coincidence that the sum of £20,000 is exactly the same amount 
as the first Government grant just over a century ago (1833) of £20,000 for 
Elementary Education. 


Earty EpucaTIon ENDOWMENTS NEAR BLACKPOOL. 


Six years after the 1649 Act just mentioned, a Grammar School was founded 
at Kirkham, and about the same time, a school was founded at Bispham. 


Kirkham Grammar School.—Henry Colborne, of London, by a codicil to 
his will (7th August, 1655) directed his executors ‘to purchase a lease of the 
rectory of Kirkham, and with the profits thereof to purchase and settle land 
upon the Company of Drapers’ for certain charitable uses: from these, 
£69 10s. was ultimately settled for the maintenance of the Grammar School 
Master at Kirkham (a University man), and for the maintenance of a second- 
master and of an usher for the School. These Charities were regulated by a 
Decree of the Court of Chancery, 12th June, 1673, and the Drapers’ Company 
drew up statutes for the government of the school. 


EDUCATION IN BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 105 


About the same time, the Rev. James Barker, ‘to testify his love of his 
native town of Kirkham,’ directed ‘by his will (proved 7th November, 1670), 
that his executors should purchase lands and tenements sufficient to bring in an 
annual income of £30, to augment the salary of the schoolmaster, and to make 
some provision for an exhibition to a poor scholar of the town for his main- 
tenance at the University. £530 was spent in purchasing land at Nether 
Methop in Westmorland. The value of this property must have appreciated 
in value. (In 1720 the coppice woods were cut and sold for £630, which 
sum was invested in the purchase of lands at Kirkham.) A Private Act of 
Parliament was passed in 1813, authorising the trustees to sell the Westmorland 
estates (purchased with Barker’s money) for the sum of £11,500, and to 
purchase another estate at Broughton, Preston, for £14,500. (£3,000 was 
provided by the trustees themselves, who were authorised to take some portions 
of the estate specified in a schedule to the Act, for themselves, in satisfaction 
of the sum advanced.) Other endowments in support of this school have 
been made at various times, including an addition of over 20 acres of land when 
Fulwood common was enclosed. 


Bispham School.—Richard Higginson, of St. Faith’s, London, founded a 
school at Bispham, probably soon after 1649. During the period when 
Cromwell was ‘ Protector’ of England, Mr. Higginson purchased two houses 
in Paternoster Row, which had belonged to the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s. 

ese were purchased from the ‘Commissioners for the sale of Dean and 


Chapter lands.’) 


By his will dated 25th July, 1659, Mr. Higginson left several sums of money 
to the parish of Bispham, including a payment of £30 a year, charged on these 
houses, which was to be used towards the maintenance of a schoolmaster and 
usher at the school which he had recently founded there. When Charles II. 
was restored to the Throne in 1660 apparently the property was returned to 
the Dean and Chapter, for no rents or annual payments could be obtained for 
the use of the school. 


After Mr. Higginson’s death, his widow married John Amherst, of Gray's 
Inn. As Mrs. Amherst did not wish her first husband’s legacy to be lost, 
she, with her second husband, gave £200 to be laid out in the purchase of 
lands to be employed for the maintenance of ‘an able and leamed school- 
master’ at the school at Bispham. According to the Returns for 1865-8 
there were 36 acres of land then belonging to the school. 


As in the case of the Kirkham endowments, the lands so purchased 
appreciated in value, and at various times authorisation was obtained for the 
sale of portions of the land (in 1894, £6,000 was received for some of the land) 
and the proceeds invested in Consols. All lands have now been sold, except 
the site on which the school stands. 


CHANGING CONDITIONS. 


With the Restoration of Charles II., there was a great change. Those in 
power were determined, for political reasons, to have no Puritan schoolmasters, 
and the repressive Conformity legislation followed ; and it was ordered that 
no one could teach without a licence from the Bishop. 


106 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


These repressive conditions could not last under our British temperament, 
and the position became easier when the courts of law decided in Cox’s Case 
(1700) that ecclesiastical control did not extend to any schools except Grammar 
Schools, while in Douse’s Case (1701) it decided that it was not a civil offence 
to keep an elementary school without a Bishop’s licence. ‘ This school was 
not within the Act of James I., because the Act extends to Grammar Schools, 
and Douse’s School was for reading and writing. Then Parliament in 1714 
definitely exempted elementary schools from the Conformity legislation. 
As a result, we find many undenominational elementary schools were founded 
soon after this. About one-third of the whole of the endowed schools in 
Lancashire were founded about this period, including Lytham School (1702) 
and Baines’ three schools (1717). 


LyTHAM SCHOOLS. 


Various sums of money (commencing with £5 from Mr. Threlfall, of 
Lytham) were given about 1702, the profits whereof were to be employed * for 
the only use of poor children’s schooling.’ About 1720, by an agreement, 
a sum of £100 was added to the school stock from money which had been 
raised to repair damage done by a great inundation of the sea. For some 
reason, the division of this sum among those whose property had been damaged 
could not be settled, so it was given to the school fund, and put out to interest. 
Later there were various bequests. Harrison’s will (1728) added £60, and by 
Gaulter’s will (1748) over £300 was received, the various monies also being 
put out to interest. The trustees purchased lands in 1754 and again in 1767 
with the funds (including, in addition to other lands in Layton, dwelling- 
houses and land situated in Blackpool ‘ near a place called Lane Ends’). 


As the income from the property increased, schemes for the administration 
of the Charity were made by the Charity Commissioners, and later by the 
Board of Education, when the Orders in Council of 1900, 1901 and 1902 
(made under the Board of Education Act, 1899) had trarisferred the powers of 
the Charity Commissioners, so far as they related to educational charities, 
to the Board. 


In addition to the elementary school at Lytham, another school at Heyhouses 
(probably at first for girls and infants) was in existence in 1824, and was 
supported by the Charity. In 1867 John Talbot Clifton (who had provided 
sites for the rebuilding of Lytham School and for the enlargement of Heyhouses 
School) gave land at St. Annes for a school there, together with £500 ; also 
£125 was given by Lady Cecily Clifton towards the building. Another school, 
St. John Schools, being in financial difficulties in 1880, the managers appealed 
to the trustees of the Charity to take over this school. The Charity Com- 
missioners refused their consent, for this was a Church of England school, 
and the Lytham Charity was undenominational, but the Commissioners 
authorised a contribution of £100 per annum. In 1896, this school was 
closed, and later came under the Charity trustees. 


As the Charity funds were increasing in value, Sir Amherst Selby Bigge, 
then an Assistant Charity Commissioner, held an enquiry at Lytham, and 
ultimately a scheme was made in 1899 for the ‘ Lytham School Charities,’ 
allowing £450 annually for the three schools—Lytham, Heyhouses, and St. 


EDUCATION IN BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 107 


Annes, with £200 per annum for other elementary schools in the parish, and 
the rest of the funds for exhibitions, etc. 


On 15th June, 1903, a further scheme was approved, which made provision 
for a public secondary school for boys, under the name of King Edward VII. 
School, Lytham. On Ist January, 1929, a further scheme was approved, 
which made provision for a public secondary school for girls, under the name 
of Queen Mary's School: each of these schools is doing splendid work in 
the area. 

As illustrating the increase in the value of the property in Blackpool 
(originally purchased by the trustees as agricultural land), the trustees sold to 
the Corporation of Blackpool, under an order of the Charity Commissioners in 
1897, a piece of land about 250 square yards at the corner of Church Street 
and Abingdon Street, and adjoining St. John’s Church, Blackpool, for £1,250 
(£5 per square yard), of which £50 was paid to the Church Authorities, as 
compensation for their interest in certain agreements for leases affecting the 
land sold. Again, in 1898, the Corporation, acting under compulsory powers, 
took 1,447 square yards of the Charity lands and paid into court £9,930, the 
sum found by arbitration to be due (this was at the rate of nearly £7 per 
square yard, or over £33,000 per acre. As lands were sold, the capital sums 
were invested in Stock. 


The change of value i mn the Charity funds may be seen from the following 
oar taken from the “Charity Commission, or ‘Board of Education ’ 
eports :— 


Charity Digest of 1865-8. 


Acreage of land, 254 acres. Former income, £104 18s. Present income, 


£368 17s. 8d. 
Value in 1899. 


Sites and Buildings of St. Cuthbert’s, St. Annes and St. John’s Schools : 


Acreage, 184 acres. Rents, £60 7s. 6d. Ground Rents, £624 12s. Id. 
Stock, £1,061 18s. I1d. Dividends, £29 4s. 


After paying certain fixed annual charges, the total income was 


£720 10s. 7d. 
Value in 1907. 
Sites and buildings of King Edward VII. School : 


Sites and Buildings of three elementary schools, also a school cottage : 


£23,476 Stock with an income of py £832 Is. 7d. 
Rents and Ground Rents _.... ly, satis S1,106;-126) -3d: 
A total income of .... ae re ... £1,935 14s. 10d. 


(including bank interest). 
Together with cash at bank on current 


account .... we do 4.003988 6 Guo Vd 
The cash on El. doeitip was... sis ... £1,097 19s. 9d. 


108 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Value in 1927 
(Before Queen Mary’s Secondary School for Girls was built) :— 
Sites and buildings as in 1907, with site for proposed girls’ school : 


£56,899 Stock with an income of.... DER eA |7/ | OS RT: Ie 
Rents and ground rents _.... cane 1. to | Sob On OB. db 

A total income of... .. £4,588 3s. Ild. 
Together with cash on ect. a eankat £13,103 12s. 7d. 


What the future value of the Lytham School Charities will be, owing to the 
increased value of this land in Blackpool, it is not possible to say. There 
appear to be a number of leases for 99 years (or similar periods), which were 
granted at comparatively low rentals in the 50’s and 60’s of the last century, 
which will terminate during the next 20 or 30 years. The lands will revert then 
to the Trust, with all buildings erected thereon : and the property can then 
be leased again at a higher rental. As an illustration of the higher rentals now 
obtainable, an area of 1,026 square yards was leased in 1922 for 36 years at a 
rental of £1,000 per annum up to 2nd February, 1930, and £1,600 per annum 
from that date, whereas a plot of 1,143 square yards was leased in 1851 for 
79 years for S11 18s. per annum. 


Baines’ ENDOWED SCHOOLS. 


Here we have another group of undenominational schools founded shortly 
after the date when it was decided that the Conformity restrictive legislation 
did not apply to elementary schools. 


James Baines, of Poulton, by his will (6th January, 1717) left property for the 
future maintenance of the three schools which he had erected at Marton, at 
Hardhorn-cum-Newton, and at Thornton. 


The Baines’ Endowed School at Marton, and the Baines’ Endowed School 
at Thornton, are still elementary schools : the trustees of the Marton school 
have recently erected new buildings for their school. Funds for this were 
obtained from land, which had been let for £60 per year, being sold for over 
£6,000, and the old school buildings at the corner of Preston New Road being 


sold to the Corporation of Blackpool for street improvement purposes. 


As regards the school in Hardhorn-cum-Newton township, a little before 
1877 additional school accommodation was required at Staming, and the 
Education Department suggested that this should be provided from the Baines 
Endowment, and proposed to make a scheme for dealing with the endowment 
in this way. The trustees objected, and drew attention to the fact that as the 
income was over £100 a year, the Education Department had no powers under 
Section 75 of the Education Act, 1870, to deal with this endowment. The 
Education Department, after consulting the Charity Commissioners, acknow- 
ledged this, and took no further steps with their proposed scheme. 

The inhabitants of Poulton and district wanted the funds to be used for a 

“Grammar School,’ instead of for an elementary school. After an enquiry, 
the Charity Commissioners approved a scheme in 1880 for this, and the school 
became Poulton Grammar School. On the grounds that the school had 
proved its value, when new buildings were required (the endowment being 


EDUCATION IN BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 109 


only about £250 per annum), the Lancashire Education Committee very 
recently erected a fine new Grammar School to take the place of the old school, 
and they also assist in providing funds for the maintenance of the school, 
which is now doing splendid work. 


ELEMENTARY EDUCATION IN BLACKPOOL. 


The motto of Blackpool is ‘ Progress,’ and this has been acted upon in the 
development of their system of elementary education. 


When the 1918 Education Bill was before Parliament, | noted that the Bill 
proposed to make it compulsory for local education authorities to provide 
* central schools ’ or * central classes,’ for their older or more intelligent pupils. 


The Act of 1902 had given powers to provide Secondary Schools, but these 
had provided for less than 10 per cent. of the pupils in the country. Some of 
the larger authorities (e.g., London and Manchester) had provided Central 
Schools to supplement these, and the 1918 Bill proposed that all authorities 
must make similar provision. I endeavoured to find out how many pupils 
would be able to profit by Secondary and Central School education, so that 
I might forecast what provision for these must be made. The Board of 
Education had no comprehensive statistics with which I could compare 
Blackpool figures, so I obtained, tabulated, and published particulars of over 
600,000 pupils attending elementary schools under local education authorities 
in various parts of the country. These were published in the Times 


Educational Supplement of September 26th, 1918. 


From my examination of the problem, I came to the conclusion that, in 
addition to providing for about 20 per cent. of the selected pupils in Secondary 
or Central Schools, it would be essential that centrally-situated Senior Schools 
should be provided for the other 80 per cent. of the over-eleven pupils. 

In 1920, the Blackpool education authority adopted a scheme which | 
proposed to them for the re-organisation of the Blackpool schools, and the 
scheme was accepted by the Board in 1920. The scheme was based on the 
view that if the older pupils who are not selected for attendance at a Secondary 
or Central School are to have the training which their individual needs and 
aptitudes require, they must be collected together in schools of such size and 
with such equipment and staff as may make the necessary curriculum 
economically as well as educationally practicable. 

When the North of England Education Conference was held at Blackpool 
in New Year week, 1924, the President of the Conference, Mr. Wood (who 
became Lord Irwin, and is now Lord Halifax) was the President of the Board 
of Education. Unfortunately he was unable to attend the Conference on 
account of Cabinet Meetings. (The Cabinet were then considering whether 
to resign and ask the Labour Party to take their place, and Mr. Ramsay 
Macdonald first took office as Prime Minister on 22nd January, 1924.) 


In the emergency, I could get no one to take Mr. Wood’s place, so I occupied 
the Presidential chair myself, and I gave what was probably the first Conference 
speech which advocated re-organisation of schools, a policy which is now being 
so widely adopted throughout the country. I circulated a leaflet to members 
of the Conference, giving notes on the Blackpool scheme, with particulars of 
the progress made with the scheme up to December, 1923. 


110 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


By that date a Central School had been opened, an additional Secondary 
School had been approved, and, with the sanction of the Board of Education, 
sites had been purchased for two new Senior Schools for over-elevens, the 
existing elementary schools to be used as junior schools for those not over 
11. This was before the subject had been referred to the Consultative Com- 
mittee of the Board of Education, under the chairmanship of Sir Henry Hadow. 


The ‘Hadow Report’ was published in 1926, and it recommended the 
re-organisation of the whole of the elementary schools in the country. Soon 
visitors from other authorities who were proposing to re-organise their schools, 
came to see the new Senior Schools which had been erected at Blackpool, 
especially to see what practical rooms were provided. Among the visitors who 
expressed appreciation of the schools were Her Grace the Duchess of Atholl 
(Parliamentary Secretary to the Board), Miss Strachey (Head of Newnham 
College, Cambridge), and the late Lord Burnham. 


Each of the new Senior Schools was built on the quadrangular system, a plan 
which I recommended to the Sites and Buildings Committee in 1920—class- 
rooms arranged round a grass court (similar to the arrangement of rooms at the 
Colleges in Oxford and Cambridge). 

There are now three new Senior Schools Departments : Claremont Schools 
for the North ; Tyldesley Schools for the Central area ; Highfield Schools 
for the South and South-east of the borough. In addition, the Roman 
Catholic managers have re-organised their schools in the South part of the 
borough, having erected a new Senior School (mixed) to which pupils from 
St. Cuthbert’s Junior School, and St. John Vianney Junior School are trans- 
ferred between 11] and 12. ; 

The Blackpool Education Committee spent over quarter-of-a-million 
pounds on building new schools during the last 10 years that 1 was Director, 
and still have an extensive building programme to carry out. 

Two years ago the borough was extended by the addition of a rapidly- 
growing area. As the Lancashire Education Committee had been expecting 
for some years that this area would be added to Blackpool, they had built no 
new schools in that district, and the Board of Education are now pressing the 
Blackpool Committee to build schools for these pupils, and two sites have been 
purchased in the area. In addition, building is progressing in other parts of 
the borough. The numbers on the books in October, 1931 (when the economy 
regulations of the Board of Education caused a slackening off of the building 
of new schools) was 9,899. At present (May, 1936) the numbers are 11,226, 
an increase of 1,327 pupils to be provided for. 


The Blackpool Education Committee have for a number of years taken a 
keen interest in the physical training of their pupils (especially swimming), 
and have had a physical exercise organiser during the last 18 years. The 
teachers of the schools, being so keenly interested in the well-being of their 
pupils, and having their own sports and other committees, have co-operated 
with him with beneficial results to the pupils. Annual swimming galas are 
held by some of the individual schools in the borough, also a public swimming 
gala is held at the large Open-air Baths, in July, open to pupils from all schools 
in Blackpool, whether independent or rate-aided or supported. An indoor 
gala for elementary schools is held at the Tower (sometimes there are nearly 


EDUCATION IN BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 11 


3,000 spectators). Special areas in the fine Stanley Park have been prepared 
for use for organised games by the schools. Negotiations are now in progress 
for the purchase of additional playing fields. 


A fine medical and dental clinic has been erected, and with its efficient 
medical and nursing staff, and its two full-time dental surgeons with attendants, 
the health of those who on medical inspection show need of preventative or 
ameliorative treatment, receives highly skilled attention. 


After the Hadow Report was issued, the Lancashire Education Committee 
began to deal with the reorganisation of their elementary schools, and recently 
two new Senior Schools have been opened in their area, so that the elementary 
schools of Fleetwood, Thornton Cleveleys and Poulton are now re-organised 
as well as the Blackpool schools. 


SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 


As the 1902 Education Act gave local education authorities for higher 
education power to provide Secondary Schools, on Ist October, 1904, the date 
on which Blackpool became a county borough, the foundation stone was laid 
for a Secondary School (now the Blackpool Grammar School), which provided 
a sound secondary education for pupils from Fleetwood, Cleveleys, Lytham 
and St. Annes, as well as for Blackpool pupils. 


In 1921, I became rather perturbed at the waste of time and mental energy 
of the growing number of pupils who travelled night and morning from 
Fleetwood to this school, and thought it would be far more advantageous for 
these pupils if there were a Secondary School at Fleetwood. I discussed the 
question with the Chairman of the Governors of the Blackpool School, and he 
agreed with me. As a result, we arranged a meeting with the then Chairman 
of the Lancashire Education Committee and the Director of Education for 
Lancashire to discuss the matter. The Lancashire representatives were of 
opinion that the time was not opportune, and, further, were of opinion that 
there would not be sufficient pupils in Fleetwood to support a school. 


However, being anxious for the pupils who had to travel, and believing 
that the supply would create the demand, we insisted on the provision of a 
school at Fleetwood, and to ensure this we stated definitely that in 18 months’ 
time Fleetwood pupils would be excluded from the Blackpool school. They 
then agreed to recommend that the Lancashire Education Committee erect 
a Secondary School in Fleetwood. In order to assist them as regards numbers, 
we agreed that after the Fleetwood School was opened, we would not admit 
any pupils to the Blackpool Secondary School from any part of the county 
area north of Blackpool. As a result of this, the Fleetwood Grammar School 
was erected, and this has proved so successful that considerable enlargements 
have been necessary. 


It seems rather ironical, after our promise to assist their numbers by refusing 
admission to the Blackpool School of pupils from the County area, that a few 
years later, in a committee room of the House of Lords, I heard counsel for 
the opposition to a proposed extension of the Blackpool boundaries give as a 
proof that Blackpool did not cater so well for the educational needs of the 
area proposed to be added to Blackpool as the Fleetwood Grammar School 


112 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


did, that no pupils from Cleveleys or Thornton were in attendance at the 
Blackpool School. 


As part of the Blackpool 1920 educational re-organisation scheme, and in 
view of the increasing number of children of school age, an additional Secondary 
School was provided. The (mixed) Secondary School erected in 1904, 
became the Blackpool Grammar School (for boys), and the new school is 
called the Girls’ Collegiate School. 


Both of these schools are doing splendid work. There is a steady flow from 
both schools to the Universities. At the present time, there are 44 boys from 
the school in attendance at Universities (15 at Oxford or Cambridge). 
Numerous scholarships have been obtained by their pupils (including an 
a ue a for Newnham College, Cambridge, from the Collegiate 

chool). 


The Roman Catholic Education Authorities have also provided two 
Secondary Schools in Blackpool which cater not only for Blackpool pupils, 
but also for boarders from all parts of the country. 


The Layton Convent Secondary School (for girls) is now one of the most 
up-to-date Roman Catholic boarding schools 1 in the North of England (about | 
£15,000 has been spent recently in improving the general amenities of the 


School). 


The St. Joseph’s College (for boys) caters similarly for boys. Both of 
the new Roman Catholic schools are grant-earning Secondary Schools under 
the inspection of the Board of Education, and the Blackpool Education 
Committee nominate one-third of the governors of each school, and make a 
grant of £2 per term for each Blackpool pupil over 11 years of age. 


In addition to the excellent provision of State and rate-aided Secondary 
Schools, there are several good independent schools (or private schools) in 
the district, which take boarders as well as providing for day pupils. 

For boys there are :—Arnold School, South Shore, Blackpool ; 
The High School, Alexandra Road, Blackpool ; Cleveleys College, 
Cleveleys ; Lawrence House, St. Annes-on-the-Sea. 

For girls there are :—Arnold High School for Girls, South Shore, 
Blackpool ; Elmslie Girls’ School, Whitegate Drive, Blackpool ; 
Northlands High School, Springfield Road, Blackpool ; Terra Nova 
School, Forest Gate, Whitegate Drive, Blackpool ; Highfield College, 
Norbreck, Blackpool. 


Of the above schools, three are recognised by the Board of Education as 
efficient schools : Arnold School, Arnold High School for Girls, and Elmslie 
School. Some of these boarding schools, which take pupils up to the Higher 
School Certificate standard, and fill a definite place in the educational life of 
Blackpool, are becoming increasingly as well known in the North of England 
as in the immediate district itself. 


RossALL SCHOOL. 


In addition to the various schools already mentioned, there is the well-known 
Public School situated on the coast, about a mile north of the Blackpool 
boundary. 


EDUCATION IN BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 113 


Rossall School was founded in 1844, with the object of providing an 
education of the highest grade for sons of clergy and laity at a moderate cost. 
The school is incorporated by Royal Charter, and is under the management of 
a Council. It stands close to the sea in a healthy, bracing situation. The 
President of the Governors is the Earl of Derby. The general and special 
education is intended to cover the needs of those destined for the Universities, 
the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Civil Service, the professions, or a 
business career. 

The school contains a Classical Side and a Modern Side, and there is also 
a preparatory school. The school has received the formal recognition of the 
Army Council, after inspection by the Oxford and Cambridge Board ; also 
of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the General Medical 
Council. It is fulfilling a useful function in the educational life of the country. 


Types oF EDUCATION PROVIDED BY BLACKPOOL EDUCATION COMMITTEE. 


As regards the types of education provided, it may be noted that formerly 
it was only possible to obtain education beyond the School Certificate or 
Matriculation standard by attendance at a University or at a College of 
University standing. Now at the Blackpool Grammar School there are 
advanced courses of the following types :— 

(a) A special course of Further Education of Post School Certificate 
standard for boys who will not go to a University, but will make 
business or commerce their life work. 

(6) A special course for those boys who wish to take up engineering as 
a profession. (When the Technical College is open, these boys will 
be able to attend at the engineering workshops there on certain 
mornings during the week.) 

(c) A special course for boys who wish to enter a University with the 
view of entering what are commonly called ‘the learned professions,’ 
or of entering the Civil Service. 

There is a Special Course in Economics (this should be of interest to the 
British Association, as one subject for discussion is Economics in Secondary 
Schools), and a course in Biology specially suitable for those who may later wish 
to enter the medical profession. 

In the Collegiate School for Girls there are special courses of further 
education appropriate for those girls who wish to enter a University or a 
College. Also, there is a special course available for girls over 16 who wish to 
develop their education on the Domestic side ; the cookery and laundry work, 
with the Domestic Decorative Arts work, are specially worthy of commendation. 


The Palatine Central Boys’ School provides a special course for the last two 
or three years of the school life of the boys who wish to develop on the com- 
mercial side, including book-keeping, shorthand and typewriting. A parallel 
course of Practical Science, including a good course in Practical Mechanics, 
with wood or metal work, is available for another group of boys. When the 
Technical College is open, the boys will be able to make use of the chemical 
and physical laboratories there on certain mornings during the week. A 
number of boys from this school pass the School Certificate examination each 
year. 


114 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


In the Palatine Central Girls’ School there are also two parallel courses 
available after the first two years in the school. There is a Commercial 
Course, similar to.that for the boys. There is also a special Domestic Course 
for girls from 13 to 15 or 16, including cookery, laundry, dressmaking, 
millinery, and various Domestic Arts and Crafts, 


For the centrally-situated Senior (or Modern) Schools, in the boys’ schools, 
a practical education is given to train the boys to be handy men and to be 
adaptable. In the girls’ schools, the life and health and work of the home ‘is 
the basis of the instruction. 


Household Economics is the central subject of the curriculum for the girls, 
other subjects being taught with special reference to their bearing’ on this 
subject, e.g., “Geography * may deal with the places from which the various 
materials required in the house are obtained, whether for food or clothing or 
cleaning, and with parts of the Empire, to which girls may usefully emigrate ; 
* Arithmetic ’ may deal with costs of materials, or articles required for furnishing 
the home, for food, for clothing, or cleaning (e.g., cost of a dress or hat made 
by a girl), rent and rates calculations, insurance payments (for sickness or 
other misfortune), also household accounts should be included (e.g., weekly 
budget of house). ‘Drawing’ may be taught in connection with handwork, 
whether garment-making, millinery, or work in domestic arts and crafts 
Simple lessons in appreciation of form and colour may be included. 


History and Literature may be taught, so as to give an interest in the life of 
the community, thus preparing for the wise use of leisure. Girls should be 
encouraged not only to read, but to understand and talk about happenings in 
the world around, so that they may be better prepared to take part in civic 
life as well as home life. 


Household Economics may be taken to include :— 


(a) Elementary Human Physiology and Hygiene, including the care of 
infants and sick nursing. 

(b) Chemistry and Physics of the household, including common materials 
used in the household for cleaning and other purposes, heating and 
lighting of the house, comparative warmth-retaining properties of 
clothing materials, relative food values, methods of food preservation 
(curing, pickling, bottling). 

(c) Household management: Planning out the work of the house, 
cleaning, practical cookery, practical laundry. 

(d) Household arithmetic and accounts. 

(ec) Varied forms of handwork : needlework, millinery, soft furnishings, 
arts and crafts in the home. 


EVENING INSTITUTES. 


Evening Institutes are provided to afford young people an opportunity of 
continuing their education after leaving the day schools. Graduated courses 
of instruction, extending over two years lead up to the examinations of the 
Union of Lancashire and Cheshire Institutes, and prepare for more advanced 
work at the Technical College or at the Palatine Central Commercial and 
Domestic Evening Institute. 


EDUCATION IN BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 5 


Among other types of work, ‘special courses are provided for persons 
preparing for the examinations of the Institute of Certificated Grocers, both 
for the Associateship Diploma and for the National Diploma ; also for the 
examination of the Meat Traders’ Association Diploma, thereby enabling 
pupils to qualify for higher positions in these respective businesses. 


Men’s and Women’s Institutes (for adults only) are provided chiefly for 
recreational occupation in woodwork, metal-work, domestic subjects, or 
hobbies, but with no examination at the end of the course. 


Some very useful Recreational Courses are provided at three centres for 
young persons by a voluntary organisation, the Education Committee allowing 
the free use of school buildings with heating and lighting, and also make a 
grant of £90 per centre towards the maintenance cost. 


When the Board of Education Regulations (in 1924) authorised grant-in- 
aid of such courses, it was apparently intended at that time that these should 
be provided by voluntary organisations, and not by the local education 
authority, and Blackpool Education Committee made a grant in aid of two 
such centres. Later, the Blackpool Rotary Club decided for one year to aid 
a third centre, and now, as mentioned, the Education Committee aid all three 
centres, 


The Blackpool Education Committee aid the Workers’ Educational 
Association by allowing free use of school buildings, with heat and light, and 
by a grant-in-aid of each Tutorial Class ; Literature, Zoology, Economic 
Geography, History of Civilisation, Psychology and Philosophy, Astronomy 
and. Physics are among the subjects taken. 


In addition, the Blackpool Education Committee have, since 1919, published 
annually a ‘Prospectus of arrangements for adult education,’ giving the 
programmes of the varied types of educational opportunities (lectures, etc.) 
provided by the different voluntary organisations in Blackpool, so that the 
citizens of the borough may see what educational facilities are available, and 
that each may have an opportunity of selecting that particular form of 
Berta employment which appears to be most suited to his or her particular 
needs. 

BLackPooL TECHNICAL COLLEGE. 


When the Blackpool Secondary School was built, arrangements were made 
for that building to be used for evening classes, as a Technical School. On 
account of the number of houses being built, the chief type of work to be 
catered for at that time was the building industry. A work room was provided 
in the basement of the school for carpenters, one for painters and decorators, 
one for building science, with a really useful plumbing laboratory. 


As the town grew, other classes became necessary, and courses in electrical 
engineering and mechanical engineering were introduced. Later a motor 
mechanics’ course was included, in addition to which the chemistry and physics 
laboratory of the Day School were used for other classes, as well as the Art 
Rooms, and in time the school became over-crowded. The domestic science 
classes were transferred to the Palatine School, and various temporary altera- 
tions made to some of the workrooms. At last it was recognised that, in spite 
of makeshift transformations of rooms, it was impossible to provide satis- 


116 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


factorily for all the needs of the district, especially as through the co-operation 
of employers there was a growing need for day classes for apprentices. 


A Technical College is now in process of erection. The passing of the 
plans for this and the acceptance of tenders for building was one of the last 
pieces of work for which I was responsible before retiring from my work as 
Director of Education, and after striving for years to obtain a Technical 
College [ had the satisfaction of personally digging the first sod for the 
building. 

The foundation stone was laid by the Earl of Derby in September, 1934. 
The College will serve for Technical work and as a School of Art. The 
Technical College will be one of the most useful educational institutions in 
Blackpool and the district around. It will be linked up with so many different 
phases of educational activity. 


The engineering students from the Grammar School may attend for 
Technical Instruction in the engineering laboratories and workshops on certain 
mornings in the week. The Palatine Central School Boys, on the practical side 
of the school, will be able to supplement their training in Practical Mechanics 
by work in the chemical and physical laboratories of the College on certain 
mornings of the week. Pupils from the Collegiate Girls’ School may attend 
special commercial courses after taking the School Certificate at their own 
school, 


The chief industries of Blackpool will be specially catered for at the Technical 
College, or in the Palatine Schools adjoining. Those engaged in the accom- 
modation and catering for visitors will have special facilities for improvement. 
The grocers and provision dealers, the butchers and meat traders, the bakers 
and confectioners who provide foods for visitors, will have special courses to 
assist them to carry out their work efhciently, and thereby ensure a plentiful 
supply of food materials of a good quality. They will be taught how to 
recognise good quality in their respective foodstuffs. “Those who prepare the 
foods so provided may have special day cookery courses during the winter 
months when the visitors are fewer. There may also be day classes in dress- 
making, ladies’ tailoring and millinery during the winter months. The 
apprentices or improvers engaged in the building trades or in engineering 
work will have opportunities to obtain instruction correlated with their 
every-day work in Evening Classes, and with the co-operation of the employers 
afternoon classes will also be provided. Those engaged in the motor repair 
shops, or at garages, will find help for their work in the motor mechanics’ 
classes, and the increasing number of persons required to execute minor 
repairs to Radio Receivers will have a training provided in the new radio 
engineering workshop. 


CoNCLUSION. 


Blackpool and the surrounding district are well provided with educational 
facilities of various kinds, in addition to there being a Public School, Rossall 
School, in the area. There are many beautiful new re-organised elementary 
schools, both Junior and Senior Schools, with others in process of building, 
to provide for the increasing child population (not decreasing, as in some areas). 


EDUCATION IN BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 117 


There are Central and Secondary Schools provided by the Education 
Committee, both types supplying an efficient education: in the Palatine 
Central Schools to 15, and in the Secondary Schools to 16 or 18. There are 
numerous scholarships for capable pupils from the Elementary Schools to 
these schools. There are the two Roman Catholic Secondary Schools, and 
good private (or independent) schools in Blackpool, giving a sound secondary 
education. There are the Fleetwood and the Poulton Grammar Schools 
in the area to the north of Blackpool, and the two Secondary Schools of the 
Lytham Charities in the area to the south of Blackpool. 


There are valuable scholarships open to competition to Blackpool pupils, 
to enable pupils to pass to the Universities or to an engineering college. 
(11 such scholarships were taken up in October last.) 


There are the Junior Institutes for the continuation of education of those 
pupils leaving the Elementary Schools who wish to progress further up the 
educational ladder ; there are also the various recreative centres for those 
young people who require leisure time occupations. 


There are varied opportunities in the Adult Evening Institutes, and, through 
the work of the voluntary organisations (W.E.A., etc.), for an intellectual use 
of the leisure of adults, both men and women. 


The Technical College, with the Palatine Commercial and Domestic Central 
Institutes, provide opportunities for those who, after acquiring a taste for 
further practical work in the workrooms of the re-organised senior or central 
schools, and in the Junior Institutes, or whose daily avocation necessitates 
further study, and further education. Each may find in Blackpool those 
educational facilities which life demands for work or for leisure, from the age 
of five to 60 


The new Blackpool Technical College will become what has been styled 
‘The Workers’ University’ for the whole. of the Fylde area, including the 
borough of Fleetwood, the borough of Lytham St. Annes, the urban district 
of Poulton, the urban district of Thornton Cleveleys, as well as for the county 
borough of Blackpool. 


The climate of Blackpool and district is ideal for boys and girls. Youth 
thrives in its glorious air, and responds physically and mentally to its 
exhilaration. The breezes from the sea are famed for their ozone and their 
bracing effect on the growing child, while the wealth of sunshine, the low 
rainfall and the general absence of fog, all tend to produce an atmosphere as 
healthy as it is invigorating. As a result of this (especially as the L.MS. 
Railway Co. provide a good service of business trains to Manchester, etc.), 
there is an increasing number of people who are taking up residence in Black- 
pool and the immediate district in order that their children may enjoy the 
benefit of the excellent schools and the wonderful climate. 


' .N.B.—Since the foregoing Article was written the Board of Education has 
agreed to recognise Amold School for Boys as a Grant-earning Secondary 
School from August Ist, 1936. 


118 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


XVIII. 
WATER SUPPLY 


BY 
JOHN HALL, 
CLERK AND SOLICITOR TO THE FyYLDE WATER Boarp. 


BLACKPOOL is in the happy position of having an ample supply of water of 
excellent quality and high chemical and bacteriological purity. 

The water supply only dates back to 1864. It was. commenced by a private 
company known as the Fylde Waterworks Company. The undertaking was 
afterwards purchased by the present water authority, the Fylde Water Board, 
specially incorporated for the purpose, the headquarters being in Blackpool. 

The Fylde Water Board was constituted by Act of Parliament in 1897, and 
comprises representatives appointed by the County Borough of Blackpool, 
the Boroughs of Lytham St. Annes and Fleetwood, the Urban District Councils 
of Thornton Cleveleys, Poulton, Kirkham and Preesall and the Rural District 
Councils of Fylde and Garstang, Blackpool has 10. representatives, Lytham 
St. Annes five, Fleetwood three, and the District Councils one each. 


The original sources of supply (the Calder and Grizedale Watersheds) 
are situated on the western foothills of the Pennine Chain about five miles 
north-east of Garstang. The area of these watersheds is 3,083 acres. They 
consist of a wide expanse of moor on the millstone grits. The average rainfall 
is 47 inches. The Calder and Grizedale streams are tributaries of the River 
Wyre, and the water is impounded in reservoirs at Barnacre. 


The Board’s water supply area covers an area of over 207 square miles. It 
is bounded on the south by the River Ribble, on the east by the foothills of the 
Pennine Chain, and on the north and west by the sea. 

The Board are, however, under statutory obligation to provide bulk supplies 
for a further area of 112 square miles. These two areas amount to about 
one-sixth of the area of the County of Lancashire. 

Applications for supplies rapidly came forward from the inception of a water 
supply system in the district, and the Company never succeeded in overtaking 
the enormous demands made upon them. The Fylde Water Board acquired 
the undertaking in 1899, and until recent years they have had a continual 
struggle to meet the ever-increasing demands of the rapidly-growing population. 
The aggregate capacity of the reservoirs taken over by the Board at the transfer 
of the undertaking was 220 million gallons. Foreseeing the need for additional 
storage accommodation, the Board, in 1903, commenced the construction of a 
new reservoir at Barnacre (Grizedale Lea) with a capacity of 284 million 
gallons. 

Unfortunately, the construction of this reservoir occupied a long number of 
years owing to many difficulties of a geological and engineering nature, and 


WATER SUPPLY ‘ 19 


to stoppage of work in consequence of the War. It was officially opened by 
the then Chairman of the Board on the 30th August, 1922. 


In 1910 the Board obtained an Act of Parliament authorising the construction 
of several works, such as the Warbreck Service Reservoir and Water Tower, 
which better utilise their Barnacre watershed. 


The continued and prospective development of the Board's district, 
particularly the sea-coast resorts of Blackpool, Fleetwood, Lytham St. Annes 
and Thornton Cleveleys made it apparent that the Barnacre watershed was 
quite inadequate to meet the growing needs. The Board, therefore, determined 
to secure an entirely new and larger source of supply. In 1912 they obtained 
Parliamentary powers to acquire an important watershed on the River Hodder, 
a tributary of the River. Ribble. 


As soon as the embargo on capital expenditure was removed, after the 
conclusion of the War, the Board commenced operations upon their new Stocks 
Reservoir on the Hodder watershed. This watershed lies in the Pennines in 
the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of Slaidburn, and about 10 miles 
from Clitheroe. 


The area of the watershed is 9,259 acres. . It consists of moorland, rough 
pasture and meadow, and is situated on the Bowland shales and Pendle grits. 
The average. rainfall is 60. inches. 


In this area the River Hodder has its source.” The head waters of the river 
and its tributary streams are impounded in the Stocks Reservoir, which has a 
capacity of 3,059 million gallons.. The water is of excellent quality. 

The Stocks Reservoir and comprehensive Hodder supply scheme was 
inaugurated on July 5th, 1932, by H.R.H. Prince George, K.G. This marked 
the culminating point of many years of endeavour and unremitting labour, 
and placed the Fylde Water Board in the satisfactory position of being able to 
meet all demands that might be made upon them, however great the influx 
of visitors during the holiday season. 


XIX, 


THE VERTEBRATE FAUNA 
OF. THE BLACKPOOL DISTRICT 


BY 
J. R. CHARNLEY. 


AtTHoucH few English counties surpass Lancashire in diversity of physical 
features, few counties, nevertheless, have suffered more change from the hand 
of man than Lancashire. Especially is this'so as regards the southern portion. 
Despite the gradual expanse of a dense population and the ever-increasing 
demands of modern commerce, however, there are still great tracts of country 


120 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


in the north of the county which retain their primitive conditions, and where the 
fauna has, in all probability, undergone. relatively little change since its 
establishment there. 


There is no question, however, that conditions on the whole have changed 
considerably during the last few decades. The mosslands are slowly but surely 
vanishing under the hand of the agriculturalist ; the sand-dunes, with their 
interesting littoral fauna and flora, are fast disappearing before the operations 
of the builder, the ubiquitous golfer and the foreshore improvements by the 
various watering-places ; modern farming cuts everything clean and close, 
and the old-fashioned stubble, with its ample covert, no longer exists ; roads 
and pathways are altered ; hedges are trimmed in such a fashion as to afford 
little or no shelter for nesting birds ; while poultry, so extensively farmed 
to-day, are not only the means of carrying disease to what were hitherto clean 
and healthy fields, but they are often turned on to the stubbles after harvest 
to glean the food which was formerly the fare of the Partridge and other 
granivorous species. 

Although these factors have told adversely on certain sections of the feathered 
community, notably on some of the smaller passerine species, individuals of 
other species have increased considerably and are more firmly established 
than ever, so it is probably no over-drawn statement to say that to-day the 
bird population, as a whole, is, numerically, little affected by the so-called march 
of civilization. Moreover, the gradual decline of game preserving in some 
localities has happily led to an increase of raptorial and other harassed species 
usually figuring on the gamekeeper’s gibbet; while bird-watching—as opposed 
to bird collecting—which is growing in popularity, is having, in conjunction 
with protective legislation, a beneficial effect on the avifauna in general and on 
the rarer members of it in particular. 


In considering the district as defined for the purposes of this article and its 
relation to the distribution of its fauna, it may be conveniently divided into 
three main divisions. 

The western division, known as the Fylde, lying between the Ribble and 
Lune, and penetrated mid-way by the Wyre, is broad and flat, with slight 
undulations here and there, but entirely lacking hills of any altitude. This 
area is in a high state of cultivation, and is diversified throughout by an abun- 
dance of hedges, shrubberies, orchards and belts of woodland which form the 
haunt of numerous finches, warblers and other small birds. The sadly-reduced 
mosslands are mainly confined to the Pilling, Cockerham and Winmarleigh 
districts, in one of which the Short-eared Owl, Nightjar and other species 
still find a nesting sanctuary. 1913 saw the last of the large Black-headed 
gullery which had been established at Cockerham Moss since 1876, the birds 
having been driven out by the activities of the Fylde Peat Moss Litter Company. 
A feature of the landscape, likely to attract the attention of the stranger to 
these parts, is the stunted and desiccated appearance of the trees, a peculiarity 
caused by the prevailing winds and noticeable almost as far inland as Garstang. 

The eastern division consists of elevated barren moorlands with deep-wooded 
glens, bordered. below by upland pastures and the low land fringing the rivers. 
Here nest the Ring Ousel, Twite, Merlin, Curlew and Golden Plover ; while 
some idea of the number of Red Grouse which these moors support, may be 


VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE BLACKPOOL DISTRICT 12] 


gathered from the fact that the record British grouse bag, consisting of 2,929 
birds, was made on the Abbeystead range on the 12th August, 1915 ; and before 
the end of October following the total bag exceeded 15,000 birds. 


The northern division is separated from the remainder of the district by 
the Lune, and its tributary stream, the Wenning, and has Westmorland on 
its northern boundary. This area is more varied geologically than the other 
divisions, its scenery being variegated by limestone outcrops, crags and scars, 
wooded slopes and large tracts of pasture-land. 


Not the least important feature of the district from a faunistic standpoint, 
is its extensive coastline with its vast expanse of sands and mudflats. These 
latter are at all times attractive to wildfowl and waders, and during severe 
spells of weather when the birds are driven from more inland situations to 
seek the open waters of the foreshore, astonishing numbers of wildfowl assemble 
and a constant fusiladeis heard from the fowling-pieces of the neighbouring 
gunners. 


It is during spring and autumn, however, when the great waves of migration 
have set in, that they present their greatest attraction, though the geographical 
position of the district renders it less favourable as a calling-place for migrants 
than those of the eastern and southern counties. At such times the numerous 
estuaries of the Lancashire coast, with their adjoining marshes, covered in 
parts with a profusion of coarse grass, Sea Thrift, Sea Aster and other saline- 
loving plants, and teeming with different forms of marine life, afford a congenial 
resting-place and an abundant feeding-ground for all kinds of shore birds. 


In spring various waders, some showing the pectoral patch of summer, visit 
the estuaries for rest and food on their journey to the north. In August the birds 
begin to move south, the birds of the year invariably arriving before their 
lingering progenitors, and there is a succession of individuals until late in 
October. The marshes indeed are seldom without signs of bird-life, for even 
when at times they seem forsaken by ducks and waders there are always small 
parties of gulls to be seen passing up the rivers and retiring seaward at night. 
In summer too one occasionally sees flocks of waders which from some cause or 
other have failed to join their fellows in the spring migration to breeding-grounds 
a thousand miles away within the Arctic Circle. 


The almost total lack of rocks on the Lancashire coast accounts for the 
absence of many common ‘sea birds as breeding species. There is, however, 
along considerable portions of the coast a belt of shingle amongst which nest 
E Ringed Plover, the Oystercatcher and, more rarely, the beautiful Little 

em. 


A good deal of information bearing on the local fauna has been published 
from time to time, much of which is referred to in the excellent series of 
bibliographies printed in ‘ The Naturalist’ for 1884 onwards ; and in ‘ The 
Geographical Bibliography of British Omithology,’ by Mullens, Swan and 
Jourdain (1920). 


There are few noteworthy collections in the district. The Harris Museum, 
Preston, contains some interesting palaeantological exhibits and a. fairly- 
representative collection of British Birds, as well as the recently-acquired 
Frohawk collection of eggs, nests and skins. The admirable village museum 


122 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


at St. Michaels-on-Wyre, founded nearly fifty years ago by Mr. H. P. Hornby 
to illustrate the history and natural history of the Fylde, contains many 
specimens of local interest. 


In the more general survey which follows, it has been deemed advisable, 
for considerations of ‘space, to dispense with’ scientific names. As the classes 
under review are familiar to the average reader, it is hoped that no inconvenience 
will be caused thereby. 


MAMMALS. 


Although published records of osteological remains discovered in the county 
are comparatively few, they are such as to show that Lancashire possessed. an 
interesting prehistoric fauna, including such animals asthe Elephant, Lion'and 
Hyena, though these apparently had become.extinct before man had arrived 
in the county. The Urus, or Wild Ox, was obviously plentiful, for the largest 
number of skulls and horns of this animal ever found in Britain were unearthed, 
along with a large number of other mammalian remains, during the excavation 
of the Preston dock in 1885. These numbered approximately 80, Curiously 
enough none of these skulls bore any trace of injury, and it has been assumed, 
therefore, that the animals were entombed_at one and the same time as the 
result.of some prodigious storm. The configuration of the Ribble valley, as 
pointed out by the late Johnathan Shortt, is such that it would only require a 
comparatively slight obstruction to keep back fora time the river waters so as 
to form an enormous reservoir to be poured forth as a devastating flood on the 
removal of the barrier. 


During historic times vast tracts of unreclaimed forest-land existed at 
Bowland, Rossendale and Pendle, affording for centuries an impenetrable 
retreat for the Wolf and Wild Boar. The Wolf became extinct in England during 
the reign of Henry VII. and one of its last strongholds was Bowland Forest. 
Wild Boars are recorded at Hoghton Tower in 1617, at which time their range 
probably extended north of the Ribble. The last herd of aboriginal Red Deer 
was destroyed at Bowland in 1805. r 


The existing mammals present few noteworthy features, and further research 
is essential before we have an adequate knowledge of the local status of some 
of the smaller species, especially of the Bats. 


Of the Insectivora, the Mole, Hedgehog and Common. Shrew are frequent 
and generally distributed ; the Lesser Shrew is met, with sparingly, but, no 
doubt, is often confused with the Common Shrew. 


The Chiroptera include four species, of which the commonest is the 
Pipistrelle. The Noctule and Long-eared Bats occur, the latter with some 
frequency. An example of the Whiskered Bat was caught at Lytham in 1888, 
and the species is also recorded from: Mytton on the Yorkshire. border. 
Daubenton’s Bat probably occurs, though (presumably) still unrecorded. 


As regards the local Carnovora, the Pine Marten has long been extinct ; 
and what would appear to be the last local Polecat was killed in the Fylde 
many years ago. The Stoat and Weasel abound and are universally distributed. 
The Badger has forsaken its old haunts and appears to be extinct except as a 
very occasional straggler from other parts. The Fox is found in’small numbers 


VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE BLACKPOOL DISTRICT 123 


on the hills and, incidentally, appears in the lower country. The Otter is 
tolerably common in the streams. Two were shot, respectively at Marton and 
Warton in the early part of this year (1936). A record of special interest is 
that of a female Wild Cat which was shot near Carnforth in the autumn of 
1922. A male was also shot, but escaped. Both no doubt were strays from 
over the border. 

The. Lancashire coast, being destitute of rocky caverns, is hardly suitable 
for Seals, but the Common and Grey Seals are in all probability casual visitors. 
An example of the Harp Seal was shot in Morecambe Bay in 1868. 


The local list comprises 10 rodents. The Bank, Field and Water Voles 
are common, as is also the Wood Mouse. The Dormouse has occurred in the 
Brock and Hodder valleys, but little appears to be known of its present status 
in those parts ;_ very likely its retiring habits often cause it to be overlooked. 
The Black Rat is confined to the port towns, and at Preston dock it outnumbers 
the brown pest by approximately three to one. The Red Squirrel is thinly 
distributed in the more easterly portions of the district, but is commoner 
north of the Lune. Various reports that the alien Grey Squirrel has recently 
arrived on the north bank of the Ribble require confirmation. 


The Irish Sea lies off the customary migration route of most Cetaceans, but 
the Porpoise, the Common and Bottle-nosed Dolphins and the Bottle-nosed 
ale have appeared off the Lancashire coast at various times, or have been 
stranded in the estuaries. The Killer has been reported (without data) but 
may be more frequent than is supposed. The White-beaked Dolphin occurred 
at St. Annes-on-Sea in 1911. 


Birps. 


Lancashire is relatively rich in bird-life, for, apart from its attractive 
topographical features, its maritime situation gives it a marked advantage 
over any inland county, however large, and makes it especially rich in passage 
migrants. Owing to the difficulties of accepting or rejecting doubtful records, 
however, the number of species which have occurred within the county limits 
cannot be stated with strict accuracy, but it may be put down as approximately 
270. The Blackpool list for the area under consideration numbers about 240, 
more than half of which are regular visitors. 


Although much useful information regarding the local movements of birds, 
has, of late years, been furnished by a few competent observers in various 
parts of the county, our knowledge of the volume and frequency of west coast 
migration is still imperfectly understood, but will very likely, on further 
investigation, be found to be of more significance than is at present supposed. 
Only those who are accustomed to accumulating facts on any special branch 
of zoology have any real conception of the amount of information to be gained 
by regular and systematic observation. Especially is this true as regards 
ornithology, and what is largely needed at the present time to grapple with some 
of the problems of bird-life which still bristle with difficulties, is an increase 
in the ranks of reliable observers. 


It is no easy matter to define the exact status of every species known to 
occur within the limits of a district such as the present, owing to the fact that 
there is so much ground to cover in comparison to the scanty number of 


124 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


competent observers available for working it ; or, to put the matter in another 
way, there is so much room in which to miss, or overlook, an apparently rare or 
local species, individuals of which may actually be more numerous, or more 
widely distributed, than present observations imply. 


A comprehensive account of the local avifauna being impossible within the 
limited space allotted to this article, the following brief summary will, it is 
hoped, serve to give a general idea of the birds which occur in the district :— 


The list includes six crows. The Raven pays occasional visits to the Pennines ; 
it nested in Bowland in 1886, and has attempted once or twice to do so since. 
The Carrion Crow, never a common species, appears to be, if anything, slightly 
on the increase. The Hooded Crow, which was described by some of the older 
writers as a common winter visitor, is nowadays seldom met with. The Rook 
and Jackdaw are abundant. The former has developed a tendency to nest in 
smaller colonies, which, however, are not always permanent settlements. 
[he Jay and Magpie are holding their own. The Starling, like the House 
Sparrow, already far too plentiful, is rapidly increasing. During winter it 
congregates in vast hordes and retires at sundown to various common roosting- 
places. The Rose-coloured Pastor has been shot at Lancaster, and the Golden 
Oriole at Chipping. 


Finches and Buntings number 17, some of them still common, others much 
feliced Sh numbers, THe Maw finch is how rarely seen, though not uncommon 
at St. Michaels-on-Wyre and other places 40 years ago. Modern farming and 
bird-catchers have thinned out and almost banished the elegant little Goldfinch. 
Small flocks of Bramblings haunt the beech woods in winter and are often 
seen on the coast. The Siskin is less common than formerly ; it is reported— 
on rather slender evidence—to have bred near Lancaster in 1863. The Tree 
Sparrow breeds sparsely, but is nowhere numerous. The Lesser Redpoll is 
not uncommon as a nesting species, but like the Linnet and a few other finches 
is more generally dispersed in winter. The Bullfinch is local, and as a breeding 
species is restricted to a few localities, mainly in the neighbourhood of Garstang. 
The Crossbill has occurred during onaane invasions. 


The. Reed and Yellow Buntings, although still plentiful about swampy 
spots and tangled hedgerows, where these exist, are not so abundant as formerly. 
The Corn Bunting, never a common species, is nowadays seldom met with. 
Parties of Snow Buntings visit the hilly and maritime portions of the district 
during winter, and occasionally stray to, inland localities, where they consort 
with Larks and Linnets. Mitchell (‘Birds of Lancashire’) mentions an 
immature Lapland Bunting said to have been shot near Preston in 1833. 


The Woodlark, considered at. one time a not uncommon resident in the 
Ribble and Wyre Valleys, has not been encountered for many years and is 
probably extinct. Recent reports of its occurrence locally are probably due to 
confusion with the Tree Pipit. A Shore Lark was shot at Oxcliffe, near 
Lancaster, in 1899. 


Five Wagtails and four Pipits are included in the list. The White Wagtail 
occurs regularly on passage in spring and autumn ; and although the records 
of the Blue-headed are few, the bird is probably more frequent on passage than 
at present imagined. 


VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE BLACKPOOL DISTRICT 125 


Both the Tree and Meadow Pipits are common, the former being more 
local than its congener. The character of the coast is unsuited to the Rock 
Pipit. The bird, however, occurs irregularly, chiefly in winter, and was reported 
many years ago to have bred near Heysham. An example of Richard's Pipit 
in the possession of the writer was killed at Fleetwood in 1868. 


The Tree Creeper nests in suitable localities, especially in the Ribble and 
Hodder valleys ; and the Nuthatch formerly occurred in the wooded slopes 
of Wyresdale, but has not been noticed for many years. 


The Goldcrest breeds in scattered localities where the spruce fir abounds ; 
on the approach of winter, its numbers are considerably increased by immi- 
grants from the north. Mr. H. W. Robinson reported the nesting (for the first 
time in Britain) of the Firecrest near Lancaster in 1927, a full account of which 
will be found in * The Ibis ’ for that year. 


Five of the British Tits are resident. The Long-tailed, Cole and Marsh 
Tits, breed sparingly, mostly in the easterly portion of the district. 


The Great Grey Shrike has been shot at Ribbleton and the Woodchat 
(according to Mitchell) at Lancaster. The Red-backed Shrike has nested, 


but is now very irregular. The Waxwing is a sporadic visitor. 


Eleven Warblers are included. Both Whitethroats, the Blackcap, Sedge 
and Garden Warblers are tolerably common. All three Leaf Warblers are 
present, but the Chiffchaff is rare. The Reed Warbler had bred but is very 
rare and local. The Grasshopper Warbler nests in suitable localities, and a 
specimen of the Barred Warbler was shot near Fleetwood in 1898. 


Six true Thrushes are found, four of them as nesting species. Numbers of 
small dark thrushes, akin to the Hebridean race, pass annually on migration ; 
their place of origin is as yet unknown. The Ring Ousel nests on the higher 
ground, where it usually arrives in March. The Redstart is absent from many 
of its old haunts ; its visits are fewer and its numbers vary from year to year. 
The Black Redstart has been noted and is probably fairly regular on migration. 
Press reports of local Nightingales have become of late years something of an 
annual affair, the songsters invariably turning out to be night-singing Song 
Thrush or Sedge Warbler. The only record for the district which ornitho- 
logists have deemed worthy of attention is that of the late Robert Standen, 
who stated (‘Field Naturalist,” 1882) that in June, 1871, he twice saw the 
bird at Whittingham, near Preston, and that it sang for nearly a fortnight, 
when it was driven away by attempts to capture it. The Nightingale, however, 
is excluded from the body of Mitchell’s work, though that fact does not 
necessarily condemn the record. The Stonechat nests in the vicinity of the 
coast, and the Wheatear is found breeding in similar haunts as well as on the 
moorland slopes. The Whinchat is less common and more local. The Green- 
land Wheatear, like the White Wagtail, is a regular bird of double passage 


along the west coast. 


The Dipper haunts the streams throughout the hill country and_ its 
borderland. 


The Spotted Flycatcher is common and generally distributed ; the Pied 
Flycatcher has bred but is generally a rare and irregular visitor. 


126 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND /DISTRICT 


The Swallow usually arrives about the middle of April (there is\a record 
of one near Pilling on the 5th March, 1918), and the Martin often a week 


later. Both species, as well as the Sand Martin, are common. 


All three British Woodpeckers have bred in the area, the commonest being 
the Great Spotted, which has nested periodically for many years at Ribbleton 
and Claughton. The Green and Lesser Spotted are very limited both in num- 
bers and distribution. The Wryneck has long ceased to be ‘a common summer 
Mag ’ to the district ; the last recorded. specimens were caught at Heysham 
in 1908. 1 

The Cuckoo is everywhere common, the bird usually reaching the Fylde . 
during the last week of April. 


A Roller was shot at Blackpool in 1868 and there aré some five or six records 
of the Hoopoe. The Kingfisher is tolerably common throughout the district, 
and frequently visits the coast. 


The Swift is a common summer visitor, arriving in May and departing 
during August. A specimen of the rare Alpine Swift was killed at Preston 
in 1879. 


The Nightjar, one of the latest to arrive of the summer visitors, breeds on 
the more secluded mosses, and in the sylvan tracts of country fringing the fells. 


Five Owls occur, the commonest being the Tawny, which is undoubtedly 
on the increase. The Short-eared Owl breeds intermittently on one of the 
mosses and its numbers in autumn are increased considerably by arrivals 
from aboard, The Little Owl, which has been steadily extending its range 
since its introduction, has of late years established itself in the area. Among 
the 13 diurnal raptorial birds noted in the district are the Marsh and Hen 
Harriers, the Rough-legged Buzzard, White-tailed Eagle, Goshawk, Kite, 
Hobby and Osprey—nowadays all mere stragglers.. The commonest of the 
Falconidae is the Kestrel which breeds wherever there are suitable nesting 
sites. The Buzzard is not infrequent in the hill country and the Peregrine pays 
occasional visits. (An immature bird was unfortunately shot at Bleasdale in 
February last). The Merlin breeds on the moors and visits the lower ground 
in winter. Persecution has failed to banish the Sparrow Hawk. 


The Cormorant, Shag and Gannet are often seen off shore. 


Large numbers of Grey Geese visit the coast in winter. They usually arrive 
in September and leave again in March or April. Although recent years have 
seen a marked increase in the number of Grey-lag and White-fronted Geese, 
the Pink-footed Goose is still the common goose of the district. Visits of the 
Bean Goose are few and far between ; it may, however, pass over occasionally 
unnoticed, for the identification of grey geese on the wing is not the easiest of 
ornithological problems. The Bernicle Goose puts in a casual appearance in 
Morecambe Bay and isolated Brents (light-breasted form) have been killed on 
the coast. Both Wild Swans occur, Bewick’s predominating ; the Mute Swan 
is found on many of the larger pools and ornamental waters. The Sheld-duck 
is plentiful and an example of the Ruddy Sheld-duck (probably an “ escape ’) 
was shot at Barnsfold reservoir, near Preston, in 1909. Twenty species of 
duck are known, some of the surface-feeders like the Mallard, Wigeon and 
Teal being especially common. The Pintail and Shoveler are also regular and 


VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE BLACKPOOL DISTRICT 127 


the latter has nested. Records of Gadwall and Gargeney are few. Most of 
the diving ducks are on the list, the only resident being the Tufted. The 
Pochard, Scaup and Golden-eye are regular winter visitors ; the Long-tailed 
Duck and Eider very occasional. The only county specimen of the Harlequin 
Duck was shot on the Ribble in 1916 or 1917. Large flocks of Common 
Scoters, sometimes accompanied by a few Velvets, appear off the coast annually, 
the birds not infrequently arriving as early as July. A surf Scoter was shot, at 
Lytham in 1882. All three Sawbills are found intermittently on the coast and 
incidentally inland. 


The Spoonbill has twice appeared on the Ribble. Three examples of the 
Glossy Ibis have been killed, the last one near Garstang in 1917. 


Among the Heronries associated with the district are two old-established 
colonies at Ashton Park and Claughton Hall. Odd specimens of the Little 
Bittern and Night Heron have been shot. The Common Bittern is a fairly 
earl winter visitor, and an American Bittern in the Preston Museum was 

ile 


at Fleetwood in 1845. 


There are five rails. The Water-rail and Corncrake are widely distributed 
in the lower portions of the country ; the former from its skulking habits and 
the secluded nature of its haunts is often overlooked. The Spotted Crake is 
not infrequently seen. A curious variety of the Moorhen with hair-like 
plumage was caught at Claughton-on-Brock in 1884. The Coot is found 
locally on one or two sheets of water, including Marton Mere. 


The only local record of the Stone Curlew refers to two which were seen 
at Claughton-on-Lune in March, 1927. The Avocet has been shot on the 
Ribble and in Morecambe Bay, and there is a questionable record for St. 
Michaels-on-Wyre in 1913. The only example of a Lancashire Black-winged 
Stilt was shot on Freckleton marsh in December, 1928. 


The Woodcock has increased as a nesting species and is comparatively 
common during winter, especially in the hill-side coverts. The Common 
Snipe is abundant ; 73 were’shot in a single day at Bleasdale in August, 1930. 
The Jack Snipe is widely distributed as a winter visitor, usually making its 
appearance at the beginning of October. Some half-dozen specimens of the 
Great Snipe have been secured, mostly at St. Michaels-on-Wyre. Numbers 
of Knots, Dunlin, Sanderling, Redshank and Bar-tailed Godwits frequent 
the shore, many of them in large flocks. ‘The Curlew, Sandpiper, Ruff, 
Greenshank, Little Stint and Black-tailed Godwit are not infrequent. 
Temminck’s Stint has been shot at Pilling and on the Ribble. The Green 
Sandpiper is one of the earliest of the autumn birds to arrive, and is regular 
in its visits. The Wood Sandpiper appears at uncertain intervals on its migra- 
tory course in spring and autumn, sometimes in company with other waders. 
The sandy shores of Lancashire are unsuited to the habits of Purple Sandpiper 
and Turnstone, though the birds are not entirely absent. The Common 
Sandpiper is less frequent inland than formerly. There are six records of the 


Spotted Redshank, three from St. Michaels-on-Wyre. 


The Curlew nests on the moors and returns to the coast in early autumn. 
Spring and autumn find the Whimbrel on the shore, its numbers, as with 
most migratory shore-birds, varying much in different seasons. The Golden 


128 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Plover, which breeds on the fells, is widely distributed in winter when it often 
flocks with Lapwings. The Grey Plover is regular on passage, a remnant 
remaining to winter on the coast. The Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher nest 
on the shingle patches. Large migratory flocks of the former, composed of 
young birds, arrive on the coast early in August. The Dotterel is a periodical 
visitant, though appearing in far smaller numbers than formerly. The first 
British specimen of the Sociable Plover (which masqueraded for some years 
as a Cream-coloured Courser) was shot at St. Michaels-on-Wyre in the 
autumn of 1860. 


The Common, Herring, Lesser Black-backed, Greater Black-backed and 
Black-headed Gulls are mostly abundant at all times, except that during the 
breeding ‘season there is a marked diminution in their numbers. The Little 
Gull has been reported from Rossall and Silverdale and once or twice from the 
Ribble estuary. The Glaucous Gull has been observed off the south Lancashire 
coast and should be included. The Kittiwake is seen chiefly during spring 
and often in the company of other gulls. An immature Sabine’s Gull in the 
Rossall School Museum (the only county specimen) was shot at the mouth of 
the Wyre in November, 1911. Mr. H. W. Robinson saw a solitary Iceland Gull 
at Lancaster quay in the early part of 1929. 


The Common, Arctic, Sandwich and Roseate Terns are passage visitors. 
The Sandwich is often the first to arrive, usually at the end of March, followed 
by the others in April, the birds returning south in September. The Little 
Tern nests occasionally on the shingle ; and observations of late years indicate 
that the Black Tern is a fairly regular passage migrant. An example of the 
rare Gull-billed Tern was shot at Blackpool in 1832. 


Of the four British Skuas, all of which have been recorded, the Arctic is 


most frequent in its visits. 


All five Auks and four of the Petrels are included. The Razorbill and Guille- 
mot are common at sea, especially during winter, and oil-clogged birds are all- 
too-frequently met with on the tide line. A Black Guillemot was taken alive 
near Carnforth in 1914. Storm-driven Little Auks, Puffins, Storm and Leach’s 
Petrels and the Fulmar are occasionally picked up exhausted both on shore 
and inland. The Manx Shearwater appears on passage. 


Three Divers and five Grebes occur, the Dabchick as a nesting species. 


There are three Doves (four if Mitchell’s record of the Rock Dove is 
accepted). The Turtle Dove has somewhat increased its visits of late years. 
Pallas’s Sand Grouse visited St. Michaels-on-Wyre during the 1888 irruption’; 
some of the birds which fell to the gun on that occasion may be seen in the 
village museum. 


Of the game birds the Pheasant and Partridge are common. Now and again 
a Red-legged Partridge appears in the district due to introduction. The Quail 
which was common on the newly-reclaimed mosslands sixty years ago is now 
a very irregular visitor. A few Black Grouse (nearly all males), the remnant 
of batch imported from Norway by the late Lord Sefton, exist at Abbeystead. 
The Red Grouse formerly bred on the mosses, but is now confined to the 
moorlands, where it is abundant. 


VERTEBRATE FAUNA OF THE BLACKPOOL DISTRICT 129 
REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS. 


These number I]. A Loggerhead Turtle was caught in the Lune in 
October, 1927. 


The Slow-Worm has occurred at Carnforth, Silverdale, Garstang, St. 
Michaels-on-Wyre and (this year) at Salwick. The Common Lizard is 
numerous and widely distributed among the sand-dunes and hedgerows. 
Records of the Ring Snake and Viper are few. The former has occurred at 
Garstang, Longridge and Preston, and Mr. H. W. Robinson reports it as not 
uncommon in the neighbourhood of Silverdale. The Viper has been seen at 
Cockerham, but is more frequent on the mosses further north. 


All three British Newts are found. The Palmated Newt has been reported 
from Garstang, and may exist elsewhere locally as it is not always distinguished 
from the Smooth Newt. The Natterjack Toad (still common on the Formby 
dunes) is a rarity in the Blackpool district. It is found at Cockerham, however, 
and there is an old record for Mytton on the county border. 


REFERENCES. 
The Birds of Lancashire by F. S. Mitchell. 2nd edit. by Howard Saunders. 1892. 
Lancashire and Cheshire Fauna Committee. Annual Reports. 1914-1934. 
Lancashire and Cheshire Fauna Committee. Check List with Key References to above. 1930. 
The Birds of St. Michaels-on-Wyre by H. P. H. (Privately Printed). 1924. 
The Birds of the Ribble Estuary by J. R. Charnley and W. H. Heathcote. 1910. 
Miscellaneous Notes by H. W. Robinson and others in The Zoologist, Field, British 


Birds, &c. 


XX 
THE LAKE DISTRICT 


I. INTRODUCTION. 


SuortT geological and biological notices of the Lake District are included in 
this survey, because the district will be visited by many members during the 
Blackpool Meeting, and also because it is unlikely to find a place in any other 
survey in this series. 


The district is unique in England in respect both of its physical characters 
and of the widespread esteem which its manifold natural beauties inspire. 
Let those be threatened, by whatever form of economic development— 
whether inappropriate building, road-widening, mineral working, over- 
orderly afforestation, or the expansion of lakes by damming for the water supply 
of distant towns, as at Thirlmere and Haweswater—and at once powerful 
expressions of public opinion are evoked in defence of the district. That 
defence has not yet been fully assured by means of adequate public control, 
but there has been definite movement towards this end, and very many people 
would gladly see the district ultimately conserved as a national park. 


130 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


As arguments in favour of its conservation, its scientific interests are no 
less cogent than its aesthetic attraction. This attraction may be said to be 
founded upon the strong individuality of the district, and upon the extreme 
variety of scenery, from the severest to the gentlest beauty, which it presents 
within its small area. For the area within which the lakes themselves are 
found is embraced by a circle of only 15 miles’ radius, the centre of which is 
a little west of Dunmail Raise, the summit of the road (782 feet) between 
Ambleside and Keswick. 


The * dome-like uplift of the district during Tertiary time” which “ gave 
rise to the radial draimage that persists to the present day,’ as indicated at the 
close of the following section on the geology of the district, is no longer 
apparent on the ground, for the middle of the dome has been broken down 
by erosion : nor does any eminence afford sight of the radial arrangement of 
the main valleys, though this is evident on a map. The heads of those valleys, 
however, are not centralized : instead, there is a well-marked water-parting 
between northward and southward drainage, and on this divide Dunmail 
Raise, centrally placed, is the lowest point. Westward of this pass the divide 
runs along the heights, north of Langdale, and thence to Hanging Knotts and 
Great End, and to Great Gable and Pillar above Wastdale : eastward it leads 
by Fairfield and the Kirkstone Pass to Nan Bield, and so across the lower fells 
beyond. The highest points on this divide are in the west, and the highest in 
the whole district, Scafell Pike (3,210 feet), is near but ‘not actually on the 
divide in this direction. 


A broad scenic distinction, involving a threefold division, is very clearly 
seen between the sedimentary rachel principally in the north and south, and the 
volcanic and igneous rocks, primates in the centre, as detailed in the following 
section. 


It is with the volcanic rocks that the roughest and grandest scenery is 
associated ; they vary in texture and hardness, and have weathered into crags, 
ravines and precipices contrasting strongly with the smooth outlines of the 
sedimentary rocks. In illustration, the easy slopes of Skiddaw may be 
compared with the severe, broken lines of the Scafell-Gable group of heights : 
Helvellyn and the noble head of Ullswater with the tranquil foot of that lake : 
the rugged head of Langdale with the gentle scenery around Windermere, 
upon which the dale debouches. 


II. GEOLOGY. 
BY 
T. EASTWOOD, A.R.CSS., F.G.S. 


Tue Lake District, with its charming and varied scenery, is within com- 
paratively easy reach of Blackpool in these days of rapid transport. Its 
geology is no less interesting than its topography, but the following account 
can be regarded only as an introduction to this subject, and the reader is 
referred to the various publications of the Geological Survey, and to Marr’s 
“Geology of the Lake District’ for further information. 


THE LAKE DISTRICT: GEOLOGY 13] 


ORDOVICIAN. 


The Skiddaw Slates are the oldest rocks in the district, and are comprised 
of shales, mudstones, siltstones, sandstones and grits. Owing to folding and 
faulting the true sequence is unknown, but the bulk of the arenaceous material— 
variously classed as Skiddaw Grits, Watch Hill Grit, and Loweswater Flags— 
is now believed to occupy a low position, argillaceous material forming the rest 
of the sequence with the exception of the Latterbarrow Sandstone of West 
Cumberland, which is there the highest member of the series. The most 
important fossils are graptolites, and on these Dr. Elles has divided the series 
into the following zones :— 

(1) Bryograptus kjerulfi (4) Didymograptus hirundo 
(2) Dichograptus (5) Didymograptus bifidus 
(3) Didymograptus extensus 


The Borrowdale Volcanic Series, some 10,000 feet in thickness, and made up 
of lavas, tuffs and agglomerates, succeeds the Skiddaw Slates, the junction in 
some places being a passage, in others an unconformity, but in many cases it 
is obscured by faulting. The lavas are mainly andesites, but rhyolites occur, 
though it may be noted that some of the rocks classed as rhyolites are really 
intrusive. The fragmentary rocks vary from exceedingly fine-grained tuffs 
to coarse agglomerates. When cleaved and not too coarse, these provide 
roofing slates—the Green Slates of Borrowdale and Coniston. 


Marr and Harker, and Green, have published general sequences considered 
to be applicable to the whole region, but detailed work by Mitchell, Hartley, 
and the Geological Survey, has shown that great variations occur from place 
to place. A main grouping into (1) lower lavas, predominantly andesitic, 
(2) tuffs, (3) upper lavas, mainly andesites below and rhyolites above, may 
be applied if it be remembered that tuffs may be associated with the lava group 
(as, for example, the Mottled Tuffs at the base of, and Frostwick Tuffs within, 
the lower group) and lavas with the tuff group (as, for instance, the Wrengill 
Andesite). Even this grouping fails to the west of Wastwater, where, apart 
from a basal tuff, fragmentary rocks are scarcely represented. 

No fossils have been found in these volcanic rocks, but their general 
equivalence to the Llandeilo of Wales is indicated by their position between 
the Skiddaw Slates and the Coniston Limestone Series. 

The Coniston Limestone Series, which represents the Caradocian rocks of 
other parts of England, consists chiefly of calcareous and ashy sediments 
rather than good limestones. The lowest or Stile End Beds (50-250 feet), 
with a conglomerate at the base, rest unconformably on the Borrowdale 
Volcanic Series. They are followed by the Stockdale Rhyolite (0-450 feet) 
and the Applethwaite Beds (100-400 feet), a conglomerate at the base of the 
latter marking a second unconformity. Fossils are abundant, particularly 
brachiopods and trilobites. 

The Ashgill Series, about 100 feet thick, conformably succeeds the Coniston 
Limestone Series. At or near the base is a white limestone, about 12 feet 
thick, often referred to as the Staurocephalus Limestone from its characteristic 
trilobite. The rest of the series consists of shales ; some of these are ashy and 
mark the last phase of vulcanism during the deposition of the older Palacozoic 


rocks of the Lake District. 


132 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


SILURIAN. 


The Silurian strata consist of slates and sandstones of which some details 
are given in the table below. 


The Skelgill Beds, at the base, rest conformably on the Ashgill Shales, 
though there is a marked change in lithology near the junction. There are 
eleven zones in the Skelgill Beds and two in the Browgill Beds, characterised by 
different species of Monograptus, and the trilobites Ecrinurus punctatus, 
Phacops glaber, and Acidaspis erinaceus. 


THE SILURIAN STRATA. Thickness 
in feet. 
) 
Dette «| ; Absent 


( Kirkby Moor flags ; grey-green flags with some 

gritty bands : much mica : some soft calcareous 

bands rich in brachiopods and starfish .. ac aee tig 
Bannisdale Slates ; leaden-grey sandy mudstones 

with thin bands of greenish sandstone and 

occasional grits: much jointed and cleaved : 

fossils few but include he oi leintwardi- 

nensis 5,000 (2?) 
Coniston Grits ; fairly coarse grits "wither bisnelaat 

flagey nandedone (‘sheer-bate flags ) near 

middle : few fossils ’ ... 4,000 
Upper Coniston Flags or Coldwell’ Beds: @hive- 

weathering, grey flags with some grit: grapto- — 

lites of M.colonus type : coarse grit at base with 

Cardiola interrupta and Phacops obtusicaudatus _1,500 


Lower Coniston or Brathay Flags; blue-grey 

laminated mudstone with gritty partings : have 

Wenlock been used for roofing tiles and flagstones : 

Series fossils not abundant but include M.priodon and 
Cyrtograptus murchisoni .. : 1,000 


Stockdale Shales ; Browgill Beds, 200 ey re 
shales with dark graptolitic shales and some 
Sere | greenish grit: Cyrtograptus appears. Skelgill 


Ludlow 


Series 


i 
| 
| 


Series Beds ; 50 feet black EP cant St shales with thin, 
pale bands of shale Sepa gaspar a: ae 250 


Oxtp Rep SANDSTONE. 


Deposition appears to have ceased for a while in.the Lake District after the 
laying down of the Kirkby Moor Flags. Earth-movements on a large scale 
took place, and the rocks were folded, uplifted and denuded, and were invaded 
by large masses of igneous material. The major anticline, recognisable amidst 
innumerable folds, runs east-north-east through Skiddaw and is responsible 
for the present distribution of the main outcrops of the Borrowdale Volcanic 
Series. 


THE LAKE DISTRICT : GEOLOGY 133 


Igneous Rocks.—The Shap Granite, with its large pink crystals of orthoclase, 
is well known architecturally. The intrusion has taken place near the junction 
of the Coniston Limestone and the Borrowdale Volcanic Series, and since 
associated dykes penetrate strata up to and including the Ludlow, and pebbles 
of the granite are found in the basal conglomerate of the Carboniferous, the 
age is closely defined. 


The chief interest in the Skiddaw Granite lies in the large aureole of 
Skiddaw Slates converted into rocks ranging from chiastolite slates to 
andalusite-cordierite-biotite hornfelses, and the greisenisation in Grainsgill 
accompanied by the development of quartz veins with tungsten. 


The Carrock Complex consists of a series of gabbros ranging from ilmenite- 
rich to quartz-bearing, a hybrid diabase, a basified and a normal granophyre, 
and a felsite. The order of intrusion is one of decreasing basicity and the 
complex itself appears to be somewhat older than the Skiddaw Granite. 


Lack of space precludes more than a passing mention of the microgranite of 
Threlkeld and the diorite of Embleton, though they are famous roadstones, 
and of the Armboth Dyke and the minette of Sale Fell, but attention may be 
drawn to the Ennerdale Granophyre and Eskdale Granite. Both are stock- 
like masses occurring near the junction of the Skiddaw Slates and the Borrow- 
dale Volcanic Series with portions of the original roof preserved : both show 
some variations in type pointing to more than one intrusive phase, though it 
is more marked in the case of the Eskdale Granite. Here the northern 
portion is a pink perthitic granite with much quartz and muscovite, but little 
biotite, whereas the southern portion has much biotite and many zenoliths, 
and has obviously been basified. 


CARBONIFEROUS. 


The Conglomerates at the base of the Carboniferous have been claimed to 
be of Old Red Sandstone age ; they possibly represent rock waste produced at 
this period but deposited in the early Carboniferous sea. ‘The most important 
outcrops lie on the north side of the Lake District, but there are patches near 
Kendal and Ulverston, and a conglomerate has been proved in mining near 
Millom. 

The Cockermouth Lavas, a series of olivine basalts, succeed the con- 
glomerates in places and are the only known representatives in the region of 
Carboniferous igneous activity. 

The Limestone Measures of the Lower Carboniferous show considerable 
variation. In West Cumberland there is about 700 feet almost entirely of 
limestone ranging in age from Sz to Dz, followed by a variable thickness of 
shales and sandstones with thin limestones, of D3 age. In a north-easterly 
direction this thick limestone develops a Yoredale facies and splits into several 
bands separated by shales and sandstones. South-east and south of the Lake 
District Garwood has shown that sedimentation began at an earlier date than 
to the north and west, and the thick dolomites and limestones there range from 
Z to Dj, and are followed by D2-3 beds of Yoredale facies. 

The limestones of West Cumberland and Furness are famous for their 
metasomatic replacement by haematite, the iron of which was probably derived 
from the associated Permo-Triassic rocks. 


134 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 
The Millstone Grit Series is but feebly developed around the Lake District, 


and the only rocks that can with confidence be referred to this series are the 
shales and sandstones of the zone of Gastrioceras cumbriense. Zones R and H 
appear to be absent, though E may be represented by the upper part of the 
limestone measures. 


The Coal Measures succeed the Millstone Grit conformably, but with these 
rocks we are not here concerned. Earth-movements, begun during the time 
of the Coal Measures, resulted in upheaval before the onset of the Permian. 


New Rep SANDSTONE AND LATER ROCKS. 


Rocks of Permo-Triassic age bordering the Lakeland present several 
interesting features pointing to unsettled conditions during the earlier part of 
this period. Beginning with a breccia known as the Lower Brockram, these 
rocks in Edenside pass upwards by way of the Penrith Sandstone, with its 
Upper Brockram, into the Hilton Plant Beds, Magnesian Limestone, St. Bees 
Shales, St. Bees and Kirklinton Sandstones, which are succeeded by the 
Stanwix Shales. The Penrith Sandstone dies out to west and south, and 
brockram is absent in many places, but in parts of West Cumberland replaces 
Magnesian Limestone and St. Bees Shales. Magnesian Limestone is again 
present in Furness. Gypsum deposits occur in the St. Bees Shales of 
Cumberland and salt in the representatives of the Stanwix Shales in Walney 
Island. The last-named shales are the youngest solid rocks intimately 
associated with Lakeland. Others, of which there is a remnant of the Lias 
near Carlisle, were probably deposited but later removed by the denudation 
which followed the dome-like uplift of the district during Tertiary times. 
This uplift gave rise to the radial drainage that persists to the present day 
and accounts for the ring-like distribution of the Carboniferous and New Red 
Sandstone around a core of older rocks. 


Space precludes giving an account of the Glacial deposits, though erratics 
from the Lake District are common in the boulder clay of Blackpool 


XXI. 
THE BOTANY OF THE LAKE DISTRICT 


BY 
W. H. PEARSALL, D.Sc. 


ToPoGRAPHICALLY the Lake District may be held to include all the region 
north of Morecambe Bay, west of the London, Midland and Scottish main 
line, and south of a line drawn from Penrith to Maryport. Botanically, 
however, this region contains examples of almost every typical British plant 
community and it is much too varied to deal with in a limited space. It is 
better, therefore, to consider merely the main botanical features of the central 
mass of slatey rocks, since this includes all the characteristic Lakeland valleys. 


BOTANY OF THE LAKE DISTRICT 135 


To the casual visitor, the vegetation of this region falls obviously into 
two parts, the grasslands of the hills and the woodlands in the dales. The 
natural dividing line between these regions was originally in the neighbour- 
hood of 2,000 feet. It is probably now not more than 1,700 feet in 
the centre of the district, as shown by the relic high level oak woods in 
Keskadale and elsewhere. On the exposed western margin of the hills, it 
may have been as low as 800 feet under natural conditions, and in some places 
it appears now to be only 500 to 600 feet. Owing to the naturally steep slopes, 
the regions above these limits were probably always natural grasslands, and 
extensive moorlands like those of the Pennines are uncommon. 


The climax plant community at lower levels is undoubtedly woodland 
dominated by oak (Quercus sessilis). Although here, as elsewhere, the woods 
are much modified by planting, fragments remain in the more remote dales 
which appear to be in a primitive condition, as judged by their histories and by 
the absence of any signs of tree felling. All the best examples agree in 
possessing among the trees an exceptionally high proportion of oak (95 to 
98 per cent.). The only usual associates are Ilex and Pyrus aucuparia. 
These primitive woods are generally on shallow soils. 

In most cases, a varied assortment of trees is associated with evidence of 
disturbance of the climax forest by animals or man, or else with the probability 
that the mixed woodland represents a developmental type. In the latter case, 
the wood is colonising scree slopes, gravel deltas or lake shore spits, and 
disused quarry wastes. The early stages of such woodlands normally include 
Betula pubescens and sallows. Ash (usually attended by Pyrus aucuparia) 
comes in at an early stage, and is the characteristic feature of these developing 
woodlands. The soils are always comparatively unleached and only slightly 
acid. A parallel feature of Lake District oak woods, which is related to 
similar factors, is the presence of ash ‘streaks’ following the broken tracks 
of intermittent torrents. Ash also occurs in the damper parts of the oak woods. 


It is of interest to consider certain special cases. In several places ash-birch 
woods are found (e.g., west of Ennerdale), and the Naddle Forest, by Hawes 
Water, is an extensive oak-ash-birch wood. All of these woods are of an open 
character ; they show evidence of grazing and are developed from old scree 
slopes. It is probable, then, that animal and human interference have prevented 
the development or the maintenance of the climax oak woods, and the wood- 
lands have, therefore, tended to remain in an earlier developmental stage. 


The woodlands in the south-east of the Lake District, round Windermere, 
are typical of the woods on lower slopes and deeper soils. This area is of 
particular interest as the most heavily wooded part of Britain, and it owes this 
distinction to the persistence of local industries depending upon the woodlands. 
Charcoal burning is still carried on in order to supply the iron works at Back- 
barrow, and the abundance of ‘ bloomery’ sites as well as historical evidence 
show that this industry has persisted from the earliest historical times. 


With the introduction of modern methods of iron smelting at Barrow, the 
woodland products were diverted for a time to the making of gunpowder, 
cotton ‘bobbins’ and baskets, although these industries are now extinct. 
To meet these local needs, the woods were generally maintained as some form of 
coppice, and although, in the last 50 years, many of them have been allowed 


136 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


to grow up, they all contain a considerable abundance of small timber, mainly 
hazel and birch, as well as a considerable variety of trees, many of which have 
been introduced. Of the native trees, Prunus Avium is possibly the most 
constantly and widely distributed species ; ash, elm and Prunus padus are 
frequent in the damper places, while yew, Taxus baccata, may form dense 
communities on the more broken rocky knolls and outcrops. 

The ground flora of these woods is less uniform than that of the typical dry 
oak wood, and both mosses and ferns are more frequent. The community of 
Scilla, Holcus mollis and Pteridium exists in various forms where the soil 
exceeds nine inches in depth. More commonly, bluebells and Holcus occur 
with an abundance of Mnium hornum, some Anemone and mosses such as 
Hylocomium triquetrum. On damper slopes, particularly those with a 
northerly aspect, this community changes to one in which Mnium hornum 
is associated mainly with Oxalis acetosella, and ferns, Dryopteris aristata and 
D. Filix-mas. At the bottom of slopes, dog’s mercury and garlic (Allium 
ursinum) are likely to be found, their commonest associate being the moss, 
Eurhynchium praelongum. 

The characteristic feature of these woods is, however, the frequency of rocky 
knolls, mainly covered by such mosses as Dicranum majus, Hypnum 
cupressiforme, Plagiothecitum undulatum and Leucobryum glaucum. The 
higher plants are usually represented by bilberry (Vaccinium Murtillus), 
Deschampsia flexuosa and Luzula pilosa. Melampyrum pratense and its 
variety hians are often found on or near these knolls. The soil is extremely 
acid, usually below pH5. Another common and wide-spread ground flora 
is dominated more or less completely by grasses to the ultimate exclusion of 
other herbaceous plants. The grasses usually include Agrostis spp., Holcus 
spp., Festuca ovina and Anthoxanthum odoratum. In various modifications, 
this grassy type of ground flora may occur over an extremely wide range of 
soil types, and there is no doubt that it is developed mainly where grazing by 
animals is or has been possible, although it is possible that the shallow soils 
may also be a contributing factor in its development. 

The importance of the effects of grazing animals, here mainly sheep, rabbits 
and to a less extent deer, can hardly be over-estimated in the Lake District. 
The grassy and grazed type of woodland just described merges naturally into 
the grasslands of the hill slopes. The absence of tree seedlings in grassy 
woodlands indicates that such woodlands normally fail to regenerate and must 
give way to grassland. The typical Lake District grasslands are, in fact, biotic 
plant communities whose extension and maintenance depends on grazing. 
The extreme importance of the pressure exerted by animals is not easily 
realised, but it is at once apparent if one stands above one of the steeper slopes, 
when the light is shining on it obliquely at an angle nearly that of the slope. 
Then the slope is seen to be terraced by thousands of horizontal sheep tracks, 
giving a most striking demonstration of the severity of animal pressure. 

It is probable that the grasslands have always existed above the tree limit, 
and it seems equally probable that their downward extension has been going on 
since the earliest times. The prehistoric remains in this district are confined 
to the hill tops, and, moreover, they show a quite striking correlation with what 
are to-day the best grazing grounds. It would seem logical to suppose that the 
early inhabitants dwelt and pastured their flocks above the forest limits, and 


BOTANY OF THE LAKE DISTRICT 137 


there would hence, for example, be justification for such features as the 
Roman road along the High Street range. The clearing of the valleys seems 
to have been left to the Scandinavian invaders of comparatively recent times. 

As the grasslands are of biotic origin, they show marked tolerance for a variety 
of soil conditions, and undoubtedly their detailed composition is affected by 
the local grazing pressure. Agrostis vulgaris, Festuca ovina (especially var. 
capillata), Galium saxatile and Hylocomium squarrosum are the species most 
constantly present. Nardus stricta and Juncus squarrosus become abundant 
or dominant on the damper slopes, typically on glacial clay or redistributed 
peat. This type of grassland is especially common on the drift-covered slopes 
in the north-west. 

In the south, the Bannisdale flags and grits often yield an undulating surface 
of which the knolls bear Calluna and Erica cinerea, while grasslands, usually 
with Pteridium, occupy the hollows. Juniper is abundant in this area, and 
on the flatter-topped hills an interesting damp C alluna-juniper heath may be 
developed, though the burning of these areas for grouse is rapidly reducing the 
proportion of juniper. Calluna moors, however, are only commonly developed 
on the Skiddaw slates in the north. These rocks are rather poorer in bases 
than the typical Borrowdale slates, and their grasslands are less extensive. 
Vaccinium ‘ edges ’ are also characteristic of the sharper ridges on these rocks, 
that of Cat Bells being aconvenientexample. Deep peats are rather local in 
the Lake District, and they usually show extensive signs of degeneration. They 
are confined to a few of the flatter hill tops, particularly round Hawes Water 
and on Mungrisdale Common, and to hollows above 1,500 feet. Scirpus 
caespitosus, Eriophorum vaginatum and Juncus squarrosus are usually 
characteristic in the vegetation. The peat-forming plant was mainly cotton- 
grass. Buried timber, usually birch, occurs up to 2,000 feet. 

The higher hills, above 2,000 feet, are normally either grassland, crag or 
scree, and the summits, if not of rock detritus alone, tend to vary between a 
sparse grassland and Rhacomitrium heath. » The latter is less common, and it is 
perhaps best developed on Grassmoor, where R. lanuginosum is dominant along 
with both Vaccinium myrtillus and V. Vitis-Idaea, Lycopodium selago and 
L. alpinum, Empetrum nigrum and the viviparous form of Festuca ovina. 
Lichens are abundant, but not fully known. Cetraria aculeata, Cladonia 
spp., Cetraria islandica and Sphaerophora fragilis are recorded as the most 
characteristic. The more typical summits (e.g., Helvellyn) are clothed with 
sparse sub-alpine grassland, in which the most typical new elements are a dwarf 
form of bilberry and Carex rigida. Salix herbacea usually occurs on this type 
of summit, but in the more rocky places. The real arctic-Alpine element 
in the Lake District flora is small, and the species are mainly of local dis- 
tribution, as for example, Lychnis alpina on Hobcarton Crags. The most 
typical plants of the higher hills are Allosorus crispa, the parsley fern and 
Alchemilla alpina. The abundance of these species here is in great contrast 
with their scarcity in the Pennines. In the flushes, Saxifraga stellaris and 
S. aizoides, usually with Montia fontana and a variety of mosses, are perhaps 
most typical. 

No account of the botany of the district would be complete without some 
reference to the aquatic plants. In regard to these, the particular: interest of 
the Lake District lies in the fact that the lakes represent a series giving various 


138 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


stages in the post-glacial development of aquatic vegetation. ‘This is largely 
because the underlying rocks vary considerably in hardness, and as a result 
some of the lakes have developed more slowly than others. These more 
primitive lakes (e.g., Wastwater and Ennerdale) have a sparse colonising 
vegetation in which Isoetes lacustris and Nitella opaca are most characteristic 
of deep water, while Litorella is usually present in the shallows. Any silts are 
coarse and poor in bases, and the silted places are likely to support Juncus 
fluitans, Callitriche intermedia and, more rarely, Potamogeton pseudofluitans, 
a submerged form of P. noluutinifolec. As lake development progresses, 
silting increases, and the sub-strata also become more organic in character. 
Submerged species of Potamogeton become frequent, especially P. perfoliat us, 
P. praelongus and P. pusillus. Lobelia Dortmanna and reeds (chiefly Scirpus 
lacustris and Phragmites) become more frequent on the margins. 

In still later stages, when the sub-strata as a whole are organic, water-lilies, 
Potamogeton natans, Equiset um limosum and Carices extend over the margins, 
while submerged plants such as Sparganium minimum, P. alpinus and 
P. obtusifolius are characteristic of greater depths of water. Many of the 
smaller and shallower lakes have disappeared, and their position is only 
indicated. by peat mosses (e.g., Rusland and Shoulthwaite) bearing vegetation 
of the ‘lowland moor’ type. While in some cases, the reed swamps of the 
lakes developed to moor through a well-defined woodland stage in which willows 
and birch were prominent, in other cases the woodland stage may have been 
less well-marked or nearly absent. The bogs at the south end of Hawes 
Water exemplify a transitional condition of this type. In general, the wood- 
land development seems to be associated with a greater relative abundance 
of inorganic silts or with a more decided influence from telluric waters. 

Taxonomically, the most interesting aquatic plants are Naias flexilis and 
Hydrilla verticillata, both confined to Esthwaite Water, and elsewhere very rare 
in the British Isles. Potamogeton pusillus is represented mainly by the 
sub-species lacustris, a broad-leaved form not found in other parts of England. 

The sequence of stages in lake development shown in the study of higher 
plants is apparent also in relation to the plankton and littoral algae of the lakes. 
The primitive or rocky lakes have a rather sparse flora in which desmids and 
green algae are predominant. A further stage in development is marked by the 
appearance of abundant diatoms, especially Asterionella and Tabellaria 
fenestrata in the plankton. The latest stage is shown by an abundance of 
blue-green algae such as Anaboena and Coelosphaerium. It is of interest 
to note that the last transition has actually been observed in Windermere, 
though there it is not entirely due to natural causes. 

The great influx of visitors to the district from 1910 onwards has led to an 
increase in the volume of sewage effluents reaching the lake and hence to an 
increase in the amount of organic matter in its waters. Hence, also, blue- 
green algae have become a constant element in the phyto-plankton, although 
they were practically absent in 1907-8. 

Enough has been said to indicate that the lakes offer great possibilities to 
students of aquatic biology. The establishment of a laboratory at Wray 
Castle, on Windermere, by the Fresh-water Biological Association may be 
regarded as an index of the scientific and practical interest these problems 
arouse. 


MAMMALS OF THE LAKE DISTRICT 139 


XXII. 
MAMMALS OF THE LAKE DISTRICT 


BY 
H. J. MOON, M.R.C.P. 


In view of the comparatively few mammals known to the English Lake 
District, a list of recorded species with appended notes is the most satisfactory 
method of dealing with the subject. 


Bats (Chiroptera). No comprehensive survey of local bats has yet been made, 
but below is a list of authentic records :— 


Whiskered bat (Myotis mystacinus). One specimen found near 
Windermere in 1922. 


Daubenton’s bat (Myotis daubentonii). Occurs sparingly throughout 
the district : often mistaken for the common bat. 


Common bat (Vespertilio pipistrellus). Common everywhere. 
Serotine (Vespertilio serotinus). Several records. 

Great bat (Nyctalus noctula). Not uncommon. 

Long-eared bat (Plecotus auritus). Common everywhere. 


Barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus). Suspected, but its presence 
not definitely proved. 


Fox (Vulpes canis). The English Lake District foxes are so numerous as to 
be a menace to sheep farmers and poultry keepers. Despite three packs 
of hounds, hunting three days a week from October to April, and killing 
about 150 foxes a year, there seems to be no dimmution in numbers. 
The Lake District foxes are usually large compared with those else- 
where in England. 


Badger (Meles taxus). Though not plentiful, they are not so scarce as is ~ 
supposed, for their nocturnal habits conceal their presence. 


Otter (Lutra vulgaris). Plentiful everywhere. 


Pine marten (Mustela martes). Now very scarce, though 50 years ago were so 
plentiful as to be hunted regularly. The felling of forests, and persecu- 
tion by man, are supposed to have brought the creature to the verge of 
extinction, but it is more probable that some natural cause, such as 
disease or food shortage, has obtained. 


Stoat (Mustela erminea). Far too numerous everywhere. 
Weasel (Mustela nivalis). Common everywhere, but less so than the stoat. 


Polecat (Mustela putorius). Once not uncommon, now extinct. The last 
record was from Ullswater in 1922. 


140 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Red squirrel (Sci urus vulgaris). Distributed throughout the Lake District, 
but varies in numbers from year to year. Internal parasites and mange 
keep the numbers in check. 


Grey squirrel (Sciurus cinereus). Up to the present this alien pest has not 
appeared in the district. 


Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius). Has been reported, but is very 
scarce. 


Harvest mouse (Micromys minutus). Not yet proved to be present. 


Wood mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus). Almost a plague in many parts of the 
district. 


House mouse (Mus musculus). An unwelcome guest everywhere. 

Black rat (Epimys rattus). No authentic record for many years. 

Brown rat (Epimys norvegicus). An ever-present curse. 

Water vole (Arvicola amphibius) and field vole (Microtus agrestis). Common. 
Bank vole (Evotomys glareolus). Scarce, but has been reported many times. 
Rabbit (Oryctolagus cunicul us) and brown hare (Lepus europeus). Common. 


Red deer (Cervus elaphus). A herd of about 150 range the Helvellyn area. 
These are the only truly wild deer in England outside the West Country, 
and are lineal descendants of the deer hunted by one of the Plantagenet 
kings when that area was a royal deer forest. 


Fallow deer (Cervus Dama). A large herd of semi-wild fallow deer exist 
on Gowbarrow overlooking Ullswater. A few are supposed to lurk 
here and there in other areas. 


Roe deer (Capreolus capraea). A few still remain in the well-wooded areas 
near Windermere, and stragglers occur in a few other quiet corners of 


the Lake District. 
Hedgehog (Erinaceus europzus). Common. 
Mole (Talpa europoea). Common. 


Common shrew (Sorex araneus). _Well-distributed and a welcome (or ought 
to be) friend to farmers and gardeners, for it lives almost entirely on 
insects, snails and other pests. 


Lesser shrew (Sorex minutus). Very local. 


Water shrew (Neomys fodiens). Rather local, but not as uncommon as 
supposed. 


SUMMER BIRD LIFE OF THE LAKE DISTRICT 14] 


XXIII. 


SUMMER BIRD LIFE 
OF THE LAKE DISTRICT 


BY 
H. J. MOON, M.R.C.P. 


From north to south the Lake District measures approximately 30 miles, 
while from east to west it measures about 25 miles. The area varies in altitude 
from nearly sea-level to over 3,000 feet, and comprises vale, fell and mountain, 
swamp, lake, forest and river, with very little arable land, but much rough 
pasture. 


As each type of area presents its own bird population, the Lake District is 
one of the richest parts of England as regards variety of bird life. For convenience 
of description the area may be divided into dale, low fell, high fell and mountain. 


(Dale, 50 feet to 500 feet.) 


Most of the birds common to Northern England are represented, but there 
are some notable exceptions, and some peculiarities in distribution. 


The green woodpecker (Picus viridis pluvius) is unknown, its place being 
taken by the great spotted woodpecker (Dryobates major anglicus). 


The lesser whitethroat (Sylvia curruca curruca) is extremely rare: the 
chiff-chaff (Phylloscopus collybita collybita), blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla 
atricapilla), tree sparrow (Passer montanus montanus), and stock-dove 
(Columba oenas) are very local, and unknown to the greater part of the area. 
The turtle dove (Streptopelia turtur turtur) does not occur. The house 
sparrow (Passer domesticus domesticus) is also very local, being a rare bird 
in some of the dales. The common linnet (Carduelis cannabina cannabina) 
is very local, and only found where furze bushes are plentiful. 


Sand martins (Riparia riparia riparia) are also scarce, owing to the lack of 
suitable nesting areas in a volcanic area overlaid by hard glacial drift. 


A special feature is the pied fly-catcher (Muscicapa hypoleuca hypoleuca), 
which nests freely throughout the eastern portion of the district, The twite 
(Carduelis flavirostris flavirostris) nests in most heathery localities, as does its 
mortal enemy the merlin (Falco regulus regulus) in the face of merciless 
persecution. 


The crossbill (Loxia curvirostra curvirostra) nests regularly in at least two 
areas of the Lake District. The long-eared owl (Asio otus otus) is almost 
unknown in the Lake District, and the little owl (Athene noctua noctua) has 
not yet been reported. The tawny owl (Strix aluco aluco) is common every- 
where. 


142 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


The hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes coccothraustes) is well 
distributed as a breeding species, and the lesser redpoll (Carduekis linaria 
cabaret) nests freely in most parts of the district, as does the golden crested 
wren (Regulus regulus anglorum). The willow titmouse (Parus atricapillus 
hleinschmidti) has not as yet been noted as a breeding species. The woodcock 
(Scolopax rusticola) nests in all suitable spots, and the black grouse (Lyrurus 
tetric tetrix) in one area. Whinchats (Saxicola rubretra rubetra) are well 
distributed, but the stonechat (Saxicola torquata hibernans) is extremely 
scarce. 


The tree pipit (Anthus trivialis trivialis) is plentiful in most areas, but is 
rarely seen above the 500 foot level, where it is replaced by the meadow pipit 
(Anthus pratensis), and the two birds rarely overlap as breeding species. 


Lapwings (Vanellus vanellus), curlews (Numenius arquata arquata) and 
redshanks (Tringa totanus) all nest freely in suitable localities. Teal (Anas 
crecca crecca) are very local, and tufted duck (Nyroca fuligula), though local, 
are extending their range as breeders. The shoveller (Spatula clypeata) has 
not yet been known to nest in the Lake District. 


Many colonies of black-headed gulls (Larus ridibundus) exist throughout 
the Lake District. The dunlin (Erolia alpina alpina) is unknown to the 
district as a nester. 


Moor-hen (Gallinula chloropus chloropus) and dabchicks (Colymbus 
ruficollis ruficollis) present a peculiar distribution. In winter they are seen on 
nearly every lake and tarn, but in spring they desert the open waters in favour 
of small ponds and ditches. Most of the lakes and tarns are subject to great 
variations of level owing to frequent heavy rains, and therefore are unsuitable 
as nesting places. Coots (Fulica atra atra), though common in winter, are 
very scarce as breeders, and the great crested grebe (Colymbus cristatus 
cristatus) has only nested once or twice in the Lake District. 


The common buzzard (Buteo buteo buteo), despite much persecution, still 
holds its own as a breeding species throughout the area. 


Herons (Ardea cinerea) nest freely throughout the district, but since several 
colonies have been evicted, they are tending to become solitary nesters. Grey 
wagtail’ (Motacilla boarula boarula) and dipper (Cinclus cinclus britannicus) 
are found near every lake, tarn and beck, and nearly every bridge in the district 
is used as a nesting site. 


Kingfisher (Alcedo ispida ispida), though still very local, are becoming more 
frequent every year, despite the fact that their brilliant hue renders them very 
conspicuous to marauding sparrow hawks. 


Skylarks (Alauda arvensis arvensis) are rarely seen in dales where high hills 
hide the horizon, but wherever the bird can glimpse the far distance it is 
present. 


Magpies (Pica pica pica), though very common in the south of the Lake 
District, are very scarce north of Kirkstone Pass : usually about four pairs 
nest ae Jays (Garrulus glandarius rufitergum) are also common south 
of Kirkstone Pass, but almost unknown north of it. 


SUMMER BIRD LIFE OF THE LAKE DISTRICT 143 


Low FELLs. 


Wheatear (Oenanthe cenanthe oenanthe), meadow pipit (Anthus pratensis), 
jackdaw (Coloeus monedula spermologus), carrion crow (Corvus corone corone) 
reign supreme, though sandpipers (Tringa hypoleuca) have nested at 1,100 feet. 
Yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava rayi) at 800 feet, lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) 
at 1,200 feet, and dipper (Cinclus cinclus britannicus) at 1,000 feet, and the 
ring ousel (Turdus torquatus torquatus), though thinly distributed, nest 
regularly on the low fells. 


The hooded crow (Corvus cornix cornix) is rarely seen in the Lake District, 
but one case of inter-breeding between it and the carrion crow (Corvus corone 
corone) has been recorded. 


Strange to say, the cuckoo (Cuculus canor us canorus) is rather a bird of the 
low fells than the dales, where pipits are its chief victims. 


Hicu Fexts (1,200 feet to 2,000 feet). 


The kestrel (Falco tinnunculus tinnunculus), common buzzard (Buteo 
buteo buteo), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus peregrinus) and raven (Corvus 
corax corax) share the high fells between them, and nearly every few square 
miles has its nesting pair of these birds. 


In winter snow buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis) haunt the low fells, often 
in company with lesser redpolls (Carduelis linaria cabaret). 


Mountain (2,000 feet to 3,210 feet). 


The dotterel (Charadrius morinellus) still nests sparingly on two Lake 
District mountains, and is the only bird the Lake District claims as a summer 
resident of the mountain tops. 


XXIV. 


SCIENTISTS” OF 
NORTH LANCASHIRE. AND VICINITY 


BY 


D. N. LOWE, M.A., B.Sc. 


OF the following men who, in the course of the past 300 years, have made 
significant contributions to the advancement of scientific knowledge, all but 
a few were born in the north-west of England, in the area embracing Lanca- 


shire north of the Ribble, Cumberland and Westmorland. 


The few exceptions either had close family connections with, or were long 
resident in the district. Though they are not strictly in the area so defined, 


144 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


it has been considered convenient to include Stonyhurst College Observatory 
and Sedbergh in the present survey. Grateful acknowledgment is made in 
respect of notes on past Directors of Stonyhurst College Observatory, which 
were compiled by the Rev. J. P. Rowland, S.J., the present Director. 


Appison, Tuos. (1793-1860), 5. Long Benton, near Newcastle. Came 
from a family long settled at Lanercost, Cumberland. Studied and lectured 
on diseases at Guy’s Hospital. His discovery, in 1855, of what is now known 
as ‘ Addison’s Disease ’ was considered one of the most brilliant achievements 
of the nineteenth century. Died at Brighton. Buried in Lanercost Abbey. 


ARKWRIGHT, Sir Ricuarp (1732-92), b. Preston, of humble parents. 
Apprenticed to a barber, he set up business in Bolton in 1750, and with the 
gradual disuse of wigs turned to invention. In 1769 invented and erected 
near Hockley the first spinning mill. In 1775 patented a series of inventions 
for performing on one machine the whole process of yarn manufacture. From 
the building of his numerous mills in Lancashire and Derbyshire we may 
properly date the factory system. Died at Cromford. 


Barrow, Sir Joun (1764-1848), b. Dragley Beck, near Ulverston. Started 
work in a Liverpool iron foundry and rose to be a partner. Extensive travel 
earned him important connections, and after holding various political offices 
he became Secretary to the Admiralty. Explorer and traveller, he wrote 
extensively. Founded the Royal Geographical Society in 1830. Died in 
Camden Town. 


Bracken, Dr. H. (1679-1764), 6. Lancaster. Studied medicine and surgery 
in London, Paris and Leyden, and practised in Lancaster. Was widely known 
for his prowess in surgery, and wrote several books on farriery which brought 
him into the front rank of veterinary writers. Died Lancaster. 


Broucuam, H. P., F.R.S., Baron Brougham and Vaux (1778-1868), 6. 
Edinburgh. He was descended from a Westmorland family, and kept an 
estate in that county. Showed early promise in scientific studies, but took 
up law, and rose to be Lord Chancellor. Formed a society for the diffusion 
of useful knowledge, was Rector of Glasgow and Chancellor of Edinburgh 
Universities, and founded London University. When he withdrew from 


public life he resumed scientific studies, and published papers on light. Died 
abroad. 


Brownricc, Dr. Wm., F.R.S. (1711-1800), 5. High Close Hall, Cumber- 
land eradedtauciere diondantand Leyden, and practised at Whitehaven. 
Elected F.R.S. (1741) for researches in fire-damp. Made valuable enquiries 
into the nature of mineral waters, and was probably the first to realise the 
acid nature of carbon dioxide. In many particulars his researches were 
parallel to those of Priestley, Black and Cavendish. First to give an account 
of platinum. Died at Ormathwaite, near Keswick. 


CaveNDISsH, Sir Wn., K.G., P.C., Seventh Duke of Devonshire (1808-1891), 
b. London. On inheriting large estates in this country and in Ireland gave 
up a career in politics to administer scientific and industrial concerns. 
Assisted in establishing iron-mining and steel-producing industries in Barrow. 
In turn Chancellor of Cambridge, London and Manchester Universities. 
Presented the Cavendish Laboratory to Cambridge. An enlightened land- 


SCIENTISTS OF NORTH LANCASHIRE AND VICINITY 145 


owner and breeder of cattle, he fostered agriculture and helped to found the 
Royal Agricultural Society (1839). Died Holker Hall, near Grange, Lancs. 


CHAMBERS, EPHRAIM, F.R.S. (died 1740), b. probably about 1680 at Kendal. 
Apprenticed in London to a globe and map maker. In 1728 published a 
“ Cyclopaedia or Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences,’ for which he was 
elected F.R.S. Visited France and translated many French scientific works. 
Died in London ; buried in Westminster Abbey. 

CoL.inson, PETER, F.R.S. (1694-1768), 6. near Windermere. Well-known 
botanist, zoologist and antiquary. Elected F.R.S. in 1728. The son of a 
merchant, he extended his father’s business to America, and encouraged 
intercourse between scientists on both sides of the Atlantic. Kept Benjamin 
Franklin abreast with advance in electrical experiments in Europe, and 
advised several of the American States to grow flax, hemp and vines. Had a 
considerable reputation as a botanist, and came near to being elected curator 
of the Botanical Department of the British Museum. 


Cortiez, Father Atoystus Lawrence, S.J. (1859-1925), 6. London. 
Educated at Stonyhurst College. Entered the Society of Jesus in 1878. 
Professor of Physical Science at the College for many years, and Director of 
the Observatory from 1919. F.R.A.S., 1891, and served on the Council. 
Director of the Solar Section of the British Astronomical Association, 
1900-1910. He was in charge of the expedition to observe the total solar 
eclipse at Vinaroz, Spain, in 1905, and also of the Government expedition to 
the Tonga Islands in 1911 for the same purpose. He also went to Hernésand, 
Sweden, for the total eclipse of 1914. In 1922 the University of Padua 
conferred on him the degree of D.Sc. (Hon. causa). Besides being a well- 
known lecturer on astronomical subjects, he was the author of numerous 
papers on solar and stellar physics. Died at Stonyhurst. 


Datton, Joun, F.R.S. (1766-1844), 5. Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth. 
Son of a Quaker weaver, he was self-taught. Teacher in Kendal for 12 years. 
Professor of Mathematics, New College, Manchester, 1793. Discovered the 
law of chemical combination, and tabulated atomic weight of various elements. 
Published A New System of Chemical Philosophy. Regular attender at 
British Association meetings ; was Vice-President of Section B (Chemistry) 
in 1835 and 1836. Died Manchester. 

Dawson, Joun (1734-1820), b. Garsdale, near Sedbergh. Taught himself 
mathematics while tending sheep, and soon knew enough to become an 
itinerant master. Later apprenticed to a surgeon in Manchester. Took a 
medical degree at Edinburgh and set up practice in Sedbergh. Kept abreast 
with mathematics and gained such a reputation as a teacher that Cambridge 
men flocked to him. Between 1781 and 1794 he counted eight senior 
wranglers among his pupils. 

Dopswortu, Rocer (1585-1654), 6. Newton Grange. Went to school at 
Warton, and became an antiquary at an early age. Lived at Hutton Grange 
from 1611-1654. Published nothing during his life-time, but designed three 
works, an English Baronage, a History of Yorkshire and Monasticon Anglica- 
num, the notes for which represented extensive antiquarian researches. Many 
of his MSS. are preserved in the Bodleian. Died at Hutton Grange ; buried 
at Rufferd. 


146 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Fercuson, R. S. (1837-1900), b. Carlisle of a family who founded the cotton 
industry there in 1700. Educated Carlisle Grammar School and St. John’s, 
Cambridge. Called to the bar in 1862. Retiring through ill-health in 1872, 
he devoted himself to the study of local antiquities, having previously founded 
the Cumberland and Westmorland Archaeological Society (1866). Under 
his guidance nearly the whole of Cumberland and. Westmorland were explored 
and records made of castles, churches, houses, manuscripts and old customs. 
His own period was the Roman occupation of Cumberland. Published and 
edited numerous antiquarian works. Died at Carlisle. 


FLETCHER, ABRAHAM (1714-1793), b. Little Broughton, Bridekirk, Cumber- 
land. Son of a tobacco-pipe maker, he was apprenticed to the trade. Taught 
himself mathematics, and acquired a considerable reputation as a teacher. 
Increased his income by sale of herbal decoctions, and was known by many 
as Dr. Fletcher. Also studied judicial astrology. Published two books, 
i stash Measurer (1753) and The Universal Measurer and Mechanic 

FoTHercILL, ANTHONY, F.R.S. (1732-1813), 6. Sedbergh. Studied 
medicine at Edinburgh and practised in Northampton, London and Bath. 
Elected F.R.S., 1778. A skilful doctor, he also possessed scientific attain- 
ments, especially in chemistry, which he applied to analysis of mineral waters. 
Best known for researches and papers on restoring persons apparently dead 
from drowning. Died in London. 

FRANKLAND, Sir Epwarp, K.C.B., F.R.S. (1825-1899), b. Churchtown, 
near Lancaster. Chemist apprentice at Lancaster, then studied in London and 
at Marburg. Professor of Chemistry at Putney College (1850) and at Owen’s 
College, Manchester (1851). F.R.S., 1853. Royal medallist 1857. He 
lectured in Chemistry at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, and was 
Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution (1863-8). Served on royal 
commission on river pollution from 1868. Made notable contributions to 
‘ organic chemistry. His works include Experimental Researches in Pure, 
Applied, and Physical Chemistry. 

Garnett, Tuos., M.D. (1766-1802), b. Casterton. Son of a landed pro- 
prietor. Studied medicine in Edinburgh and London and practised in 
Bradford and Harrogate. Made the first scientific analysis of the Harrogate 
waters. After a tour of lectures in natural philosophy he became Professor 
of Physics at Anderson’s Institute, Glasgow, and later Professor of Physics 
and Chemistry at the Royal Institution (1799-1801). Died London. 


Gaskin, Rev. Tuos., F.R.S. (1810-1887), 5. Penrith. Educated Sedbergh 
and St. John’s College, Cambridge. Second wrangler, second Smith’s 
prizeman, 1831. Fellow and Tutor, Jesus College. F.R.S., 1839. Moved 
to Cheltenham, 1855, and spent the rest of his life there, teaching private 
pupils. Wrote many mathematical papers. Died Cheltenham. 


Goucu, Joun (1757-1825), b. Kendal. Eldest son of a Quaker shearman- 
dyer. Robbed of his sight when a child, he trained his sense of touch and 
became an accomplished botanist. He quickly mastered mathematics, which 
he taught to John Dalton (q.v.). Wrote some 50 essays on a wide variety of 
scientific topics with a skill and accuracy amazing in one who was so long 


blind. Died at Kendal. 


SCIENTISTS OF NORTH LANCASHIRE AND VICINITY 147 
- Hinp, Joun (1796-1866), 6. Cumberland. Entered St. John’s College, 


Cambridge, 1813, and was second wrangler and second Smith’s prizeman in 
1818, Lectured in mathematics in Sidney Sussex College, and published 


several works on the differential calculus and other mathematical subjects. 


Hopcson, Rev. Joun (1779-1845), 6. Swindale, Westmorland. Educated 
at Bampton Grammar School, became a schoolmaster first at Ullswater, then 
at Penrith, and finally in Durham, where he remained till he took orders (1804). 
Wrote and published many works on antiquarian subjects. Helped to found 
the Society of Antiquaries in Newcastle. A colliery explosion in his parish 
at Felling (Newcastle, 1813) gave him an interest in the dangers of coal mining, 
and Sir Humphry Davy acknowledged Hodgson's assistance in enabling him 
to complete his invention of the safety lamp (1817). 

Huck, Dr. Ricuarp, F.R.S. (1720-1785), b. Westmorland. Apprenticed 
to an apothecary at Panrith., , Sidied..medicine at St. Thomas's Hospital, 
London, and at Aberdeen University. In 1750 became a regimental doctor 
and Byentually became Physician to the Army. Physician to Middlesex 
Eel 1766 ; St. Thomas's Hospital, 1769. Elected F.R.S., 1768. Died 

ndon 
_ Huppart, Capt. Josepu, F.R.S. (1741-1816), 5. Allonby, Cumberland. 
‘The son of a shoemaker and farmer, he had a simple education. Sent to sea, 
where he studied navigation and surveying. In 177] he entered the East 
India Company, and, as commander of one of their ships, made four voyages 
to the East. Surveyed the coasts and ports that he visited and constructed 
charts of Sumatra and the coast of India from Bombay to the mouth of the 
Godavery. On retiring spent three years surveying among the Hebrides. 
Sen, F.R.S., 1791. Died in London and was buried in St. Martin-in-the- 

ields. 

Hupson, Wm., F.R.S. (1730-1793), b. Kendal. Son of an inn-keeper. 
Educated at Kendal Grammar School. Best known as a botanist, he also 
studied molluscs and insects. From 1757 to 1758 he was sub-librarian of the 
British Museum, where he studied intensively in the Sloane herbarium, 
Elected F.R.S. in 1761, the year following the publication of his ‘Flora 
Britannica,’ which was said by contemporary authorities to mark the establish- 
ment. of Linnaean principles of botany in England. Died in London. 


Lawson, Tuos. (1630-1691), b. (2). | Educated at Cambridge for the 
Church, he was presented with a living at Rampside, Lancs., but gave up 
caeechiic.: for hire,’ and joined the Quakers (1653). Settling at Strickland, 
Westmorland, in 1658, he took in private pupils, and devoted much of his spare 
time to botany. Said to be the most noted herbalist of his day. Described 
by Ray as a ‘diligent, industrious and skilful botanist.’ 


Leake, Joun, M.D. (1729-1792), 6. Ainstable, Cumberland. Son of a 
sia yenes: Studied surgery, specialising in midwifery: After studying in 
Lisbon and Rheims became a licentiate of the College of Physicians, and 
settled down to lecture and practise in London. Wrote several books on the 
diseases peculiar to women, and an introduction to the theory and practice of 
midwifery. Died London ; buried Westminster Abbey. 


LonspaLe, Henry, M.D. (1816-1876), 5. Carlisle. Studied medicine in 
Edinburgh and Paris. While in practice at Raughton Head, Cumberland, 


148 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


helped to found Inglewood Agricultural Society, a monthly club and the first 
of its kind in the county (1838). Also gave popular lectures in science. 
Held several important medical posts in Edinburgh, and in 1841 introduced 
for the first time in Edinburgh the use of cod-liver oil. After his marriage 
in 1851 he spent most of his time in archaeological researches, chiefly in 
S. Europe, and in collecting material for and writing biographies. 


Lowry, Witson, F.R.S. (1762-1824), 6. Whitehaven. Son of a portrait 
painter who led a wandering life, he went to London when he was 18. 
Becoming an engraver of note, he invented several ingenious instruments, 
e.g., a ruling machine, and others, for striking elliptic curves, and for making 
perspective drawings. He was the first to use diamond points for ruling. 
Spent 20 years engraving plates for Rees’ Encyclopaedia. Many of his plates 
of scientific instruments are of unequalled beauty. Elected F.R.S., 1812. 


Morton, Dr. Cuas., F.R.S. (1716-1799), b. Westmorland. Studied 
medicine at Leyden, and practised in Kendal and London. On establishment 
of British Museum (1756) he was appointed sub-librarian, and became 
principal librarian in 1776. Elected F.R.S. in 1752, he was Secretary te the 
Royal Society from 1760-1774. 


NicHoison, Prof. H. A., F:R.S. (1844-1899), 6. Penrith. Educated 
Appleby Grammar School and Géttingen University ; and Edinburgh 
University. In an active life-time he held the following chairs :—Natural 
History, Toronto (1871-74) ; Physical Science, Durham (1874-75) ; Natural 
History, St. Andrews (1875-82) ; Natural History and Geology, Aberdeen 
(1882-99). He had a bias towards the palaeontological side of zoology, and 
made a special study of graptolites. Worked out the succession of palaeozoic 
rocks of the Lake District. Wrote many text-books, including a Manual 
of Zoology and a Manual of Palaeonotology. Died Aberdeen. 


Nicotson, Rev. Wm., F.R.S. (1655-1727), 6. Plumbland, Cumberland. 
Son of the Rector there, he studied for the Church at Oxford and on the 
continent and, after occupying three charges in Cumberland, became Bishop 
of Carlisle and afterwards Bishop of Derry, in Ireland. Made a hobby of 
collecting documents and contributed much to antiquarian works. His own 
publications included a Historical Library for England, Scotland and Ireland 
(three separate volumes) and Border Laws. 


Owen, Sir Ricwarp, C.B., F.R.S. (1804-1892), 6. Lancaster. Son of a 
West India merchant. Educated at Lancaster, Edinburgh University, St. 
Bartholomew’s and Paris, where he studied under Cuvier. Made his name as 
an anatomist in 1832 with Memoir on the Pearly Nautilus. F.R.S., 1842. 
First Hunterian Professor of Anatomy and Physiology, and first President of 
the Microscopical Society. As Superintendent of the British Museum 
natural history collections (1856-83) obtained their removal to S. Kensington 
(1881). President of the British Association in 1858 (Leeds). Wrote widely 
on all manner of subjects dealing with natural history. One of the most 
acrimonious controversialists of his day. Died at Sheen Lodge. 

Pattinson, H. L., F.R.S. (1796-1858), 6. Alston, Cumberland. Son of a 
Quaker retail trader, he was educated privately. Specialising in chemistry 
and electricity, he discovered an economic method of separating silver from 


SCIENTISTS OF NORTH LANCASHIRE AND VICINITY 149 


lead ore. ‘Pattinson’s Process,’ as it is now known, was a valuable discovery 
permitting the working of previously neglected lead mines. Also discovered 
a simple method of obtaining white lead which led to the discovery of oxy- 
chloride of lead ; and a new process for manufacturing ‘ magnesia alba.’ 
Vice-President of Section B (Chemistry) in 1838. F.R.S., 1852. Died near 
Gateshead. 

Pearson, Dr. Wm., F.R.S. (1767-1847), 6. Whitbeck. Educated at Hawk- 
head Grammar School, took orders, and went to live in Lincoln, where he 
constructed an astronomical clock and an orrery. In 1820, having moved to 
East Sheen and established an observatory there, he measured the diameters 
of the sun and the moon during a partial solar eclipse. It was mainly due to 
his influence that the Astronomical Society was founded (1820). F.R.S., 
1829.. In 1824 and 1829 published two quarto volumes of Introduction to 
Practical Astronomy, said, by Sir John Herschel, to be ‘one of the most 
important and extensive works on the subject that has ever issued from the 
press. 

Perry, Father STEPHEN JoseEpu, S.J., F.R.S. (1833-1889), 6. London. The 
son of a manufacturer. Educated in London, Rome and Paris. Seven years 
after entering the Society of Jesus became Professor of Mathematics and 
Director of the Observatory at Stonyhurst (1860). His public scientific career 

gan with magnetic surveys of France and Belgium, which brought him 
Fellowship of the Royal Society (1874). His services on astronomical 
expeditions to various parts of the world became indispensable and he under- 
took several of these on behalf of the Royal Society and the Royal Astronomical 
Society. He died on an expedition to photograph an eclipse of the sun, and 
was buried at Demerara. 


RAWLINSON, CuRISTOPHER (1677-1733), b. Springfield, Essex. Second son 
of C, Rawlinson, of Carke Hall, Lancs. He devoted most of his time to Anglo- 
Saxon studies, but made valuable collections for a history of Lancashire, 
Cumberland and Westmorland. When he died (in London) his MSS. were 
sold for a few pence, with some furniture, and disappeared, but copies had 
been made of those relating to Westmorland and were used by Nicolson and 
Burn in their Westmorland and Cumberland. 


SHAW, Rev. Tuos., F.R.S. (1694-1751), b. Kendal. Son of a shearman dyer. 
Educated Kendal Grammar School and Queen's College, Oxford. While 
Chaplain to an English factory in Algiers he made a series of expeditions to 
Egypt, Cyprus, Asia Minor and “the interior of Barbary.’ Vicar of Godshill, 
Isle of Wight, 1734. Elected F.R.S., 1734, for A Geographical description of 
the kingdom of Tunis. He also wrote Travels and observations relating to 
several parts of Barbary and the Levant, which was valued for its descriptions 
of natural history, botany and geology. Died Bromley, where he was Vicar, 
after a period as Professor of Greek at Edmund Hall. 


Sisson, Dr. Francis, F.R.S. (1814-1876), 6. Cross Canonby, Cumberland. 
Studied medicine at Edinburgh and, after a short practice in Cockermouth, at 
Guy’s Hospital. Surgeon to Nottingham General Hospital, 1835-48. F.R.S., 
1849, after which he remained in London.. Physician to St. Mary’s Hospital. 
As member of Senate of London University, opposed admission of women to 
its degrees. Published important papers on changes of internal organs, 


150 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


which were elaborated in ‘Medical Anatomy’ (1855-59). Died Geneva, 
buried Acton. 


Siwcreaves, Father WALTER, S.J. (1837-1919), 5. at Grimsargh, near Preston, 
Lancs. Educated at Stonyhurst College. Entered the Society of Jesus in 
1855. Twice Director of the Stonyhurst Observatory, viz., from 1863 to 1868, 
and again after the death of Father Perry, from 1889 till his own death in 1919. 
Accompanied Father Perry on expeditions to France for magnetic surveys in 
1868-69, and to observe the transit of Venus in Kerguelen Island and 
Madagascar, in 1874 and 1882. Installed the photographically-recording 
magnetic instruments in 1866, which have continued in service ever since. 
Chief work was stellar spectroscopy, his photographs being awarded medals at 
the St. Louis Exposition of 1904 and at the Franco-British Exhibition in Paris 
in 1908. During his first directorship a new astronomical building was erected 
and equipped with an equatorial refractor of 8 inch aperture in 1867, and 
during his second tenure of office, this instrument was fitted with a larger 
objective of 15 inch aperture, as a memorial to Father Perry, in 1893. Died 
at Stonyhurst. 


Srurceon, Wm. (1783-1850), 5. Whittington. Son of a cobbler, he was 
apprenticed to his father’s trade, which he gave up for the Army, where he 
taught himself science. On leaving the Army he took up cobbling at Woolwich, 
and in his spare time was attracted to invention of scientific apparatus. Some 
of his inventions were :—(I) soft-iron electro-magnet, parent of the dynamo, 
of which he was the original discoverer (1823); (2) magneto-electrical 
machine ; (3) electro-magnetic rotatory engine (1832), His practical in- 
ventions covered the whole field of electrical science. Established the Annals 
of Electricity, the first electrical journal in England (1836). In 1840 became 
superintendent of the Victoria Gallery of Practical Science at Manchester, 
and subsequently lectured and wrote widely. Collected his writings under 
the title Scientific Researches. 


THRELKELD, Dr. Cates (1676-1728), b. Keibergh, in the parish of Kirk 
Oswald, Cumberland. Educated at the Universities of Glasgow (M.A.) and 
Edinburgh (M.D.). Settled in Dublin where he divided his time. between 
medical practice and Nonconformist preaching. Later gave up preaching and 
made extensive botanical expeditions all over Ireland. In 1727 published a 
Synopsis Stipium Hibernicarum, in which he described 535 species. 


TroucuTon, Epwarp, F.R.S. (1753-1835), b. Corney, Cumberland. At 
17 went to London and became a scientific instrument-maker in company with 
his brother. His inventions included a new mode of graduating circles, the 
mural circle, by which polar distances were measured. directly from the pole, 
the beam compass, and the hydrostatic balance. He was also famous for his 
telescopes, theodolites, and sextants, which were used on many important 
geodetical expeditions. Contributed to Brewster's Edinburgh Cyclopaedia. 
F.R.S., 1810. Died Kensal Green. 


Turner, Sir Wn., K.C.B., F.R.S. (1832-1916), 6. Lancaster. Apprenticed 
to a surgeon at Lancaster. Studied medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital 
and London University. Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Edinburgh, 1854. 
Professor, 1867-1903. F.R.S., 1877. President of the British Association, 


SCIENTISTS OF NORTH LANCASHIRE AND VICINITY 151 
1900. Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Edinburgh University, 1903. He was 


an admirable teacher and wrote many papers on anatomical subjects. 


Watxer, A. (1731-1821), 6. Patterdale. The son of a woollen manufacturer, 
he was self-taught, and eventually became a teacher of mathematics in Man- 
chester. Later travelled in the north, giving lectures in physics, and finally 
settled down to lecture in London. Services engaged by Eton, Westminster 
and other public schools. Had an aptitude for mechanical invention, his 
inventions including a machine for raising water, a machine for watering land, 
rotatory lights for lighthouses, and methods of thermo-ventilation. 


Warp, Rev. J. C. (1843-1880), 6. Clapham. Educated at the Royal School 
of Mines, was appointed to the Geological Survey, and from 1869-77 was 
engaged in a survey of the Lake District. In 1878 was licensed to the Curacy 
of St. John’s, Keswick. Pioneer in the use of the microscope for studying 
the composition of rocks. Published a short manual on Geology and wrote 
many papers for the Royal Society and the Geological Society. During 
residence at Keswick lectured on Geology and took a leading part in the 
foundation of the Cumberland Association for the Advancement of Literature 
and Science. 

Watson, Ricuarp, F.R.S., Bishop of Llandaff (1737-1816), 6. Heversham, 
Westmorland. Son of a clergyman. A Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge 
(1760), he was elected to the Chair of Chemistry (1764), having ‘ never read a 
syllable on the subject nor seen a single experiment.’ After 14 months’ study 
started lecturing, his lectures being well attended, and nine years after the 
appointment (1769) he was elected F.R.S. for his publications on salt solutions. 
In 1771 became Regius Professor of Divinity, but continued to study and write 
on chemistry. In 1774 made a discovery which led to the black-bulb thermo- 
meter. Bishop of Llandaff in 1782. Buried in Windermere Church where 
there is a tablet to his memory. 


WeLp, Father Atrren, S.J., F.R.A.S. (1823-1890), 6. Leagram Hall, near 
Preston, Lancs. Educated at Stonyhurst College. B.A. (Lond.), 1844. 
Entered the Society of Jesus, 1842. Director of the Stonyhurst Observatory 
from 1845 to 1851, and again from 1856 to 1860. As Director he gave a strong 
impulse to development, initiating more systematic meteorological observations 
in 1845, and, under the advice and with the assistance of General Sir Edward 
Sabine, F.R.S., commencing the regular determination of the earth’s magnetic 
elements, both of which series of observations have been continued un- 
interruptedly to the present time. It was owing to Father Weld’s successful 
‘ work that Stonyhurst was recognised as a meteorological station in connection 
with the Kew Committee. His scientific work at Stonyhurst came to an end 
upon his being called to high office in his Order. Died at St. Aidan’s College 
Grahamstown, Cape Province. 


WueEwe.., Wm., F.R.S. (1794-1866), b. Lancaster. The son of a master 
carpenter. Educated Lancaster Grammar School and Trinity College, 
Cambridge. He helped to introduce analytical methods of continental 
mathematicians. Elected F.R.S. in 1820, having previously published works 
on Mechanics and Dynamics. Occupied the Chairs of Mineralogy (1828-32) 
and Moral Philosophy (1838-55), during which time he wrote a history and 
a philosophy of the inductive sciences, and published in the Proceedings of the 


152 SCIENTIFIC SURVEY OF BLACKPOOL AND DISTRICT 


Royal Society important memoirs on tides. As Vice-Chancellor of the 
University introduced the triposes of Moral Science and Natural Science 
(1840). President of the British Association in its tenth year (Plymouth, 
1841). Said that there was “ scarcely any subordinate office of labour or dignity 
in the Association which he had not performed at one or other of its meetings.’ 
Suggested the annual reports on the State of Science, and contributed to the 
reports of the first Research Committees. Died and was buried in Cambridge. 


Wiuian, Dr. Rost., F.R.S. (1757-1812), 6. Sedbergh. Studied medicine 
at Edinburgh. Practised in Darlington and London. Physician to the 
Public Dispensary, London, 1783-1803. Received Fothergillian Medal from 
Medical Society of London for classification of skin diseases, 1790. He was 
the first in this country to arrange skin diseases in a clear and intelligible manner 
and fix their nomenclature. His classification is still used by the profession. 
Published, in parts, Description and treatment of Cutaneous Diseases (1798- 
1808). Elected F.R.S., 1809. Died Madeira. 


Wituiamson, Sir Josep, F.R.S. (1633-1701), b. Bridekirk, near Cocker- 
mouth. Son of a clergyman. Educated St. Bees, Westminster School, 
Queen's College, Oxford. During a hectic political life found time for interest 
in antiquities. Elected to the Royal Society by the original Council in 1663, 
he became its second President (1677-1680), and was succeeded by Sir 
Christopher Wren. Collected many valuable manuscripts relating to heraldry 
and history. Died Cobham, Kent; buried Westminster Abbey. 


Woop, Wn., F.R.S. (1774-1857), 5. Kendal. Educated for the medical 
profession at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, he practised first near Canterbury, 
and then in London till 1815, when he became a bookseller in the Strand. 
Took a keen interest in natural history. Elected F.R.S. in 1812. Wrote 
books on zoography, conchology, insects, and British freshwater fishes’; 
edited several others, and, besides illustrating his own works, drew pictures 
for other authors. 


Woopvitte, Wn., M.D. (1752-1805), b. Cockermouth. Studied medicine 
at Edinburgh and on the continent. Practised in Cumberland, Denbigh and 
London. In 1790 published the first volume of his great work on Medical 
Botany, in which he gave a description of all the plants mentioned in the 
catalogues of the Materia Medica published by the Royal Colleges of 
Physicians of London and Edinburgh. The third edition of this work extended 
to five volumes. 


Printed in England by 
Biackpoot GazeTTE & HERALD LTD., 
TEMPLE St. PrEsS, BLACKPOOL. 


INDEX 


References to addresses, reports, and papers printed in extended form are 


given in italics. 


* Indicates that the title only of a communication 1s given. 


When a page reference to a paper is given in italics, it is to a note of its 
publication elsewhere, or to a note of other publications by the author 


on the same subject. 


References preceded by the abbreviation Appdx. will be found in the appendix 


immediately preceding this index. 


Apspott, A., Part-time continued 
education, 435. 

Account, General Treasurer’s,1935-6, 
xliii. 

Acoustic jet generator, by Dr. J. 
Hartmann, 331, 471. 

Adaptability, a study of, by Miss 
D. M. Daldy, 404. 

Administration as a profession, by 
E. S. Byng, 380, 474. 

Administrative and technical 
worker in new forms of economic 
organisation, by S. W. Smith, 
379. 


Afforestation of difficult sites, by | 


J. A. B. MacDonald, 425. 

AcatTE, J. W. G., Uses and qualities 
of British hardwoods, 427*, 476. 

Agricultural co-operation and organ- 
isation in Scotland, by C. J. M. 
Cadzow, 382. 

Agriculture and national nutrition, 
discussion, by Sir John Orr, Sir 
Daniel Hall, Prof. J. A. S. 
Watson, and Prof. H. D. Kay, 438. 

Agriculture of the Fylde, by Wilfred 
Smith, Appdx. 44. 

Atcock, Mrs. N. L., Rots in potato 
storage, 416, 424*, 475. 

Alcohol and road accidents, by Dr. 
H. M. Vernon, 398. 

Algae, life cycle of Lower Brown, by 
Prof. F. E. Fritsch, 414, 475. 

Algae, life cycles of South African, 
by Dr. M. Pockock, 425*. 

Algae, mud-inhabiting, by J. W. G. 
Lund, 425*. 


Algal cultures, by Dr. M. Rosen- 


berg, 423. 

Algebraic number theory, modern 
problems in, by Dr. Olga Taussky, 
332 472. 

Autan, Dr. D. A., Function of the 
museum in zoology, 362, 473. 
ALLEN, K. R., Ecology of young 

salmon, 361. 

ALuIBONE, Dr. T. E., Production 
and application of high voltages, 
325, 471. 

Allomyces javanicus, by 
Brooks, 425*. 

American Indians, causes of back- 
wardness in, by Dr. D. Jenness, 
392. 

Ammoniacal acid fuchsin technique, 
by Miss E. M. Debenham, 425*. 

Amnesia, a case study, by R. J. 
Bartlett, 410. 

Amounderness, by E. Prentice Maw- 
son, Appdx. 6. 

ANprREws, J., Land utilisation in 
Australia, 375. 

Animal exclusion, hypothesis of, 
and plankton ecology, by Prof. 
A. C. Hardy, 360, 473. 

Annual meetings, table, xxiv. 

Anthropology applied to English 
history, by Dr. M. A. Murray, 
394. 

Anthropometric work in Lancashire, 
by H. Fullard, 389. 

Apparatus for maintaining constant 
humidity, by Dr. E. Griffiths and 
J. H. Awbery, 324, 471. 


Bae. 


T 


154 


ApPLEBEY, M. P., Industry and the 
profession of chemistry, 337, 
472. 

Aran range, Ordovician succession 
at S.W: end of, by Prof. H. P. 
Lewis, 351. 

Architecture of life, discussion on, 
by Dr. A. D. Ritchie, Dr. D. M. 
Wrinch, J. S. Mitchell, O. Gatty, 
Dr. P. Eggleton, and Dr. J. H. 
Quastel, 397, 475- 

ArmstTronG, A. L., Antiquity of 
man in Africa, 386. 

Artemia salina, report on, 298. 

AsuBy, Prof, A. W., Variations in 
conditions and cost of milk 
production, 441. 

Astpury, Dr. W., Elastic protein 
fibres, 323, 471. 

Atoms, complex, discussion on 
theory of, by Prof. D. R. Hartree, 
Dr. H. S. W. Massey and Dr. 
Bertha Swirles, 335, 472. 

Atoms, non-relativistic treatment of 
electronic structure of, by Prof. 
R. D. Hartree, 335. 

Auroral spectrum, changes in 
intensity distribution within, by 
Dr. L. Vegard, 328, 472. 


Austin, Mrs. F. M., Suggestibility | 


in University students, 411. 
Australia, land utilisation in, by 
J. Andrews, 375. 
AVELING, Prof, F., on Perseveration, 
314. 
Awsery, J. H., Apparatus for 
maintaining constant humidity, 


324. 


Banks, H., Blackpool coast defence 
works, 383, Appdx. 94. 

BARTLETT, R. J., Amnesia, a case 
study, 410. 

Batson, R. G., Road surfaces and 
road safety, 385, 474. 

Beaver, S.H.,Populationin Bulgaria, 


374- 

Beech in S. Wales, by H. A. Hyde, 
428. 

Beechwood associations of S. 
England, by Ray Bourne, 428. 

BEVERIDGE, Sir Wm., Analysis of 


unemployment in Britain, 378, | 


474. 


INDEX 


Binks, W., Ionisation measurement 
of short-wave radiation, 325. 

Bird census as an ecological method, 
by D. Lack, 363. 

Bird life of the Lake District, by 
H. J. Moon, Appdx. 141. 

Blackpool : A modern holiday resort, 
by Arthur Grime, Appdx. 5 

Blackpool, amusement park machin- 
ery, by L. Thompson, 382*. 

Blackpool coast defence works, by 
H. Banks, 383, Appdx. 94. 

Blackpool, Education in, by 
A. E. Ikin, Appdx. 103. 

Blackpool, geology of, by Prof. 
H. H. Read, 344*. 

Blackpool, growth of, as a holiday 
resort, by W. I. Curnow, Appdx. 


Dr. 


74: 

Blackpool, municipal life of, by D. L. 
Harbottle, Appdx. 85. 

Blackpool, Scientific Survey of, 
Appdx. 1-152. 

Blackpool, vertebrate fauna of, by 
J. R. Charnley, Appdx 119. 

Bleasdale circle, by W. J. Varley, 
388. 

Blood, control of circulation of, by 
Prof. R. J. S. McDowall, 173, 
397*. 

Blood groups, by Prof. R. R. Gates, 
388, 474. 


| Blood groups, report on, 306. 


BoswELL, Prof. P. G. H., on Glacial 
deposit of Brundon, 295. 


| Botany of the Lake District, by Dr. 


W. H. Pearsall, Appdx. 134. 
Bouton, E. H. B., Timber and its 
substitutes, 429*, 476. 


BourNE, Ray, Beechwood asso-. 
ciations of Southern England, 
428. 


| Bowen, E. G., Travels of the Celtic 


Saints in the Dark Ages, 393. 

Bowiz, Dr. W., Importance of 
isostasy in earth studies, 322. 

Mapping of U.S.A., 373*. 

Boyp, A. W., British Trust for 
ornithology: Swallow enquiry, 

63*. 

BRENCHLEY, Dr. W. E., Response of 
weed species to competition, 421, 
475. 

BRIDGEWATER, Duke of, and canal 
era, by Mrs. J. Thomas, 373. 


INDEX 


British Museum expedition to East 
Africa, by Dr. G. Taylor, 422. 

British Science Guild, xxxvi. 

BroaDHEAD, Mrs. Q. E., Repro- 
duction in Cerastomella fimbriata, 
415, 424*. 

Brooks, F. T., Allomyces javanicus, 
425*. 

Brown, Major R. L., Maps and 
road communication, 370. 


Brown, S. V., Cultural and social | 


values of science, 431. 

Brown, Dr. W., Freedom and moral 
obligation, 403*. 

Brundon, glacial deposits of , report on, 
295. 

Bryan, H., Potato growing: health 
of the seed, 445. 

Building materials, transverse 
elasticity of, by Dr. R. H. Evans 
and Dr. R. H. Wood, 386. 

Bulgaria, distribution of population 
in, by S. H. Beaver, 374. 

BurkiTT, M. C., on Derbyshire caves, 
307: 

Bync, E. S., Administration as a 
profession, 380, 474. 


Capzow, C. J. M., Agricultural co- 
operation and organisation in 
Scotland, 382. 

CALDWELL, Dr. J.,; Recent work on 
nature of virus, 416, 475. 

Carnforth, Lower Carboniferous 
south of, by Dr. R. G. S. Hudson, 
344. 

CaRPENTER, Prof. G. D. Hale, En- 
tomology and Natural Selection, 
358, 473. 

Journey 
swamp, 373*. 

CarRR-SAUNDERS, Prof. A. M., 
Genetics and race, 362*, 462. 

Cartography, Renaissance, influence 
of Church and State on, by G. H. 
Kimble, 371, 473. 

Caton Moor, Millstone Grit and 
glacial geology of, by F. C. 
Slinger, 345. 

Cell and cell structure, enzymic 
activity of, by Dr. J. H. Quastel, 
398*, 475. 

Celtic saints, travels of, in the Dark 
Ages, by E. G. Bowen, 393. 


round Okavango 


155 


Cephalopoda, 
phylogeny of, by Dr. 
Schindewolf, 346*. 

Cerastomella fimbriata, reproduction 
in, by Dame H. Gwynne-Vaughan 
and Mrs. Q. E. Broadhead, 415, 
424%. 


chapters from the 
OnE: 


| CHARLESWORTH, Prof. J. K., Intro- 


duction to discussion on Geomor- 
phology of the Irish Sea Basin, 
346. 

CHARNLEY, J. R., Vertebrate fauna 
of Blackpool, Appdx. 119. 

Chemist, Training of the, for the 
service of the community, by Prof, 
J. C. Philip, 43, 337*. 

Chemists, training of, for bio- 
chemistry and medicine, by Sir 
Henry Dale, 338. 

Chemistry and food science, dis- 
cussion on, by Dr. L. H. Lampitt, 
Dr. L. J. Harris; Dr. 'T., Moran; 
T. M. Herbert, and others, 343. 

Chemistry and industry, by M. P. 
Applebey, 337, 472. 

Chemistry and the community, 
discussion on, by M. P. Applebey, 
C. J. T..Cronshaw, and Sir 
Henry Dale, 337. 

CHESTERS, C. G. C., Root and stem 
diseases of Viola, 417. 

Chick embryo heart, film by Dr. 
P. D. F. Murray, 360*. 

CHIPPINDALE, H. G., Vitality of 
grass seedlings, 421. 

Chirocephalus, film by A. G. 
Lowndes, 360%. 

Cuitty, Miss L. F., The Irish Sea 
and Bronze Age culture, 395. 

Chlorophyll in plants, by J. Gillespie, 
420. 

Chromosome studies in Malvaceae, 
by C. E. Ford, 419. 

Chromosome studies in Oryzeae, by 
S. Ramanujam, 418, 425*. 

Chronology of the world crisis, report 
On, 303. 

Circulation of the blood, control of, by 
Prof. R. J. S. McDowall, 173, 

* 

Cladocera, parthenogenesis and bi- 
sexual reproduction in, by Dr. 
C. H. Mortimer, 360, 473. 

Curt, S. G., Coal Measure corre- 
lation, 355, 472. 


156 


Climate of the Fylde, by Wilfred 
Smith, Appdx. 34. 

Climate, stimulating, sheltering and 
personal, by Dr. O. Kestner, 400. 

Climates, hot,a means for comparison 
of, by Dr. W. F. Tyler, 406, 475. 

Climatic change, report on, 297. 

Climatic sensitivity, by Dr. M. B. 
Ray, 400. 

Coal industry of Lancashire, 
W. Prest, 381. 

Coal Measure correlation, discussion 
on, by Prof. A. E. Trueman, Dr. 
W. B. Wright, Dr. Emily Dix, 
Dr. A. Raistrick, Dr. J. Weir, 
Dr. D. A. Wray, S. G. Clift, Dr. 
J. ON. Millott, J. J. Walker, 
Dr. L. Slater, and G. A. Kellaway, 
352, 472. 

Coast defence works of Blackpool, by 
H. Banks, Appdx. 94. 

Courier, Dr. H. E., Fatigue in 
industry, from clinical aspect, 396, 
475. 

Colonial Empire, Mapping of the, by 
Brig. H.S. L. Winterbotham, 1o1, 
367*. 

Comper, Prof. N. M., Universities 
and education for rural life, 437. 
Conduction phenomena, new method 
of investigating, in semi-conduc- 
tors, by Dr. J. A. V. Fairbrother, 

328, 471. 

ConkKLIN, Prof. E. G., Morpho- 
genesis, 366*. 

Cooke, Dr. A. H., Magnetic method 
of cooling, 330. 

Co-operative trading, economics of, 
by G. Darling, 377, 474. 

Coracles and curraghs of the British 
Isles, by J. Hornell, 391, 474. 

Corsiau, Mile. Simone, Recent finds 
in the Indus Valley, 394. 

CornisH, Dr. Vaughan, National 
parks and the preservation of 
nature in England, 372. 

Corresponding Societies, conference of 
delegates, 446. 

Council and Officers, xvii. 

Council Report, 1935-6, xxxi. 

Cox, Miss A., Representation by 
squares and quadratfrei integers 
in a quadratic corpus, 334. 

Cramp, Prof. W., The engineer and 
the nation, 141, 382*. 


by 


INDEX 


Craven area, sudetic earth move- 
ments in, by Dr.R. G.S. Hudson, 
350. 

CRAWFORD, O. G. S., Archzo- 
logical work of the Ordnance 
Survey, 370*. 

Crew, Prof. F. A. E., Genetics and 
race, 362*, 463. 

McDougall’s Lamarckian ex- 
periment, 402, 475. 

CrONSHAW, C. J. T., Benign gifts of 
organic chemistry, 337, 472. 

Crustacea, egg membranes and 
attachments in, by Prof. C. M. 
Yonge, 360. 

Crustacea, orientation to gravity in, 
by G. E. H. Foxon, 366. 

Cultural and social values of science, 
discussion by Sir Richard 
Gregory, Prof. L. Hogben, S. R. 
Humby, S. V. Brown and Sir 
Daniel Hall, 429, 476. 

Curnow, W. I., Growth of Black- 
pool as a holiday resort, Appdx. 
74- 


Dakin, Prof. W. J., Ancient and 
modern whaling in Australasian 
seas, 359*. 

Function of the museum in 
zoology, 362*, 473. 

Datpy, Miss D. M., A study of 
adaptibility, 404. 

Date, Sir Henry, Training of 
chemists for biochemistry and 
medicine, 338. 

DarLING, George, Economics of 
co-operative trading, 377, 474. 
DauntT, J. G., Experiments on 
thermal and magnetic behaviour 

of supra conductors, 330. 

Davies, Ashton, ci Ss. 
problems, 383%, 4 

Transport in ie Fylde, Appdx. 


traffic 


Es 

Davirs, E., Anthropological survey 
of the Isle of Man, 388, 474. 

Rural settlements in Isle of 
Man, 389. 

Davies, J. L., Production of milk for 
market, 441*. 

Davies, O., Stone circles in northern, 
Ireland, 395. 


INDEX 


Davis, R., Breakdown of dielectrics 
under transient electrical stresses, 
326. 

Deane, H. G., Preservation of sea 
beaches, 383, 474. 

DEBENHAM, Miss E. M., Ammoni- 
acal acid fuchsin technique. 425*. 

Derbyshire caves, report on, 307. 

Dielectrics, aspects of electric 
strength of, by Dr. S. Whitehead, 
326. 

Dielectrics, breakdown of, under 
transient electrical stresses, by 
R. Davis, 326. 

Diesel engines, by H. Ricardo, 386*. 

Diet, requirements for adequate, by 
Sir John Orr, 438. 

Dicspy, Miss M., Russia and the 


Balkans : agricultural comparison, 
378, 474. 
Dix, Dr. Emily, Coal Measure 


correlation, 353, 472. 
Dona.p, G. H., Effects of pruning 
on quality of timber, 427, 476. 
Doveton, Miss D. M., Human 
geography of Swaziland, 375, 
473. 

Down House, xiii. 

Doyte, Prof. J., Development in 
Sequoia, 423. 

Drever, Prof. J., on Social psycho- 
logy, 317. sae. 

Reform of examination system, 
409. 

Drosophila and evidence for natural 
selection, by Dr. C. Gordon, 


358. 
Durton, A. F., Food for thought, 


399. 

Dulichium spatheceum, by Dr. T. 
Johnson, 424, 425*. 

Duntop, Miss M., Limestone 
escarpments and the Bronze 
Age in France, 396, 474 

—— Phytogeography of the Fylde, 
Appdx. 20. 

Dymonp, T. S., Raising the school- 
leaving age, 437, 476. 


Earth movements in carboniferous 
times in North England, dis- 
cussion on, by Prof. H. G. A. 
Hickling, Dr. R. G. S. Hudson, 


157 


R. C. B. Jones, and Dr. G. H. 
Mitchell, 349. 

Eartuy, Miss E. D., Social structure 
of a Gbande town, 393, 474. 

East, W. G., Severn waterway in 
18th and 19th centuries, 373. 

Eastwoop, T., Geology of the Lake 
District, Appdx. 130. 

Echinodermata, function and adapt- 
ation in, by Dr. W. K. Spencer, 
363. 

Economic incentive of the engineer, 
by Dr. C. C. Garrard, 382*. 

Education for rural life, discussion 
on, by Sir John Russell, H. M. 
Morris, Prof. N. M. Comber, 
T.S. Dymond, G. W. W. Pierce 
and Sir Arnold Wilson, 436. 

Education in Blackpool, by Dr. A. E. 
Ikin, Appdx. 103. 

Education, the future in, by Sir 
Richard Livingstone, 219, 432*. 
Eelworm diseases of the potato, by 

Prof. R. T. Leiper, 445. 

EcGcLeTon, Dr. P., Diffusion of 
solutes through muscles, 398*. 

EKWALL, Prof. Eilert, Place names 
of the Fylde, Appdx. 41. 

Elasmobranchs, evolution of, by 
J. A. Moy-Thomas, 367. 

Elastic protein-fibres, by Dr. W. 
Astbury, 323, 471. 

Electrical discharge phenomena on 
high voltage systems, by C. W. 
Marshall, 327, 471. 

Electricity for the consumer, by 
H. F. Shanahan, 384*. 

Electrodeposited coatings as corro- 
sive preventives, by Dr. S. Wer- 
nick, 338*. 

Electro-deposition processes, de- 
velopment of control in, by 
A. W. Hothersall, 338*. 

Electro-deposition, the future of, by 
Dr. H. J. T. Ellingham, 339*, 
472. 

Electro-plating, advances in in- 
dustrial, by C. F. J. Francis- 
Carter, 339*. 

Electro-plating, discussion on, by 
D. J. MacNaughton, A. W. 
Hothersall, Dr. S. Wernick, E. A. 
Ollard, C. F. J. Francis- Carter, 
and Dr. H. J. T. Ellingham, 338, 
472. 


T2 


158 


ELLINGHAM, Dr. H. J. T., The 
future of electro-deposition, 339*, 
472. 

Endocrines and morphogenesis, by 
Prof. E. A. Spaul, 365*, 473. 

Engineer and the Nation, by Prof. 
W. Cramp, 141, 382*. 

Entertainment, desire for, by D. W. 
Harding (see also Mass entertain- 
ment), 405. 

Entomology and Natural Selection, 
by Prof. G. D. Hale Carpenter, 
358. 

Epidermis, development of, by G. E. 
Smith, 418, 425*. 

Equisetites, by Prof. 'T. M. Harris, 
423, 425*. 

Erpés, Dr. P., Properties of sequ- 
ences of integers, 333, 472. 

EsTERMANN, Dr. T., Recent work in 
additive theory of numbers, 332, 
472. 

Evans, E. E., Stone circles in north- 
ern Ireland, 395. 

Evans, Dr. R. H., Transverse 
elasticity of building materials, 
386. 

Evening discourses, 4'78 

Examination system, discussion on 
reform of, by Dr. Ll. Wynn 
Jones, Prof. H. R. Hamley, 
W. A. F. Hepburn and Prof. J 
Drever, 408. 


FAIRBROTHER, Dr. J. A. V., New 
method for investigating conduc- 
tion phenomena in semi-conduc- 
tors, 328, 471. 

Far.ey, Rev. F. A., Psychological 
types to whom mass entertain- 
ment appeals, 405. 

Fatigue in industry, discussion on, 
by Dr. H. E. Collier, Dr. H. M. 
Vernon, and Dr. G. H. Miles, 


396. 

Fay, Dr. C. R., Plantation economy, 
117, 378*. 

FENTON, Dr. E. Wyllie, Man’s 
influence on vegetation in Scot- 
land, 445, 476. 

Fercuson, Prof. Allan, Trends in 
modern physics, 27; (with note on 
heavy water), 323*. 


INDEX 


Fibres, discussion on elastic and 
absorptive properties of, by, Dr. 
W. Astbury, Dr. M. Mathieu, 
Dr. J. Speakman, Dr. E. Griffiths 
and J. H. Awbery, 323. 

Film exhibitions, by G. B. Instruc- 
tional, Ltd., 359* ; A. G. Lowndes, 
360*, 417*; Dr. D. Jenness, 
396*; Dr. P. D. F. Murray, 
360* ; C. H. Waddington, 360*. 

FISHENDEN, Dr. M., Measurement 
of radiation from combustion 
gases, 386*. 

FISHER, Prof. R. A., 
salina, 298. 


on Artemia 


Flagella movement, by A. G. 
Lowndes, 417. 

Fleure, Prof. H. J., on Blood 
groups, 306. 


Racial theory and genetic ideas, 

459. 

Science of man and problems 
of to-day, 394*. 

FLORENCE, Prof. P. Sargant, The 
localisation of industry, 380. 

FoisTer, Dr. C. E., Rots in potato 
storage, 416, 424*, 475. 

Folklore Commission, work of the 
Irish, by S. O.Duilearga, 390. 

Folktale in Westmorland and North 
Lancashire, by Dr. E. Wilson, 


390. 

Food, biology of preparation of, by 
Dr. T. Moran, 343. 

Food for thought, by A. F. Dufton, 
399. 

Food, nutritional aspect of, by Dr. 
L. ob Harris, 342. 

Food, scientific aspect of preparation 


of, by Dr. L. H. Lampitt, 342*, 
472. 
Food, transport of, by J. M. 


Herbert, 343. 

Ford,.C. E., Chromosome studies in 
Malvaceae, 419. 

Forp, Dr. E. B., Selection in rela- 
tion to genic background, 359, 
473. 

Forpe, Prof. C. Daryll, Social 
change in a West African village 
community, 392. 

Fossil horse-tails, by Prof. T. M. 
Harris, 423, 425*, 476. 

Fox, C., Mental heredity, 402, 
475. 


INDEX 


Foxon, G. E. H., Orientation to 
gravity in Crustacea, 366. 

Francis-Carter, C. F. J., Advances 
in industrial electro-plating, 339*. 


Freedom and moral obligation, by | 


Dr. W. Brown, 403*. 


Fritscu, Prof. F. E., Life cycle of | 


Lower Brown Algae, 414, 475. 

on Windermere Freshwater 
Biological Station, 300. 

Frog skin, potential differences 
across the, by O. Gatty, 398*, 475. 

Frost, Miss W. E., Trout food and 
river fauna, 361, 473. 

Fruit trees, scion and rootstock, by 
ID Sree Bes Swarbrick, 419, 425*. 

Fryer, E. H., Science and the 
solution of ee difficulties and 
dangers, 385, 4 

ucHs, 1. V., fae Rudolf: its 
formation and history, 357. 

FuLuarpD, H., Anthropometric work 
in Lancashire, 389. 

Fungi, the uses of, by J. Ramsbottom, 
189, 414*. 

Fylde, agrarian evolution, by Wilfred 
Smith, Appdx. 44. 

Fylde, agricultural geography, by 
W. Smith, 368. 

Fylde, Climate, by Wilfred Smith, 
Appdx. 34. 

Fylde, historical geography, Appdx. 31 

Fylde, geology and. physical features, 
by R. Kay Gresswell, Appdx. 16. 

Fylde, main centres of population, by 
R. E. Thompson, Appdx. 39. 

Fylde, peat mosses, by F. Walker, 
Appdx. 27. 

Fylde, phytogeography, by Miss M. 
Dunlop, Appdx. 20. 

Fylde, place names, by Prof. Eilert 
Ekwall, Appdx. 41. 

Fylde, regional survey, by E. 
Prentice Mawson, Appdx. 6. 

Fylde, transport, by Ashton Davies, 
Appdx. 58. 


GarrarD, Dr. C. C., The economic 
incentive of the engineer, 382*. 
Garrop, Miss D. A. E., The Upper 
Paleolithic in the light of recent 
discovery, 155, 386*. 

Gates, Prof. R. R., Blood groups, 
388, 474. 


159 


Gates, Prof. R. R., Genetic survey 
and evolutionary study, 420. 

Genetics and race, 362*, 462. 

Gatty, O., Potential differences 
across the frog skin, 398*, 475. 

General Treasurer’s Account, 1935-6, 
xliit. 

Genetic survey method of evolution- 
ary study, by Prof. R. R. Gates, 
420. 

Genetics and race, discussion on, by 
Prof. H. J. Fleure, Dr. J. S. 
Huxley, Dr. G. M. Morant, Prof. 
A. M. Carr-Saunders, Prof. R. 
Ruggles Gates and Prof. F. A. E. 
Crew, 362*, 391*, 458. 

Genic background in relation to 
selection, by Dr. E. B. Ford, 359, 


473. 

Geology of the Fylde, by R. Kay 
Gresswell, Appdx. 16. 

Geology of the Lake District, 
T. Eastwood, Appdx. 130. 

Geology, Teaching of, in schools, 
report on, 291. 

GILLESPIE, J., Chlorophyll in plants, 
420. 

GILLESPIE, Dr. R. D., Modern 
civilization and nervous break- 
down, 401*. 

Giiuis, Dr. J., Notes on modern 
theory of measure, 332. 

Gitmour, J. S. L., Whither taxo- 
nomy ? 417. 

Gnathobase, use of the term, by 
A. G. Lowndes, 366. 

Gold and other rare elements in 
plants, by Prof. B. Némec, 415, 


by 


424*, 476. : 
Gorpon, Dr. C., Evidence of 
natural selection from genetic 


analysis of Drosophila, 358. 

Gorpon, H. D., Mycorrhiza in 
rhododendrons, 424, 429*. 

Grant, Mrs. K., Insect immigration 
enquiry, 457. 

Grass seedlings, vitality of, by H. G. 
Chippindale, 421. 

GREENLY, Dr. E., Geomorphology of 
the Irish Sea Basin, 347. 

GREENWOOD, Dr. A. W., Breeding 
problems in the poultry industry, 
364, 473. 

Grecory, Sir Richard, Cultural 
and social values of science, 429. 


160 


GRESSWELL, R. Kay, Geology and 
physical features of the Fylde, 
Appdx. 16. 

Geomorphology of S.W. Lan- 

cashire coast-line, 369, 473. 

Irish Sea Basin, geomorphology 
of south-eastern portion, 347. 

GrirFiTHs, Dr. E., Apparatus for 
maintaining constant humidity, 
324, 471. 

on Thermal conductivities of 
rocks, 258. 

GriFFiTHs, Dr. Ruth, Phantasy in 
normal development of childhood, 
404, 475. 

Grime, Arthur, Blackpool, A modern 
holiday resort, Appdx. 5. 

Group psychology, by Dr. R. W. 
Pickford, 408. 

GWYNNE-VAUGHAN, Dame Helen, 
Reproduction in Cerastomella 
fimbriata, 415, 424*. 


HatxeT, Miss A. C., Periodic 
movement of flowers in nyctyan- 
thous plants, 422. 

Hatt, Sir Daniel, Cultural and 
social values of science, 431, 476. 

National nutrition and British 
agriculture, 439, 477. 

Hattrixe, C. S., Phase charge effect 
on the cat’s ear, 399, 475- 

Hanan, E. T., Nutrition problems 
in the poultry industry, 364. 

Hamtiey, Prof. H. R., Reform of 
examination system, 409*. 

Hamnett, W., Poultry industry and 
its problems, 363. 

Harsott te, D. L., Municipal life of 
Blackpool, Appdx. 85. 

Harpinc, Denys W., Desire for 
entertainment, 405. 

Hardwoods, ring-porous and diffuse- 
porous, by Prof. J. H. Priestley 
and Miss L. I. Scott, 428. 

Hardwoods, uses and qualities of 
Buitish, by J. W. G. Agate, 427*, 
476. 

Harpy, Prof, A. C., Plankton ecology 
and hypothesis of Animal Ex- 
clusion, 360, 473. 

Harmer, Sir Sidney, on Zoological 
record, 297. 


INDEX 


Harris, Dr. L. J., Nutritional aspect 
of food science, 342. 

Harris, Prof. T. M., Fossil horse- 
tails, 423, 425*, 476. 

Hartmann, Dr. J., The acoustic jet 
generator, 331, 471. 

HarTreE, Prof. R. D., Non-relativ- 
istic treatment of electronic 
structures of atoms, 335. 

HartTRIDGE, Prof. H., Phase charge 
effect on the cat’s ear, 399, 475. 

Hawkins, Prof. H. L., Paleon- 
tology and humanity, 57, 349*. 

Headlight glare and illumination in 
fog, by Dr. W.S. Stiles, 385, 474. 

Health hazards from toxic sub- 
stances, by Miss E. M. Killick, 
402. 

Heavy water, note on, by Prof. A. 
Ferguson, 323. 

Helium expansion method for lique- 
fying, by G. L. Pickard, 330. 

Helium, properties of liquid, by Dr. 
B. Rollin, 330. 

HENDERSON, W. B., Part-time educa- 
tion, 435. 

HENDERSON, W. O., Problems of 
Lancashire cotton supply, 369, 
473. 

HeNprick, Prof. J., Soil science in 
the twentieth century, 233, 443*- 
Hepspurn, W. A. F., Reform of 

examination system, 409. 

Hersert, T'. M., Transport of food, 


343- 

Heterothallism in Typhula Trifolii, 
by Dr. M. Noble, 416, 476. 

Hick.inc, Prof. G. H. A., Earth 
movements in North England, 


349. 

Hickman, C. J., Root and stem 
diseases of Viola, 417. 

High voltages, discussion on pro- 
duction and technical application 
of, by Dr. T. E. Allibone, Dr. 
G. W. C. Kaye, W. Binks, Prof. 
W. M. Thornton, R. Davis, 
Dr. S. Whitehead and C. W. 
Marshall, 325, 472. 

Hitt, Sir Arthur, on Transplant 
experiments, 319. 

Hill planting, by A. P. Long, 425*, 

6 


470. 
Hill villages in England, by Miss 
D. Sylvester, 376. 


INDEX 


Hitimann, H., Relation of econo- 
mics to social psychology, 412. 
Hinton, M. A. C., Function of the 
museum in zoology, 362*, 473. 
Hosss, Prof. W. Physical 
solution of some problems within 
polar regions, 372, 473. 

Hocsen, Prof. L., Cultural and 
social values of science, 430, 476. 

Ho.uincwortH, Dr.S.E., Platforms 
around the Lake District, 348. 

Hoimes, Prof. A., Relations of 
geological time and former glaci- 
ations to evolution of Solar 
System, 320. 

Horper, Rt. Hon. Lord, Strain of 
modern civilization, 401*, 464, 475. 

HorRnNELL, J., Coracles and curraghs 
of the British Isles, 391, 474. 

HoTHERSALL, A. W., Development 
of control in electro-deposition 
processes, 338*. 

Hotine, Major M., Grid system for 
Ordnance Survey maps, 370. 

Hupson, Dr. R. G. S., Lower 
carboniferous south of Carnforth, 


344 


Sudetic earth movements in 
the Craven area, 350. 

Humpy, S. R., Cultural and social 
values of science, 430. 

Hurtcuinson, H. P., Dormant buds 
and roots of Salix cerulea, 429. 

Huxiey, Dr. J. S., Genetics and 
race, 362*, 460. 

Natural selection and evolution- 
ary progress, 81, 358*. 

Hybridity, structural, in Lilium, by 
Dr. M. M. Richardson, 418, 476. 

Hype, H. A., The beech in S. Wales, 
428. 


Ixin, Dr. A. E., Education in Black- 
pool and district, Appdx. 103. 

Indus valley, recent finds in, by 
Mlle. Simone Corbiau, 394. 

Industry and chemistry, by M. P. 
Applebey, 337, 472. 

Industry, localisation of, by Prof. 
P. Sargant Florence and A. J. 
Wensley, 380. 

Insect immigration and enquiry, by 
Dr. C. B. Williams and Mrs. K. 
Grant, 457. 


161 


Instruction for unemployed juve- 
niles, by Dr. J. P. McHutchison, 
435. 

Integers, properties of sequences of, 
by Dr. P. Erdés, 333, 472. 

Irish Sea and Bronze Age culture by 
Miss L. F. Chitty, 395. 

Irish Sea Basin, discussion on geo- 
morphology of, by Prof. J. K. 
Charlesworth, Dr. E. Greenly, 


R. Kay Gresswell, A. Austin 
Miller and Dr. S. E. Holling- 
worth, 346. 


Irish Sea Coast, pre-glacial erosion 
surfaces round the, by A. Austin 
Miller, 348. 

Isaacs, Dr. Susan, Mental develop- 
ment in the pre-school child, 432. 

Isle of Man, anthropological survey 
of, by E. Davies, 388, 474. 

Isle of Man, rural settlements in, by 
E. Davies, 389, 474. 

Isostasy, importance of, in earth 
studies, by Dr. W. Bowie, 322. 


JEANS, Sir James, Evolution of the 
Solar System, 320. 

JEFFREYS, Dr. H., Evolution of the 
Solar System, 322*, 471. 

Temperature conditions within 
the earth’s crust, 331*, 471. 

JeNNEss, Dr. D., The backwardness 
of the American Indians and its 
causes, 392, 396*. 

Jounson, Dr. T., Dulichium 
spatheceum, 424, 425*. 

Jotty, H. L. P., Terrestrial magnetic 
bearings and their practical uses, 


a3is 

Jones, Miss I., Nursery education 
in Lancs., 433. 

Jones, Prof. J. H., on Chronology of 
the world crisis, 303. 

Jones, Dr. Ll. Wynn, Reform of 
examination system, 408. 

Jones, R. C. B., Lancashire coalfield 
between Rossendale anticline and 
Cheshire Basin, 350. 


KAUFFMANN, Dr. B., Recent results 
in general topology, 333. 

Kay, Prof. H. D., National nutrition 
and British agriculture; milk, 


440, 477. 


162 


Kaye, Dr. G. W. C., Ionisation 
measurement of short-wave radia- 
tion, 325. 

Keity, Sir 
Cavern, 303- 

Ketitaway, G. A., Coal Measure 
correlation, 356. 

Kennepy, Dr. W. Q., Moine schists 
of W. Inverness-shire, 345, 472. 

Kent’s cavern, report on, 303. 

Keratins, chemical aspects of elastic 
properties of, by Dr. J. Speakman, 


on Kent’s 


Arthur, 


324, 472. 

KestNeR, Dr. O., Stimulating 
sheltering and personal climate, 
400. 

Kittick, Miss E. M., Health 
hazards from toxic substances, 
402. 


Kimste, G. H., Influence of Church 
and State on Renaissance carto- 


graphy, 371, 473. 


434. 
Kitson, Sir A. E., Topographic 
maps and mining, 368, 473. 


Lack, D., The bird census as an 
ecological method, 363. 

Lapn_er, A. W., Beam wireless, 384. 

Lake District, botany, by Dr. W. H. 
Pearsall, Appdx. 134. 

Lake District, geology, by 'T. East- 
wood, Appdx. 130. 

Lake District, mammals, by H. J. 
Moon, Appdx. 139. 

Lake District, platforms, by Dr. 
S. E. Hollingworth, 348. 

Lake District, summer bird life, by 
H. J. Moon, Appdx. 141. 

Lake Rudolf, its formation and 
history, by V. E. Fuchs, 357. 


Lampitt, Dr. L. H., Scientific 
aspect of preparation of food, 
342*, 472. 


Lancashire, anthropometric work in, 
by H. Fullard, 389. 

Lancashire coal industry, by W. 
Prest, 381. 

Lancashire coalfield between Rossen- 
dale anticline and Cheshire basin, 
by R. C. B. Jones, 350. 

Lancashire cotton supply problems, 
by W. O. Henderson, 369, 473. 


INDEX 


Lancashire geomorphology, S. W. 
coastline, by R. K. Gresswell, 
369, 473. 

Lancashire Scientists, 
Lowe, Appdx. 143. 

Lancashire sea fisheries, by Prof. 

. H. Orton and H. Paynter, 
Appdx. 69. 

LANCHESTER, Dr. F. W., Magnetic 
and electric units, 384, 474. 

Land utilisation in Australia, by J. 
Andrews, 375. 

Land utilisation maps, by Dr. L. 
Dudley Stamp, 425*. 

Lanc, Dr. W. D., The menace of 
rubbish dumping, 456. 

LatHaM, E., Preservation of sea 
beaches, 383, 474. 

Law, C., Milk production costs, 441. 

Leacu, Dr. W., Respiration intensity 
and oxygen concentration, 420*. 


by D. N. 


| Lez, C. A., Problems of a small 
KitcHen, P.I., Part-time education, | 


manufacturing business, 379, 474. 

Lee, Sir Kenneth, Part-time educa- 
tion, 434. 

Leper, Prof. R. T., Eelworm 
diseases of potato, 445. 

Lewis, Prof. P., Ordovician 
succession at S.W. end of Aran 
range, 351. 

Lewis, Dr. M. M., Beginning of 
reference to past and future in a 
child’s speech, 403. 

Limestone escarpments and the 
Bronze Age in France, by Miss 
M. Dunlop, 396, 474. 

Liming and manuring and _ soil 
research, by Dr. A. B. Stewart, 


Lincolnshire, East, saline waters and 
soils of, by Prof. H. H. Swinner- 
ton, 357. 

LinpGREN, Dr. E. J., Methods of 
investigation in social psychology, 
411, 475. 

Russo-Tungus culture contract, 
392, 474. 

Linton-in-Craven, a Pennine Dales 
parish, by Dr. A. Raistrick, 375. 
Living matter, molecular structure 
of, by Dr. D. M. Wrinch, 397. 
LivINGsTONE, Sir Richard, The 

future in education, 219, 432*. 

L.M.S. traffic problems, by Ashton 

Davies, 383*, 474. 


INDEX 


Lone, A. P., Hill planting, 425*, 
476. 

Loudness, discrimination and esti- 
mation of, by Dr. B. Semeonoff, 
406. 

Low temperature physics, discussion 
on, by Dr. H. Grayson Smith, 
Dr. K. Mendelssohn, J. G. 
Daunt, Dr. B. Rollin, Dr. A. H. 
Cooke and G. L. Pickard, 329. 

Lowe, D. N., Scientists of North 
Lancashire, Appdx. 143. 

Lownpres, A. G., Chirocephalus, 
film, 360*. 

— Flagella movement, 417. 

—— The term ‘ gnathobase’, 366. 

Lunp, J. W. G., Mud-inhabiting 
algae, 425*. 

LyTTLeETON, R. A., Binary star 
hypothesis of origin of Solar 
System, 322*, 471. 


McCrea, Prof. W. H., R. A. Lyttle- 
ton’s binary star hypothesis,322*, 
471. 

MacponaLp, Miss I., The pre- 
school child, 432*. 

MacDona_p, J. A. B., Afforestation 
of difficult sites, 425. 


McDougall’s Lamarckian  experi- 
ment, by Prof. F. A. E. Crew, 
402, 475. 


McDowat.t, Prof. R. J. S., Control 
of circulation of the blood, 173, 
397*. 

McHutcuison, Dr. J. P., In- 
struction for unemployed juve- 
niles, 435. 

MacnaucutTan, D. J., Introduction 
to discussion on electroplating, 
338°. 

Magnetic and electric units, by 
‘Dr. F. W. Lanchester, 384, 474. 
Magnetic method of cooling, by 

Dr. A. H. Cooke, 330. 

Magnetic qualities, incremental, test 
specification for, by Dr. L. G. A. 
Sims, 382. 

Mart_anp, Dr. T. G., Visual factors 
in vertigo, 406. 

Mammals of the Lake District, by 
H. J. Moon, Appdx. 139. 

Man, antiquity of, in Africa, by 
A. L. Armstrong, 386. 


163 


Man, science of and problems of 
to-day, by Prof. H. J. Fleure, 
* 


394". 

Mapping of the Colonial Empire, by 
Brig. H. S. L. Winterbotham, ror, 
367*. 

Maps and road communication, by 
Major R. L. Brown, 370. 

Marcuant, Prof. E. W., Variable 
oscillator for speech frequencies, 
384, 474. 

MarsHat.t, C. W., Electrical dis- 
charge phenomena on high voltage 
systems, 327, 471. 

Marine sand animals, film of, by 
C. H. Waddington, 360*. 

Mass entertainment, discussion on 
psychology of, by D. W. Harding, 
F. C. Thomas and Rev. F. A. 
Farley, 404. 

Massey, Dr. H. S. W., Laws of in- 
teraction between particles, 336*. 

Mathematical ability, by Dr. H. W. 
Oldham, 410, 475. 

Mathematical tables, report on, 256. 

Mathieu, Dr. M., X-ray cinemato- 
graphy of a simple fibre reaction, 
324, 471. 

Mawson, E. PRENTICE, ‘Amounder- 
ness, a regional survey of the 
Fylde, Appdx. 6. 

Measure, notes on modern theory 
of, by Dr. J. Gillis, 332. 

Metuanp, Ald. W., Playing fields, 
character and health, 398, 475. 

MetviLLe, Dr. W. H., Secondary 
reactions in photochemistry, 342. 

MENDELSSOHN, Dr. K., Normal and 
anomalous supraconductors, 329. 

Mental heredity, by C. Fox, 402, 
475. 

Mental output and chemical change, 
fluctuation curves of, by Dr. 
S.J. F. Philpott, 406. 

Microflora of two Cardiganshire 
rivers, by Miss M. Reese, 423, 
476. 

Mites, Dr. G. H., Fatigue from 
industrial point of view, 397, 
475. 

Milk production, discussion on 
economic problems of, by C. Law, 
J. L. Davies, A. W. Ashby, John 
Orr and A. D. Buchanan Smith, 
441 


164 


Mititer, A. Austin, Pre-glacial 
erosion surfaces round the Irish 
Sea coast, 348. 

MittotTt, Dr. J.O.’N., Coal measure 
correlation, 355. 

Mitne, Prof. E. A., Dynamical 
aspects of evolution of the solar 
system, 321, 472. 

Mining Sites in Wales, Early, report 
On, 304. 

Minns, F. C., Experimental ap- 
proach to sex-selection, 359. 

MiTcHELL, Dr. G. H., The Skipton 
Anticline, 351, 472. 

MITCHELL, J. S., Action of ultra- 
violet radiation on proteins, 398*. 

Molecular spectra as a guide to 
photochemical reaction, by H. W. 
Thomson, 341. 

Moon, H. J., Mammals of the Lake 
District, Appdx. 139. 

Summer bird life of the Lake 
District, Appdx. 141. 

Moorland Long-house in Wales, by 
I. C. Peate, 389, 475. 

Moran, Dr. T., Biology of food 
preparation, 343. 

Morant, Dr. G. M., Genetics and 
race, 362*, 458. 

Morphogenesis, discussion on, by 
C. H. Waddington, Dr. P. D. F. 
Murray, Prof. E. A. Spaul, Dr. J. 
Needham and Prof. E. G. Conk- 
lin, 365. 

Morphogenetic fields and self-differ- 
entiating mosaics, by Dr. P. D. F. 
Murray, 365. 

Morphogenetic fields, chemical in- 
terpretation of, by Dr. J. Need- 
ham, 366. 

Morais, H., Education for rural life, 
347: 

Mortimer, Dr. C. H., Partheno- 

genesis and bisexual reproduction 

in the Cladocera, 360, 473. 

Moy-Tuomas, J. A., Evolution of 

the Elasmobranchs, 367. 

Mud-inhabiting algae, by J. W. G. 

Lund, 425*. 

Mutter, Prof. 
Selection, 359*. 

Municipal. Life of Blackpool, 
D. L. Harbottle, Appdx. 85. 

Mourpuy, Prof. P. A., Potato viruses 
and potato production, 445*, 477. 


H. J., Natural 


by 


INDEX 


Murray, Dr. M. A., Anthropology 
applied to English history, 394. 
Morray, Dr. P. D. F., Film of 

chick embryo heart, 360*. 
Morphogenetic fields and self- 
differentiating mosaics, 365. 
Museums, function of, in Zoology, 
discussion by Dr. D. A. Allan, 
M. A. C. Hinton, Prof. W. J. 
Dakin, Dr. A. C. Stephen and 
J. A. S. Stendall, 362, 473. 
Mycorrhiza in rhododendrons, by 
H. D. Gordon, 424, 429*. 
Myers, Dr. C. S., on Routine 
manual factor, 311. 


Narrative of Meeting, xxviii. 

National nutrition and _ British 
Agriculture, discussion by Sir 
John Orr, Sir Daniel Hall, Prof. 
J. A. S. Watson and Prof. H. D. 
Kay, 438. 

National parks and the preservation 
of Nature, by Dr. Vaughan 
Cornish, 372. 

Native floras, preservation of, by 
Dr. A. B. Rendle, 448. 

Natural selection and evolutionary 
progress, by Dr. J. S. Huxley, 81, 

gx 


NEEDHAM, Dr. J., Chemical inter- 
pretation of fields, 366. 

NEMEC, Prof. B., Gold and other rare 
elements in plants, 415, 424*, 
476. 

Neolithic Danubians, racial and 
linguistic affinities of, by Dr. 
J. Pokorny, 395. 

NEVILLE, Prof. E. H., on Mathemat- 
ical tables, 256. 

New Forest, by D. W. Young, 425*. 

Nose, Dr. M., Heterothallism in 
Typhula Trifolii, 416, 476. 

Nomenclature of archaeology, by 
Dr. T. A. Rickard, 387. 

Non-linear partial _—_ differential 
equations, theory of, by Prof. 
M. R. Siddiqi, 336. 

Non-tarnishable finishes, by E. A. 
Ollard, 339*. 

Norriso, Dr. R. G. W., Photo- 
chemistry of polyatomic molecules, 
342*. \ 


INDEX 


Numbers, recent work in additive 
theory of, by Dr. T. Estermann, 
332, 472. 

Nurseries in distressed areas, by 
Mrs. M. Wintringham, 432, 476. 

Nursery education in Lancashire, 
by Miss I. Jones, 433. 


Oakey, C. A., Psychological prob- 
lems of a depressed area, 412, 475. 
-DuILEARGA, S., The work of the 
Irish Folklore Commission, 390. 

OksER, Dr. O. A., Methods of em- 
pirical research in social psycho- 
logy, 412, 475. 

Officers and Council, xvii. 

Officers, Sectional, xxi. 

OrrorpD, Dr. A. C., Uniqueness 
theorems for trigonometric series 
and integrals, 334, 472. 

Okavango swamp, Ngamiland, by 
Prof. G. D. Hale Carpenter, 373*. 

OxtpHam, Dr. H. W., Mathematical 
ability, 410, 475. 

OutiarD, E. A., Non-tarnishable 
finishes, 339*. 

Ordnance Survey, archzological 
work of the, by O. G. S. Crawford, 
370*. 

Ordnance Survey maps, grid system 
for, by Major M. Hotine, 370. 
Organic chemistry, benign gifts of, 
by C. J. T. Cronshaw, 337, 472. 
Organisers and their limitations, by 

C.H. Waddington, 365. 

Ornithology, British Trust for, by 
A. W. Boyd, 363*. 

Orr, John, Economics of feeding for 
milk, 442, 477. 

Orr, Sir John, Requirements for an 
adequate diet, 438. 

Orton, Prof. J. H., Lancashire sea 
fisheries, Appdx. 69. 


PaGET, Sir Richard, Sign language in 
relation to human speech, 393, 


475. 

Paleolithic, The Upper, in light of 
recent discovery, by Miss D. A. E. 
Garrod, 155, 386*. 

Paleontology and humanity, by 
Prof. H, L. Hawkins, 57, 349*. 


165 


Palestine, modern geography of, by 
Lt.-Col. F. J. Salmon, 367. 

PALLIsTER, Dr. Helen, Relation of 
vocational and social psychology, 
414. 

Parthenogenesis and bi-sexual re- 
production in the Cladocera, by 
Dr. C. H. Mortimer, 360, 473. 

Particles, laws of interaction be- 
tween, by Dr. H. S. W. Massey, 
336*. 

Part-time continued education, dis- 
cussion on, by J. L. Paton, P. I. 
Kitchen, Sir K. Lee, Dr. J. P. 
McHutchison, W. B. Henderson 
and A. Abbott, 434. 

PaTERSON, C. C., Science and electric 
lighting, 478. 

Paton, J. L., Part-time education, 
434. 

Patterns of experience, by A. W. 
Wolters, 181, 404*. 

Past and future, beginnings of 
reference to, in a child’s speech, 
by Dr. M. M. Lewis, 403. 

Paynter, H., Lancashire sea fisheries, 
Appdx. 69. 

PeakE, H. J. E., on Early mining 
sites in Wales, 304. 

on Sumerian copper, 308. 

PEARSALL, Dr. W. H., Botany of the 
Lake District, Appdx. 134. 

PEARSON, F’. G. O., Outlets for home- 
grown timber, 426, 476. 

Pearson, Dr. T. G., Photochemical 
generation of free radicals, 342*. 

Peat mosses of the Fylde, by F. 
Walker, Appdx. 27. 

PeaTE, I. C., The moorland Long- 
house in Wales, 389, 475. 

PENsTON, Dr. N. L., Potassium in 
leaves, 420, 476. 

Periodic movement of flowers, by 
Miss A. C. Halket, 422. 

Perseveration, report on, 314. 

Phantasy, significance of, in develop- 
ment of childhood, by Dr. R. 
Griffiths, 404, 475. 

Phase charge effect on the cat’s 
ear, by C. S. Hallpike, Prof. H. 
Hartridge, and A. F. Rawdon 
Smith, 399, 475. 

Puiuip, Prof. J. C., Training of the 
chemist for the service of the 
community, 43, 337*. 


166 


Puitpott, Dr. S. J. F., Fluctuation 
curves of mental output and 
chemical change, 407. 


Photochemical generation of free | 


radicals, by Dr. T. G. Pearson, 
342”. 

Photochemistry, discussion on, by 
Dr. R. G. W. Norrish, H. W. 

- Thompson, Dr. T. G. Pearson 
and Dr. W. H. Melville, 341. 

Photochemistry of polyatomic 
molecules, by Dr. R. G. W. 
Norrish, 342*. 

Photochemistry, secondary reactions 
in, by Dr. W. H. Melville, 342. 
Physics, trends in modern, by Prof. 

Allan Ferguson, 27. 

Phytogeography of the Fylde, by 
Miss M. Dunlop, Appdx. 20. 

PickarD, G. L., Expansion method 
for liquefying helium, 330. 

PickrorD, Dr. R. W., Conclusion of 
a study of group psychology, 408. 

Pierce, G. W. W., Education for 
rural life, 438. 

Pierce, W. O’D., Vocational psycho- 
logy and job changes, 413. 

Place names of the Fylde, by Prof. 
Eilert Ekwall,; Appdx. 41. 

Plankton ecology and animal ex- 
clusion, by Prof. A. C. Hardy, 
360, 473. 

Plantation economy, by Dr. C. R. 
Fay, 117, 378*. 

Plant hunting and exploration in 
Tibet, by Capt. F. Kingdon Ward, 
XXVili. 

Playing fields, character and health, 
by Ald. W. Melland, 398, 475. 
Pockock, Dr. M., Volvox life cycle, 

425*. 

Pokorny, Dr. J., Racial and lin- 
guistic affinities of neolithic Danu- 
bians, 395. 

Polar regions, physical solution of 

> some problems of discovery in, 
by Prof. W. H. Hobbs, 372, 473. 

PoOLLARD-URQUHART, B., Working 
plans for the private estate, 429*. 

Potassium in leaves, by ‘Dr. N. L. 
Penston, 420, 476. 

Potato growing, discussion on scien- 
tific aspects of, by H. Bryan, Prof. 
P. A. Murphy and Prof. R. T. 
Leiper, 445. 


INDEX 


Potato storage, rots in, by Dr. 
C. E. Foister, I. W. Tervet, and 
Mrs. N. L. Alcock, 416, 424*, 
475. 

Pottery industry and Industrial 
Revolution, by Dr. John Thomas, 
381. a3 

PouLtTton, Dr. E. P., Strain of 
modern civilization, 401. 

Poultry industry, discussion on, by 
W. Hamnett, Dr. A. W. Green- 
wood, E. T. Halnan, Dr. E. L. 
Taylor, and others, 363 

Pre-school child, discussion on, by 
Mrs. M. Wintringham, Miss 
Ishbel Macdonald, Dr. Susan 
Isaacs, Miss E. Stevenson and 
Miss I. Jones, 432. 

Presidential Address, The, by Sir 
Josiah Stamp, 1. 

Prest, W., The 
industry, 381. 

Preston, Geology of, by L. H. 
Tonks, 345*, 473. 

PRIESTLEY, Prof, J. H., Ring- and 
diffuse-porous hardwoods, 428. 
Problems of a small manufacturing 
business, by C. A. Lee, 379, 474. 
Psychological problems of a de- 
pressed area, by C. A. Oakley, 

412, 475. 


Lancashire coal 


Quadratic corpus, representation in, 
by squares and quadratfrei in- 
tegers, by Miss A. Cox, 334. 

QuasteL, Dr. J. H., Enzymic 
activity of the cell and cell 
structure, 398*, 475. 


Radiation from combustion gases, 
measurements of, by Dr. M. 
Fishenden, 386*. 

Railway locomotive development, 
by W. A. Stanier, 383. 

Ratstrick, Dr. A., Study of a 
Pennine Dales parish, Linton-in- 
Craven, 375. 

Use of microspores in correla- 
tion of coal seams, 354. 

RaMANUJAM, S., Chromosome 
studies in Oryzeae, 418, 425*. 

RamsBOoTToOM, J., The uses of fungi, 
189, 414*. 


INDEX 


Rawuincs, Dr. A. L., Sound loca- 
tors for directing searchlights, 
386, 474. 

Ray, Dr. M. B., Climatic sensitivity, 
400. 

Reap, Prof. H. H., Geology of 
Blackpool, 344*. 

Reese, Miss M., Microflora of two 
Cardiganshire rivers, 423, 476. 
Regional Survey of the Fylde, by 
E. Prentice Mawson, Appdx. 6. 
Relativistic self-consistent field 
method, by Dr. Bertha Swirles, 

336, 472. 

RENDLE, Dr. A. B., Preservation of 
native floras, 448. 

Reports on state of science, 249. 

Reptile-bearing Oélite, Stow, report 
on, 296. 

Research Committees, \vi. 

Research Committees’ reports, 249. 

Resolutions and recommendations, \xi. 

Respiration intensity and oxygen 
concentration, by Prof. W. Stiles, 
420". 

Retail trade, changing structure of, 
by H. Smith, 376. 

Retrospect, Five Years’, 1931-35, V- 

Ricarpo, H., High-speed Diesel 
Engines, 386*. 

Ricuarpson, Dr. M. M., Structural 
hybridity in Lilium, 418, 476. 

Ricuey, Dr. J. E., Moine schists of 
W. Inverness-shire, 345, 472. 

RickarD, Dr. T. A., Nomenclature 
of archeology, 387. 

Rircuiz, Dr. A. D., Architecture of 
life, 397. 
Road surfaces and road safety, by 

R. G. Batson, 385, 474. 

Rosinson, Prof. G. W., Soil classi- 
fication, 443. 

Ropcer, T. A., Vocational psycho- 
logy, 411. 

Ro in, Dr. B., Properties of liquid 
helium, 330. 

RosENBERG, Dr. M., Algal cultures, 
423. 

Rots in potato storage, by Dr. C. E. 
Foister, I. W. Tervet and Mrs. 
N. L. Alocok, 416, 424*, 475. 

Routine manual factor, report on, 
hie 

Rubbish dumping, menace of, by 
Dr. W. D. Lang, 456. 


167 


RuSSELL, Sir JOHN, Education for 
rural life, 436, 476. 

on Soil resources of the Empire, 
301. 

Russia and the Balkans:  agri- 
cultural comparison, by Miss M. 
Digby, 378, 474. 

Russo-Tungus culture contact, by 
Dr. E. J. Lindgren, 392, 474. 


Sa.ispurY, Prof. E. J., The living 
garden, 420*. 

Salmon, ecology of young, by K. R. 
Allen, 361. 

SaLMon, Lt.-Col. F. J., Modern 
geography of Palestine, 367. 

Salix cerulea, dormant buds and 
roots, by H. P. Hutchinson, 429. 

ScHINDEWOLF, Dr. O. H., Chapters 
from the phylogeny of the 
Cephalopoda, 346*. 

ScHoFIELD, Dr. R. K., Soil moisture 
in the field, 444. 

School-leaving age, raising, by T.S. 
Dymond, 437, 476. 

Science and electric lighting, by 
C. C. Paterson, 478 

Science and road dangers, by E. H. 
Fryer, 385, 474. 

Science, the Impact of, upon Society, 
by Sir Josiah Stamp, 1. 

Scientific Survey of Blackpool and 
district, Appdx. 1-152. 

Scientists of North Lancashire, by 
D.N. Lowe, Appdx. 143. 

Scott, Miss L. I., Ring- and diffuse- 
porous hardwoods, 428. 

Sea beaches, preservation of, by H. 
J. Deane and E. Latham, 383, 474. 

Sectional Officers, xxi. 

Seismological investigations, report on, 
249. 

Selection, discussion on, by Dr. 
Timofééf-Ressovsky, Prof. G. D. 
Hale Carpenter, Dr. C. Gordon, 
F. C. Minns, E. B. Ford and 
Prof. H. J. Muller, 358. 

SemeEonorr, Dr. B., Discrimination 
and estimation of loudness, 406. 

Sequoia, development in, by Prof. 
J. Doyle, 423. 

Severn waterway in 18th and roth 

centuries, by W. G. East, 373. 


168 


Sex-selection, experimental approach 
to, by F. C. Minns, 359. 

SHANAHAN, H. F., Electricity for the 
consumer, 384*. 

Short-wave radiation, ionisation, 
measurement of, by Dr. C. W. G. 
Kaye and W. Binks, 325. 

Sippiq1, Prof. M. R., Theory of non- 
linear partial differential equations, 
336. 

Sign language in relation to human 
speech, by Sir R. Paget, 393, 


475. 

Sims, Dr. L. G.A., Test specification 
for incremental magnetic qualities, 
382. 

Skipton anticline, by Dr. G. H. 
Mitchell, 351, 472. 

SyaTER, Dr. L., Coal Measure 
correlation, 356, 473. 

SINGER, F. C., Millstone Grit and 
glacial geology of Caton Moor, 
345- 

SmitH, A. D. Buchanan, Breeding 
for milk yield and uniformity, 442, 
477. 

SmitH, A. F. Rawdon, Phase 
charge effect on the cat’s ear, 399, 
475. 

SmitH, G. E., Development of 
epidermis, 418, 425*. 

SmitH, H., Changing structure of 
retail trade, 376. 

Smitu, Dr. H. Grayson, Saturation 
currents in supraconductors, 329. 

SmitH, John T., Utilisation of 
British softwoods, 427, 476. 

SmitH, S. W., The administrative 
and technical worker in new 
forms of economic organisation, 


379. 

SmitH, Wilfred, Agrarian evolution 
of the Fylde, Appdx. 44. 

Agricultural geography of the 
Fylde, 368. 

—— Climate of the Fylde, Appdx. 
34. 

SmitH, W. Campbell, Igneous 
rocks from Turkana, Kenya, 357, 
473. 

Social change in a West African 
village community, by Prof. C. 
Daryll Forde, 392. 

Social field, functional penetration 
of, by E. L. Trist, 414. 


INDEX 


Social psychology, methods of 
empirical research in, by Dr. O.A. 
Oeser, 412, 475. 

Social psychology, methods of in- 
vestigation in, by Dr. E. J. 
Lindgren, 411, 475. 

Social psychology, relation of econo- 
mics to, by H. Hillmann, 412. 

Social psychology, report on, 317. 

Social researches in a Scottish Area 
(Dundee), by Dr. O. A. Oeser, 
H. Hillmann, W. O’D. Pierce, 
Dr. Helen Pallister and E. L. 
Trist, 412. 

Social structure of a Gbande town, 
by Miss E. D. Earthy, 393, 474. 
Softwoods, utilisation of British, by 

John T. Smith, 427, 476. 

Soil classification, by Prof. G. W. 
Robinson, 443. 

Soil moisture in the field, by Dr. 
R. K. Schofield, 444. 

Soil problems, discussion on, by 
Prof. G. W. Robinson, Dr. R. K. 
Schofield and Dr. A. B. Stewart, 
443, 476. 

Soil problems in forest nurseries, by 
Dr. A. B. Stewart, 426. 

Soil resources of the Empire, report on, 
301. 

Soil science in the twentieth century, 
by Prof. J. Hendrick, 233, 443*. 
Solar System,discussion on evolution 
of, by Sir James Jeans, Prof. A. 
Holmes, Prof. E. A. Milne, Prof. 
W. H. McCrea (for R. A. Lyttle- 
ton) and Dr. H. Jeffreys, 320, 471. 

Solar System, evolution of, by Sir 
James Jeans, 320. 

Solar System, relation of geological 
time and former glaciations to evo- 
lution of, by Prof. A. Holmes, 320. 

Solar System, dynamical aspects of 
evolution of, by Prof. E. A. Milne, 
321, 472. 

Solutes, diffusion through muscles, 
by Dr. P. Eggleton, 398*. 

Sound locators for directing search- 
lights, by Dr. A. L. Rawlings, 
386, 474. 

SPAUL, Prof. E. A., Endocrines and 
morphogenesis, 365*, 473. 

SPEAKMAN, Dr. J., Chemical aspects 
of the elastic properties of the 
keratins, 324, 472. 


INDEX 


Spencer, Dr. W. K., Function and 
adaptation in early Echinodermata, 


363. 

Sramp, Sir Josiah, The Impact of 
science upon society, 1. 

Stamp, Dr. L. Dudley, 
utilisation maps, 425*. 

Sranier, W. A., Railway locomotive 
development, 383, 474. 

STENDALL, J. A. S., Function of the 
museum in zoology, 362*, 473. 

STEPHEN, Dr. A. C., Function of the 
museum in zoology, 362*, 473. 

STEPHENSON, Dr. W., type psycho- 
logy, 403. 

Strevinson, Miss E., The pre-school 
child, 433. 

Stewart, Dr. A. B., Soil problems 
in forest nurseries, 426. 

Soil research and liming and 
manuring, 444. 

Stives, Prof. W., Respiration in- 
tensity and oxygen concentration, 
420*. 

Stites, Dr. W. S., Headlight glare 
and illumination in fog, 385, 
474. 

Stone circles in northern Ireland, by 
E. E. Evans and O. Davies, 395. 
Strain of modern civilisation, dis- 
cussion on, by Rt. Hon. Lord 
Horder, Dr. R. D. Gillespie, Dr. 
E. P. Poulton, and Miss E. M. 

Killick, 401, 464. 

Suggestibility in University students 
by Mrs. F. M. Austin, 411. 

Sumerian copper, report on, 308. 

Supraconductors, normal and ano- 
malous, by Dr. K. Mendelssohn 
329. 

Supraconductors, saturation cur- 
rents in, by Dr. H. Grayson 
Smith, 329. 

Supraconductors, thermal and Mag- 
netic behaviour of, by J. G. 
Daunt, 330. 

Swallow inquiry, by A. W. Boyd, 
363*. 

Swarsrick, Dr. T., Scion and root- 
stock in fruit trees, 419, 425*. 
Swaziland, human geography of, by 
Miss D. M. Doveton, 375, 473. 
SwINNERTON, Prof. H. H., Saline 

waters and soils of E. Lincolnshire, 


357: 


Land 


169 


Swirtes, Dr. Bertha, The relativistic 
self-consistent field method, 336, 
472. 

Sy vesTter, Miss D., Hill villages in 
England, 376. 


Taussky, Dr. OLca, Modern prob- 
lems in algebraic number theory, 
332, 472. 

Taxonomy, by J. S. L. Gilmour, 
417. 

Taytor, Dr. E. L., Parasitic worm 
infection in poultry, 364. 

TayLor, Dr. G., Expedition to 
mountains of East Africa, 422. 

Teaching of geology in schools, report 
on, 291. 

Temperature conditions within the 
earth’s crust, by Dr. H. Jeffreys, 
331*. 

Terrestrial magnetic bearings and 
their practical uses, by H. L. P. 
Jolly, 331. 

TerveT, I. W., Rots 
storage, 416, 424*. 
Thermal conductivities of rocks, report 

on, 258. 

Tuomas, F. C., Basic mental mech- 
anisms in mass entertainment, 
405, 475. 

Tuomas, Dr. JoHN, The Pottery 
Industry and the Industrial Revo- 
lution, 381. 

Tuomas, Mrs. J., Duke of Bridge- 
water and the canal era, 373. 

Tuompson, H. W., Molecular 
spectra as a guide to photo- 
chemical reaction, 341. 

Tuompson, L., Machinery of amuse- 
ment park, Blackpool, 382*. 

Tuompson, R. E., Main centres of 
population in the Fylde, Appdx. 39. 

THORNTON, Prof. W. M., Measure- 
ment of voltage by spark gaps, 326. 

Timber and its substitutes, by 
E. H. B. Boulton, 429*, 476. 

Timber, discussion on utilisation of 
home-grown, by F. G. O. Pearson, 
John T. Smith, J. W. G. Agate, 
and G. H. Donald, 426, 476. 

Timber, effects of pruning on 
pirray of, by G. H. Donald, 427, 
470. 


in potato 


170 


Timber, outlets for home-grown, by 
F. G. O. Pearson, 426, 476. 

TiMoFkEF-ReEssovsky, Dr., Natural 
selection, 358*. 

Tonks, L. H., Geology of Preston 
district, 345*, 473. 

Topographic maps and mining, by 
Sir A. E. Kitson, 368, 473. 

Topology, general, recent results in, 
by Dr. B. Kauffmann, 333. 

Traffic problems, by E. H. Fryer, 
Dr. W. S. Stiles, and R. G. 
Batson, 385. 

Traffic safety: science and road 
users’ dangers and difficulties, by 
E. H. Fryer, 385. 

Transplant experiments, report on, 
319. 

Transport in the Fylde, by Ashton 
Davies, Appdx. 58. 

Trigonometric series and integrals, 
uniqueness theorems for, by Dr. 
A. C. Offord, 334, 472. 

Trist, E. L., Functional penetration 
of a social field, 414. 

Trout food and river fauna, by 
Miss W. E. Frost, 361, 473. 

TRUEMAN, Prof. A. E., Correlation 
of the coal measures, 352, 473. 

Turkana, Kenya, igneous rock from, 
by W. Campbell Smith, 357, 473. 

Turkish ports, by Miss H. G. 
Wanklyn, 374. 

Tyler, F. W., A means for compa- 
rison of hot climates, 406, 475. 

Type psychology, by Dr. 
Stephenson, 403. 

Typhula Trifolii, heterothallism in, 
by Dr. M. Noble, 416, 476. 


Ultra-violet radiation, 
proteins, by J. S. Mitchell, 398*. 

Unemployment, analysis of, in 
Britain, by Sir Wm. Beveridge, 
378, 474. 

Upper Paleolithic in the light of 
recent discovery, by Miss D. A. E. 
Garrod, 155, 386*. 

U.S.A., mapping of, Dr. W. Bowie, 
373°". 


Variable oscillator for speech fre- 
quencies, by Prof. E. W. Mar- 
chant, 384, 474. 


action on |’ 


INDEX 


VaRLEY, W.J., The Bleasdale circle, 
388. 

VEGARD, Dr. L., Changes of intensity 
distribution within the auroral 
spectrum, 328, 472. 

Vegetation in Scotland, man’s in- 
fluence on, by Dr. E. Wyllie 
Fenton, 445, 476. 

Vernon, Dr. H. M., Alcohol and 
road accidents, 398. 

Fatigue in industry, 397, 475. 

Vertebrate fauna of Blackpool, by 
J. R. Charnley, Appdx. 119. 

Vertigo, visual factors in, by Dr. 
T. G. Maitland, 407. 

Viola, root and stem diseases of, by 
C. G. C. Chesters and C. J. 
Hickman, 417. 

Virus diseases, recent work on, by 
Dr. J. Caldwell, 416, 475. 

Viruses of potato, by Prof. P. A. 
Murphy, 445*, 477. 

Vocational psychology, a critical 
review, by T. A. Rodger, 411. 

Vocational psychology and job 
changes, by W. O’D. Pierce, 413. 

Vocational psychology in relation 
to social psychology, by Dr. H. 
Pallister, 414. 

Voltage, measurement of by spark 
gaps, by Prof. W. M. Thornton, 
326. 

Volvox life cycle, by Dr. M. 
Pockock, 425*. 


WADDINGTON, C. H., Film of marine 
sand animals, 360%. 
Organisers and their limitations, 


365. 
WALKER, F., Peat mosses of the Fylde, 
Appdx. 27. 


WALKER, J. J., Coal Measure corre- 
lation, 355, 356. 

WANELYN, Miss H. G., The Turkish 
ports, 374. 

Warp, Capt. F. Kingdon, Plant 
hunting and exploration in Tibet, 
XXViii. 

Watson, Prof. J. A. S., National 
nutrition and British Agriculture ; 
meat, 439, 477. 

Watts, Prof. W. W., on Teaching of 
geology in schools, 291. 


INDEX 


Weed species, response to competi- 
tion, by Dr. W. E. Brenchley, 421, 
475. 

Weir, Dr. J., Coal Measure corre- 
lation, 354, 473. 

WENSLEY, A. J., The localisation of 
industry, 380. 

Wernick, Dr. S., Electrodeposited 
coatings as corrosive preventives, 
338*. 

Western Inverness-shire, Moine 
schists of, by Dr. J. E. Richey and 
Dr. W. Q. Kennedy, 345, 472. 

Whaling, ancient and modern, in 
Australasian seas, by Prof. W. J. 
Dakin, 359*. 

Whipple, Dr. F. J. W., on Seismo- 
logical investigations, 249. 

WHITEHEAD, Dr. S., Aspects of the 
electric strength of dielectrics, 326. 

Wiiiams, Dr. C. B., Insect immi- 
gration enquiry, 457. 

- Witson, Sir Arnold, Education for 
rural life, 438. 

Witson, Dr. E., Folktale in West- 
morland and North Lancashire, 
390. 

Windermere Freshwater Biological 
Station, report on, 300. 

WINTERBOTHAM, Brig. H. S. L., 
Mapping of the Colonial Empire, 
101, 367*. 

Maps and how they are made, 

Vet 


171 


WINTRINGHAM, Mrs. M., Nurseries 
in distressed areas, 432, 476. 

Wireless : the beam array and long 
distance communication, by A. W. 
Ladner, 384. 

Wo ters, A. W., Patterns of experi- 
ence, 181, 404*. 

Woop, Dr. R. H., Transverse 
elasticity of building materials, 
386. 

Woopwarp, Sir A. Smith, on 
Reptile-bearing Oélite of Stow, 296. 

Wray, Dr. D. A., Coal Measure 
correlation, 355. 

Waricut, Dr. W. B., Coal Measure 
correlation, 352. 

on Climatic change, 297. 

WrincuH, Dr. D. M., Molecular 
structure of living matter, 397. 


X-ray cinematography of a simple 
fibre reaction, by Dr. M. Mathieu, 
324, 471. 


YoncGE, Prof. C. M., Egg membranes 
and attachments in Crustacea, 360. 
Younc, D. W., The New Forest, 


425*. 


Zoological record, report on, 297. 


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