Letter: Prime subjects
I was most amused while reading the blurb on Lord Zuckerman, which stated
that he first trained as a primatologist, later to become a prime ministerial
adviser (Talking Point, 3 November). Was he advising them or studying them?
David Leng Culcheth Cheshire
Letter: Job competition
I was very surprised to see the two contrasting letters, ‘Student misery’
by David Gray and ‘Retiring sorts’ by George Matthews (3 November).
I thoroughly agree that funding of postgraduate students if pitifully
poor. The poor prospects of qualified scientists and engineers, especially
those with a PhD, is responsible for students voting with their feet and
going off to do other things. The poor morale in universities among postgraduates
and staff and the inability to find graduates willing to continue with research
is purely a result of the perceived lack of career opportunities and financial
rewards offered to qualified scientists and engineers. The fault here lies
with British industry, without argument.
On the other hand, why should industry employ a young, newly qualified
graduate/PhD when you can get a rerired person to do it for ‘expenses and
little or no fee and the satisfaction of keeping their minds active’. Goodness
knows, it is difficult enough to get a job in industry without retired people
snatching up the consultancy and interesting bits for fun.
I suggest that if retired people want to do consultancy then it must
be at the going rate. That way it would be less clear cut and give some
of our younger newly qualified people a chance to pay their mortgages and
have a family too. My advice to Matthews is to get a nice hobby and enjoy
your hard-earned retirement, or better still, form a consultancy company
and hire some new graduates and postgraduates to work for you and ultimately,
for the benefit of British industry.
Mike Simpson University of Sheffield
Letter: Second language
Gail Vines’s story on sign language emphasised that signing is a language
(‘Signs of change’, 27 October). Minneapolis schools have taken this view
the next step. Children in Minneapolis who are deaf attend Seward elementary
school along with the neighbourhood children. At the school, sign language
has the status of a second language in the curriculum; that is, like French
or Spanish. All children at the school learn sign language as their second
language, so they can communicate with each other. This has been very successful,
and the school attracts children who are deaf from the metro region. Normal
studies have not been neglected; the school is noted for its strong writing
programme.
Stephen Coleman Minneapolis Minnesota, US
Letter: French lessons
Barry Fox’s story of electronic yellow pages tactfully omits a few more
important points than Charles Abell’s answering letter of 6 October supplies.
A closer look at the French Minitel system places this in even sadder perspective.
The Minitel system is not just confined to businesses, but contains
the number of every telephone subscriber who is not ex-directory. This has
allowed the French PTT to stop handing out paper telephone directories to
Minitel users, with corresponding savings.
Further, subscribers can set up their own databases and offer them for
public consultation through Minitel, putting an enormous amount of information
on line (my 1987 Minitel directory lists over 3000 such services). These
databases all use the same interface style as the directory and use is practically
intuitive. Consultation fees are simply added to the phone bill.
Since the databases can be interactive, their use extends to full-blown
reservation systems, mail-order shopping, and even computerised adventure
games.
Finally, this is all up, running and stable (although some private services
do have minor bugs), and has been for the last four or five years. It makes
one wonder why BT staggers on, doggedly reinventing the wheel and getting
it square this time.
E J Ewing Preuschdorf, France
Letter: Fossil footsteps
Brian Haines is one of many who are confused about the geological record
of animal footprints (Letters, 27 October). I think I can offer him some
explanation but first, the footprints of ‘prehistoric monsters’ to which
he refers are not recorded in sediments of an ocean floor but in sediments
of environments where desiccation and exposure of clay to the atmosphere
are common.
Secondly, how does he know that his own footprints are ‘every time’
washed away? Can he be sure that they have never been obscured by a succeeding
layer, only to be discovered by his fortunate descendants several million
years hence?
I have collected many ‘fossil’ reptile footprints and it is my observation
that, almost invariably, they are discovered in circumstances where a clay
layer has been succeeded by a sandy or silty layer. What seems to happen
is that of all the footprints ever made, those with the most chance of preservation
and subsequent discovery are made when animals walk on plastic clay. When
bodies of water dry out, it is clay that is the last particle size grade
to settle out.
As for ‘the great mountains’ of bones, it is important to understand
that no thing disintegrates into nothing. Most fossils are more ancient
remnants of the hard parts of organisms. Most hard parts are not ‘organic’
in the chemical sense but are of mineral material which does not easily
‘disintegrate’.
Such bio-genic minerals may well survive in exactly the form determined
by the physiology and genetics of the responsible organism and, therefore,
it should not be so surprising that fossils are preserved.
John Stanley University of Keele Staffordshire
Letter: Museum priorities
What a pity you chose not to quote more fully and accurately what I
said at the Royal Society of Arts conference on scholarship in museums (Feedback,
3 November). All the more so since the points I made on the occasion directly
address the issues raised by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in their
letter of protest about the closure of ‘research in major taxonomic areas
in zoology, entomology, botany and paleontology’ (Letters, 3 November).
Let me then repeat the main arguments I made at the conference.
First, the Natural History Museum faces serious financial difficulties.
Our annual grant-in-aid from government does not keep up with inflation,
and even though we raise increasingly large sums for ourselves (9 million
Pounds out of a total income of 34 million Pounds this year), this is not
enough to bridge the gap. This shortfall would have widened year by year
if we had not taken action. To have allowed this to happen would have been
disastrous.
Instead, the museum took two courses of action. First, we pressed the
government strongly and urgently for sufficient funds to give us a stable
financial base year by year. Second, we cut back so that we could live within
our means. We identified scientific research areas of top priority, where
the museum is strongest, and decided to concentrate upon these, rather than
spreading ourselves too thinly.
Given our magnificent collections of some 67 million objects, and our
high reputation in so many areas of systematics research, this identification
of priorities was tough and painful. For example, it was only with the greatest
reluctance that we decided that research into some groups of fossils such
as birds, would cease. We did so because we see greater needs and opportunities
for palaeontogical research into hominids and invertebrates.
I cannot stress too strongly that despite our withdrawal from research
in certain areas, we shall continue to curate all collections efficiently
and effectively and will persist with our highly valued loans and advisory
service.
Our museum has been widely criticised for concentrating our research
in the way I have described above. Few of our critiecs have been in a position
to see the whole picture, and few, I think, would envy us in the choices
we have had to make. Most, I hope, would wish to join with us in arguing
our case for proper funding, rather than protesting against us.
Neil Chalmers Director Natural History Museum London
Letter: Leg before cricket
Solly Zuckerman’s attempt to point the finger of suspicion at Martin
Hinton in ‘A new clue to the real Piltdown forger?’ comes to grief, I think,
over the very fact that Hinton was a hoaxer – but a joking one, and not
a serious-minded fraudster (Talking Point, 3 November).
Harrison Matthews in ‘The case of the Pleistocene cricket bat’ (New
杏吧原创, 25 June 1981) recounts how Hinton, fed up to the teeth with the
gullibility of all the ‘experts’ over Piltdown Man, carved a piece of leg
bone from an extinct species of elephant and carefully planted it where
Professor Smith Woodward would be sure to find it. The fact that he had
carved it into the shape of a cricket bat made Hinton feel certain he would
blow the whole Piltdown nonsense sky-high and make all those experts, especially
Smith Woodward, look pretty silly. Not a bit of it.
Smith Woodward found the artefact, just as he was meant to, but instead
of turning red with chagrin or apoplexy, he solemnly pronounced it to be
‘a supremely important example of the work of palaeolithic man’. According
to Matthews, Smith Woodward ‘went to great length in describing its details,
and even though he found the remains of a hole pierced through it in which
a thong had been threaded to hang it from the imagined Piltdown man’s waistbelt
.. ‘ At which point Hinton gave up the unequal struggle with the experts.
Ralph Estling Ilminster Somerset
Letter: Balls of fire
In a magazine I recently discovered a catalogue of goodies available
from the Science Museum. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that among
the available wares are Shou King – Balls of Eternal Health. These are steel
balls, around 1.5 inches in diameter, embossed with dragon patterns. I quote
the catalogue: ‘By holding them in your hand they stimulate acupuncture
points resulting in an increase in the flow of energy and blood. This can
increase concentration and lower fatigue’. This is just a load of Shou.
Nick Beard London
Letter: Early birds
I believe that Jeff Hecht is starting at the wrong end (‘Fossil birds
force an evolutionary rethink’, Science, 3 November). The main novel feature
making the first birds possible was the evolution of feathers. It is not
sensible to believe that the first feathers developed so that they should
be useful for flight a few million years later. A feather is a remarkable
structure, and could have evolved from scales or hair as an improved thermal
insulator, enabling its possessor to operarate further north in winter than
would otherwise be possible.
A small carnivorous dinosaur that could remain operational in cold conditions
would enjoy an enormous advantage over its hibernating competitors, and
the strong stiff feathers later needed for flight could have developed to
protect from rain the soft downy feathers most valuable for insulation.
(Flight could then have developed by the use of these feathers in running
and leaping over abstacles.)
Search for the precursor of archaeopteryx should perhaps be looking
for small burrowing reptiles further north than was achaeopteryx itself.
J H Fremlin Birmingham
Letter: Fish farmers
Colin Tudge’s article conveyed a clear and urgent message regarding
the need to conserve our freshwater fishes (‘Underwater, out of mind’, 3
November). I would just like to correct two points.
In terms of the number of specimens, the vast majority (about 90 per
cent) of freshwater fishes kept by aquarists are not caught in the wild,
but bred on fish farms such as those in Singapore and Florida. However,
when considering marine aquarium fishes (which account for only a small
proportion of ornamental fishes) virtually all are collected from the coral
reefs.
The article omits to mention that a number of specialist amateur aquarist
societies have, for many years, undertaken controlled breeding programmes
for a range of endangered species, particularly African cichlids, killifishes
and livebearing fishes such as poecilids and goodeids.
Ideally, there should be close liaison between conservation bodies (such
as the IUCN freshwater fish group), fish biologists and aquarium hobbyists
to plan, monitor and extend these breeding programmes. The sooner this is
begun, the more fish species will be saved from extinction.
P J Burgess Fish Research Unit Polytechnic South West Plymouth