Plymouth - Biological Observatory - Stewart & Woolf postcard 1906

Postcard

 

• Picture / Image:  Biological Observatory, Plymouth, Devon - colour printed card - I think this is now the Marine Biological Association of the UK (see below)
• Publisher:  Stewart & Woolf, London (series 5504)
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  Edward VII haf d. light green
• Postmark(s):  Plymouth Aug 2 1906 cds
• Sent to:  Mrs. G. M. Watkins, 13 Frederick Street, Bristol
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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The Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom (MBA) is a learned society with a scientific laboratory that undertakes research in marine biology.^[1] The organisation was founded in 1884 and has been based in Plymouth since the Citadel Hill Laboratory was opened on 30 June 1888. It has a world-leading reputation for marine biological research, with some twelve Nobel laureates having been or being associated with it over the course of their career. Among them, A. V. Hill received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1922 ""for his discovery relating to the production of heat in the muscle"".^[2] The discovery of the mechanism of nerve impulses (action potentials) in animals was made at the Laboratory in Plymouth by Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin and Sir Andrew Huxley, work for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1963. The MBA publishes the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.^[3] The MBA is also home to the National Marine Biological Library, whose collections cover the marine biological sciences and include the MBA Archive Collection.^[4]

In 1866 the Royal Commission on the Sea Fisheries, which included among its officers Professor Thomas Henry Huxley, had reported that fears of over-exploitation of the sea fisheries were unfounded.^[5] They recommended removing existing laws regulating fishing grounds and closed seasons. However, the increase in the size and number of fishing vessels was causing widespread concern, and there were reports from all around the UK coasts about the scarcity of particular fish. This concern was expressed at the International Fisheries Exhibition in London in 1883, a conference called to discuss the commercial and scientific aspects of the fishing industry, and which was attended by many leading scientists of the day. Nevertheless, in his opening address,^[6] Huxley discounted reports of fish scarcities and repeated the views of the Royal Commission of 1866. He stated that with existing methods of fishing, it was inconceivable that the great sea fisheries, such as those for cod (Gadus morhua), herring (Clupea harengus) and mackerel (Scomber scombrus), could ever be exhausted.

Many of the representatives of science and commerce present had different views to Huxley. Their views were put forward by E. Ray Lankester, who summed up the scientific contributions in an essay on what we would now call ecology. He pointed out that ""it is a mistake to suppose that the place of fish removed from a particular fishing ground is immediately taken by some of the grand total of fish, which are so numerous in comparison with man's depredations as to make his operations in this respect insignificant...there is on the contrary evidence that shoal fish, like herrings, mackerel and pilchard (Sardina pilchardus), and ground-fish, such as soles and other flat-fishes, are really localised. If man removes a large proportion of these fish from the areas which they inhabit, the natural balance is upset and chiefly in so far as the production of young fish is concerned.""^[7] During this masterly address he went on to develop this theme and concluded with an appeal for the formation of a society to foster the study of marine life, both for its scientific interest and because of the need to know more about the life histories and habitats of food fishes. Professor Lankester envisaged that such a society would construct a laboratory close to the coast, with the building containing aquaria and apparatus for the circulation of seawater and, most importantly, laboratory accommodation for scientists. The appeal was answered by a group of eminent scientists, who resolved to form a society and build a laboratory on the British coast.

type=printed postcards

theme=topographical: british

sub-theme=england

county/ country=devon

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=posted