Quite a novel proposal was made some weeks ago in the House of Commons to the effect that substantial quantities of food can be swept up from the Atlantic under the very noses of Hitle U-boats. John Graham Kerr (Scottish Universities) asked the Food Ministry Parliamentary Secretary to appoint a committee to investigate the practicability of large-scale collection of plankton from the sea by mechanical separate ors. Plankton, it may be remarked, is the scientific name given to drifting and usually microscopic organisms in the sea, lakes ponds and streams. Sir John who is one of the world's leading zoologists, states that large areas of the sea off the west coast of Scotland are richly charged with plankton, and small-scale experiments have shown that this substance can be converted into nourishing food. Big advances, he claimed, had been made in the knowledge of plankton at the marine laboratory at Millport and he suggested that the committee he wanted should be equipped with the necessar: biological and engineering qualifications for the job.
Plankton in one form or another is the food of whales and smaller sea creatures, and the argument seems to be that what fnourishes a whale must necessarily nourish humanity. Nevertheless, to quote Queen Victoria "we are not amused." If scientists have their way, mankind will probably be given bits of compressed plankton instead of the delectable fish and chips. Obviously naturalists will be interested in such a scheme as this, The use of the world's smallest creatures in the sea in such a manner, short-circuiting nature's ordinary processes of that sea change which eventually turns plankton and such like stuff into say a herring has about it a certain fascination, but obviously the thing can be carried too far. The strict logician arguing along the lines of analogy, will ask why is it necessary to cultivate birds and cattle and such-like, for if the ordinary earthworm suffices for the nourishment of birds, why not go back to the origin of things and find out what the worm lives on, compress it, touch it up with a little vanilla flavouring and do away with a great deal of unnecessary labour.
Then again, take cattle. Why worry about them? Why not merely treat grass, and beancake and the like, making them palatable, cutting out all this farming business and getting right down to origins? It becomes apparent that Sir John has opened up a vista hideous with possibilities. Not only would fish and chips have to go, but the noble sirloin of beef, the succulent cutlet and ihe pork chop would all become things of the past as the day of concentrated foods dawns. Hydroponics are already making an onslaught on the ordinary gardener. Soil is no longer necessary in the production of vegetables and fruits. A few chemicals in water, into which the roots of the plants dip is all that is necessary, doing away with all the hard work of the shovel and the hoe.
Indeed the time seems to be coming when the housewife will do a little juggling with a few test tubes and hey presto! a full course meal will have been prepared.
The businessman will doubtless reach for his waistcoat pocket at the tiffin hour, thoughtfully place a tablet of plankton in his mouth, and continue worrying about the antics of exchange. Social intercourse will disappear, for what sort of dinner party would it be when a series of small and easily disposed-of pillyles represent all that for which gleaming cutlery and fine napery form such fitting accompaniments. The finer art of eating will disappear, the gourmet will be wasted upon the world, though doubtless there will be one benefit in the extinction of the glutton. It is simply impossible to "glut" on a tabloid and a glass of water. But it would mean the use of many gorgeous words in ordinary gastronomic conversation. Fancy having to decide whether one would indulge in a little hypobenthos for breakfast, some epiplankton for lunch, a spot of mesoplankton for tea and a supper rounded off with a little mesobenthos
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.