Page 28 - Bulletin 2 1998

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intention to study the whole of the benthic fauna of our water, both vertebrate and

invertebrate, and to attempt to correlate the distribution of this fauna with physical conditions
such as currents, sea temperatures and salinities. Although such an aim could not possibly be

achieved in one life-time, it was an innovative and far-sighted objective and one which has

influenced the whole course of South African marine science since.

There can be no question that Gilchrist was a victim of overwork and that this was largely his

own fault. Not content with his long periods at sea, his work at the South African Museum

and at the St. James aquarium, and his attendance at various Government committee
meetings, the preparation of reports and of scientific papers, he undertook, in addition the

editorship of the six volumes of Marine Investigations in South Africa, our very first marine

science journal. Soon he had still more commitments as the Government of Natal, impressed
with what he was doing at the Cape, arranged that his survey be extended to Natal waters.

Gilchrist had of course, been serving two masters - the Departments of Agriculture (later to

become the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries) and the South African Museum. In
1905 he agreed to serve a third master as well, being appointed Supervisor of Marine Studies

in the Zoology Department of the South African College under its first Professor, Arthur

Dendy. In 1906 Dendy resigned and Gilchrist was appointed Professor and Head of the
Department of Zoology in his place. This multiplicity of posts was not welcomed in some

quarters and Gilchrist himself appears to have realised that he was overextended. He may

therefore not have been too upset when the post of Government biologist was abolished in
1907, particularly so as he still had access to the Pieter Faure and was still in charge of the

marine survey. There was no problem with his continued use of the St. James aquarium as

responsibility for this had already been transferred to the South African Museum.

All was not peaceful, however. Inevitably Gilchrist had made enemies along the way and to
this was added friction between the Department of Agriculture and the South African

Museum. This came to a head in a dispute as to whether Gilchrist’s Pieter Faure collections

properly belonged to the Museum, where they were housed, or to the Department of
Agriculture, which had paid for their collection. Eventually General Smuts ruled in favour of