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LANCASTER. The upper proprietors should come down and see what is being done in the 

 sea. For seven hours out of every twelve there is no netting : this is at high 

 water. The men commonly fish at low water. 



The fishing season should be extended. Fish have been dearer since the Act 

 came into force. Before then he sold fish at 4d. per lb. in July. The weekly 

 close time keeps the price up by preventing a glut in the markets. 



The disease is proportionately worse now than formerly. 



John Harker, M.D., medical officer of health, Lancaster. — Has known 

 the Lune for 24 years. 



Has examined portions of diseased fish and a smolt from the Lune. They 

 were diseased. Thinks the disease is the usual fungus that affects fishes. 

 The fungus and its effects cause the disease. Considers that where the fish 

 had lost tone or had not good feeding ground they would be more liable to 

 the disease. It is a cutaneous disease. 



Attributes it to the production of fungi as all fungi are produced. Hardly 

 thinks an injury to the fish would predispose them to its attacks. The spores 

 would settle on the fish and spread. Diseased fish might affect healthy fish. 



Thinks the spores are present in all continuous waters, running or not. 

 It seems a common fungus. There must be some causes to predispose the 

 fish to any disease. Overcrowding might do so. Thinks the Lune is over- 

 crowded in September and October. There should be an extension of the 

 fishing season to increase the supply of good fish for food. 



The diseased fish have sometimes been sold as food. Thinks they are not 

 good for food, but has not seen any one poisoned by eating them. Thinks the 

 law should prevent diseased fish being sold as food. The diseased fish are 

 going to decay, and, being unwholesome, should not be sold as food. 



Has very carefully examined a smoit. The disease was on the skin. It had 

 passed through the scales and got into the true skin. The roots of the fungus, 

 no doubt, produced pain. The internal organs were not different from those 

 of a healthy fish. Did not examine the brain. 



If a cutaneous disorder suddenly broke out among the people in Lancaster, 

 he would search for general causes, and then for causes affecting the spread 

 of the disease by contact. Would look to the health of the patients gene- 

 rally, and would then look to the local disease. Ringworm, for instance, 

 would be produced by spores of the ringworm fungus. 



The lowering of the tone of the fish by detention and by want of sufficient 

 food, with the presence of the spores in the water, might result in an outbreak. 



Ringworm would probably spread to healthy children if suddenly brought into 

 activity. There would probably be among fish a predisposing cause ; if the fish 

 had suffered in health, and the fungus were present, the fungus would spread. 



Thinks the spores are present in all continuous waters. Ordinary pure 

 water would be as likely to retain the Saprolegnia ferax as the atmosphere 

 is likely to retain the fungus of ordinary mould. The disease has broken 

 out because the rivers are overstocked. Preservation has overstocked the 

 fish, and the long detention of the fish in the water, the absence of natural 

 enemies to keep down the surplus stock, and other causes have combined to 

 assist the spread of the disease. 



Sporadic cases have, in fact, always existed, but they have now developed 

 into an epidemic. 



The sewage is turned into the tideway, but the river generally is very pure. 



The disease is a fresh-water disease. 



Berwick-on-Tweed, Monday, May 3rd, 1880. 



Present : 



Archibald Young, Esquire. 



William Johnston, fisherman, Cornhill. — Fishes at English water on the 

 south side of the Tweed, below Coldstream Bridge. This season has landed 



