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APPENDIX No. III. 



Extract from a Paper read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh 

 (Session 1870-80), entitled "Additional Observations on Fungus 

 " Disease of Salmon and other Fish By A. B. Stirling, 

 " Assistant-Curator in the Museum of Anatomy in the University 

 '•' of Edinburgh. Communicated by Prof. Turner." 



I shall now give an account of the very remarkable epidemics which occurred ^pr-iyi?!?™ A rn 

 at Ightham in Kent, the particulars of which were kindly communicated to me IGHTHAM. 



by Dr. W. S. Church, Physician to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London. 



They are of so much interest in the history of the fungus disease, that I feel 

 warranted in bringing them to the notice of the Society. Ightham House 

 dates from the time of King John, and the fish ponds were probably con- 

 structed at the same time, to supply the house with fish. The house is built 

 in the form of a square, and surrounds a courtyard. The house in its turn is 

 surrounded on all sides by a moat, the water in which is from 5 to 9 feet in 

 depth. The present arrangement of the ponds, garden, &c. was probably 

 made in the time of James I. The house drains into the moat, and the drains 

 issue into it by separate openings from two sides of the square. The stream 

 which supplies the ponds and moat is formed by the surface water of a small 

 valley, but is principally supplied by two very fine and strong springs, which 

 come out of the Kentish limestone. The stream is only about a mile in length 

 before it enters the upper pond, and there is at all times a strong run of water 

 in it. It is perfectly free from drainage contamination, and enters the upper 

 pond perfectly pure. There are two cottages and a small fold yard on the side 

 of the stream, but no drains flow from them to the water ; the fold is in a 

 ruinous condition, and is not in use. 



The ponds are much larger than the square of the house and moat. The 

 tipper pond is situated about 100 yards above the moat, the greater part of the 

 space between them being occupied by a bowling green. This pond is shallow, 

 and has reedy banks, with flags and aquatic plants growing on the margins ; a 

 strong current flows constantly through it to the outlet, and the water leaves 

 it by a stone channel falling perpendicularly about 5 feet. 



Immediately beyond the fall, the water divides and forms two open streams, 

 which supply two small ponds or stews at a short distance below, on the right 

 and left sides of the fall. The water leaves the stews by conduits, which pass 

 underground to the moat, and enter it by two falls of between 3 and 4 feet 

 each, which fall clear of the breastwork. In addition to the main stream, 

 through the conduits there are two other strong feeders of the moat, which 

 flow into it from springs on opposite sides, and there is a continuous current 

 flowing through it. The water leaves the moat by culverts to the lower pond, 

 and from the lower pond by a fall, and flows through grass fields for a mile, 

 where it enters another fish pond. 



No epidemic of fever or other zymotic disease is known to have taken place 

 in the house, and only two cases of sickness (measles) during the last fifteen 

 years. The gardner, his wife and child, were the only occupants of the house 

 during last winter, spring, and summer, the family being from home. 



Several severe epidemics of fungus have been observed in the ponds and 

 moat. One occurred about the year 1850, but no particulars have been pre- 

 served, and mild ones may have passed without much notice. " Furred " fish, 

 and even a few dead ones, have been often seen by the gardner. In the 

 spring of 1874 a very severed epidemic occurred, when all the ponds and the 

 moat suffered heavily ; nearly all the fish died in the moat, and the disease 

 was very destructive in both the upper and lower ponds. 



This attack was inquired into by Dr. Church, who satisfied himself that the 

 fungus affecting the fish was Saprolegnia ferax. The fish consisted chiefly of 

 roach, pike, and dace in the moat; roach, perch, and pike in the upper pond; 

 roach, dace, perch, pike, and gudgeon in the iower pond. The roach, dace, 

 and gudgeon suffered the most, only the small pike and perch were affected, 

 and none of the large pike or perch were found dead, and not a single eel. 



