IV PREFACE. 



other merit than facts and reasoning possess ; and 

 as far as the interests of the subject are con- 

 cerned, it is, perhaps, better that it should have no 

 weightier or more specious recommendation. A 

 name may promote circulation, but it should never 

 command confidence ; nothing should be taken 

 for granted ; and a habit of admitting the dicta of 

 others, rather than of judging for ourselves, is and 

 has been productive of interminable mischief. The 

 student of human nature has a problem to solve 

 which will furnish him with employment and vex- 

 ation all his life, or terminate in disappointment. 

 The question in the present case is, are the facts 

 true of false ? — is the reasoning just or incorrect ? 

 Of this every one can judge for himself. Let not, 

 then, the public be cheated of their own judgment 

 by the naked opinion of any man, however 

 bright his reputation for literature or science. 

 With respect to those points which constitute the 

 leading features of this undertaking, whatever may 

 be advanced to legalize the fish-locks and stake- 

 nets, or to prove that salmon peal are not young 

 salmon, let the public rather judge of these 

 questions by the evidence of facts, experiments, 

 and comparative reasoning, than be influenced by 

 assertions without proof, and opinions without au- 



