CHAPTER V 



ARISTOTLE — THE FIRST " SCALE-READER '' ; THE FIRST 

 TO DISCOVER THAT IN THE MUREX ITS YEARLY 

 GROWTH IS INDICATED BY THE SHELL — SENSES OF 

 FISH : EXPERIMENTS AS TO HEARING 



" Aristotle hath his Oare in every Water " 



If the passage quoted in my Introduction left any doubt that 

 Plato was no admirer of fishing or fishermen, the following, 

 from The Laws, VII. 823 (Jowett's translation), is conclusive 

 proof. 



" And, now, let us address young men in the form of a 

 prayer for their welfare : O Friends, may no desire of hunting 

 in the sea, or of catching the creatures in the waters, ever take 

 possession of you, either when you are awake, or when you 

 are asleep, by hooks, with weels, which latter is a very lazy 

 contrivance, and let no desire of catching men, or piracy by 

 sea, enter into your souls." 



Then Plato adds : " Only the best of hunting is allowed at 

 all, which is carried on by men with horses, dogs, and men's 

 own persons," and is really hard exercise. " Fishing is not an 

 occupation worthy of a man well born or well brought up, 

 because it demands more of address and ruse than force, and 

 is not for young people, like hunting, the occasion of healthy 

 exercise." ^ 



1 Byron's view of fishing is not favourable — as his hnes in Don Juan, Canto 

 XIII. prove : 



" AngUng, too, that soUtary vice. 

 Whatever Isaak Walton says or sings." 

 He bore, possibly from failure to catch his boyish Aberdeenshire trout, a grudge 

 against Father Izaak, 



" The quaint, old, cruel coxcomb in his gullet 

 Should have a hook, and a small trout to pull it." 

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