254 On Fish- Culture. 



a secret. But the world at large remained in ignorance of them 

 and their discovery, until a Ph3'sician named Dr. Haxo, addressed 

 a communication to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, in which 

 he described the method of Gehin and Remy and its wonderful 

 results. The Academy was thunderstruck. The Government was 

 informed of the nature of the address, and with great promptitude 

 hastened to secure the services of the two fishermen, who were 

 immediately required to apply their system to several rivers in 

 France whose stock of fish was decreasing. The illiterate fisher- 

 men became known as the men whom the French nation "delighted 

 to honour," and rose with astonishing rapidity from the obscurity 

 of country life to the highest pinnacle of piscatorial fame. A short 

 time only elapsed before the system was tried in England with 

 signal success. Mr. Frank Buckland, Mr. Ponder, Mr. Francis, 

 Mr. Ashworth, and Mr. Buist, have distinguished themselves 

 amidst many others by their strong advocacy of the importance of 

 fish-hatching. 



A few words will suffice to describe the manner in which it is 

 conducted. Instead of the female being allowed to deposit her 

 eggs in the open stream, they are taken from her and placed in 

 narrow boxes made of wood, earthen ^vare, lead or zinc, arranged 

 one below the other like the stairs of a staircase. The floor of each 

 box is covered with boiled gravel, and communication is maintained 

 between them by means of short lead pipes. The eggs are placed 

 on the gravel, a stream of water constantly runs over them, and a 

 board is placed over each box to exclude the light. All promises 

 well. Yet some eggs from causes beyond our control will to a 

 certainty die. An inexorable law condemns to death a portion of 

 Nature's handiwork, which so far as human observation extends, 

 possesses elements of vitality not inferior to those by which it is 

 immediately surrounded. Every egg resembles its fellow in shape 

 and colour, but in some less fortunate than others, a hidden oper- 

 ation, a mysterious loss of integrity is secretly efiected, whereby 

 their beauty is marred and the course of their development arrested. 

 It is easy to distinguish a dead egg. "When in a state of health 

 it is of a fresh pink colour, when the subject of disease it becomes 



