57 



therefrom, in direct accordance with its temperature, 

 there would be no escape for whatever air might be forced 

 into it under compression, as would be the case in an open 

 vessel. It would be absolutely retained there until con- 

 sumed by the fish, while if not so controlled it would 

 immediately escape to the atmosphere until the water 

 would hold only its normal proportion in accordance with 

 its capacity under the existing temperature, and the charg- 

 ing with air would have to be constant. 



The great advantages offered by this aspect of the ques- 

 tion — the storing of an excessive amount of air in the 

 water, and air-space of the vessel— would naturally at first 

 thought appear, to those engaged or interested in any way 

 in the carrying or transportation of live fish, whether the 

 angler with his live-bait supply, in the extensive opera- 

 tions of fish cultural distribution, or in the supply of 

 aquaria, as offering strong possibilities of usefulness. 



But there is another aspect of the case. While the oxy- 

 gen which affords the life-giving principle would be stored 

 up and held in confinement for the use of the fish, in a 

 sealed vessel, the carbonic acid gas, and the gases gen- 

 erated by decomposition of organic matter (the excretions 

 and exhalations of the fish), the death-dealing principles, 

 would also be prevented from escaping and held there like 

 the choke-damp in mines to promote death and destruc- 

 tion when they became excessive, and, at the same time, 

 the amount of oxygen would be constantly diminishing. 



The x)roportions in which most of the gases are dis- 

 solved by water seem to be but little known, the text- 

 books dealing with the subject in a general way only, but 

 it is certain that they are more readily absorbed at low 

 than at high temperatures. In the case of air it has been 

 stated by a competent authority that for every sixteen 

 degrees of lower temperature double the volume would be 

 taken uj). 



As the noxious gases, as well as oxygen- and air, are thus 



