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ted that they are subject to very numerous parasites, 

 some of which are not evil to mankind, wliile others are 

 poisonous. More extensiv^e and universal biological 

 research, carried on upon strictly scientific principles, 

 will soon make known the number and kind of dangerous 

 parasites, and the waters which they infest, when the 

 fish afifiicted by them should be pronounced unsalable, 

 and if no other plan can succed in preventing their dis- 

 tribution, fishing in streams in which they are found 

 should be prohibited entirely. That parasite growth 

 is possible in fish, suggests the question whether they 

 may not be attacked by the bacteria of diphtheria, the 

 microbes of typhoid or malarial diseases, and even the 

 bacilli of Asiatic cholera from drinking the river water 

 near large cities which deposit all or a greater part of 

 the sewage therein ; if that be the case, may they not 

 impart such diseases to unsuspecting mankind using 

 them for food ? Many people, especially the poor, eat 

 fish and eels that are caught in lower streams whose 

 waters are so far influenced by tides that they back up 

 a considerable distance, yet the ebb is not strong 

 enough to carry away the debris which they take up 

 and deposit along the shores. This rubbish holds 

 pools of water in check until they become stagnant, 

 and sometimes dead fish are found imprisoned among 

 branches, weeds, old barrels, baskets, etc. It stands to 

 reason that any fish drinking the water or feeding in 

 such places must become more or less subject to poison- 

 ous parasites, and thus become unwholesome for food ; 

 and if the flavor of coal oil, gas, tar and other impurities 

 make themselves disagreeably apparent in their flesh, 

 which is a well known fact, the probability of far more 

 dangerous matter seems to become an incontrovertible 

 certainty. By partaking of this infected fish, cholera 

 and other epidemic diseases may be started in the sys- 

 tems of a few persons, and the contamination would 



