742 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



conditions, before the artificial production and culture of the oyster is 

 made a matter of practical importance. 



Both Brooks and Ryder in conducting their experiments naturally 

 considered first the scientific aspects of the case. Their training and 

 profession led them, unintentionally perhaps, to regard the practical 

 application of their discoveries as of less moment; my own feeling 

 was the exact opposite. The great interest on their part centered in 

 the process rather than in the result; on my own, in the result rather 

 than in the process. Their desire was to raise one oyster, mine to raise 

 many. But feeling that they were more competent than myself to accom- 

 plish the result they had in view, and knowing that one oyster must be 

 raised before any method of raising many could be perfected, it appeared 

 to me very desirable that I should associate myself witli either or both 

 of those gentlemen, that in my effort to obtain results of practical value 

 I might have the assistance of their counsel and the benefit of their 

 larger experience. Accordingly', during the winter and spring I had 

 several consultations with Dr. Brooks and Mr. Eyder, and as the former 

 proposed to continue his experiments with the oyster during the spring 

 at Beaufort, i!^. C, and as that locality offered facilities for the work not 

 possessed by others, I determined to join Dr. Brooks as early as possi- 

 ble and work in conjunction with him as long as the condition of the 

 oysters permitted, subsequently joining Mr. Eyder in the Chesa])eake 

 or at Saint Jerome, should he continue the prosecution of his researches. 



The want of success which had attended all previous experiments ap- 

 peared to be due to the deficient supply of water to the aquaria. Vari- 

 ous methods of obviating this difficulty had been devised by Dr. Brooks 

 or Mr. Ryder, and are detailed in their accounts of their experiments, 

 but no method had proved successful. The embryo was too minute 

 to permit the removal of any of the water without carrying along the 

 animal, and consequently the supply was limited to the capacity of the 

 jar or receptacle. Being unable to afford the large quantity of water 

 necessary or apparently necessary to the life of the young oyster, it oc- 

 curred to Dr. Brooks and myself that we might overcome the difficulty 

 by adding to the water already in the aquaria an inordinate amount of 

 the several constituents of the sea-water which were suj)posed to be 

 essential to the development of the embryo. 



The study of the natural conditions under which the oyster propa- 

 gates and lives, together with past experience, led us to the conclusion 

 that the principal obstacles would be removed by increasing the supply 

 of oxygen and carbonate of lime, with, perhaps, the addition of artificial 

 currents of air or water through the jars. We were of the opinion that, 

 working under the above conditions, and with care in the manipulation 

 of the eggs, we would make a considerable advance towards the solu- 

 tion of the problem ; but a very brief experience convinced us that it 

 was more than probable that the supply of a large amount of food was 

 also an essential factor in the equation, and as we proceeded with the 



