[17] THE STATUS OF THE FISH COMMISSION. 1155 



constantly suspended and in motion. This form of apparatus, of which 

 the McDonald and Clark hatching jars are the most perfect develop- 

 ments, may be worked in connection with any common hydrant.* 



Floating eggs have been hatched only by means of rude contrivances 

 for sustaining a lateral circular eddy, or swirl of water, in the receptacle 

 and in floating boxes constructed to utilize the action of the waves. 



The use of refrigerators, to retard the development of the egg unti^^ 

 such time as it is most convenient to take care of the fry, is now exten- 

 sively practiced in the United States, and in Germany. 



The history of fish culture in this country is so familiar to every one 

 who has the slightest interest in the subject that it seems unnecessary 

 to refer to it in this place, except to show that it was largely to the 

 growth of popular interest in the subject that the Fish Commission 

 has owed its original and since increasing support. 



The transplanting of fish was practised and advocated in the United 

 States by General Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and others at the close 

 of the last century, and Jacobi, the father of artificial culture, had cor- 

 respondents in the United States as early as 1770. 



For fifteen or twenty years prior to the establishment of the Commis- 

 sion popular interest in the fisheries, and a desire for their maintenance 

 had been on the increase, the state of public opinion being doubtless 

 under stimulation from the action of the French Government in foster- 

 ing the still infant art offish culture, which, although discovered before 

 the middle of the previous century in Germany, and never really aban- 

 doned in Europe, had not been considered worthy of government aid 

 until tbe successes of the French peasants, Eemy and Gehin, about 1850, 

 had been popularized by the brilliant genius of M. Coste, under whose 

 direction was established the first governmental fish cultural establish- 

 ment, that at Huningue in Alsace, now the official center of fish cult- 

 ure in the German Empire. 



The publications and experiments of Garlick, Fry, Atwood, Lyman, 

 Green, Stone, Ains worth, Eoosevelt, Atkins, Slack, and others, awakened 

 everywhere a sense of the fact that our rivers and streams were being 

 rapidly cleared out, and the feeling that a similar state of affairs was 

 probably existing in the adjoining ocean. Measures were set on foot 

 for restoration and protection as early as 1865, when Massachusetts ap- 

 pointed the first commission, and prior to 1870 this example was followed 

 by several other States. Nearly all the States and Territories now have 

 similar organizations. In the accompanying table, prepared by Mr. C. 

 W. Smiley, are shown the dates of organization of the several State com- 

 missions, together with the appropriations up to 1882 : 



* Trans. Amer. Fish Cultural Association. 1883. 



