11G6 EEPORT OF COMMISSIOXER OF FISH AND FISHEEIES. [28] 



The Eev. W. S. Lach-Szyrma, of Xe.wlyn, England, in a lecture upon 

 the late Exhibition, ujade the following comparison: 



"At the ParivS Exhibition he considered Europe as a man in full ^ igor, 

 Asia as a decrepit old man, America as a boy, Australia as a baby. In 

 thepresent Fishery Exhibition the case was different. * * * Amer- 

 ica was the gem of the Exhibition." 



The London " Shipping World *' (June, 1883) remarked : " Foremost in 

 practical value, as in interest, is the court occnpied by the United 

 States. Not only are the fisheries of the States of great importance, 

 but that importance is fully recognized and fostered by the Govern- 

 ment. The United States Fish Commission was intrusted by Congress 

 with £10,000, and the task of preparing a complete and systematic rep- 

 resentative exhibition of the fisheries of the United States. The work 

 has been most admirably performed. * * * if^ arc quite safe hi 

 saying that ice have not a single Government {Jejmrtment in this country^ 

 in any branch of industry^ which., icith the help of double the money j could 

 produce anythimi so representative and instructive as we find here^ 



Major-General A. Pitt Rivers, one of the vice-presidents of the An- 

 thropological Institute of Great Britain, in a letter to the London Times, 

 expressed the following opinion as to the methods by which the fishery 

 resources of the country were displayed, which I quote as showing how 

 the character of the work of the Commission is regarded by such high 

 scientific autliority: 



Sir: Iu confirmation of the praise you justly bestow on the arrangement of the 

 United States department in the Fisheries Exhibition, I beg to draw attention to the 

 fact that in the whole exhibition it is the only one which is arranged historically. 

 In the Chinese, Japanese, Scandinavian, and Dutch courts there are objects which 

 the ecieutilic student of the arts of life may pick out and arrange in the proper order 

 in his own mind; but in that of the United States * * * following the method 

 adopted in the National Museum in Washington [there has been] attempted some- 

 thing more, to bring [the] department into harmony with modern ideas. * * * 

 This gives to the Exhibition an interest which is apart from commerce, and an in- 

 terest which is beyond the mere requirements of iish cultui-e, and it may be regarded 

 as one out of many indications of the way in which the enlightened Government of 

 the United States mark their appreciation of the demands of science. 

 I have the honor to be, sir, yours obediently, 



A. PITT EIVERS. 



The Pall Mall Gazette, June 8, 1884, remarks : 



" The United States section is a department whose importance grows 

 upon the inquiring visitor at every inspection. With fisherman and 

 angler alike it holds the supreme position iu the entire Exhibition. The 

 section forms a very flattering manifestation of international courtesy 

 upon the part of the Government at Washington ; for by far the largest 

 part of the exhibits are from the Kational Museum at Washington, and 

 from the storehouses of the United States Fish Commission — an institu- 

 tion for tvhich it icould be rather difficult to find an English counterpart — 

 the jirivate exhibitors, particularly trading exhibitors, being very few. 



