Kendall. — Anatomical Facts 55 



turned in from one of our stations for examination to determine whether 

 the trouble of subnormal egg production was not due to inbreeding. 



Mr. Titcomb : Where the fish are in poor condition I find that 

 they frequently hold their eggs over a year; this suggests that some- 

 thing other than the mere stripping may be responsible. Does not Dr. 

 Kendall think that a diseased condition of the fish is as likely to be the 

 cause of failure to spawn naturally as the handling of the fish in 

 spawn taking? 



Dr. Kendall: Well, so far as the retention of the €ggs is con- 

 cerned, that may be so. But ruptured ovaries, the presence of masses 

 of clotted blood, and all that sort of thing, would hardly be due to any 

 slight unnatural condition. 



Mr. William F. Wells, Albany, N.Y. : There is one phase of 

 this paper which has not been brought out very prominently, and before 

 the discussion is closed I think it ought to be mentioned. I refer to 

 that aspect of fish-cultural work which has to do with the relation of 

 the scientist to the practical man. This discussion has been entirely 

 along practical lines. There is no question that Dr. Kendall has done a 

 "wonderful piece of scientific work; he has disclosed facts which, if they 

 do not succeed this year or next year in bringing about the production 

 of one more fish from artificially stripped eggs, may in the long run 

 have more effect on fish-cultural methods than can now be anticipated. 

 Here is involved the question of the relation between the anatomist and 

 the surgeon. The anatomical facts that have been determined during the 

 last thousand years are the basis of our surgery today. The wonderful 

 surgery of the present generation is due more to those great anatomists 

 than to the wonderful surgeons who are alive today. In due respect to 

 science, therefore, I think we should say that Dr. Kendall has done a 

 wonderful piece of scientific work, and the fact that he can arouse so much 

 interest on the part of the practical man shows that his work is one of those 

 rare instances of scientific accomplishment which connects pure science — 

 in itself worth while — with the work of the practical man, who, perhaps, 

 is not always inclined to appreciate the ultimate results of scientific work. 



