16 Report of the American 



kill vegetation, snakes or turtles. The amendments of 1872 provide, 

 sec. 18 : — 



" No person or corporation shall throw, or deposit any coal tar, refuse 

 from gas houses, or other deleterious substances, or cause the same to 

 run or flow into, or upon any of the rivers, lakes, ponds or streams of 

 this State, under a penalty of $50 for each offence, in addition to liability 

 for all damage he may have done : but this section shall not apply to 

 streams of flowing water which constitute the motive power of the 

 machinery for manufacturing establishments, where it is necessary for 

 the manufacturing purposes carried on in such establishments, to throw 

 from, or run the refuse matter and material thereof jnto such stream." 



The last clause emasculates the whole section, and makes a mockery of 

 all legislation on the subject. I have seen the dead fish in the ba3-ous 

 (or creeks as tliey are improperly' called) below Albany on the west side 

 of the Hudson from the refuse of the Analine works, which came in 

 through the city sewers. 



It is a hard matter to poison a large river like the Hudson, and do it 

 thoroughl}' from end to end, a fact that we may be devoutly thankful for ; 

 but in times of low water in that river I have no doubt that the baleful 

 influence of Alban3''s dye and chemical works extends to the shad hatch- 

 ing grounds, ten miles below. 



In the report of the Maine Fishery Commission for 1873, page 13,, 

 the\' sa}', in speaking of the shad fisher}^ on the Kennebec : — 



"A careful exploration by Mr. Brown for the spawning ground of the 

 shad at Topsham and Brunswick discovered that they had been driven 

 from their old haunts by the refuse turned into the river by the Perkins 

 paper mill." 



Last season while at Holyoke. Mass., I made a few enquiries to learn, 

 if possible to what extent, if an}', the sliad grounds on the Connecticut, 

 were affected b}' the refuse of the mills immediat; 1}- above, on the same 

 side of the river with them. Being then engaged in transporting shad 

 fr}^ from there to the tributaries of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes, 

 for the United .States Fish Commission, I had no opportunity to investi- 

 gate the effect of the poisons, but developed the following facts in regard 

 to their amount. Just below the great dam, and within five hundred feet 

 of the fishway, are three large factories, the first of these is the Carew 

 Paper Company; second, the Hampshire Paper Company; third, the 

 Glasgow Gingham Compau}'. The first two discharge from one to two 

 tons of chloride of lime per da}', each ; while the amount of dye stufts, 

 etc., emptied into the river by the latter will probably make the entire 

 amount of villainous ingredients foot up to between four and five tons 

 per day of chloride of lime, acids and dye stuff. The fishery and spawn- 



