American Fisheries Society 107 



numbers, and disappear as the volume of sewage in- 

 creases, while the shad, oyster, and other fisheries are 

 already suffering- from its effects. 



The keeping of marine fishes in the New York Aqua- 

 rium has always been difficult on account of the fact 

 that the salt water pumped from the harbor into the 

 tanks is charged with sewage. The water is, in fact, so 

 impure that the death rate among the sea fishes is very 

 high. It has always been quite impossible to exhibit 

 the more delicate marine invertebrates for the same 

 reason. The new system of stored sea water, com- 

 pleted last summer, has given the aquarium complete 

 relief from this great drawback. 



The Blackstone is the most polluted river in New 

 England; its name has become synonymous with filth. 

 The headwaters of a river system are usually free from 

 pollution but in this case the opposite is true. The 

 sewage from the city of Worcester befouls the river at 

 its source, and thereafter through its whole extent the 

 Blackstone is a damaged resource to the country. Such 

 is the accumulation of filth in the mill ponds that from 

 some of those near Worcester there arises odors that 

 are detrimental to comfort and realty, if not to health. 

 The use of its water in boilers has long been abandoned 

 and it cannot be used in manufacture of light-colored 

 cloths. 



There is no legal justification for the pollution of 

 water, yet so universal is the practice that it has come 

 to receive moral justification at the hands of society, 

 and meets no general condemnation except where it 

 goes beyond the bounds of human endurance. A few 

 states in the Union have recognized the damage arising 

 from water pollution and have made intelligent investi- 

 gations for the purpose of correcting the evils. 



Attention to water supply will dispose of typhoid 

 fever. For the most part American cities dump their 

 sewage into rivers and kill each other. For 700 miles 

 the Ohio River is an open sewer, and for 700 miles 



