AMERICAN FISHEKIES SOCIETY. 1,'3 



station and sub-station that altciiipts to contino its energies 

 to the nieroly nuM-liani( al woi'k of hatching tish. Close up your 

 drafting' room, and your machinist becomes a bhicl<sniith; do 

 away with your schot)ls ol" design, and the standard of even 

 your so-called practical builder is immediately lowered. More 

 projj;ress has been nuide in practical medicine during the past 

 tweuty-tive years than during the previous twenty-five cent- 

 uries. Who shall say that the progress is not the direct result 

 of laboratory activity and the application of scientific method? 

 The scientific and practical work of a fisheries station cannot 

 be divorced. 



On his appointment, the present Commissioner, the Honor- 

 able George M. Bowers, recognizing the intimate relation that 

 exists between science and practice, reopened the laboratory 

 which Professor Baird had founded, made generous appropria- 

 tions for the purchase of scientific apparatus, attached suitable 

 vessels to the station, and invited the naturalists of the country 

 to take up their abode at Woods Hole, and enjoy its privileges. 

 Viewed only in the light of expediency, this action brought to 

 the Commissioner the support of men of science throughout the 

 country. With this support he was enabled to induce Congress 

 to appropriate funds sutficient to put the neglected station in 

 repair, to purchase a new vessel, to provide extensive apparatus 

 for the capture of fish, to more completely equip the labora- 

 tories, enlarge the library, increase the staff, and, I think I am 

 justified iu adding^ to secure the largest appropriation for fish 

 hatching that had ever been made. At the present writing five 

 steam vessels, large and small, are busily engaged at Woods 

 Hole, and fully forty men of science have taken places in the 

 laboratories. Of this willing corps of workers, many are 

 busied with problems of direct interest to the Commission. 



For years the fish retained in the aquaria at the station have 

 suffered with what has been known as the gas-bubble disease. 

 The cause of this disease remained entirely unknown, and 

 efforts toward its prevention were ineffectual, until the prob- 

 lem was taken up by a bacteriologist, not in the employ of the 

 commission, but merely enjoying the opportunities of the 

 station. Professor F. P. Gorham found that the disease was 

 not the result of bacterial invasion, but that it resulted from 

 the reduction in pressure on the natural gases of the body, 

 which took place when fish habituated to a life in deeper water 

 were transferred to the shallow water of the aquaria. 



The large fish-traps ojierated by the station have furnished 

 a sufficient amount of material to enable Professor Edwin 

 Linton of AVashington and Jefferson College to pursue his 

 investigations on fish parasites, and his contributions have 

 materially increased our knowledge of parasitology. It is of 



