14 



THE AQUARIUM, OCTOBER, 1895. 



A SUCCESSFUL CURE. 



To the Editor of " The Aquarium." 



As I so frequently see mentioned in 

 your magazine diseases of goldfish, I 

 would like to tell you of an experience 

 I have lately had. I, of course, cannot 

 tell, if the remedy would always prove 

 efficient. I had owned for a year or 

 more a very fine Jap, when suddenly 

 she developed the disease which 

 destroys both tail and fins, and which 

 comes to my fish from time to time. 



When I first noticed the trouble, 

 the tail was in shreds and almost en- 

 tirely gone. I removed her to a cypress 

 tank of small dimensions, filled with 

 an abundance of green, all growing 

 nicely and fed twice a day, on snails 

 only, the small common kind found in 

 our ditches. The cure was complete, 

 the tail as fine as ever, and this was 

 about two months ago and no sign of 

 a return of the disease. Wish I could 

 say with certainty, that the large quan- 

 tity of growing plants and the snail 

 feeding would prove an infallible 

 remedy. 



Very respectfully, 



Mrs. J. E. F. 



OBITUARY. 



Thos. H. Huxley, the famous Eng- 

 lish naturalist, died in Eastbourne, 

 Engl., June 29, 1895. 



Marshal McDonald, U. S. Com- 

 missioner of Fish and Fisheries, died 

 at Washington, D. C, Sept. 1st, 1895. 

 He had been in bad health for years — 

 lung troubles. Colonel McDonald, as 

 he used to be called, was a native of 

 Virginia. He was a veteran of the 

 late war, serving on General T. J. 

 Jackson's (Stonewall Jackson) staff 

 with the rank of Major of Engineers. 



He had been connected with the 



Fish Commission a great many years 

 under Prof. Baird, and when the 

 Fish Commission was separated from 

 the Smithsonian Institution, after the 

 death of this gentleman, President 

 Cleveland, during his first term, ap- 

 pointed the deceased Commissioner. 

 Mr. McDonald was the inventor of the 

 fish way that bears his name. The 

 Colonel was an extremely pleasant gen- 

 tleman, a typical Virginian. May he 

 rest in peace. 



Drift Wood. 



Lady Spencer Clifford, of England, has 

 just passed with honors the examination for 

 a sea captain's license ; and if she desires to 

 do so she can now serve as master of any 

 ship on the high seas. But her imme- 

 diate purpose is to be qualified as captain 

 of her own yacht. 



The Green Carnation. — A leading man 

 among florists is reported to have told a lady 

 recently, who applied for an entire decora- 

 tion of green and white carnations for a 

 debutante dinner, that he had banished them 

 from his greenhouses, as the dj-e that was 

 used to give them their brilliant green hue 

 was too poisonous to be inhaled by human 

 beings. Another revelation made by this 

 same florist was that a certain worm or 

 microbe, absolutely fatal to the plant, has 

 recently appeared in the American Beauty 

 roses, and that the liquid with which they 

 were syringed to destroy the insect was 

 such a deadly poison that it was no longer 

 safe to bury one's nose in the heart of the 

 flower in order to enjoy its perfume. Alas ! 

 says a correspondent, for the happy days 

 when microbes were unknown and human 

 lives seemed to extend themselves out to a 

 very reasonable length without am- knowl- ' 

 edge of the risks that assail them at every 

 turn. 



Telephone Infection. — A special mouth- 

 piece for public telephones has been intro- 

 duced in Germany with the object of avoid- 

 ing the spread of disease carried by the 

 condensed moisture of the breath. A pad 



