11 



iarity of sticking to whatever they touched after emission 

 from the parent. These were caught on twigs, sticks, and 

 branches of trees, and so carried wherever they were 

 needed. They were protected as they developed, and 

 used to stock waters which had been depopulated. This 

 was but a rude attempt at fish culture, and beyond it 

 there was little more real foundation than for the pre- 

 tence of hatching spawn in the eggs of fowls beneath 

 setting hens. 



The children of Confucius, thousands of years ago, in 

 this as in many other investigations, commenced groping 

 from the darkness of ignorance toward the light of truth ; 

 but before they had passed into the twilight of the morn- 

 ing, they seemed to be stricken with paralysis, and like 

 the fabled seven sleepers, have stood on the semblance of 

 death ever since. 



The French have the honor of originating fish culture 

 as now practiced among civilized nations. Two French- 

 men, Bailee^ Remy and Gehin, having observed that the 

 mature eggs of certain fish flow from their bodies on the 

 slightest pressure, and comprehended what important 

 results might be obtained by taking advantage of this 

 peculiarity. 



It was some years after these discoveries in France that 

 America commenced to take an interest in this subject, 

 and from its geographical conformation and political 

 government, labored under the greatest disadvantages. 

 Many different States have conflicting rights in the same 

 waters. Rivers rising under one jurisdiction, frequently 

 pass under several others before they reach the sea ; lakes 

 touch or are included within four or five States ; streams 

 divide or bound two or more sovereignties. This diver- 

 sity of control, and often of interest, naturally threatened 



