10 



Remy was, as we have seen, known to scientific ichthy- 

 ologists, it was perfectly unknown to them. These poor 

 men had never heard of Golstein or Jaeobi, of Lacepede 

 or Sannoni; they had probably never in their lives 

 opened a book on the natural history of fish ; conse- 

 quently it was by their own unaided intelligence and 

 patient investigation that they arrived at the discovery 

 of the "great fact:" and surely the same credit is due 

 to them for it as if it had been quite original. Though 

 they came after Golstein, they rank as high nay higher, 

 for they had none of his instruction or means of obser- 

 vation. 



Though bad news proverbially flies fast, information 

 really useful to the public not unfrequently travels very 

 slowly. It was so in this case. Until the beginning of 

 1849 nothing was heard of the discovery and its great 

 results beyond the department of the Vosges and its 

 immediate vicinity; and perhaps nothing would have 

 been heard of it until this day, if an eminent and 

 learned physician residing in the department, who had 

 taken much interest in the matter, had not called atten- 

 tion to it. For thus taking the light from under the 

 bushel, a very deep debt of gratitude is due to him, 

 not only from his own countrymen, but from foreign 

 nations. 



This gentleman, Doctor Haxo of Epinal, perpetual 

 Secretary of the Societe d'Emulation, and member of 

 the Conseil Academique of the Department of the 

 Vosges, addressed, in the month of March, 1849, an 

 admirably written communication to the Academy of 

 Sciences at Paris, describing Gehin and Remy's modus 

 operandi and its astonishing results. The sensation 

 which this paper created was extraordinary, amongst the 



