SALICARI^ SALMON. 



587 



is the grand hold which medical quacks of all kinds 

 have upon the public ; and though the fashion of the 

 quackeries changes with the times, perhaps the sum 

 total bears a pretty constant ratio to the population ; 

 and many who would treat with ridicule the idea of 

 swallowing a roasted shrew, in order to get a live 

 eft out of the stomach, are in all probability believers 

 in as great absurdities. The story told about the 

 late Mr. Abernethy, in curing the dyspeptic lady of 

 the dread of a spider in her stomach, is well known ; 

 and though we cannot vouch for its authenticity, it 

 was not unworthy of that very talented and eccentric 

 character. The lady could not get rid of the spider, 

 of course, as there was none to get rid of ; but she 

 applied to the Doctor. " Madam," said he, in the 

 usual gravity of a prescribing face, " there is only one 

 way in which you can get rid of it, but that is sure to 

 succeed." The lady was all ear. " Madam, you 

 are to go home, catch a bluebottle fly, put it in your 

 mouth, and let it buzz there ; depend upon it" the 

 spider will come up to catch the fly ; then watch 

 your time, spit them both out together, and your cure 

 is certain." The sequel is not given ; but it is highly 

 probable that the prescription was of that valuable 

 kind which cures when given without being taken. 



SALICARI.E, ,or LYTHRARIC^, a natural 

 order of plants. See LYTHRARIC^:. 



SALICORNIA (Linnaeus). A genus of small 

 shrubs and herbs, chiefly natives of cold countries. 

 Three or four of the species are natives of Britain, 

 where they are known by the name of glasswort. 

 They are placed in the h'rst class and first order of 

 Linnaeus, and belong to the natural order ChenopodecE. 

 Under the name of marsh samphire, these plants are 

 used as spinach. 



SALISBURIA (Smith). An ornamental tree, 

 native of Japan, belonging to AmcntacccE. The flowers 

 are monoecious, and it appears that the female plant is 

 scarcely known in Europe. 



SALIX (Linnaeus). A most extensive genus of 

 trees, shrubs, and undershrubs, mostly natives of the 

 north of Europe and America. The flowers are 

 dioecious, and the genus belongs to Amcntacea;. The 

 willow, of one kind or other, is common everywhere, 

 and several of the sorts, as the S. rubra, S. viminalis, 

 and others, are extensively cultivated for the basket- 

 makers, and the S.fragilis and Huntingdon are pre- 

 ferred for fencing ; while the S. Babylomca, or weep- 

 ing-willow, is exceedingly ornamental. There are 

 numerous species not yet described. 



SALMON (Salmo, or perhaps Salmonlda:, the sal- 

 mon family). A family of soft finned fishes with 

 abdominal fins, and the fourth in order in Cuvier's 

 arrangement, standing between the family of the 

 Sdnres and that of the herrings. They are exceed- 

 ingly numerous, amounting to twenty genera in the 

 subfamily of the salmon, and one genus of another 

 subfamily Sternoptyx, which agree with the salmon in 

 some particulars, but have the body differently 

 shaped, and are different in geographical distri- 

 bution. 



The soft-finned fishes, that is, those which have the 

 rays of the fins jointed, whether they have or have 

 not any fins absolutely soft, are in point of numbers 

 the most abundant of all the true fishes ; and, in an 

 economical point of view, they are the most valuable. 

 This will be understood from the mere mention of 

 the names of the leading families, which are salmon, 

 herrings, cod, and flat-fish, of which if the waters 



were deprived, man would sustain a greater loss than 

 if all the rest of the finny tribes perished together. 

 Among the other divisions and families there is a 

 valuable fish here and there ; but when we come to 

 the four which have just been named, it is difficult to 

 say which of them is the most valuable ; and if they 

 were all taken away, our fish markets would have but 

 few attractions compared with what they have at 

 present ; for the staple of them all at every season of 

 the year is one or other of these four. 



In the elegance of their forms, and perhaps in the 

 richness of their flesh, the salmon family are probably 

 entitled to take the lead ; and when we consider their 

 habits and their geographical distribution, we are 

 constrained to acknowledge that they are the most 

 accessible of all fishes, and almost the only ones in 

 which man can be said to have a property which can 

 yield him a revenue. None of the family are, strictly 

 speaking, pelagic fishes ranging the wide seas, and 

 none of them resort to the banks in the distant parts. 

 The greater number are natives of the fresh waters, 

 even though they spend a considerable portion of the 

 year in the sea, and not a few are permanent inha- 

 bitants of the fresh waters ; but they are all inhabit- 

 ants of the clear water, active and lively in their 

 manners, and never lurking in the mud. 



The capture of the salmon family thus becomes the 

 finest sport of all fishing. It is really a " field" sport, 

 though the objects of it are in the waters ; and there 

 is more exercise, more enjoyment of scenery, and alto- 

 gether more of the elements of healthful enjoyment in 

 fishing for the members of this family, than in the 

 capture of animals of any other description, be they 

 what they may ; all this is very delightful in itself, and 

 certainly it is not the less so from the consideration 

 that the produce of it is equally savoury and healthy. 

 The other finny tenants of the fresh waters are found 

 chiefly in ponds and pools, or in the broad and stilly 

 places of the stream ; but the clearer the water is, 

 and the more brisk the current, the salmon family 

 like it all the better, and frequent it in the greatest 

 numbers. We find perch in a dull pond, and pike 

 in a sedgy pool or stagnant part of a river ; but if we 

 wish to have a salmon or a trout we must go to 

 where the bank is clear, and the place both delightful 

 and healthy. 



There is something more in this than the mere 

 consideration of fishes, whether regarded in an eco- 

 nomical point of view, or as they afford sport to the 

 captor. These fishes entice us to the place where 

 health and long life is be found, and bring us ac- 

 quainted with nature in its fresh and simple beauty. 

 There is a richness of enjoyment in it which cannot 

 be told in words, or communicated in any other 

 manner than by actually engaging in it, and not 

 merely engaging in it, but doing it with enthusiasm 

 and zest. No one can conceive but one who entirely 

 feels it, the high degree of superiority with which 

 one who has been accustomed to catch trout after 

 trout, or a salmon now and then, looks upon the 

 humble fisher for dace and gudgeons in some flat, 

 lazy, and currentless river, which crawls along making 

 the man who stands on the bank watching the bob 

 of the float, ten times more dull than he would be 

 were he engaged in the most mechanical drudgery 

 of the workshop or the counting-house all the while. 



The salmon family thus form a subject upon which 

 one could dwell and luxuriate for a long time, and 

 always the longer the less wearied ; but as all waters 



