on 



LETTER LIV. 



To the same. 



[EAR SIR, When I happen to visit a family 

 where gold and silver fishes are kept in a glass 

 bowl, I am always pleased with the occurrence, 

 because it offers me an opportunity of observing 

 the actions and propensities of those beings with 

 whom we can be little acquainted in their natural 

 state. Not long since I spent a fortnight at the 

 house of a friend where there was such a vivary, 1 to which I paid no 

 small attention, taking every occasion to remark what passed within 

 its narrow limits. It was here that I first observed the manner in 

 which fishes die. As soon as the creature sickens, the head sinks 

 lower and lower, and it stands as it were on its head ; till, getting 

 weaker, and losing all poise, the tail turns over, and at last it floats 

 on the surface of the water with its belly uppermost. The reason 

 why fishes, when dead, swim in that manner is very obvious ; because, 

 when the body is no longer balanced by the fins of the belly, the 

 broad muscular back preponderates by its own gravity, and turns the 



1 A rare and interesting case of a Latin word at one time thoroughly 

 Englished and now once more employed with its classical termination. ED. 



