THE SALMON EIVERS OF ENGLAND 

 AND WALES.* 



HOWEVER much we may wish it were true, inexor- 

 able facts forbid faith in the theory of the vege- 

 tarians. Science and experience demonstrate that 

 the physical organisation of human beings, especially 

 in northern climates, can be maintained in highest 

 vigour only when they habitually consume a certain 

 portion of animal food. " Carnivorous animals," Liebig 

 declares, " are generally stronger, hardier, and more 

 courageous than the herbivorous, on which they prey. 

 The same difference is visible betwixt nations which 

 mostly live on plants, and those which live on flesh. 

 No aliment acts so rapidly as flesh in the reproduction 

 of flesh, and the reparation, at the cost of little organic 

 force, of the muscular substance wasted by labour/' 



In this country the consumption of animal food by 

 the mass of the people is no doubt much greater than 

 in France, still it is far from sufficient ; and as the 

 difficulty of procuring it in adequate degree is con- 

 stantly increasing, we know of no more important poli- 

 tical problem than that which relates to the procuring 

 of it in such proportions as are requisite for the main- 



* ' Report of the Commissioners appointed to Inquire into the 

 Salmon Fisheries' (England and Wales). Presented to both 

 Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty : 1861. 



