FISHES AJ^^D FISHING. 65 



them, until in a fit condition for food. Herr Jacobi, 

 a retired military officer, of Osnaburgh, about 1756 or 

 1758,1 believe, was the first who attempted to take the 

 spawn and milt from the live parent-fish, for the pur- 

 pose of impregnation and production ; and after some 

 years of experience and attention, and proving his 

 arrangements, introduced the subject to Count Gold- 

 stein, a talented naturalist, who published the ac- 

 count of Jacobi' s experiments; but the subject died 

 away." 



Sir Humphrey Davey mentions that Jacobi bred 

 trout artificially. — See *' Salmonia," 3rd ed. p. 80. 



Mr. Boccius says, that Sir Humphrey Davy, Sir 

 Prancis Chantry, Mr. Pepys, the improver of British 

 steel, and some others, attempted this process at Mr. 

 Hamlet's, on the Colne, near Uxbridge, but failed, 

 not producing more than five per cent, of brood. 



Mr. Blakey appears rather to depreciate this most 

 useful art, as being merely a revival of a branch of 

 science known to, and practised by, the Romans two 

 thousand years ago, and that it is largely treated of by 

 Columella and other ancient writers. This is not 

 the fact ; the Romans caught very young, probably 

 brood fish, or like, as mentioned by Mr. Ashworth, 

 the method practised by the Chinese, placed them in 

 ponds, where they were fed most plentifully, and were 

 taken out when in a state of perfection, to grace the 



F 



