THE CULTIVATION OF MARINE AND FRESH-WATER 

 ANIMALS IN JAPAN 



BY K. MITSUKURI, PH.D. 

 Professor of Zoology, Imperial University, Tokyo, Japan 



WHILE the pasturage of cattle and the cultivation of plants marked 

 very early steps in man's advancement toward civilization, the raising 

 of aquatic animals and plants, on any extensive scale, at all events, 

 seems to belong to much later stages of human development. In fact, 

 the cultivation of some marine animals has been rendered possible 

 only by utilizing the most recent discoveries and methods of science. 

 I believe, however, the time is now fast approaching when the in- 

 crease of population on the earth, and the question of food-supply 

 which must arise as a necessary consequence, will compel us to pay 

 most serious attention to the utilization for this purpose of what has 

 been termed the "watery wastes." 



For man to overfish, and then to wait for the bounty of nature to 

 replenish, or, failing that, to seek new fishing grounds, is, it seems to 

 me, an act to be put in the same category with the doings of nomadic 

 peoples wandering from place to place in search of pastures. Here- 

 after, streams, rivers, lakes, and seas will have, so to speak, to be 

 pushed to a more efficient degree of cultivation and made to yield 

 their utmost for us. It is perhaps superfluous for me to state this 

 before an audience in America, for I think all candid persons will 

 admit that the United States, with her Bureau of Fisheries, is leading 

 other nations in bold scientific attempts in this direction. 



Nor is it simply from the utilitarian standpoint that more attention 

 is likely to be paid in future to the cultivation of aquatic organisms. 

 Far be it from me to depreciate in any way beautiful modern labor- 

 atory technique, but I think all will agree the time is now gone by 

 when science considered that when the morphology of an animal has 

 been made out in the laboratory all that is worth knowing about it has 

 been exhausted. We have been apt to forget that animals are living 

 entities, and not simply a collection of dead tissues. But we are now 

 beginning to realize that in order to arrive at the proper understand- 

 ing of biological phenomena we must, in addition to laboratory meth- 

 ods, observe living animals in their natural environment, or study 

 them by subjecting them to accurate scientific experiments. To show 

 the efficiency and intricate nature of the new methods, I need only 

 refer to the important results obtained by Professor Ewart, of Edin- 

 burgh. And America has also already started a zoological experi- 

 mental farm, under the able directorship of Professor Davenport. 



