35o 



The Primitive Fish -Hook. 



it may seem, it is a subject on which a good 

 deal of research is still requisite. "It is not 

 an acquaintance with a single series of things 

 which can throw light on any subject, but a 

 thorough comprehension of the whole of them." 

 If in the Swiss lakes there are found bronze 

 hooks of a very large size, out of proportion 

 to the fish which swim there to-day, it is but 

 just to suppose that, many thousands of years 

 ago, long before history had its dawn, the 

 aquatic fauna were then of greater bulk than 

 in 1883. Considerations on the primitive form 

 of the fish-hook must even comprehend exam- 

 ination of prior geological conditions, differences 

 of land and water, or such geographical changes 

 as may have taken place. Then ichthyology 

 becomes an important factor, for by the char- 

 acter of the hook, the kind of fish taken, in some instances, may be 

 understood. We are fast coming to this conclusion : that, putting 

 aside what can only be the merest speculations as to the condition 

 of man when he is said to have first diverged from the brute, he 

 was soon endowed with a wonderful degree of intelligence. And, 

 if I am not mistaken, primitive man did not confine himself in his 

 fishing to the rivers and lakes alone, but went out boldly to sea 

 after the cod. 



ARTIFICIAL STONE SHRIMP. 

 (FROM THE COLLECTION 

 OF PROF. A. M. MAYER.) 





