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these conferences was to bring together men who were not 

 only scientific but practical, to hear their opinions expressed 

 in the boldest manner possible, so that they might be able 

 to arrive at the truth with regard to any subject connected 

 with fisheries. The salient points in connection with all 

 the fisheries would be thoroughly considered by the most 

 competent men, and he trusted the results would be of the 

 most practical kind. Whoever stood on that platform, 

 whether he were a scientific man, a practical, or a theo- 

 retical man, would not, he hoped, be afraid of expressing his 

 opinion on any subject, however antagonistic it might be 

 to the one which seemed to prevail at the moment, because 

 in the end the truth must prevail. The subject brought 

 forward by Mr. Marston was one in which he had taken a 

 great interest, and he might say that the only prize offered 

 at the Exhibition for the cultivation of fish in fresh-water 

 ponds was offered by himself. He saw in Germany and 

 Austria the importance of that cultivation, and in all these 

 matters history seemed to repeat itself. They knew that 

 the ancient Romans were famous for fish culture in ponds. 

 Their tables were provided with carp and every kind of 

 fresh-water fish, and so valuable were they that it was said 

 that one of the fish-ponds of the poet Lucullus actually 

 realised 20,000 after his death. Dr. Seymour Haden had 

 shown what was actually carried on in Lyons, and the 

 same system could be adopted in this country. Wherever 

 there were low-lying meadows, with streams or rivulets 

 running through them, these ponds could be easily con- 

 structed. The monks in the olden days, who knew how 

 to place their abbeys in the most lovely spots in creation, 

 also knew which were the most valuable fish, and they 

 always had carp ponds, because they knew it was about 

 the best fresh-water fish, the one most tenacious of life, not 

 carnivorous, but living on weeds and insects. There were 



