THE SALMON. 177 



ratory apparatus in fishes, with the simplicity of their 

 general structure, without admiration. Their organs 

 of motion are as simple as the fluid in which they 

 swim, considered merely in a mechanical point of view ; 

 but when they have to perform their double purpose of 

 decomposing water and air, nature heaps resource upon 

 resource, till observation is bewildered and confounded 

 at the multiplicity of parts and the nicety of their 

 action ; while acuteness of feeling, which would be super- 

 fluous in the organs of motion, or in those of the mouth 

 and palate, is bestowed largely upon the gills to defend 

 them from injury. When a fish is allowed to expire, 

 the last convulsive motion is in the gills and gill-covers. 

 In fishes that inhabit the sea, there is a triple func- 

 tion for the gills, as the salts which the water holds in 

 solution have to be separated. They have also, in 

 many cases, to be separated from the food : and pro- 

 bably it is this separation which calls for a more 

 powerful organization in sea fishes than in those that 

 live only in fresh water. Among the older marvels 

 with which triflers in the study of nature amused them- 

 selves, one was, "why the salt sea produces fresh fish!" 

 but that is nowise more wonderful than that the sea 

 should produce fish at all. 



THE SALMON. 



OF all the migratory fish that frequent the British 

 rivers, the salmon is by far the most valuable, both as 

 an object of study, and an article of food. Its form is 

 fine, its motions graceful, and when in the very prime 

 of its condition, it is certainly the most delicious food 



