16 ORIGIN OF THE SILVER EEL. 



swallowed, but never came upon anything 

 sufficiently clear to satisfy my mind as to 

 their origin ; or if they were produced in 

 any particular month (it was then May), or 

 throughout the whole summer. 



Time passed on. I went at the age of 

 sixteen to serve my time as an engineer. 

 After my apprenticeship expired, I travelled 

 through different counties in the prosecution 

 of my trade. During these journeys I took 

 every opportunity to examine all eels that 

 came in my way, large and small. I searched 

 every work on natural history that fell in 

 my way, for information as to the origin 

 of this animal, but found nothing to satisfy 

 me. I always believed that something 

 would fall in my way which would reveal 

 to me the mystery. 



I came to the town of Dundee in the 

 spring of 1817, as manager and principal 

 engineer at the works of Messrs. J. 

 and W. Brown. My dwelling-house was 

 situated in a low-lying place. In the 

 garden immediately before the window I 

 had a bed of fine ranunculuses. On the 

 2nd of May, 1825, whilst weeding this bed 



