2 PREFATORY REMARKS. 



neer's apprenticeship, and mainly to assist 

 me in decently stringing together my few 

 scientific observations. Books on the arts 

 and sciences seldom or never made their 

 appearance in the place of my nativity ; 

 and so few were my opportunities of read- 

 ing, and so incessant my toils, that all my 

 knowledge through means of books could 

 be collected in the space of a few hours. 

 My never-failing fountain of supply during 

 my investigations has been an old trusty 

 copy of Bailey's Dictionary, enabling me to 

 to state, as nearly as I could in plain 

 English, the observations made by me from 

 time to time. 



I never expected to publish these re- 

 marks ; they are simply the jottings of a 

 progressive experiment, having for its object 

 the unfolding of the origin of the silver 

 eel. The series of inquiries, and the notes 

 recording them, extend over a period of 



