480 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



He commenced by a fitting tribute of commendation upon the 

 labors of Mr. Pell, the President, who, he stated, had given to the 

 world many facts hitherto unpublished, because unknown, 

 respecting the habits of fishes. It was very interesting to study 

 the outlines of the physiology of the fish. Professor Agassiz had 

 traced more than the outlines, and had promised to publish his 

 investigations, but had not as yet done so. 



The Doctor explained how the fish lives and breathes by suc- 

 tion. The whole animal kingdom subsists upon the vegetable 

 kingdom. Nor is that law violated in the case offish. They are 

 not like Kilkenny cats, that devour each other, leaving nothing 

 but a very small piece of each of their tails. It was well it did 

 not take much to support fish. They do not expend a great out- 

 lay of muscular power. A fish is balanced by a small amount of 

 force in the water. The higher the respiratory power, the greater 

 the necessary activity of the digestive and nutritive apparatus. 

 Now the fish requires no food to raise his temperature above the 

 low grade of a cold blooded animal. Fish might even be frozen 

 so as to break when allowed to fall, and yet be in such frozen 

 state susceptible of resuscitation, by immersion in cold water^ 

 They needed little food truly. Gold fish may be artificially kept 

 a twelve month without food, though in that state they will not 

 breed. Mr. Pell had kept a mud turtle a year without food. 

 The creature was half way between a warm and cold blooded 

 animal ; and if the turtle could bear such deprivation with impu- 

 nity, much more so could a fish. Where did fish get their food 

 from when under the ice in frozen ponds ? 



Dr. Smith was very anxious to prevent any misapplication of 

 the truth respecting frozen fish. Water became ice at 32° Fahr- 

 enheit, but that was not the maximum temperature of ice. 

 Such ice was comparatively warm ice. It was plain that 

 the frozen fish had not been exposed to a temperature suffi- 

 ciently low to efiect such organic changes in the structure of 

 the fish as were incompatible with the further relation of that 

 structure to the v-ital principle. 



Dr. Waterbury then proceeded to demonstrate from a neatly 

 dissected specimen, the anatomy of the circulatory organs — as to 



