of many forms and phases of water life, attractively staged and prop- 

 erly equipped for practical and scientific demonstration, thus trans- 

 forming as by magic an irksome schoolroom study into a subject of 

 absorbing interest, fascinating alike to teacher and pupil ; and that an 

 aquarium therefore does not or should not function solely as a 

 pleasing and popular exhibit, but rather as an educational institution, 

 a school of fishery economics affording exceptional facilities and 

 advantages for the study of water life and the solution of water 

 problems along the lines of sane and practical conservation. 



Discussion. 



Me. Bowee: It occurs to me that the Society may very properly 

 endorse and advocate the more general maintenance of aquariums, public 

 and private, than is now the case. For example, we may consider the City 

 of Allentown, where we are now assembled. Here is a splendid civic com- 

 munity but with nothing in the way of a public aquarium. I am sure 

 that such an institution would attract hundreds of thousands of visitors 

 every year. In this connection I wish to mention the new public aquarium 

 to be built in beautiful Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. About three 

 or four years ago the late Mr. Ignatz Steinhart made a bequest of $250,000 

 for a public aquarium as a memorial to be known as the Steinhart 

 Aquarium, provided the city would furnish funds for its operation. As a 

 result San Francisco is going to have an aquarium that will probably 

 surpass any other in the world. Dr. Barton W. Evermann, Director of 

 the California Academy of Sciences, and a noted ichthyologist, is now 

 completing plans for this splendid new institution. He has visited various 

 aquariums in this country and has endeavored to take advantage of the 

 best ideas in each. Let us hope that other cities may be similarly favored 

 in the near future. 



Me. John P. Woods, St. Louis, Mo.: Very modestly Mr. Bower has 

 referred to the importance of the subject. I do not know of any city 

 attraction that affords more interest than does an aquarium. I remember 

 that at the opening of the Boston Aquarium in 1913 it was almost impos- 

 sible to get in on account of the crowd. Almost every human being is 

 interested in fish in some way. People like to catch, eat and look at them, 

 and I do not know of any form of wild animal life that affords more real 

 entertainment to the public than fish as they appear in an aquarium. I 

 have a very strong admiration for fish, and my contact with people shows 

 that they are practically all of the same mind. I support heartily the 

 recommendation as to the desirability and value of public aquariums, and 

 I hope that good Samaritans of wealth may, as in San Francisco, favor 

 other cities which will realize the full value of the aquariums when they 

 are acquired. 



Me. Aethub L. Millett, Boston, Mass. : At the State Fair in the City 

 of Springfield, near the center of Massachusetts, one section of a building 

 is devoted to fisheries and game, and there we have an annual exhibition. 

 The interest shown is remarkable, as people crowd into the building 

 to see the fish displayed. It truly has been of great benefit not only to the 

 people but to the Division of Fisheries and Game of our State. It helps 



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