6 IMPORTANCE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF 



deposits and gold diggings as worthy of more attention 

 and more legislative care and protection ; but if so, they are 

 egregiously wrong. What benefits have the gold diggings 

 of America conferred on the people of Spain ? None. Nay 

 more, some of the best and wisest philosophical writers 

 have shown that the curse of too much gold may fall on 

 a nation as well as on an individual ; and those probably 

 speak the truth who say that the greatness of Spain 

 began to decline from the period when the gold mines 

 became abundant, and the gambling spirit for the ac- 

 quisition of gold deadened enterprise and industry, and 

 that therefore the Spaniards sunk into a state of lethargy 

 or indolence ; and that, although deprived to a great ex- 

 tent of the cause, they still suffer from the consequences, 

 and may be said to be only slowly advancing towards the 

 recovery of their former position among the nations of 



Europe.* 



To prove the necessity of endeavouring thoroughly to 

 investigate and carefully to study the natural and econo- 

 mical history of the herring, several glaring errors in 

 some works of the very highest authority may be pointed 

 out, more in justification of the attempt now made to 

 throw as much of the light of truth as possible on a sub- 

 ject which involves the wellbeing and prosperity of a 

 large and industrious population, than from any desire to 

 depreciate works otherwise of the most elaborate and 

 interesting description. 



* In encouraging the search for gold in our own colonies, are we not 

 losing, or sending away from our mother country, some of our most enter- 

 prising and useful inhabitants, not easily to be replaced? In encouraging 

 the search for herrings on our own coasts, as truly said by the distinguished 

 French author already quoted, we create those men of so much use in a 

 maritime nation, " intrepid and robust mariners," besides adding annually 

 additional supplies of food and " inexhaustible riches." 



