532 



NA TURE 



lApril y, 1881 



surrounded by a mixture of potassic chlorate and anti- 

 monious sulphide, was a sealed glass tube containing con- 

 centrated sulphuric acid and a leaden weight. The whole 

 was then apparently connected with the dynamite in the 

 case by means of an india-rubber tube also containing 

 explosives. If this was the actual construction the modus 

 operandi of the conspirators was very simple, for the 

 heavy glass tube had only to be allowed to fall, when the 

 lead would have broken the sulphuric acid tube, and 

 the chlorate mixture would have at once inflamed, and 

 the explosion of the jelly would have communicated by 

 means of the rubber tube with the torpedo. At the same 

 time it is very difficult to imagme the reasons which could 

 have induced the conspirators to adopt so crude a method 

 when, as it appears from the account, they had at their 

 disposal in the room adjoining that from which the mine 

 was driven no less than four galvanic batteries, with which 

 the explosion could have easily been instantaneously 

 effected by those on the watch for the passage of the 

 intended victims, a method of operation much more con- 

 sonant with the skilled character of the other parts of 

 the work. It is however very diificult to understand 

 a description such as this when derived from a non- 

 scientific source, as may be imagined when one of our 

 daily contemporaries stated that the fuse contained 

 " barfliolley salts" and another " chlorate of potash and 

 stdphide 0/ aimnoniuinr 



Whatever may have been the real mode intended to 

 have been used by the conspirators, the results would 

 have been sufficiently frightful, as it is probable that the 

 charge found would have made a " crater " of about fifty 

 feet in diameter. 



The jelly contained in the glass tube was, when 

 analys d, found to contain about 4 per cent, of camphor. 

 This was added to render the mass less sensitive to any 

 accidental shock which it might incur, and is an ingenious 

 application of principles laid down by Abel {Proc. Roy. 

 Soc. xxii. p. 163) in his well-known paper on "The 

 History of Explosive Compounds," in which, though not 

 actually mentioning the dilution of a liquid or semi-liquid 

 explosive by the solution in it of another body, he clearly 

 indicates the probable effects of such a treatment. That 

 men of education and ability should so apply their 

 undoubted powers must be a matter of regret to every 

 student of science. 



FISH-CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES 

 T T is a common saying that everything in America is 

 ■'■ on a larger scale than in this country. The longest 

 rivers, the largest lakes, the highest mountains, the 

 broadest plains, the most stupendous waterfalls, and the 

 biggest hotels, are all to be found in the New World. 

 Fortunes are made with a rapidity which is unparalleled 

 in Europe ; and men who only lately were penniless 

 adventurers are losing or winning millions in New York. 

 The latest example of the scale on which everything in 

 America is conducted may be found in a volume of more 

 than 1000 pages, printed in the Government printing- 

 office, bound in the Government " bindery " of the 

 United States, and containing the Annual Report of the 

 United States Commission on Fish and Fisheries. The 

 volume, it may be added, has been preceded by fi\c 

 others of almost equal length ; and gives a remarkable 

 idea of the importance which the Americans attach to 

 fish-culture. 



It would obviously be impossible to attempt, within the 

 compass of a newspaper article, any adequate review of 

 a work of this character. But we may perhaps indicate 

 its nature by rapidly describing its contents. The volume, 

 then, is roughly divisible into two parts. The first 64 

 pages contain the Report of the Commission ; the last 9SS 

 pages are occupied with appendices and an index. Forty- 

 four appendices of unequal importance are thus pub- 



lished. The greater portion of them consists of transla- 

 tions or reproductions of papers published in other 

 countries and having more or less reference to the work 

 of the Commission. For instance, there is a report by 

 Herr Wallem (the well-known Norwegian Inspector of 

 Fisheries) on the American Fsheries ; by Prof. Sars on 

 the Norwegian Deep-sea Expedition of 1878; by Mr. 

 Stirling of Edinburgh on the Recent Outbreak of 

 Salmon Disease ; and by other authorities on various 

 subjects. In addition the appendices contain original 

 papers by Messrs. Livingston Stone, C. G. Atkins, and 

 other American fish-cuhurists on matters more or less 

 connected with fish-culture in the United States. Thus 

 the volume undoubtedly contains a vast mass of informa- 

 tion. Much of it indeed is written in a style which in 

 this country would be considered more suitable to a re- 

 view than to an official report. But the American system 

 of government is so different from our own that an 

 Englishman cannot easily form an impartial opinion on 

 this point. 



Herr Wallem estimates the yearly profit, by which we 

 think he means the gross yield, of the fisheries of the 

 United States at 27,300,000 dollars. In this sum is 

 "naturally not included what foreign nations capture on 

 the banks of America, nor what the fisheries of Canada 

 yield. If one should take both these factors into the 

 calculation the amount mentiop.ed may perhaps be in- 

 creased by one half, because the French fisheries alone 

 on the Newfoundland Islands have a yearly profit of 

 $1,365,000 to $1,638,000, and the Canadian fisheries 

 yield $10,920,000 to §12,285,000 yearly." Herr Wallem 

 adds in a note that " for comparison it may perhaps be 

 instructive to state that the Norwegian Marine Fisheries 

 may be estimated at §'12,285,000 to $13,650,000 yearly, 

 and the French at $15,015,000 to $16,380,000." If these 

 figures may be accepted as correct on the high authority 

 of Herr Wallem, the American fisheries must be worth 

 about 5,500,000/. a year ; the French fisheries 3,250,000/. ; 

 the Norwegian fisheries 2,600,000/. ; and the Canadian 

 fisheries 2,250,000/. We have unfortunately no statistics 

 at our commind which would enable us to compare 

 these values with the produce of our own fisheries, 

 but we do not believe that any competent authority 

 would place their value at less than 6,300,000/. ; and 

 we believe that most persons would be disposed to 

 name a higher sum. Englishmen, therefore, may have 

 the satisfaction of reflecting that the fisheries of the 

 British Islands are still the most important in the world ; 

 though the fishermen of the United States are fast over- 

 taking British fishermen. 



Those persons who are most familiar with the British 

 fisheries are aware that for years past complaints have 

 been made of the injury done both to fish and fishermen 

 by the operations of trawling. It is very singular that 

 trawling is also objected to in the United States ; and 

 the Commissioners print in their appendices a petition 

 from the fishermen of Block Island on the subject. But 

 the similarity between the complaints disappears on 

 examination. A trawl in England is a large purse- 

 net, attached to a heavy beam raised upon trawl heads 

 or irons at either end, and dragged along the bottom of 

 the sea. A trawl in Scotland is simply a draft or seine- 

 net ; a trawl in America is a long line baited with hooks 

 and left on the bottom of the sea. It is very odd that 

 these three distinct modes of fishing are all objected to 

 in the different countries in which they are employed. 

 In Scotland the drift-net fishermen object to the trawl or 

 seine-nets ; in England the drift-net fishermen and the 

 line fishermen object to the beam trawls. In .'\merica 

 the hand-line fishermen object to the set-line fishermen, 

 whom they call trawlers. Among the fishermen of the 

 three countries there is a cry against trawling, and the 

 fishermen of the three countries are all alluding to dis- 

 tinct modes of fishing. These complaints may, centuries 



