264 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. LII. No. 1342 



way back, literally incli by incli, tbrougli a 

 single small group of strata. Only thus could 

 lie base on the laboriously collected facts a 

 single true interpretation; and to those who 

 preferred the broad path of generality his in- 

 terpretations seemed, as Bacon says they al- 

 ways " must seem, harsh and discordant — al- 

 most like mysteries of faith." 

 , It is impossible to read these words without 

 thinking of one " naturse minister et inter- 

 pres," whose genius was the first in this coun- 

 try to appreciate and apply to paleontology the 

 JSTonim Organon. Devoting his whole life to 

 abstruse research, he has persevered with this 

 jnethod in the face of distrust and has pro- 

 duced a series of brilliant studies which, what- 

 ever their defects, have illuminated the prob- 

 lems of stratigraphy and gone far to revolu- 

 tionize systematic paleontology. Many are the 

 workers of to-day who acknowledge a master in 

 Sydney Savory Buckman. 



I have long believed that the only safe mode 

 of advance in paleontology is that which Bacon 

 counselled and Buckman has practised, namely, 

 " uniformly and step by step." Was this not 

 indeed the principle that guided Linnseus him- 

 self? Not till we have linked species into 

 lineages, can we group them into genera; not 

 till we have unravelled the strands by which 

 genus is connected with genus can we draw 

 the limits of families. Not till that has been 

 accomplished can we see how the lines of 

 descent diverge or converge, so as to warrant 

 the establishment of orders. Thus by degrees 

 we reject the old slippery stepping-stones that 

 so often toppled us into the stream, and foot 

 by foot, we build a secure bridge over the 

 waters of ignorance. 



Francis Arthur Bather 



ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC SALMON 



History repeats itself with monotonous reg- 

 ularity and the most patent facts of scientific 

 knowledge apparently make no impression on 

 the people at large even where their own in- 

 terests are vitally concerned. They try over 

 and over the same experiment and after the 

 clearly foretold results have been secured they 



lament the unfortunate consequences. Not 

 only that but an expenditure of money to im- 

 prove the situation is often rendered useless by 

 action which passes without adequate protest 

 from those most immediately interested. 



In former centuries the Atlantic salmon ran 

 yearly in the rivers of the New England coast 

 in such numbers as to excite the amazement 

 of our forefathers. They thought the supply 

 inexhaustible but in 1798 a dam was erected 

 on the Connecticut River and the results are 

 thus described by Jordan and Evermann. 



The salmon was at one time very abundant in 

 the Conneatiout, and it probably occurred in the 

 Hjousatonic and Hudson. . . . The circumstances of 

 their extermination in the Connecticut are well 

 known, and the same story, with names and dates 

 changed, serves equally well for other rivers. 



In 1798 a corporation known as the Upper Looks 

 and Canal Company built a dam 16 feet high at 

 Millers Eiver, 100 miles from the mouth of the 

 Connecticut. Hor two or three years fish were seen 

 in great abundance below the dam, and for per- 

 haps ten years they continued to appear, vainly 

 striving to reach their spawning groimds; but soon 

 the work of extermination was complete. When, 

 in 1872, a solitary salmon made its appearance, the 

 Saybrook fishermen did not know what it was. 



The experiment has been tried in many 

 other places and each time the result has been 

 the same. "We have heard much in recent 

 years about the dangers confronting the Pa- 

 cific salmon which furnishes so important a 

 part of the food supply of this country and of 

 other parts of the world. Scientific men have 

 called attention to the serious dangers which 

 ill-considered promotion and careless destruc- 

 tion of spawning grounds have brought to bear 

 on the supply of this splendid fish. 



In response to these warnings President 

 Roosevelt appointed a commission for the in- 

 vestigation of problems connected with the 

 Pacific salmon and its fisheries and Congress 

 has continued the work of studying the situa- 

 tion and of aiding the fish to maintain its posi- 

 tion by the establishment and development of 

 hatcheries. One of the oldest and most promi- 

 nent is at Baird, California. It is accordingly 



