564 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 20. 



THE INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EX- 

 HIBITION.— SECOND PAPER. 



The International fisheries exhibition has 

 thus far been successful to a degree which 

 astonishes its most sanguine supporters. At 

 least 200,000 ];)eople passed through the turn- 

 stiles during the first week. This number of 

 visitors represents receipts to the amount of 

 $45,000, in addition to $40,000 or thereabouts 

 from the sale of season-tickets. The official 

 catalogue is said to have cleared $15,000 

 above its cost, through advertisements, before 

 a single copj' had been sold ; and the first edi- 

 tion of 25,000 copies is nearl_y exhausted. 

 The arrangements for lighting the exhibition 

 galleries hy the various sj'stems of electrical 

 illumination have not been completed, and 

 the exhibition is now closed at 7 p.m : when it 

 is kept open until 10, the number of visitors 

 will doubtless increase : for, in addition to the 

 legitimate attractions of the exhibition, thou- 

 sands will be induced to attend hy the illumi- 

 nations and music in the gardens of the Royal 

 horticultural society, in which the exhibition 

 is held. On the opening da.y, onlj' the court 

 and the holders of season-tickets were admit- 

 ted. The next public daj' was Whitsun Mon- 

 day, one of the half-dozen or more new ' bank 

 holidays ' which have receutlj' been bestowed 

 upon the British public \ij Sir John Lubbock's 

 parliamentary bill. Not less than 45,000 peo- 

 ple paid tlieir shillings at the door, and at one 

 time 8,000 entered in a single hour. The 

 attendance on the following days was less ; 

 but on Wednesday, when admission-tickets cost 

 half a crown, nearlj' 12,000 were present. It 

 is evident that the entire liabilities of the ex- 

 ecutive committee, amounting to fiftj' or sixty 

 thousand pounds, will be met long before 

 the close of the exhibition in November. It 

 is almost certain that the iDrofits will be ap- 

 plied, as was done after the great exhibition 

 of 1857, to some object of public educational 

 importance. The press is beginning to urge 

 that this shall be the establishment of a Na- 

 tional museum of fisheries at South Kensing- 

 ton ; and the action of the management of the 

 South Kensington museum seems to indicate 

 that such is their, purpose, for they have ap- 

 pointed a committee of four to take charge of 

 the interests of such perma nent fishery collec- 

 tions as may grow up as a result of the exhi- 

 bition. This committee consists of Edward 

 Birkbeck, M.P., honorary general manager of 

 the exhi))ition. Sir James Maitland, director of 

 the South Kensington museum. Professor Hux- 

 lej', and Dr. Day ; and in its constitution must 



certainly be satisfactor3- to the scientific men of 

 England, who are complaining through the 

 columns of Nature that this present exhibition 

 differs from its continental predecessors in hav- 

 ing been organized without the co-operation, 

 to any very great extent, of the professional 

 zoologists of the country. 



The readers of Science have already' seen 

 in the daily papers descriptions of the events 

 at the opening of the exhibition on the 12th. 

 The entire English court was present ; and the 

 gorgeous costumes of the royal family and 

 their households, the picturesque garments 

 of the foreign ambassadors and commissioners, 

 the military" and naval officers, the yeomen of 

 the guard, the Queen's watermen, the English, 

 Scotch, and Irish fishermen, the flshiwves from 

 -Scotland, Belgium, France, and Holland, min- 

 gled with the bright decorations and the strik- 

 ing objects among which they were passing, 

 made the scene ver}' brilliant and impressive. 

 The building devoted to North America con- 

 tributed its contingent to the ethnological dis- 

 play of the day. Canada had a Melicete 

 Indian in gala dress ; the United States, a 

 Carolina negro clad as a whaleman, besides 

 numerous laj'-figures of its fishermen in their 

 customary dress, so lifelike in appearance that 

 thej' were constantlj' mistaken by visitors for 

 living men. 



Science was very inconspicuous in this rain- 

 bow-hued pageant ; but I noticed in the pro- 

 cession Professor Huxley; in the costume of 

 Inspector of fisheries ; Dr. Daj', in the uni- 

 form of Surgeon-general ; Professor Smitt, in 

 that of the Royal vSwedish academ3' of sciences ; 

 Professor Honej'man, Commissioner from Nova 

 Scotia, in scholastic dress, with the scarlet 

 cape of Doctor of civil law ; and Baron de 

 Solsky, Director of the St. Petersburg mu- 

 seum, his breast ablaze with decorations. The 

 most imposing figure of all was that of Pro- 

 fessor Richard Owen, whose venerable form, 

 strong features, and flowing white hair, were 

 brought out in strong relief, against the bright 

 colors around, by his coat and skull-cap of 

 black velvet. 



On the evening of the opening daj', all the 

 officials and commissioners were entertained 

 at a banquet in Fishmongers' Hall. The most 

 noteworthy events of this occasion were the 

 thoughtful speeches of the Prince of Wales 

 and his brother the Duke of Edinburgh. 

 The former had already' terselj' demonstrated 

 his appreciation of the objects of the move- 

 ment by the remark, ''The puri)ose of this 

 exhibition is to illustrate the present and past 

 condition of one of the most ancient, exteu- 



