1854:.] 



ARTIFICIAL BREEDING OF FISH 



65 



Tlic Kcv, W. WliewcU, D. !>., Mastci- of Ti-iiiity t'ollcgc, Cain= 

 bi-idgC) " On. tlie Material Helps of Education." 



. The lecturer sn,id, that as he had not yet had the opportunity of 

 exaniiniag the collection of the means and helps to education i\hich 

 the scheme of the Educational Exhibition had brought together, he 

 must regard the subject in its general aspect, as it offers itself to oiu- 

 thoughts. We suppose education to be vmdcrstood, not in any new or 

 peculiar signitication, but in the ordinary and familiar sense in which 

 it is commonly spoken of among intelligent persons. We consider 

 general education as opposed to special, technical oi- professional educa- 

 tion ; and we speak especially of intentional or formal education, as 

 distinguished from the spontaneous education which precedes such 

 formal education, and takes the place of it in some cases ; and as 

 distinguished, on the other hand, from the ripening post education 

 which follows formal education. 



Education, in this sense, may bo defined as the process by which the 

 individual is made a participator in the best attainments of the human 

 mind in general, namely, with what is rational, tnie, beautifvl, and 

 flood. 



The individual participates in the rational attainments of man by 

 becoming acquainted with language, which is the instrument of reason. 

 Education begins with our own language ; and none of the means of 

 education is so universal, necessary, powerful, and extensive, as this 

 most cheap and common one. A special point to attend to in using 

 language for the purpose of education, is to teach the history of the 

 language — the way in which words came to mean what they do mean. 

 This inquiry, in the case of modern languages, contains elements 

 additional to what it had in the case of Greek, in consequence of the 

 influence of the subsequent history of nations and of thought upon 

 languages. In English there are additional peculiarities in the history 

 of the language, in consequence of its containing two main component 

 parts — the Saxon part and the Latin (and Greek) part. The result of 

 this history is that, at present, the only living part of the English 

 language is the dead languages. The material means of education in 

 regard to language, are school-books — as grammars and vocabularies. 

 And it is a great improvement, recently introduced into English educa- 

 tion in this branch, that school-books have been published in which 

 these two elements of the language- — the Tuetonic and the Latin part 

 — are distinguished and separated. 



The individual participates in the knowledge which man has attained 

 of what is true by becoming acquainted with collections of truths, such 

 as geometry, arithmetic, mechanics and astronomy. Ai-ithmetic and 

 geometry ought to bo taught by being reduced to intuition. In the case 

 of geometry there arc some difficulties in this reduction, wliich may be 

 illustrated, and, in fact, removed, by folding a leaf of paper. In this 

 way we may define a straight lino and a light angle, and prove that 

 the three angles of a ti-iangle arc equal to two right angles. We may 

 also construct a pentagon, which may be shown (though not without 

 some geometrical skill) to be equilateral and equiangular. Also, in 

 mechanics the relation of the weights on inclined planes may be 

 reduced to intuition, by an ingenious illustration, devised by Stevinus, 

 of JJruges. In astronomy, the helps of education are ancillary spheres, 

 orreries, and the like. 



It is a part of education to make the individual a participator in 

 what is beautiful, even of common education, for we wish our pupils to 

 admire what is beautiful in the thoughts, expressions, or melody of 

 what they read, and talk of the beauties of Milton and of Shakespere. 

 Again, musical melody has its beauty, as well as the melody of verse ; 

 and it is a great improvement in modern education that music has been 

 made a more prominent part of it. Also an acquaintance with what 

 is beautiful in the combination of forms and of colours, has a beneficial 

 influence upon young persons in the way of general education, besides 

 being important in many Icinds of technical education. The collections 

 of the Educational Exhiliitiou will doubtless illustrate this branch. 



To make man a participatoi- in what is good is to teach him morality 

 and religion ; and tlie best mode of doing this is a matter of controversy 

 on which we do not enter. Nevertheless, all parts of human culture 

 aro eiu-iched, and to teach men what is true and beautiful helps the 

 teaching of what is right and good. — Journal of Society of Arts. 



Artificial Breeding of Fish. 



A paper has lately been read before the French Academy by M. 

 Millet, on the natural and artificial hatching of fish-spawn. M. Millet 



says, " in all the operations connected with the rearing of fish, in order 

 to obtain success, much attention must be paid to the teachings of 

 nature. It is by conforming to these pi-inciples, after studying foi- 

 many years the habits and maimers of fish, that I have sought to 

 ascertain the best means of stocking the waters ivith this valuable 

 description of food. For five successive years, from 1848 to 18-54, I 

 have made and caused to be made a variety of experiments in relation 

 to artificial spawning applied to the breeding of fish. At the same 

 time I have endeavoured to ascertain if it were possible to obtain 

 re.sult3 sufficiently satisfactory by following closer and closer the 

 natural conditions of the spawning, so as to render the operations more 

 simple, more economical, and more certain. I have since renewed my 

 experiments on natural spawning, and have compared the results with 

 those of the artificial method. 



Among the different species of fish wo may divide them into those 

 which spawn in quick running streams, and those which spawn in still 

 waters. In the first category will be found salmon, trout, gi-ayling, 

 &c. ; in the second, carp, tench, &c. The trout makes an actual nest 

 at the time of depositing her roe ; she looks ont for a bed of large 

 gravel, or flint stones washed by running waters ; these she tui-ns over, 

 and cleanses from all matter adhering to them, and foreign substances 

 deposited by the water. She then hollows out cavities among the 

 stones, into which she deposits the roe, so placing herself !fs for the 

 current to carry it into the places prepared for its reception. While 

 this process is going on, the roe is impregnated from time to time by 

 tlie discharge of milt from the male, who hovers neai-. The female then 

 covers up her nest with the stones which had been previously removed: 

 Spawning beds may be established in water-courses. If the bed of 

 tlie river is furnished with large gravel, or flint stones, these materials 

 may be at once made use of for tiie purpose. It is only necessary to 

 tiu'n them over with a shovel or a rake, to form thcin into heaps, 

 mounds, and small cavities. There is no difficulty in forming these 

 spawning beds, and the expense is trifling. When the bottom does 

 not naturally afford tlie proper material, gravel, flint-stones, or pieces 

 of rock must be supplied. The formation of these artificial spawning 

 beds, among other advantages, is attended with this, that the trout are 

 retained in the stream thus stocked. Their efficacy is such, that I 

 have caused trout to spawn in holes, and old ditches where I have 

 thi'own, before the regular time for spawning, several barrowsful of 

 stone broken for mending the roads. 



The grayling spawns frequently at a considerable depth. I have 

 caused many cubic yards of rock and stone to be thrown into ditches, 

 from ten to twelve yards in depth, and these have served as spawning 

 beds for grayling. 



For barbel, gudgeon, &c., I make in shallow running streams a 

 sandy bottom with a slight declivity, with heaps of small stones and 

 washed gravel, taking care to turn over and clean the materials with a 

 shovel or rake. 



The miller's thumb, the bullhead, and the minnow, breed readily in 

 the same waters as the trout, more especially in .springs and brooks. — 

 The fry of the miller's thumb and the bullhead are liatched at a time 

 when the young salmon, trout, and grayling are sufiiciently advanced 

 to feed on very small tender fish. 



The miller's thumb looks out for stones under which cavities are 

 found, in which she glues or sticks her eggs. Eut there is in this 

 instance a previous proceeding, which consists in taking possession of 

 a place, and making the nest. This fish hollows out a gallery or tunnel, 

 with an entrance and an exit. The female glides under the stone, and 

 then^urning on her back nibs her belly forcibly against the face of 

 tlie stone, depositing a portion of her roc, which immediately adlieres. 

 The male then follows into the nest, and by a similar movement to that 

 of the female, while turning on Ids back, impregnates the eggs which 

 are just laid. The miller's thumb keeps watch over her nest, and keeps 

 at the entrance of the tunnel to drive away all injurious animals. 



For carp, bream, tench, &c., the spawning beds are formed in slill 

 fresh water, which are kept by the sun"s rays at a moderate tempera- 

 ture. The carp more particularly spawns most abundantly in ponds 

 where the water is perfectly stagnant. Moveable .spawning beds may 

 be formed by means of fagots or hurdles placed near the edges fis 

 inclined planes, covered with pieces of turf or rushes. 



The perch spa^vns in a manner altogether peculiar. Its eggs aro 

 fixed to each other in small groups forming a broad ribbon, which has 

 the appearance of beautiful lace work. This fish has but one ovary, 

 which is completely emptied at one time. In a large number of ponds 

 and lakes the perch roe is hatched by means of faggots thrown into the 



