PLEADINGS. 201 



IMPURITIES OF THE WATER. 



The two committees (as shown in the majority report of 1870 and that of 

 the joint committee) that have preceded you, were satisfied that this was 

 not the case. 



^ Their opinion was based, I presume — at least that of the majority re- 

 port — upon the report of the committee of the legishxture in 1860, to 

 investigate the subject of the effect of impurities from gas-works, &c., 

 on the fish, &c., in our waters 5 upon the report of Professor Hill as to 

 his analysis of the waters above Field's Point, and upon the opinion of 

 man}" of the witnesses. 



That putrid waters appear to be innocuous (J. C. Eep., p. 12) has been 

 shown in various ways, but it is conclusively proved that fish will thrive 

 and grow fat in waters which will affect them so as to render them un- 

 palatable to man as food. The Hon. E. 0. Clarke, of South Kingston, 

 stated in his seat in the house, that he once caught fish in Robinsonville 

 Pond, Attleborough, Massachusetts, that were handsome and very fat, 

 but when opened, emitted so strong an effluvium of gas that they could 

 not be eaten. ^ In the newspapers it was stated, that off New Bedford 

 clams were dug for a chowder, and when the dish was set before the 

 party it was so impregnated with gas flavor, produced from the clams, 

 that no one could eat it. 



The trappers attempt to establish their view by endeavoring to show 

 that fish brought in wells to the Providence market will not live so long 

 as formerly, and ascribe this to the increased impurity of the water. On 

 the other side, it is in evidence that fish will not live in wells or smacks 

 far down the river in warm w^eather, unless the vessels are frequently 

 kept in motion, so as to change the water and the air. Besides, there is 

 no question but what the current of the river at the Great Bridge has 

 been weakened from what it was before the dam was put in,- when the 

 tide had free scope, and the water near where the State j)rison now stands 

 was 6 to 8 feet deep. 



Mr. Atwood, in his address, gives a sufficiently good reason why fish 

 would not long live in this manner, especially if bottom fish, in the 

 change from cold to w^arm water, and, he might have added, from salt to 

 fresher water; yet if the change was a gradual one, he believes fish 

 would liv^e. He also thinks that the effect of impurity of water in driv- 

 ing away fish would arise more from the effect it produced on their food 

 than from any direct influence. 



WANT OE EOOD. 



There is no evidence showing scarcity of food. It is shown that mus- 

 cle-beds are constantly forming, dying out, and re-forming ; and they do 

 so in streams into which the w^aste water from the print-works in Ap- 

 i:)onaug is constantly- thrown, and grow abundantly. Even this proof of 

 the fact of the growth, however, establishes nothing beyond this, that 

 where muscles grow and flourish, other food would be likely to be equally 

 abundant. . From the kind of teeth belonging to scup, it is doubtful 

 whether they are able to feed upon muscles, except when young and 

 their shells can be easily crushed. They probably feed upon the spawn 

 of these and other shell, and of other fish, and animalcules and small 

 shell-fish found with the sea- weeds, and upon the sea- weeds themselves. 



^ Mr. Clarke informs me that lie visited this locality in February, 1872, and there 

 learned that the same peculiarities still attach to the fish, so that they cannot be eaten. 



