Flies and Hooks. 91 



tion from mere surmise as a basis, is not the way to arrive 

 at that result. By abandoning this method of investiga- 

 tion for that of direct physical experiment, man has ac- 

 quired more sound knowledge, and has advanced more in 

 the last two or three centuries than during all the rest of 

 the known history of the race. By applying the same 

 method to the investigation of this problem, analogy war- 

 rants us in hoping for a like successful issue. 



The many who regard this question as having no further 

 bearing than upon the degree of success that some idle 

 angler may attain, will naturally think it so trivial that 

 its serious study and discussion merit little more than 

 ridicule. This, it seems to me, is the view of but a shal- 

 low mind, and one oblivious to the teachings of the 

 past. It is the ever-increasing knowledge of nature and 

 its works which has made this century so preeminent. 

 He who first discovered that heated water gave forth an 

 elastic vapor, or that an electro-magnet would attract an 

 armature, had little thought that the application of either 

 discovery would revolutionize the intercourse of the v/orld. 

 No man can foresee what may follow from any discovery 

 in the realm of nature. Five hundred investigations may 

 be utterly barren of result and so much waste labor, but 

 the five hundred and first may be indeed a prize which 

 will confer untold and unexpected benefits upon mankind. 

 It is possible — indeed probable — that the practical value 

 of this matter has been correctly appraised in the begin- 

 ning of this paragraph. But it may result in discoveries 

 which will affect the fisheries of the world. The bare 

 possibility warrants the effort. 



Such experiments as my scanty leisure and opportuni- 

 ties have enabled me to conduct, I have tried in the hope 



