SPINNING AND BAIT FISHING. 415 
that this beautiful andsporting fish is far from being as plentiful 
as it formerly was, and, indeed, from many rivers the brown 
trout also has well-nigh disappeared. 
This is the more regrettable inasmuch as a little energy and 
enterprise on the part of the mine owners, especially owners of 
lead and copper mines—the great offenders—would almost, if 
not wholly, alleviate the mischief. In the case of the former a 
few catch pits into which the mine washings should pass and be 
allowed to filter before the water finally reaches the river, would 
render it perfectly innocuous, and I remember on one of the 
most beautiful rivers in Devonshire, the Teign, where this pre- 
caution has been taken, I have repeatedly caught some of the 
best trout of the day at the very mouth of the filtered outfall. 
The lead in this case, as everyone knows, is merely held ‘in 
suspension,’ to use the chemical expression, and, therefore, 
naturally sinks to the bottom by its own gravity, if the oppor- 
tunity be offered. 
With regard to copper mines the case is somewhat differ- 
ent, the copper being held ‘in solution,’ a far more intimate 
connection, and one which can only be separated by causing 
the copper to ‘ precipitate,’ as the term is. In order to effect 
this, however, all that is necessary is to place some old iron at 
the bottom of the catch pits ; the iron having an affinity for the 
copper, causes the latter to fall or precipitate, and it is quite a 
question in my mind whether the process referred to, both in 
this and the lead water, might not be carried out without any 
ultimate expense whatever by subsequent treatment of the 
precipitated and subsident metals. At any rate it is a subject 
demanding the urgent attention of the Legislature, if only 
viewed from the standpoint of the just rights of the riparian 
proprietors, to say nothing of the national importance of pre- 
serving our streams for the beautifying of the landscape and 
the enjoyment of the people. It is simply monstrous that mine 
owners for their individual gain should be allowed to destroy 
what the Scotch law calls the ‘amenities’ of all the people 
below them, Nor is it alone from the sporting or esthetic 
