THE TAPEWORM INFECTION IN WASHINGTON 

 TROUT AND ITS RELATED BIOLOGICAL 

 PROBLEMS 



PEOFESSOE JTATHA^^ FASTEJST 

 Oregon Agricultural College, Corvallis, Oregon 



In the whole realm of nature man is the only creature 

 whose ailments have seriously occupied the attention of 

 experts. Let a disease break out amongst the human fam- 

 ily in some corner of the globe and almost immediately the 

 affliction becomes the target for the trained minds of our 

 ablest pathologists. Not so, how^ever, with the maladies 

 of the lower forms. Man's only interest in them has 

 been one of selfish exploitation, and he has done little to 

 encourage investigations along any other lines except 

 those which bring him immediate monetary returns. It 

 is, therefore, not at all surprising that we possess such 

 meager and fragmentary knowledge concerning disease 

 amongst the lower animals. 



It is almost superfluous to say that this attitude must 

 change if we are to intelligently conserve the lower crea- 

 tures as natural resources. In the last few years we have 

 been hearing a great deal about the conservation of nat- 

 ural resources, and yet very few of us realize the full 

 meaning of conservation. To my mind real conservation 

 implies a thoroughgoing knowledge of the objects to be 

 conserved, coupled with an intelligent application of the 

 factors controlling their preservation. We must possess 

 more knowledge concerning the diseases of the lower 

 animals because it is of prime importance in all conserva- 

 tion programs, in that it may be helpful in preventing 

 great losses of animals which are beneficial to man. 



In the state of Washington, as well as in the other 

 states of the Pacific coast, fish afford a natural resource 

 of tremendous importance to the welfare of a large pro- 

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