SCIENCE. 



FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1866. 



COMMENT AND CRITICISM. 



The California trout (Salmo iridea), which 

 inhabits a restricted geographical range on the 

 west coast, has been extensively introduced into 

 the streams of the eastern and middle states 

 through the agency of the U. S. fish commission. 

 In the spring of 1880, ten thousand eggs of this 

 species were allotted to the Missouri fish com- 

 mission. These were hatched out at the state 

 hatchery, and the fry planted in the head waters 

 of the Gasconade, Osage, and other streams of 

 south-west Missouri having their sources in the 

 clear, cold, large, flowing springs that abound in 

 the Ozark Hills. Three thousand were planted in 

 the head waters of Spring River, a tributary of 

 the Arkansas. A careful inspection of the stream, 

 made in the summer of 1885, by the commissioner 

 of fisheries for Missouri, and others, who were 

 familiar with the rainbow trout, showed the 

 presence of at least three generations resulting 

 from the original plant. The largest in size 

 weighed between four and five pounds : those of 

 the second size measured from fifteen to seventeen 

 inches in length ; while the immediate sources 

 of the stream swarmed with thousands of the 

 young trout from four to five inches in length. 

 Accepting the indications of success thus afforded, 

 the U. S. commissioner of fisheries is now matur- 

 ing plans on an extensive scale for introducing 

 the rainbow trout into the head waters of all the 

 streams of Missouri, Arkansas, and the Indian 

 Territory, which have their sources in the Ozark 

 Hills. The area to be colonized is more extensive 

 than the famed Adirondack region of New York, 

 which is now the paradise of sportsmen. The 

 streams are clear and cold, the temperature of 

 the waters not rising above 58° F. in the heat of 

 summer. They have every characteristic of good 

 trout-streams, and experiment has shown their 

 eminent adaptation to this purpose. We wonder 

 that nature has neglected so inviting a field, yet 

 we are informed by the state commissioner of 

 Missouri that no native species of trout is found 

 in any of the streams that rise in the Ozark 

 range. The explanation will probably be found 



No. 158. — 1386. 



when we know accurately the history of the de- 

 velopment of the surface features of the interior 

 of the continent during the post-pliocene. Be 

 this as it may, it seems to have devolved upon the 

 U. S. commission to enter upon and utilize 

 nature's neglected opportunities. 



Lieutenant Dyer of the U. S. hydrographic 

 office has compiled from the ' Monthly pilot charts ■ 

 a hundred or more accounts by sailors of the use of 

 oil to lessen the dangerous effects of the ' combing ' 

 of heavy seas during gales of wind. The hydro- 

 graphic office has so far only aimed to record the 

 experiences of mariners as reported at that office, 

 and has not taken any decided ground as to the 

 merits of the controversy. The mass of evidence 

 collected is sufficient, however, to warrant the 

 careful testing of this claim of the efficacy of 

 oil in stilling troubled waters, and the government 

 should at an early day detail some officer, and 

 supply him with a vessel, that proper experiments 

 may be made. So far as the sailors' yarns go, it 

 appears that mineral oils are not so effective as 

 vegetable or animal oils ; and it is interesting to 

 note that their evidence has led some of the in- 

 surance companies and steamship lines to insist 

 upon the use of oil when occasion should require. 



Religion in colleges is a subject at present 

 attracting considerable interest from the attitude 

 which Harvard has assumed regarding it. In an 

 animated discussion between Presidents Eliot and 

 McCosh, at the last meeting of the Nineteenth 

 century club, the former took the view that the 

 unsectarian college was the most useful, but by 

 no means the only useful kind in a country with 

 no established church and no dominant sect ; 

 while Dr. McCosh argued in favor of the retention 

 of religion in colleges on account of both public 

 and individual benefit. Against the sectarian 

 institutions, said President Eliot, objection is 

 urged first on the ground that they perpetuate 

 class distinctions, that they foster intoler- 

 ance and narrow-mindedness, and that they do 

 not inculcate strength of character. These objec- 

 tions will, of course, apply strongly only to the 

 positive class, where of all the teachers and 

 students is required a rigid conformance with the 



