118 
THE YOUNG SCIENTIST. 
the tow line. In an instant I was over- 
board and righted the boat. On we went, 
hugging the inshore, to keep clear of pass- 
ing vessels, amid cheers and salutations 
from shore and dock. I was overboard 
quite often, but being perfectly at home 
in the water, I did not mind it much. The 
only part of the voyage I feared was the 
ferry boats, when we reached New York 
city. Fortunately, the teams and hogs- 
heads to take the fish to the Museum were 
to be in waiting at Castle Garden. 
When rounding Governor's Island, I 
espied one of those hugh black tug 
boats heading right for us. We dared 
not run across her bow for fear she 
would run us down ; so there was noth- 
ing left to do but to wait until she 
piassed us, and take her swash. In a few 
seconds after passing, we could see the 
big rollers heading directly for us. In 
an instant all four boats filled; over- 
board I went, but a big wave caught me, 
carrying me some distance past the boats. 
I could see one of the boats bottom up, 
and I made up mind that one lot of fish 
had escaped. With most vigorous swim- 
ming I seemed to gain but little on the 
sailboats; but at last they lowered sail, 
and I overtook them. With the aid of 
all the boys w^e managed to right the cap- 
sized boat, and, to my astonisment, all the 
fish were safe- The netting had saved 
them. 
No accident occurred after this, and 
we reached Castle Garden in safety, and 
in a short time the fish were on the way to 
the Museum. 
There, in the huge tank, lay the white 
whale in a pool of water, squealing like a 
young pig. (They make a peculiar squeal- 
ing noise when out of water.) The live fish 
were carefully lowered into the water, and 
with the eels made a great show. The 
fishermen and boys who helped me 
through, visited the Museum through the 
day, and gave Barnum and my Eastern 
friend a vivid account of my hardships 
and adventures, so that in their estima- 
tion I was a great fisherman. 
Keaching home at four o'clock in the 
morning, I awoke my mother, and told 
her all of my adventures, and when I came 
to the lost and spoiled clothing, I could 
I not help but exclaim: "Why! mother! 
I nobody knows the trouble I've been 
through, just to obtain a supper for a 
whale." 
This was my first great lesson in "Do 
fish feed by suction? " How often I have 
heard that word used by dealers when a 
customer asked, " Did the fish need feed- 
ing ?" Their answer was " No, ma'am, 
they exist on 'suction,' or what is in the 
water." And there are thousands of 
people at the present day who still hold 
that fish live on " suction." I know of a 
person who has had charge of thousands 
of fish living- in aquaria, and who up to 
tw^o years ago argued that he had made 
an especial study as to how often fish re- 
quired food, and that he knew they could 
live without food for long periods of time, 
and not look or be any the worse for 
it. I was once connected with an estab- 
lishment where this theory was firmly 
established— that the fish needed to be 
fed only two to three times a year. The 
fish were in a most wretched condition, 
many of them so weak that in attempting 
to swim they wobbled from side to side. 
The crabs were chewing each other up. 
I I have seen the lobsters lay on their backs 
I all night, snapping with their claws at the 
I fish above them. Even for months the 
I toughest and most hardy of fish were 
i dying every day. At last I begged of the 
[proprietor to allow me to feed the fish. 
I The first day I gave them five hundred 
1 clams, twenty pounds of beef, ten pounds 
j of fish, large quantities of ulva and entero- 
jmorpha for the vegetable feeders, one 
j half bushel of snails, and four quarts of 
I shrimp, and I could have fed out double 
the quantity. That night I examined the 
lobsters— they were all in bed and not 
snapping and clawhig at their neighbors. 
The black fish, who, previous to this feed, 
had the wobbles so bad, and w^ere afraid 
of being eaten up by each other, now had 
; both strength and courage to come forth 
I and form into a school that went circling 
round and round the immense tank in 
beautiful style. The star fish gave up 
cannibalism and took to eating the snails. 
The sea urchins and hermit crabs de- 
voured immense quantities of the entero- 
morpha. 
