Litchfield enquirer., 1840-06-18
From tue Boston Times. nOFS A ETSTJ THINK

People generally would say that fish have no souls. Ifthey have no souls, they have no minds, for minds and souls are synonymous terms, in certain uses of the words. If they have no minds they cannot think. There fore, upon the hypothesis that fish have no souls,they cannot think. Blu! as we intended to demonstrates, fishes do think, ergo, they have souls
 It is clear that shad must think when he is struggling to jump, swim or leap, up per- pendicular fall ten feet high. We have seen the unhappy creatures try that experiment often, at the Canal Mills in Billerica. A rush would be made at the first attempt, of four or five feet, and after mighty splash ing and wiggling in the falling water, the discomfited shad would tumble back and go down into an eddy to stop and think. Hav- ing waited. rested and considered the matter over, another start would be made, with a more powerful rush that would carry him up eight feet, but still not far enough. Again he took time for deliberation and rest, and thinking of the difficulty of his position, he made grand effort and went over, while we. and half dozen other boys, shouted and clapped our hands at his triumph. Y It is clear as any fact in phildsophy v, that the shad made sort of q nnathefis 3tt cs[l- culation, and propogsioned hts power .so fhe,
 
 wiggles of his tail woulu not carrS np the fall, he. increased dhenlSfiil ho pms plished his object. Some pIilosophS eall this instinct, but we are inclined to ressrd It as thought and calculation derived rom OK perience. What more can a taiaA Aikg man dol! H1
 We have sat for hours on al sunny morn ing under the willows that formed the mar gin of a pond, to see the gold fishes make love, and rub their bright scaled sides to- gether, frisking and sporting with all the cc- stacy of young g'masters and misses. This im- plies feeling-not mere physical feeling. but the feeling of affection, which springs from thought The shooting and twirling around in the water, by the male, was evidently preconcerted piece of vanity, to win the love of one whom he wanted for mate; and the coy, graceful movements of the. female were us evidently designed to attract the attention of her ichthyological beau, and show off the perfection of her form. Sometimes he would pretend to gallant with other damsels of the lake, but her jealous feelings soon induced her to make one ofthe party, and drive them off or coax him away and all this appeared to be done with much calculation, nice ob- servation, feeling and forethought. There fore. we must say that .fshes thiak.
 fla pickerel makes a dash after a sinner, the unhappy victim will jump clear out of water to avoid him. But the piekerel thinks he will have good supper; and the sinner thinks he will get clear if he can. If a trout bites at murderous mock-fy, made out of birds feathers, he thinks iy a good mouthful or he would not touch it; and though he may be cheated by the art aof man, that proves nothing; for men are chea ted by men, as we'll as fishes. After the fish s taken the bait, What does, he think!
 "As from some rock that overbanes the flood,
 The silent fisher casts the ins9i1us food,
 With fraudful care he waits thu iinny prize, '.si
 'And sudden lifts it quiyeFing to4hss ", s r
 ..s-ts4n s kePSsx tteAsf.ss
 What does the scaly bcautx nr finny monster think thene An eel VII hang to a bob when he is not obliReds 10. slS iliEiks it good mofsel, which some one Is trying to steal from him, and bis obstinacy will not let go. A dog fish as sooEsas he comes up, will snap at your finger and trv to bite. He thinks he has been badly used, and has pow CT enough to resent the injury. A perch is tenacious of life. and squirms and struggles with all his might. and with bristled fins to get home again. A pout is very sulky and sometimes growls loudly at such severe treatment. A smelt makes but little resist ance to its doom. Almost the only fish that seems to lie down still and givesup quietly like true philosophers. are.cOd-fish and shad. They seem 10 understand the matter. thoro'- ly. They seem to knowtthat they are hunt ed on an extensive scale-that the whole world is after theHf--that drag nets and scoop nets, and hooks and lines of all sorts, with tempting and deceiying bait, are laid out to entrap theml--Nnd that the more they struggle and beat themselves. the less will be the post naOrteEn respect paid to theiRremains !; So they straighten' themselves out and die decently. Qp the whole we believe that fsh-