The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1877-12-13
Experimental.
For the FARMER & MECHANIC.
Origin and Progress Of Fish Gull
ture.

1t is a noticeable fact that nearly
every remarkable discovery or inven-
ton has had a comparatively lnslgnll-
can't origin or originator. The dis
of the fundamental principle OF
fish culture bears no exception to this
rule. and the same may be a Of the
men, who spent patiently SO much
time, toiling with the greatest perse-
verence in the attainment OF this end.
| said men. for the art has been dis
covered. last, and r~ediscovered three
different times, and none OF these men
were remarkable save from the re-
markable discovery which they made:
they were men occupying the lower
walks of life.
In the wear 1920 Dom Pinchon, a
monk of the Abbey of Rome, III
France, made the remarkable dlscoV-
cry that the eggs of fishes could be ar
officially impregnated. Perhaps no
discovery ever made, of the same
magnitude, met a like fate 1t was al
lowed to die and become "a silent
thing of the past The Ms. III which
Dom Pinchon gives a detailed account
of his operations tthe process differing
but little from that employed in this
country less than ten years olnce) Is
still in existence, but it was neCer pub-
lished.
1nree hundred and thirty eight
years afterwards, 1913, j. l.. Jacob, a
German naturalist, discovered and
practlced the same art. lie was more
fortunate than Dom Pinchon, for ne
communicated al account of his oper-
ations to the Count de Goldsteln,
which was published in a Hanover
journal n 1863. This production states
:" before arriving at good results, he
had to employ sixteen years IN prepare
tory researches and incomplete expert
ments. lie remarked. III the first
place. that from the end of November
to the beginning OF February, the trout
come together in the brooks and fix
themselves upon the gravel, where
they rub their bellies III a way which
leaves large tracks. The females then
deposit their eggs upon which the
males drop their mutt. lie cauSed
some trout, then, to be taken at TINS
season. when ready to spawn. Taxing
by turns a female and a male, ne
pressed their abdomen lightly over a
vase half filled with water, and let
fall into it the mature products OF
o.u seAvzs, ana then stirred up the
whole with his hand, in order to rem
der the mixture more complete and
thus to insure the formulation of all the
eggs These eggs being once fecun-
dated, it was necessary to combine
the circumstances proper for their de-
velopment, and for this purpose he
placed them in a grated box, across a
little brook of running water. At one
extremity of this box, and on the up
per surface, he left Il square opening,
barred bya metallic grating, OF which
the threads were separated by a space
of only four lines this opening served
to let in the water, another, grated III
like manner and placed in the Nerti-
cal face of the other extremity, al
lowed it to flow out. The bottom was
OVERLAND with an inch of sand or gray
ell. He placed this apparatus in a
trench prepared for it 10y the side of a
brook, or better still, a pond fed by
good springs, from which he caused,
by a canal, an uninterrupted stream OF
water to flow through the box. The
dispositions. very simple and Judicious-
Iy combined. completely resolved the
problem which he had proposed to
himself. VIZ To protect the fecunda-
ted eggs against their natural enemies,
and vet to leave them in circun.Stan-
ces similar to those in which they
would naturally have been placed.
The experiment succeeded. After
about three ' 1eks Jacob saw appear
ing through the thick e~nvelop OF the
egg two black points corresponding to
the eyes OF the animal, and eight days
later he began to distinguish the body
of the animal. which moved and turn
ed in the interior. Finally after five
weeks the young fish broke from THEN
shells. and soon separated themselves
completely from it, retaining only UNI
der their bellies, a hanging yellow
ponch, which is the umbiIical ~vesicle. :
The publication of Jacobs expert.
ments We're Of especial advantage to
science and also serve to mark an ear
in the art of ~pisiculture. England
granted to jacob a pension. and to-
gether with Scotland and Germany
followed his experiments on a limited
scale. But as Mr.. Moseley pertinently
remarks 1.-The public mind at that
time was too much occupied with re
ligious controversies and wars of am
bition to take hold of any economic
subject of this character"
M, +L..l l..1. -