The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-10-20
HOW DO FISH GET THERE'S

effort they have made to cause the
spontaneous generation Of life, writes
George Cary Eggleston, i'll the NezV
York World. They therefore con-
tend that there is no such thing as
spontaneous generation. In this they
overlook the fact that nature does
many things of her own accord which
the scientists are unable to persuade
her to do at their bidding Moreover,
as the scientists deny the theory of
direct divine creation and assert that
all living forms have been evolved
from inorganic matter, their denial of
the possibility of spontaneous genera
ton is illogical. For if living forms
were not brought into being by spe-
cial acts of creation there must be
somewhere back of them a history of
ePorteneove generation. Why si1s41it.--
not that be repeated now under IA
vorable conditions?
The scientists say that wherever
there is body of water with fish in
it and with no stream or other con-
nection with other bodies of water,
somebody must have put the fish
there. This take the liberty of
doubling, and my doubts are found
ed upon the lifelong observation as an
enthusiastic fisherman. Let me cite
some facts.
In my boyhood l knew "brick
pond" out Of which we boys used to
catch thousands of google eyes"
every sammer. How did they get
there? The pond was merely pit
out of which clay had been taken for
brick-making. Rain water had filled
the depression and made pond oft.
There was no other water near, and
certainly none anywhere with which
the pond was connected in any way.
How then did the "goggle-eyes" get
into it? Nobody in that region at
that time had ever heard of stocking
waters with fish, and had anybody
been minded to do anything of the
kind he would very certainly have
selected some better fish than worth
less little "goggle-eyes" for seed.
Again: In 1862 I was encamped
for many months near Pocotaligo,
S. c., on the line of the Charleston
and Savannah Railroad. There were
many borrow pits" along the line
shallow depressions made by the re-
moval of earth for use in building the
railroad. Rain water had filled them,
and there was certainly no connection
of any kind between them or between
any other water and them. Yet
every one of them within miles of my
camp was SO full Of fish that l we'll
nigh fed my mess by angling in them.
l have caught pike there that weigh
ed several pounds apiece. 1t is sim
ply preposterous to suppose that any,
body went along through those wood
lands putting fish into all the "bor-
row pits. How then did they get
there unless by natural or erac.,tasts..u
ous generationl
Some people explain the matter by
saying that fish Grain down. but
that is not an explanation to satisfy
an educated intelligence. A wise
acre not long ago undertook to ans
wer my question by suggesting that
fsh-hawks flying over with female
fish in their talons or their beaks
might have squeezed out the roes and
some of the eggs might have fallen
into the little ponds. But apart from
the exceeding remoteness of the
chance that this could have happened
in the case of all these ponds, there is
the additional fact that the eggs of
ordinary fishes are not fruitful at the
time of their deposition in water, but
are fecundated afterward. One might
fill pond with the spawn of any of
our common fishes, and if there were
no male fish of the same species in the
pond not one single egg would ever
hatch.
Still again: If the presence of
fish in land locked waters means that
somebody put the fish there, why is
it that the species most universally
found in such waters is about the
most worthless of all species, whether
for food or for sporting purposes?
Who that cared enough for fish or
fishing to go stocking ponds would
think of selecting the pumpkin
seed" (sun6sh) for that purpose?
Yet that fish is present in annoying
abundance in every pond that ever
saw where there are any fish at all.
An enthusiast or practical fish cul-
turist might put bass, trout, perch or
pickerel into an artificial pond. But
he would certainly never think of
adding the worthless sunfsh, with its
destructive habit of feeding fat upon
the spawn of better varieties. Still
less would he have selected that as
the only fish to breed, yet, it is often
the only species in a pond. Neither
is it conceivable that any man with
thimbleful of brains would put rock
bass into water, as that species is
not only worthless for food but posi-
lively repulsive in taste and odor.
The facts cited might easily be
multiplied from my own experience,
and the observation of others who
have fshed in many waters will bear
them witness. They seem to me to
show conclusively that fish do some
how get into waters into which they
could not have migrated from other
waters, and into which no human
agency has put them. If they have
not been spontaneously generated or
developed or evolved in their present
habitats-as all species must have
been evolved somewhere at some time
then those who deny the possibility
of such local evolution should furnish
some explanation that better accords
with the facts than any which they
have as yet given us. III succeed in
this article in inducing discussion OF
a subject SO interesting, science and
sport will alike be benefited.
A TEAsPooNFUL of salt in glass
E 49,. IocD~a h,oa1>focf &c