New Britain herald., 1924-07-11
FISH VICTORIOUS,
 MAKES RAS GIGGLE
RaS Tahari Of Ethiopia Loses
 Solemn Face

Washington, D, C., July il,-An' other victory for the fish!
 He made Ras Taffari laugh.
 Cable dispatches tell how the Par islan hosts of the Prince Regent oi Ethiopia took him to the opera, to the zoo. to a motion picture, to an airplane race and to the museum, And all the while His Highness was as solemn as Solomon, his distinguished ed ancestor.
 Then. one day. he visited Fontalne- bleau and there he laughed! His mirth was aroused by the antics of the carp in an artificial pond!
 Fish Have Human Appeal,
 "The incident is not surprising" 1" says a bulletin from tho Washington. D. C., headquarters of the National Geographic society. John Oliver La- Gorce. in a communication to the so. ciety writes.
 Humankind takes deep interest in animate things, and fish seem 10 have a peculiar and potent appeal 10 man. Tho child turns from toy and pet to gaze upon goldfish in tiny bowl: the adult will sit by stream or in a boat by the hour in the hope of landing a string Angling, In fact, makes the whole world related, It is one of the few sports that knows no flag nor race.
 "A striking proof of this interest Is manifested in the fact that each year the visitors to the New York aauar- ium, located on the tip of Manhattan Island, are twice as many as those who go to the more conspicuous and accessible Metropolitan Museum of Ant on upper Fifth avenue.
 May the reason of this fascination not be the racial memory Of that far gone time when our remote ancestors, still too primitive to invent weapons to give them sure advantage in hunt ing wild animals, turned to stream and ocean inlet for a palatabe, abun- dant and ever-ready food supply?
 Aristotle Was Ichthyologist.
 The wonder is that science, which has been defined as Intelligent cur iosity,' should have waited 50 long 10 turn to that field which offers vast, unexplored content of animal crea- tion. That Protean observer Aris- tctle, studied fish life, but from his day nearly twenty centuries intervened before the Swedish savant Peter Arfedt, Father of Ichthology,' met an untimely death by drowning in Hol- land canal, but left enough notes of his observations to enable Linnaeus to publish them Gin 173S), and thus es- tablish a starting point for modern study of genius and species
 Twice fish figured importantly in our national life. The insland stran- ger who visits Boston may smile at the sacred oodfsh, which is so con- spicuous in the decoration of ths state house: but study of the Bay States early history will impress every Amer ioan with the major part fishing played in the industrial history of his country Moreover, the prominence of fish food in the conservation pro- gram that helped toward a glorious victory in the World War is matter of recent memory
 Now Have Many Uses.
 Now there is not only the food problem urge to impel scientific study of fish. but many other fish products, such as cod-liyer oil, menhaden oil as a linseed oil substitute, in pain manu- facture, seal oil for miners lamps, 1, and the possibilities of fish guano as fertilizer. fish meal as cattle food, | shark skin for leather, and fish skins | and bones for glue, to warrant closer scrutiny of the industrial uses of fish.
 Since the dawn of human history,
 ,,,i, ,a1 aud ,i irI life--in fact, he now knows much of | prehistoric creatures long since eX- t!flct. But the waters under the | earth still hold countless fascinating | secrets which challenge the ichthyolo- gist, who pursues branch of science | pertaining to the study Of fish life | only few hundred years old, with world of sub-sea life 10 conquer, especially among the warm waters Of the semi-tropic regions. .
 "Once more, as in it's other natural resources, the United States of Amer ica is favored among nations. Paral- leling our eastern coast for hundreds of miles, the Gulf Stream, that night jest river of the ocean, which sweeps northeastvard with such giant force to turn back the icy waters of the F Arctic from our shores, performs an- other and less widely recognized serv- ice in depositing upon Americas threshold a gift of fishes which some day may be regarded as providential, if not miraculous 1n- deed the map-minded person might even picture peninsular hand. in the shape of Florida, reaching out to re- ceive this boon, ourished in the warm waters of the kindly current"