Taken in hand by such men as Coste, Pouchet, &c., this art has ceased to be merely empirical--it has become _a Science_. Among other things, it has become known that there are certain regular connections between the salt and the fresh water; the fish from the former, coming, at certain seasons, to spawn in the latter. The Eel, wherever bred, as soon as it has the thickness of a needle, hastens to ascend the river, and in such numbers that it actually whitens the whole stream. This treasure, which, if properly taken care of, would give many thousands of pounds of the most nutritious food is unworthily, shamefully, destroyed; sold as so much mere manure. The Salmon is no less faithful; invariably it comes from the sea back to the river in which it had its birth. Mark hundreds of them, and not one of them shall be missing. Their love of their native river is such that they will even, (see the _Salmon Leaps_ of Scotland, Ireland, and Northern England) _leap_, springing from the tail, over seemingly insurmountable obstacles! Such are the Fish! Upon land, we take care of our _Horses_; why not PRESERVE THE SEA? Why not _protect the breeding Season of the Ocean_? The young and the pregnant females, should be held sacred, more especially as to those species which are not superabundantly productive, such as the Cetacæ, and the Amphibii. To kill, is a necessity of our nature, our teeth and stomach sufficiently testify to that; but that very necessity obliges us to preserve life. On the land, we feed and protect our flocks and herds. But for the food and protection which we give to them, most of them would not exist at all, or would have been devoured by wild beasts. We have a right, or at least, a plausible excuse, for killing them, but we take care to spare the young and the pregnant. In the seas there are still more young lives annihilated when we depart from this law of _preserving_ that we may the more plentifully kill. We may, if we prudently as well as mercifully so will it, make the generation of the inferior animals, an element almost infinitely productive. In our seas and rivers, chiefly, it is, that Man appears the Magician. High time it surely is, that he should unite to his power both kindness and wisdom. He is in reality, the opponent of death; for, though appetite compels him to kill, his skill and care can create torrents of teeming life.