The Isinglass of Commerce. 243 



(or left in the outer covering), and forcibly kneaded with 

 the hands. It is then taken out of the cloths, dried in the 

 form of leaf isinglass, or rolled up, and drawn out in a 

 serpentine manner into the form of a heart, horseshoe, or 

 lyre (long and short staple) between three pegs, on a board 

 covered with them ; here they are fixed in their places by 

 wooden skewers. When they are somewhat dried there, 

 they are hung on lines in the shade, till their moisture is 

 entirely dissipated. The oblong pieces are sometimes 

 folded in the form of book isinglass. In order to obtain 

 good isinglass, it is necessary to have well-arranged rooms 

 to dry it in, as at Astrakhan. According to Pallas, at 

 the lower parts of the Volga, a fine gelatine is boiled out 

 of the fresh swimming-bladders, and then poured into all 

 kinds of forms. In Gurief, a fine boiled fish-glue is pre- 

 pared, perfectly transparent, having the colour of amber, 

 which is cast into slabs and plates. The Ostiaks also boil 

 their fish-glue in a kettle. The common cake isinglass is 

 formed of the fragments of the other sorts ; these are put 

 into a flat metallic pan, with a very little water, and heated 

 just enough to make the parts cohere like a pancake, when 

 it is dried. 



Indian Isinglass. Attention was first directed to this 

 product by Dr. Cantor, who stated that the suleah fish of 

 Bengal, when at its full size, attains about four feet in 

 length, and is squaliform, resembling the shark species in 

 appearance, but exhibiting a more delicate structure. The 

 flesh of the fish is exceedingly coarse, and is converted 

 by the natives, when salted and spiced, into burtah, a 

 piquant relish well known at the breakfast-tables of Bengal. 

 The air-bladder of the suleah may be considered the most 

 valuable part of it ; this, when exposed to the sun and 

 suffered to dry, becomes finely pellucid, and so hard that 



