MALACOPTERYGII ABDOM1NALES. 455 



for the purpose of fattening them, and imparting to their flesh 

 a more delicate flavour, as is clone with oxen and sheep, 

 capons and pullets. From the time of Willughby, and even 

 from that of Gesner, it was a known fact, that the belly of 

 certain fishes might be opened without their perishing, and 

 even without their appearing to be incommoded for any 

 length of time. But it was a countryman of ours, Samuel 

 Full, who reduced this observation to profitable practice ; he 

 opened the ovary of the carps, took out the eggs, put a piece 

 of old hat in their place, and united the wound by a suture. 

 He did as much for the milt of the males, taking care in all 

 cases to spare the urethra and the rectum. He communicated 

 this process to Hans Sloane, President of the Royal Society, 

 and the account of it is to be found in the Philosophical 

 Transactions. From this period the experiment has been 

 frequently repeated with success. 



The carps may be preserved alive out of water for a consi- 

 derable time ; thus, in winter they may be carried to a very 

 considerable distance by packing them up in plants, in moist- 

 ened linen, or in snow, and putting in their mouth a piece 

 of bread steeped in brandy ; but it is still safer to transport 

 them in boats made expressly for the purpose, and so ma- 

 naged as to allow the water to enter the interior. There are 

 constantly in Paris, where the fresh-water fish are so much 

 more common on the table than in London, in the middle of 

 the river many of these magazines, which are often filled at 

 the distance of more than one hundred leagues from that 

 capital. 



In Holland they have a peculiar process for preserving- 

 carp alive, and even for fattening them. For this purpose 

 they are suspended to the vault of a cellar, in nets full of 

 humid moss ; this vegetable envelope is frequently watered, 

 and they are fed with bread steeped in milk, or with frag- 

 ments of vegetables. 



