BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 65 



Vol. VI, ]\o. 5. Washing^toia, B. €. Apr. S, 1886. 



20 THE PREISEKVATION OF FKESES FISH. 



By Prof. J. C'OSSAR EWART. 

 [Transmitted to the State Department by the United States consul at Leith.] 



The "chemical powder" used by tlie Xorwegiaus for preserving her- 

 ring is a mixture of boracic acid and common salt. From our greatest 

 authority in antiseptics I have learned that boracic acid has been used 

 in Xorway for at least fourteen years for the preservation of articles 

 of food, &c. Those acquainted with Norway can well understand how 

 necessary it is for the farmers and others who live far removed from the 

 towns — by the margins of the long winding fiords or on the slopes of 

 the great mountains — to provide themselves with various kinds of pick- 

 ling agents. It seems that boracic acid, after a long trial, has i^roved 

 a most valuable preservative, chiefly because it keeps fish and other 

 food stuffs in a perfectly fresh condition for several weeks, and, without 

 being hurtful, it often tends to improve the flavor. 



Eecently a mixture of boracic acid and salt has been used with so 

 great success for preserving herring in a fresh condition that it is now 

 l)0ssible for ISTorwegian herring to compete successful!}' with absolutely 

 fresh herring in the English market. Thousands of people in England 

 have consumed Norwegian herring a week or more after their ca])tMre, 

 believing they were fresh from Yarmouth or some of the great Scottish 

 fishing stations. I need not say that herring rapidly become unfit for 

 food when taken out of the water. In summer they are often useless 

 twenty-four ht)urs after they are captured, and in winter the process of 

 disintegratioji is not long delayed. What is true of herring is to a great 

 extent true of other fish. Often in summer the fish landed at Xewha- 

 veu from fishing boats becalmed at sea is almost putrid, and were it 

 thoroughly inspected, as it should be, it would often be at once con- 

 demned as unfit for food. It is, as already pointed out, this extreme 

 perishableness that necessitates the rapid dispatch of fresh fish, and 

 iifiords an excuse for the high rates charged for carriage. Hence the 

 i)oracic acid will be welcomed as a great boon, if it preserves fish in a 

 fresh condition for several weeks. On learning some time ago that the 

 Norwegians were sending us herring preserved in a chemical powder, 

 I succeeded in getting a sample and had it analyzed. After an elabo- 

 rate examination, Dr. Atkinson, assistant to the Professor of Materia 

 Medica in the University, reported that the substance submitted to him 

 was a very pure preparation of boracic acid. Mr. David Murray, of 

 Anstruther, who takes a keen and practical interest in all questions 

 Bull. U. S. F. C, 86- 5 



