A FURTHER STUDY OF THE CHEMICAL COMPOSI- 



TION AND NUTRITIVE VALUE OF FISH 



SUBJECTED TO PROLONGED PERIODS 



OF COLD STORAGE 



i 



WILLIAM A. PERLZWEIG and WILLIAM J. GIES 



(Biochemical Laboratory of Columbia University, at the College of Physicians 



and Surgeons, New York) 



The study described in the preceding paper* was interrupted in 

 October, 1912, by Dr. Smith's appointment to his present position in 

 the Bureau of Chemistry at Washington. It has given us pleasure 

 to proceed with the work to the end of the second year of storage. 

 As the experiments by Dr. Smith were conducted under the guid- 

 ance of the senior author, it has been a simple matter to continue 

 the study without deviation from the plans and procedures of the 

 preHminary part of the work. 



The methods of analysis, as well as the detailed conduct of the 

 work, were strictly in accord with the descriptions at page 57 of 

 Dr. Smith's paper. The averages of our analytic data are recorded 

 in the accompanying table, which, for convenience of comparison, 

 includes the analogous figures from Dr. Smith's table on page 6y. 



The data in the accompanying table indicate very clearly that the 

 fish under examination did not undergo any chemical change of 

 importance, from the standpoint of nutritive value, at any time dur- 

 ing a storage period of two years. 



General microscopic examination of the flesh indicated that 

 there had been no material alteration of the fibers in any instance. 

 Crystals of triple phosphate were never detected in or on any of the 

 muscle fibers, a finding in accord with the data for ammonium nitro- 

 gen in the flesh. Kept in an ordinary refrigerator after their de- 

 livery to us, these fish, like f resh ones, appreciably deteriorated in a 

 few days and crystals of ammonio-magnesium phosphate could then 



1 Smith : Biochemical Bulletin, 1913, iii, p. 54. 



69 



