PRESERVATION OF FISH BY SALT. 13 



temperature. 98° F. The aiitolytic enzymes act under a slightly acid 

 condition. In neutral or alkaline medium they act very little, if at 

 all. It has been noticed by various investigators that autolysis does 

 not begin until tAvo to four hours after death. During rigor mortis 

 there is a decided development of acid that may very materially pro- 

 mote autolysis. It may therefore be that salting fish immediately 

 after capture would strike through the fish before autolysis gains 

 any headway. It may be possible, also, to take advantage of the 

 removal of soluble products by brine in the salvaging of fish on the 

 point of spoiling. Fish that have been held a long time are soft 

 and of a disagreeable odor, because autolysis and possibly some bac- 

 teria have decomposed the tissues to some extent. 



One might reasonably expect research to show that if rapid pene- 

 tration is secured by means of pure salt the amino acids and other 

 sour or disagreeable substances in stale fish resulting from autolysis 

 would be removed by changing brine a few times, leaving the fish 

 in a condition quite wholesome and fit for food. It is, of course, not 

 intended here to encourage the practice of holding fish until they are 

 bad and then salting them, but it is recognized that it is in the 

 public interest neither to destroy food that can be used nor to mar- 

 ket fish unfit for food, and it is recognized as legitimate and desirable 

 to develop a means of saving fish whenever they have, through the 

 unavoidable exigencies of the fishing business, come near to spoiling. 



It would not be profitable to present this complicated subject any 

 further here. Enough has been said to show that the loss in salting 

 fish by solution of protein in brine is very great. Some discussion 

 has been presented which will serve to show that losses of this kind 

 are preventable, to point out the probable direction in which the 

 remedy for this great loss will be found, and also, we hope, to assist 

 in convincing the skeptics that scientific work on this aspect of the 

 salting process would be worth while. It is of the gi'eatest impor- 

 tance that research work be undertaken for the purpose of discover- 

 ing the conditions under Avhich the cell proteins are digested and 

 pass out and for ascertaining the conditions under which these proc- 

 esses may be arrested. Specifically, such questions as follow should 

 be answered: Once the permeability of cells has been increased 

 by abnormally high or low temperature, does this increased per- 

 meability persist after a normal temperature has been restored? 

 When autolysis is set in action by a bruise, do autolytic enzymes 

 affect only the part bruised or do they escape and attack the unin- 

 jured cells, destroying them also? To what extent does the acid of 

 rigor mortis accelerate autolysis, and can this acceleration be pre- 

 vented by early application of salt? To what extent is loss of solu- 

 ble material in brine due to rough handling and to what extent to 

 other factors? Can advantage safely be taken of the removal of 

 products of protein decomposition by brine to salvage fish that are 

 on the point of spoiling? 



INFLUENCE OF METHOD OF CLEANING FISH ON SALTING. 



In the various processes of salting or pickling fish the fish receive 

 no preliminary treatment, or they may be gibbed, beheaded, split 

 through belly, split through back, or cleaned perfectly by being cut 



