i6 



stowed, with metal would be very useful. He had hoped 

 to hear something new, for the ordinary refrigerating appa- 

 ratus, he was sorry to say, had totally failed. Several 

 vessels from the port of Grimsby had been fitted up with 

 the view of preserving their own cargo in a semi-isolated 

 condition, but without success, for although they were able 

 to prevent decomposition, the fish were practically de- 

 stroyed for marketable purposes, they had such a wizened 

 and disagreeable appearance. With cod, ling, and fish of 

 that kind, a great deal of the appearance of the fish 

 depended upon the eye, and if it were frozen into a solid 

 mass of ice, the fish had just the same appearance as if it 

 were stinking. Unless you could preserve the brightness 

 of the eye and the fresh appearance of the gills, the fish 

 would not be saleable. He was very pleased to find that 

 this subject was engaging the attention of gentlemen who 

 had the means and ability to improve upon the present 

 system, because an immense amount of waste constantly 

 went on in the fisheries of which the general public had 

 very little conception. 



Mr. F. N. Mackay said he had been connected for some 

 years with artificial refrigeration, and he should like to say 

 a few words on the points raised by the last speaker. Of 

 course the most important point was the bringing of the 

 article to market in a state as nearly as possible similar 

 to that in which it was taken out of the water ; and the 

 description they had just heard of the state of the fish after 

 having been frozen was practically that of a fish which had 

 been to a certain extent decomposed. He believed that to 

 be due to excessive freezing. He would point out that at 

 Stand 720 in the Exhibition was shown, on a small scale, 

 an apparatus devised for the purpose of meeting this want, 

 namely, that of cooling the fish in its watery state without 



