of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 83 
-TUI.—THE FOOD VALUE OF THE HERRING, 
By T. H. Mitroy, M.D., B.Sc., F.R.S.E., Professor of Physiology, 
Queen’s College, Belfast. 
CONTENTS. 
Previous Analyses of Herrings, : é : : ‘ 83 
Methods of Analysis, 
Analyses of May Loch Fyne Herrings, . : : OA atest 
a » July *. = ; ’ : meee 88 
as ,, September ,, oy : : : ; 89 
ie ., October “a ee ; 3 : ; 90 
3 ,, November ,, oF : ; ; : 92 
, December Helmsdale _,, : ; : : 93 
* % Be Loch Fyne _,, ; ‘ : } 94. 
H 5 Lochboisdale ,, : : : . 95 
oe ,. February fs ae : ; , : 96 
Tables of Ratios, ; 3 F F 3 3 ; 97 
Summary of Results, . : : : : : ; 101] 
Remarks on Nutritive Value of Spent Herrings, with some addi- 
tional Tables illustrating differences in Composition of these 
Fish, , : : : : ° ; ~ § 103 
THE Nutritive VaLugk OF THE HERRING AT DIFFERENT PERIODS. 
It is extremely important that we should possess definite information 
with regard to the changes which the herring undergoes during its 
development. This is especially true with regard to the chemical changes 
in its composition, as, merely looked at from the economic standpoint, it 
is advisable to determine the periods at which the fish is most valuable as 
a food and those at which it is least valuable. As a problem in biological 
chemistry, it is also extremely important to arrive ai accurate information 
with regard to the metabolic changes which take place in the fish before, 
during, and after, the spawning period. 
On looking up the literature on the subject, I have been unable to find 
any work dealing with the changes in composition of the edible parts of 
the herring which must occur during the reproductive life of the fish. 
There have, of course, been analyses published of the chemical com- 
position of the herring in the fresh, salted, and pickled conditions, but no 
reference is made to the condition of the herring at the time of the 
analysis beyond certain vague statements such as “in fine condition,” 
ete. Payen (“Subst. Alimentaires,” p. 488) gives analyses of salted herrings. 
Konig, in his large work on “ Nahrungs-Mittel,” Bd. i., pp. 201-7, gives 
some of his own analyses as well as those of others. 
Almén gives a very detailed account of the analyses of the flesh of 
various fish in a communication by him to the Royal Society at Upsala 
(‘Analyse des Fleisches einiger Fische. Mitgeteilt der Kéniglichen 
Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Upsala, am 7ten April, 1877”— Upsala 
1877.) 
Among the fish examined by Almén was the little herring (Clupea 
harengus v. membre). By far the most important contribution on the 
subject of the food value of fishes is undoubtedly the report by Atwater 
