XXX -CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF FISH PRODUCTS, WITH 

 SOME REMARKS ON THEIR NUTRITIVE VALUE.* 



By Prof. r. Kostytscheff, 



Of the Agricultural Station in St. Petersburg. 



The number of investigations on the chemical composition of the 

 various substances used as food by man is not great. Owing to the 

 experiments on the feeding of domestic animals, we have, for instance, 

 hundreds of analyses of the various kinds of hay, while the available 

 analyses of the different kinds of bread will hardly count by dozens. 

 Of the alimentary substances used to prepare food for man, only those 

 have been frequently investigated which at the same time find applica- 

 tion in technical industries, such as the potato, the grains of cereals, 

 etc.; and it is to be noticed that such investigations were called forth 

 not by the requirements of hygiene but of technology. The reason is 

 evident enough. Every manufacturer is deeply interested in the amount 

 of profit he can obtain, whereas but few persons will take as great an 

 interest in the life of people unknown to them. 



Nevertheless, there can be no doubt as to the great importance of 

 chemical investigations concerning the composition of the materials 

 from which the food of man is derived. Aside from the physiological 

 interest attaching to the problem, it must be taken into consideration 

 that the results of such investigations, if held together with the neces- 

 sary .statistical data, will throw much light on the economical conditions 

 of the national life, and may sometimes illustrate such points as would 

 otherwise escape attention. 



I have thought it might not be superfluous to say these few words 

 as introduction to the following, because my investigations concernin-- 

 the composition of the flesh and some other products offish will afford 

 me an opportunity to call attention to the importance of fish as food in 

 our national life in general, and, in connection with the available sta- 

 tistical data, will allow me to show how much other food would have 

 to be provided and what means would have to be used if, for some rea- 

 son or other, the yield of the fisheries was considerably reduced. 



[* Translated from the Russian Journal of Rnral Economy and Forestry, Vol. 

 CXLIV, Pari II.] 



[I] 1019 



