ON THE ECONOMICAL USES OF FISHES. 179 



destructive to the pilchard, a fish to be afterwards 

 mentioned. Off the coast of "Waterford the hake is 

 so abundant, that one thousand have been taken with 

 the line by six men in the course of a single night. 

 It is also fished for in the Mediterranean, and is 

 usually salted and dried, but little being eaten in the 

 fresh state. The ling, Lota molva, and the tusk, 

 Brosmius vulgaris, are two other large and coarse 

 fish, taken on our own coast, principally among the 

 northern islands, and a great portion of what is there 

 procured is exported to Spain and other Catholic 

 countries, where they are eaten in large quantities 

 during lent. The oil obtained from the liver of 

 the former fish, besides being used by the poorer 

 classes in many places for ordinary purposes, has 

 been rather extensively employed internally, in cases 

 of severe rheumatism, and often with great success 

 but it is said, that a person who has taken it, for 

 some time continues to exhale a disagreeable odour. 

 The air-bladder, or sound of this fish, is used for 

 the same purposes as that of the cod. The diffe- 

 rent species above-mentioned, constitute, collectively, 

 what is called the white fisheries, which give more 

 permanent employment than almost any other. 



We shall now consider the salmon fishery, which 

 in Britain is principally carried on in the Scotch 

 and Irish rivers. Unfortunately, however, its value 

 has diminished fully one-half of late years, owing to 

 the scarcity of fish, which is accounted for in various 

 ways* some attributing it to the great increase in the 



