NUTRITIVE INGREDIENTS AND VALUES OF THE FOOD WE EAT. 673 



Animal Foods. The figures for meat, game, 

 fowl, milk, eggs, etc., as well as those for 

 vegetable food, are from European analyses, 

 which are far more numerous at present than 

 the American. Those of fish and inverte- 

 brates, on the other hand, are American the 

 number of analyses made here being already 

 several times as large as the European. 



The first column of the table of animal 

 foods gives the amounts of edible solids, act- 

 ual nutrients in the samples as analyzed. The 

 European figures do not include these data. 

 With the fish and invertebrates, however, 

 they are given. 



Considered from the stand-point of the food- 

 value, meats, fish, etc., as we buy them in the 

 markets, consist of 1. Flesh or edible portion ; 

 2. Waste bones, skin, entrails, etc. The pro- 

 portions of waste matter in different kinds of 

 fish, and in different samples of the same kind 

 in different condition, vary widely. Thus, a 

 sample of flounder contained 68 per cent of 

 waste matter and only 32 per cent of flesh, 

 while one of halibut-steak had only 18 per 

 cent of waste and 82 per cent of edible ma- 

 terials. Among those with the most waste 

 and least edible flesh are the porgy, bass, perch, 

 lobster, and oyster. Among those with the 

 least waste are fat shad, fat mackerel, and dried 

 and salt fish. 



Coming to the edible portion, the flesh, we 

 find this to consist of 1, water; 2, solids 

 actual nutritive substances. The proportions 

 of water and solids in the various kinds of 

 flesh are much more variable than most peo- 

 ple would suppose. Thus, we find the pro- 

 portion of water in meats to vary from one 

 half or less in the fatter to three fourths or 

 more in the leaner sorts. Again, the flesh of 

 flounder has 85 per cent of water and only 15 

 per cent of solids, while that of salmon has 36 

 per cent of solids and 63 J per cent of water ; 

 and the flesh of dried, smoked, and salt fish 

 has still less water. Among the more watery 

 kinds of fish are the flounder, cod, striped bass, 

 and blue-fish. Among those with less water 

 and more solids are mackerel, shad, salmon, 

 and salt and dried fish. In brief, as com- 

 pared with ordinary meats, the flesh of fish 

 generally, though not always, contains more 

 water. 



To get the actual nutritive substance in a 

 sample of fish we must first subtract the waste 

 the entrails, bones, skin, etc. which leaves 

 the flesh ; then we must allow for the water 

 in the flesh. What remains will be the total 

 edible solids, or actual nutritive substance, in 

 the sample. Some of the detailed statistics of 

 the proportions of total nutrients in fish and 

 invertebrates will be of interest. The follow- 

 ing data are from a report of the investiga- 

 tion by Professor Atwater above referred to, in 

 the last report of the United States Commis- 

 sioner of Fish and Fisheries. The figures apply 

 to the samples of fish as retailed, in some cases 

 whole, in others dressed : 

 VOL. xxi. 43 A 



TOTAL EDIBLE SOLIDS. ACTUAL NUTRIENTS IN SAM- 

 PLES OF FISH, AS RECEIVED FROM MARKETS. 



KIND OF FISH, AND PORTION ANALYZED. 



California salmon, edible portion of anterior 

 part 



Salmon, entrails removed 



Smoked halibut 



Salt mackerel 



Boned cod, salt 



Canned salmon 



Smoked herring 



Eels, salt- water ; skin, bead, and entrails re- 

 moved 



Halibut, section of body, fat 



Halibut, posterior part of body, lean 



Spanish mackerel, whole 



Bait cod, "boat flsh" 



Salt cod, " channel fish " 



Shad, whole 



Shad, whole 



Shad, whole 



Turbot, whole 



Mackerel, whole 



Mackerel, whole 



Mackerel, whole 



Mackerel, whole, lean 



Salmon-trout, whole, lean 



White-fish, whole 



Spent salmon, female, whole 



Spent salmon, female, whole 



Muskallonge, whole 



Smelt, whole 



Sheep's-head, entrails removed 



Alewives, whole 



Herring, whole 



Cod, head and entrails removed 



Cod, head and entrails removed 



Spent landlocked salmon, male, whole 



Spent landlocked salmon, female, whole 



Brook-trout, cultivated, whole 



Black-flsh, whole 



Bed snapper, entrails removed 



Bed snapper, whole 



Porgy, whole 



Porgy; whole 



White perch, whole 



White perch, whole 



Black bass, whole 



Striped bass, whole 



Striped bass, whole 



Haddock, entrails removed 



Haddock, entrails removed 



Yellow pike-perch, whole 



Flounder, entrails removed 



Flounder, whole 



ill! \ 



Per cent. 



39-39 



26- 5T 



81-68 



80-97 



80-91 



29-95 



23-66 



22-50 

 27-13 

 15-67 

 20-65 

 20-99 

 19-09 

 18-56 

 15-51 

 14-81 

 15-61 

 23-95 

 18-24 

 12-97 

 11 76 

 14-88 

 18 69 

 14-87 

 12-17 

 12-52 

 12-51 

 11-99 

 11-95 

 11-52 

 11-92 

 10-98 

 10-97 

 10-74 

 10-77 

 10-72 

 10-87 

 9-83 

 11-78 

 7-78 

 10-08 

 8-78 

 9-67 

 9-01 

 8-87 

 9-07 



8- 

 8-45 

 7-06 

 4-87 



21-40 



16-29 



15-48 



18-52 



11-45 

 i6 : 86 



9-76 



8-94 

 '8 : 88 



Foul or Spent Fish versus the same in Good 

 Condition. Some very interesting results are 

 found in comparing the foul or spent fish with 

 the same in good condition. As it becomes lean, 

 the fish loses nutritive value in three ways : first, 

 in total loss of weight ; second, in relative in- 

 crease of waste and decrease of flesh ; and, third, 

 in the deterioration of the quality of the flesh, 

 which, in the lean fish, is more watery and con- 

 siderably less valuable, pound for pound, than 

 the flesh of the same fish in good condition. 

 Thus, the fiesh of spent salmon is rated in the 

 last column at 85, while that of fat salmon came 

 np to 108. There is in this a strong argument 

 in favor of legislation against the capture of 

 fish out of season. 



Fish as Brain-Food. The report referred to 

 contains the following statement regarding the 

 wide-spread notion that fish is particularly val- 

 uable for brain-food on account of a large con- 



