HERRING 



2787 



HESPELER 



lugger approaches, and hundreds of thousands 

 of the shining creatures are raised in the large 

 net and thrown into the boat. 



Gill nets are also used in herring fisheries, 

 and also fish-traps called weirs. In some places 

 the old method of going out at night, luring 

 the fish to the boat by means of a lighted torch, 

 then dipping them up, is still in use. 



Although the War of the Nations tempo- 

 rarily destroyed the North Sea fisheries, previ- 

 ous records show that the world's annual catch 

 of herring has been 1,500,000,000 pounds. Of 

 that catch 125,000,000 pounds were secured by 

 United States fishermen at a value to them 

 of $800,000. The Canadian herring fisheries 

 have been estimated at about 235,000,000 

 pounds, valued at about $2,000,000. The bal- 

 ance of 1,147,000,000 pounds is chiefly the catch 

 of the European countries listed above, and 

 might be valued at a possible $20,000,000. 

 Norway leads the other countries of the world 

 in the amount procured each year. 



Uses of Herring. Many herring are frozen 

 and used for bait in cod fisheries. Millions 

 are made into fertilizer, and the oil extracted 

 is used for machinery and other purposes. 

 Others are pickled or smoked and sold as food 



Water, 34.6 



Ash, 132 



FOOD VALUE OF SMOKED HERRING 

 The fuel value of this fish is 1,305 calories per 

 pound about equal to that of porterhouse .steak 

 and one-half more valuable than that of veal. 



fish. Large quantities are eaten fresh. Her- 

 ring which have been smoked but not salted 

 are known in England as Yarmouth bloaters. 

 Those similarly prepared, but also split and 

 cleaned, are called kippered herring. They are 

 put in tins in Scotland and Norway and sent 

 to America, where they are regarded as the 

 most appetizing form of herring. Small her- 

 ring are often put into tins and sold as sar- 

 dines, and in London they are sold as white- 

 bait, a celebrated dainty dish. Pickled herring, 

 that is, those which are put into brine, some- 

 times with onions and spices, are sold either 

 round or split. The former are salted whole; 

 in the latter the gills, heart and other parts 

 have been removed. See FISH, subtitle Deep- 

 Sea Fisheries. G.W. 



HERSCHEL, hur'shel, the family name of 

 three famous English astronomers. SIR WIL- 

 LIAM HERSCHEL (1738-1822) was the first to 

 convey to the human mind any conception of 

 the immensity of the heavens. While observ- 

 ing what he supposed to be a comet he dis- 

 covered a new planet; this distinction won 

 him the position of private astronomer to 

 George III, by whom he was later knighted. 

 He discovered Uranus and what he took for its 

 six satellites, and also located two satellites 

 of Saturn; he detected the rotation of Saturn's 

 ring, the period of rotation of Saturn itself, 

 and that of Venus. His catalogue of double 

 stars, nebulae, etc., his tables of the compara- 

 tive brightness of stars and his researches in 

 regard to light and heat place him among the 

 foremost of modern astronomers and natural 

 philosophers. 



Caroline Lucretia Herschel (1750-1848), like 

 her illustrious brother William, was born in 

 Hanover, Germany, but early followed him to 

 England, where she acted as his capable assist- 

 ant, sharing his labors and his distinctions. 

 With a small Newtonian telescope, made for 

 her by her brother, she made many independ- 

 ent observations in regard to comets, of which 

 she discovered eight. She also discovered sev- 

 eral nebulae and clusters of stars. 



Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792- 

 1871), son of William Herschel, at first inter- 

 ested himself in reexamining the nebulae and 

 clusters of stars described in his father's cata- 

 logues, and he added many similar bodies to 

 his own list. His father had explored the 

 northern heavens; he determined to explore 

 the heavens of the south, as well as reexplore 

 the north. This constituted his important 

 life work, for at the Cape of Good Hope he 

 made a complete telescopic survey of the 

 heavens, his observations covering a period of 

 four years. For this contribution to astronom- 

 ical research he was made a baronet by Queen 

 Victoria and honored by Oxford University. 

 He was also distinguished as a chemist, and 

 attained important results in photography. 

 His literary bent is discerned in his transla- 

 tions from Schiller and from the Iliad. He was 

 buried in Westminster Abbey, near Sir Isaac 

 Newton. 



HES'PELER, a town in Waterloo County, 

 Ontario, founded in 1858 by Jacob Hespeler, 

 for whom it was named. It is situated in the 

 southern part of the province, on the River 

 Speed, five miles north of Gait, nine miles 

 south of Guelph and fifty-eight miles south- 



