162 FISH. 



He says, " Take live eels, throw them into the fire, and as 

 they are twisting about on all sides, lay hold of them with 

 a towel in your hand, and skin them." Life ceases when 

 the back part of the skull, the seat of the spinal marrow, is 

 pierced. 



Though most fishes die soon after leaving the water, and 

 exhibit little muscular irritability after death, yet those gen- 

 era which make an approach to a ganglionic system, such as 

 the carp and cod kind, generally are found to be partial ex- 

 ceptions to these laws. Fishmongers have availed them- 

 selves of these deviations to introduce the fashion of crimp- 

 ing, or stimulating the fish into motion by transverse incis- 

 ions. The vitality of the carp is very great ; they may be 

 placed in nets, and kept and fed thus for a long time in a 

 damp cellar, and the heart of a carp has been known to leap 

 about four hours after dismemberment from the body. 



Herring are seldom cured in a private family, but persons 

 living near the sea-shore may easily take the pickle left 

 from their winter stock of meat, and throw the herring in 

 alive. They should remain at least twenty-four hours, and 

 then be packed in a close barrel or half-barrel, with a layer 

 of salt at the bottom and between each successive layer of 

 fish, and an occasional sprinkling of saltpetre. Be liberal 

 with the salt. If they do not make brine enough, pour 

 pickle over them in a few weeks after they are packed. If 

 not kept covered with brine, they will become rusty. 



In cooking them, take them from the brine, and let them 

 soak for an hour or two, take them from the water, scale 

 them, and pull off the gills, when the entrails will follow. 

 Wash them and let them dry. They will require but a few 

 minutes to broil. 



The legal measure for fish is for each tierce to contain 

 three hundred pounds ; each barrel, two hundred pounds ; 

 each half-barrel, one hundred pounds ; each quarter-barrel, 



