2804 AWARD OF THE FISHERY COMMISSION. 



condensed on the ice, leaving that which envelops the bait or fish per- 

 fectly dry. Fish or any other animal substance will keep almost indefi- 

 nitely in perfectly dry air about 40 or 45, which can be attained very 

 readily by means of this dry air apparatus. I had an instance of that in 

 the case of a refrigerator filled with peaches, grapes, salmon, a leg of 

 mutton, and some beefsteaks, with a great variety of other substances. 

 At the end of four months in midsummer, in the Agricultural Building, 

 these were in a perfectly sound and prepossessing condition. No one 

 would have hesitated one moment to eat the beefsteaks, and one might 

 be very glad of the chance at times to have it cooked. This refrigera- 

 tor has been used between San Francisco and New York, and between 

 Chicago and Hew York, where the trip has occupied a week or ten days, 

 and they are now used on a very large scale, tons upon tons of grapes 

 and pears being sent from San Francisco by this means. I had a cargo 

 of fish-eggs brought from California to Chicago in a perfect condition. 

 Another method is the hard frozen process. You use a freezing mixture 

 of salt and ice powdered fine, this mixture producing a temperature of 

 twenty degrees above zero, which cau be kept up just as long as the 

 occasion requires by keeping up the supply of ice and salt. 



Q. How big is the refrigerator ! A. There is no limit to the size that 

 may be used. They are made of enormous size for the purpose of pre- 

 serving salmon, and in New York they keep all kinds of fish. I have 

 been in and seen a cord of codfish, a cord of salmon, a cord of Span- 

 ish mackerel, and other fish piled up just like cord- wood, dry, hard, and 

 firm, and retaining its qualities for an indefinite time. 



Q. Well, can fish or animals be kept for an unlimited period if frozen 

 in that way ? A. You may keep fish or animals hard dried frozen for 

 a thousand years or ten thousand years perfectly well, and be assured 

 there will be no change. 



Q. Have geologists or paleontologists satisfied themselves of that by 

 actual cases of the preservation of animal substances for a long period ? 

 A. Yes; we have perfectly satisfactory evidence of that. About fifty 

 years ago the carcass of a mammoth, frozen, was washed out from the 

 gravel of the river Lena, I think, one of the rivers of Siberia, and was 

 in such perfect preservation that the flesh was served as food for the 

 dogs of the natives for over six months. Mr. Adams, a St. Petersburg 

 merchant, came along on a trading expedition, and found it nearly con- 

 sumed, and bought what was left of it for the St. Petersburg Academy 

 of Science the skeleton and some portion of flesh which were pre- 

 served first in salt and afterward in alcohol. Well, we know the period 

 of time that must have elapsed since the mammoth lived in the arctic 

 circle must be very long. We know we can talk with perfect safety of 

 ten thousand years. The geological estimate of it is anywhere from 

 fifty to a hundred thousand years ; we cannot tell. There is no unit of 

 measure ; we know it must have been some hundreds of thousands, and 

 probably it would have remained in the same condition as much longer. 



Q. Now, to come to a practical question, is this a mere matter of 

 theory or of possible use ? For instance, could this method be adapted 

 to the preservation of bait for three or four months if necessary I A. 

 The only question, of course, is as to the expense. There is no question 

 at all that bait of any kind can be kept indefinitely by that process. I 

 do not think there would be the slightest difficulty in building a refrig- 

 erator on any ordinary fishing-vessel,* cod or halibut, or other fishing 

 vessel, that should keep with perfect ease all the bait necessary for a 

 long voyage. I have made some inquiries as to the amount of ice. ami 

 1 am informed by Mr. Blackford, of New York, who is one of the largest 



