i8 



diminished force, diminished activity, and the love of rest 

 and quiet. The popular belief holds with curious tenacity, 

 that the failing power of age demands increased sustenance 

 by food. This erroneous doctrine ignores the important 

 fact that sometimes the digestive powers, but more generally 

 and obviously still, the ability to eliminate food unneces- 

 sarily consumed, are notably diminishing. Hence the 

 appearance of a crowd of chronic troubles peculiar to the 

 latter third of life, and to a great extent avoidable. So far 

 from continuing to select the strong nourishment which 

 may have been necessary during the toil and anxieties of 

 thirty years or more of adult energy and activity through- 

 out the prime of life ; the elderly man who desires to 

 preserve fair health and to attain to longevity, should 

 gradually diminish his use of strong nitrogenous and much 

 fatty food. He should substitute a lighter dietary ; one in 

 which the best forms of fish may suitably hold a conspicuous 

 place. He subsides naturally, and more or less gradually 

 into the class of the sedentary, and adopts the regimen 

 best adapted thereto. 



We have now to consider what are the different kinds of 

 fish which are available as food on or near to the British 

 shores ; and what are the leading characteristics of some of 

 the chief varieties. 



I may remark that the list of fish in general demand by 

 the public is a restricted one. The force of habit, together 

 with the entire absence of inquiry or curiosity on the part 

 of our countrymen in relation to diet, has led to a conven- 

 tional usage, limiting greatly and disadvantageously the 

 variety of fish which would otherwise arrive at the market 

 Sole, whiting, mackerel, cod, salmon, turbot, trout, smelt, 

 and red mullet, form a group to which a large proportion 

 of British households in purchasing fresh fish as a rule 



