234 



cooling chambers used in breweries, and had proved very 

 successful. 



Mr. HESKETH said he had carried out several experi- 

 ments at Messrs. Hall's works at Dartford with regard to 

 the preservation of fish, and the results did not entirely 

 tally with what was said by Mr. Alward. About half a 

 ton of fish was sent up from Grimsby packed in the 

 ordinary way with ice, and immediately on its arrival it 

 was placed in a chamber cooled by cold-air machinery, 

 where it was kept at a temperature of about 25 for six or 

 seven weeks. At the end of that time the principal part 

 of the fish was sent back to Grimsby, and was there pro- 

 nounced to be in very good condition. The small portion 

 which was kept was sent round to his personal friends, and 

 he ate some himself, and none of them were able to discover 

 any difference between it and perfectly fresh fish. Mr. 

 Mackay remarked that the freezing process had the effect 

 of drying the fish, but he could not see how that could be, 

 the fish being frozen immediately they were placed in the 

 cold chamber, so that hardly any time was allowed for the 

 moisture to get out of them. With regard to the process 

 described by that gentleman, he fancied there would be a 

 difficulty in getting the fish cooled down in bulk. He did 

 not think that fish two feet deep on a surface kept at a 

 temperature of 32 would cool through for some consider- 

 able time, and his reason for saying so was that some of 

 the fish put in the cool chamber were so placed in the 

 boxes as they were received, and it was found that those 

 in the centre did not cool for some considerable time. If 

 air which could get into the interstices of the fish could not 

 get at them sufficiently to cool them down, he did not think 

 the heat would pass along through the fishes' bodies quickly 

 enough to cool them in moderate time. It seemed to him, 



