(iSS 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



Condition tunity of breeding is afforded to them. A warm and 

 ot Kishes. shallow retreat, laid with sand and gravel, would have 

 ""V"' to be prepared for some species ; and large stones, with 

 sea-weed growing on them, would have to be transfer- 

 red to the pond, and placed so as to be constantly im- 

 jnersed in the water for the use of others. The di- 

 mensions of the present pond, however, are too cir- 

 cumscribed- to admit of its being used as a breeding 

 place. An addition for this purpose might, without 

 much difficulty, be formed, and here some curious ob- 

 servations might be made. The spawn of various sea- 

 lishcs is frequently accidentally dredged up by fisher- 

 men, and could therefore no doubt be procured by 

 using* dredge: its degree of transparency indicates 

 whether it will prove prolific. This might be placed 

 in a protected corner of the breeding pond, and its 

 progress watched. On this branch of the natural his- 

 lory of sea fishes, little is known." 



SECT. V. Dieteticol Uses. 



Dieteiical FISH, considered as an article of food, is regarded as 

 uses. light, and easily digested, and therefore well suited for 



the young, the weak, and the sedentary. But for the 

 same reason it is unsuitable food for those engaged in 

 laborious occupations. Among the Romans, he who 

 fed on fish was regarded as effeminate. It has often 

 been considered, though perhaps without cause, as 

 promoting the fertility of the human species ; and the 

 immense population of China has been ascribed to the 

 abundant use of this kind of nourishment. Its ten- 

 dency to encourage diseases of the skin appear to be 

 universally acknowledged, and is indeed very evident 

 in the remote islands ef this country, of Faroe, of Ice- 

 land, and of Norway, where fish forms so great a pro- 

 portion of the food of the inhabitants. 



Previous to using fish as food, they have frequently 

 to undergo some sort of preparation, varying according 

 to the situation, the necessities, or the taste of the con- 

 sumers. Where circumstances permit, they are in ge- 

 neral used in a fresh state ; and even in large cities, 

 where the supply must be brought from a distance, 

 various expedients are resorted to, to prevent the pro- 

 gress of putrefaction. By far the best contrivance for 

 this purpose is the well-boat, in which fish may be 

 brought to the place of sale even in a living state. 

 Placing the fish in boxes, and packing them with ice, 

 is another method, and has been extensively employed, 

 particularly in the supply of the capital with salmon. 



In many maritime districts, where fish can be got in 

 abundance, a species of refinement in taste, at least a 

 departure from the simplicity of nature, prevails, to 

 gratify which, the fish are kept for some days, until 

 they begin to putrefy. When used in this state, they 

 are far from being disagreeable, unless to the organs of 

 smell. Such fish are termed by the Zetlanders blawn- 

 fish. 



_ Where fish are to be found only at certain seasons 

 of the year, various methods have been devised, in or- 

 der to preserve them during the periods of scarcity. 

 The simplest of these processes is to dry them in the 

 sun. They are then used either raw or boiled, and 

 Jiot unfrequently in some of the poorer districts of the 

 north of Europe, they are ground into powder, to be 

 afterwards formed into bread. 



But by far the most successful method of preserving 

 fish, and the one in daily use, is by means of salt. 

 For this purpose they are packed with salt in barrels, 

 as soon after being taken as possible. When boiling 



them for the table, if the water be repeatedly changed, Condition 

 a great portion of the salt will be abstracted, and the of P'^". 

 fish rendered more palatable. In this manner are pre- '"""V" 1 ' 

 served herrings, pilchards, cod, salmon, and many 

 other kinds of esculent fish. 



In many instances, after the fish have been salted in 

 vessels constructed for the purpose, they are exposed 

 to the air on a gravelly beach, or in a house, and dried. 

 Cod, ling, and tusk, so prepared, are termed in Scot- 

 land salt-fish. Salmon in this state is called kipper, 

 and haddocks are called by the name of the place 

 where they have been cured. 



After being steeped in salt, herrings are in many 

 places hung up in houses made for the purpose, and 

 dried with the smoke of wood. In this state they are 

 sent to market, under the name of red-herrings. 



Although salt is in general employed in the preser- 

 vation of fish, whether intended to be kept moist or 

 to be dried, vinegar in certain cases is added. This is 

 practised in this country, at least chiefly with the sal. 

 mon sent from the remote districts to the London 

 market. It can only be employed in the preservation 

 of those fish, to which this acid is served as a sauce. 



The flesh of fish is always in the highest perfection, 

 or in season as it is called, during the period of the ri- 

 pening of the milt and the roe. After the fish have 

 deposited their spawn, the flesh becomes soft, and 

 loses a great deal of its peculiar flavour. This is ow- 

 ing to the disappearance of the oil or fat from the 

 flesh, it having been expended in the function of re- 

 production. When in season, the thick muscular part 

 of the back, as it contains the smallest quantity of oil, 

 is inferior in flavour, or richness, to the thinner parts 

 about the belly, which are esteemed by epicures as the 

 most savoury morsels. 



There are some kinds of fishes, especially those which 

 inhabit the shores of warmer countries, which are re- 

 puted poisonous. These are, the Tetraodon ocellatus, 

 sceleratus, and lineatus, and the Sparus pagurus, and a 

 few more. It is generally supposed, and with some 

 probability, that the poisonous quality of these fish pro- 

 ceeds from the food on which they have subsisted. 

 This conjecture is supported by the history of the mus- 

 sel and the oyster, which owe their occasional noxious 

 qualities to the zoophytes on which they feed. Perhaps 

 the poisonous quality of these fishes might be consider- 

 ably diminished, if not entirely removed, were the in- 

 testines carefully taken away, and the fish placed for a 

 short time in salt brine. 



SECT. VI. Diseases of Fishes. 



FISHES, in a domesticated state, are subject to va- r,- 



,. ., /. i i J Diseases of 



nous diseases, the cause and cure of which are not sa- u s ] 1% 



tisfactorily ascertained. Trouts, carps, and perches, 

 are subject to various cutaneous diseases. During se- 

 vere winters, when the surface of the ponds in which 

 they are kept are frozen over, the various kind of fish 

 seem to contract diseases, and, in such cases, great mor- 

 tality often prevails. This seems to arise from want of 

 air in the water, and can only be prevented by remo- 

 ving the fish to a deeper pond, through which there is 

 a constant current. In some rigorous seasons, the ex- 

 tent of this mortality is most alarming, as, between 

 1788 and 1789, in some districts of France the inhabi- 

 tants lost nearly all their stock of carp, pike, and tench. 

 Journal de Physique, November 1 789. 



In the very same year, an epidemic distemper affect. 



