USEFULNESS OF THE STURGEON. 191 



and attain a length of eighteen to twenty-four feet. The 

 head alone sometimes yields a tun of oil. As to numbers, 

 who can calculate the hordes which swarm in the Red 

 Sea, the Black Sea, and the Caspian, or annually ascend 

 the principal rivers ? In regard to range, they extend 

 over a considerable portion of the globe. Then the 

 sturgeon is the only creature eaten entire. " Beef and 

 mutton require trimming and paring away superabundant 

 fat, to say nothing of horns, hides, hoofs, and other un- 

 eatable appurtenances, reducing the Smithfield beast, 

 when the cook has to deal with him, to greatly diminished 

 proportions." But there is no waste about Accipenser 

 sturio ; it suffers scarcely any diminution in bulk : of its 

 dainty carcass the whole is edible flesh, blood, cartilage, 

 ovaries, milt, liver, swim-bladder, skin, fin, tail, and 

 spinal marrow. There are no bones ; and the only parts 

 not eaten are the osseous plates which encase, and the 

 sinews which support, the processes of the back : and 

 these last are made up into thongs by the Russian and 

 Asiatic peasantry. 



The flesh of the sturgeon is very delicate, and is de- 

 scribed as resembling veal when roasted. That of the 

 male fish is the better flavoured, and it was regarded by 

 the Greeks as a special dainty. The Romans paid the 

 sturio a kind of worship ; public officers, crowned with 

 gay garlands and escorted by musicians, bore it, magni- 

 ficently decorated, in grand procession along the crowded 

 streets. Cicero recommends it as a more suitable gift 

 to a sorrowing friend than any book full of the philosophy 

 of Socrates. At this day, in China, it is reserved ex- 

 clusively for the imperial table. In the Middle Ages, all 

 the sturgeon caught in English rivers belonged as of 



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