FOURTH DAY.] CRIMPING. 103 



POIET. If you like. I am endeavouring to find a 

 reason for the effect of crimping and cold in 

 preserving the curd of fish. Have you ever thought 

 on this subject ? 



HAL. Yes; I conclude that the fat of salmon 

 between the fiakes of the muscles is mixed with 

 much albumen and gelatine, and is extremely liable 

 to decompose, and by keeping it cool, the decompo- 

 sition is retarded ; and by the boiling salt and water, 

 which is of a higher temperature than that of common 

 boiling water, the albumen is coagulated, and the 

 curdiness preserved. The crimping, by preventing 

 the irritability of the fibre from being gradually 

 exhausted, seems to preserve it so hard and crisp, 

 that it breaks under the teeth ; and a fresh fish not 

 crimped is generally tough. A friend of mine, an 

 excellent angler, has made some experiments on the 

 fat of fish ; and he considers the red colour of trout, 

 salmon, and charr, as owing to a peculiar coloured oil, 

 which may be extracted by alcohol; and this accounts 

 for the want of it in fish that have fed ill, and after 

 spawning. In general the depth of the red colour 

 and the quantity of curd are proportional. 



POIET. Would not the fish be still better, or at 

 least possess more curd, if caught in a net and 

 killed immediately ? In the operation of tiring 

 by the reel there must be considerable muscular 



