American Fisheries Society. 1 
men and sold to dealers for manufacture into a kind of glue. 
The weeds are soaked in fresh water, made into thin, loose- 
meshed sheets, and rolled hke Japanese matting. When ready 
for use, such sheets are boiled in fresh water, and the pasty mass 
resulting is employed as a starch for clothing, in stiffening 
fabrics, In cementing walls and tiles, and in other ways. This 
business dates from about 1670, and is now conducted in over 
100 establishments. 
A very interesting and valuable sea-weed product, and the 

BARS OF VEGETABLE ISINGLASS. 
one with which Americans and Europeans are most concerned, 
is vegetable isinglass, or agar-agar. It is made from weeds rich 
in jelly by boiling in fresh water and straining the pulpy mass 
through coarse cloths. For convenience in handling, the pulp is 
formed into slender sticks about a foot long, which are used lo- 
eally in making food-jellies or are exported to Europe and Amer- 
ica for use of bacteriologists in making culture media; or the 
pulp is molded into bars a foot long and 114 inches square, 
which are sold almost exclusively in Holland for use in clarify- 
