CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE HERRING-FISHERY. 351 



Various plans have been suggested to get rid of these 

 deleterious substances, but unfortunately no process has 

 been generally adopted in this country for this purpose. 

 The Dutch make their salt of great purity, by melting- 

 down the common rock-salt in pure sea-water brought 

 from the sea at a considerable distance from the shore. 

 They make the different kinds, suitable for different 

 purposes, with great care ; the secret of making which 

 was purchased by them from the city of Cologne.* In 

 the present advanced state of the science of chemistry, it 

 certainly would be no difficult matter to find out some 

 simple and cheap process for purifying an article so 

 materially connected with the health and prosperity of 

 the inhabitants of this country. We believe that many 

 of the fishcurers now use Spanish and other salt, of greater 

 purity than our common salt, with advantage. 



We have had specimens brought over of the different 

 kinds of salt manufactured in Holland, and found that 

 there were several sizes of crystals, forming cubes, the 

 finest of an inch square, and downwards, according to 

 the strength required. We believe the superiority of 

 the Dutch cured herrings, butter, &c., is much owing to 

 the purity of the salt. 



6. We have in a previous part of this work endeavoured 

 to explain the cause of the diminution of the quantity 

 cured of red or smoked herrings, which in former years 

 was very large in some of the fishing towns — such as 

 Wick, Eyemouth, Dunbar, Anstruther, &c. Now, it is 

 very well known that, in the curing process of red 

 herrings, the assortment of the kinds, the size of the 



* See Prize Essay on the " Dairy Husbandry of Holland," Quarterly 

 Journal of Agriculture, No. 23, and Hendrick's History of the Island of 

 Arran. 



