466 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [34] 



theory that fish is especially valuable for brain-food, on account of an 

 assumed richness in phosphorus, is not sustained by the facts of either 

 chemistry or i^hysiology. 



It is an interesting fact that the poorer classes of people and com- 

 munities almost universally select those foods which chemical analysis 

 shows to supj)ly the actual nutrients at the lowest cost. But, unfortu- 

 nately, the proportions of the nutrients in their dietaries are often very 

 defective. Thus, in j)ortious of India and China, rice; in Northern 

 Italy, maize-meal; in certain districts of Germany and in some region^ 

 and seasons in Ireland, potatoes ; and among the poor whites of the 

 Southern United States, maize-meal and bacon make a large part and 

 in some cases almost the sole food of the people. These foods supply 

 the nutrients in the cheapest forms, but are all deficient in protein. 

 The people who live upon them are ill-nourished and suffer physically, 

 intellectually, and morally thereby. 



On the other hand, the Scotchman finds a most economical supply of 

 protein in oatmeal, haddock, and herring; and the rural inhabitants of 

 IsTew England supplement the fat of their pork with protein of beans, 

 and the carbo-hydrates of potatoes, maize, and wheat flour with the 

 l^rotein of codfish and mackerel, and, Avhile subsisting largely upon 

 such frugal but rational diets, are well nourished, physically strong, 

 and noted for their intellectual and moral force. 



As population becomes denser, the capacity of the soil to supply food 

 for man gradually nears its limit. Fish gather materials that would 

 otherwise be inaccessible and lost, and store them in the very forms 

 that are most deficient in the produce of the soil. Thus, by proper 

 culture and use offish, the rivers and the sea are made to fulfill their 

 office with the land in supplying nutriment for man. 



