MAINE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 45 



would contain 2,509 grams, or 5.5 pounds, of salt. Subtracting this 

 amount of salt from the total actual loss during the 20-hour period 

 gives 12.9 pounds, or 18.4 per cent, of water and protein material 

 removed from the original quantity of fish. The same calculation 

 applied to the results obtained for the 12-hour period indicates that 

 9.3 pounds, or 13.3 per cent, of water and protein material was 

 extracted from the fish during this time. 



The second experiment of this series was run on fish which had 

 been but 3 hours out of the water, being, therefore, somewhat fresher 

 than those used in the first experiment. They were of uniform size, 

 about 7 inches long, and were much fatter than those of the previous 

 lot. One hundred and twenty-four pounds of fish were treated in the 

 same manner as the others (p. 40) , using 23 pounds of salt. The results 

 of analysis are recorded under "Experiment 2" in Table 17. 



During the 12 hours they remained in salt these fish lost the same 

 percentage of water as those in Experiment 1. A comparison of 

 results for the two experiments shows that the fatter fish do not 

 absorb salt quite as rapidly as the thinner ones. A more gradual 

 absorption of salt up to, and including, the 8-hour period and a more 

 marked increase during the 10- and 12-hour periods occurred in the 

 fish used for Experiment 2. The percentage amount absorbed dur- 

 ing the 12 hours, however, was practically the same for both lots of 

 fish. The greatest quantity of ammonia and amines was found in 

 the fish at the end of the 4-hour period. 



The largest amount of brine was formed during the 2- to 4-hour 

 interval. A decrease in the rate of formation of brine occurred when 

 the brine was allowed to accumulate. The specific gravity of the brine 

 was highest at the end of the 2-hour period. The greatest quantity 

 of nitrogenous material extracted, represented by total nitrogen, 

 was found at the end of the 4-hour period. The quantity of amino 

 acid nitrogen was also correspondingly high for this period. In Ex- 

 periment 1 the highest amount of protein material was extracted 

 during the same interval of time, but the largest volume of brine 

 was obtained at the end of the 6-hour period. The greatest quantity 

 of ammonia and amines, as nitrogen, in the brine was found during 

 the 10-hour period. 



With the exception of the specific gravity of the brine and the 

 results for ammonia and amines, the quantity of the materials de- 

 termined declined gradually from the fourth period, when the maxi- 

 mum was reached, to the end of the 12-hour period. For the entire 

 12-hour period the total quantity of nitrogen in the brine was extracted 

 at the rate of 151.1 mg. per pound of fish. None of the extractive 

 materials was determined in the brine collected at the end of the 

 20-hour period. 



