700 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES, 
with the descriptions of the methods of analyses, would afford reason- 
ably ample means for judging of the correctness of the other evidence 
upon which the numerical statements and conclusions in the succeeding 
chapters are based. 
The explanations in the chapter on methods of analysis will, it is 
hoped, suffice to make the statements clearly understood. 
In a number of the determinations of nitrogen, ether extract, etc., 
the percentages of water-free substance, u Wfr,” in the partly dried 
substance, “Pd,” are slightly different from those stated in the water 
determinations. This apparent discrepancy is explained by the fact 
that the determinations in question were made later, and, in some 
cases, in other portions of the material. 
A number of the earlier analyses, made while the methods were 
being tested and before the routine was well in hand, were more or less 
unsatisfactory. Several were discarded entirely. Those here given 
seemed to me sufficiently accurate to warrant their insertion. 
In the “direct determinations of proximate ingredients” the results 
are such as to make the sum of extractive matters + albumen -f gelatin -f 
insoluble protein, etc., in several cases considerably more or less than 
100, which, of course, indicates errors in the figures. As stated in the 
descriptions of the methods, these analyses were so unsatisfactory as 
to deter us from further attempts until opportunity should be given 
for the experimental study needed to improve the methods. Meanwhile 
I have thought it proper to state the results exactly as we obtained 
them and thus give the reader the same opportunity that I have to 
judge how much they are worth. Where the footings varied more than 
5 per cent, from 100 in* the water-free substance of the flesh, the figures 
for “ insoluble protein ” and the footings are excluded from the tabular- 
ized statements beyond. The remaining analyses show in the figures 
for flesh (water plus water-free substance) no variations exceeding 
per cent.; indeed all but two come within less than 1 per cent, of 100, 
which seems to be close enough to entitle them at least to preservation 
until more accurate results are obtained. 
The arrangement of the specimens in this chapter in numerical order 
has seemed most convenient for reference. 
NOTES ON SPECIMENS OF FISH. 
The following notes are from laboratory books. The numbers are 
those used in the tables of analyses. Other data are summarized in 
Table 1. In cases where several specimens were weighed separately, 
and only the sums or averages are stated in that table, details are 
cited here. 
1. Halibut. Purchased in Middletown. The specimen was a portion of the pos- 
terior half of the body. Price, 15 cents per pound. 
2. Flounders. Purchased in Middletown. Price, 10 cents per pound. 
3. Cod. Purchased in Middletown. Price, 15 cents per pound. 
