SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 111 
position and (like many other details of the processes) may 
be a trade secret. They may be cooked or fried in oil prior to 
being packed in the tins (the French method) or cooked in the 
process of sterilisation after the tin is sealed (the Norwegian 
method). They are packed in the tin (with various essential 
precautions) and the oil or sauce is added. The composition 
of the sauce varies and may be a trade secret. The tin is then 
sealed, a “ vent-hole ” being left, or not: when there is a vent- 
hole the latter is closed by solder after the sterilisation. The 
sterilisation is effected in autoclaves, the time and pressure 
of steam necessary being suggested by the experience of those 
responsible. The product is then allowed to “ripen” or 
mature. 
Doubtless the processes employed in Great Britain in the 
preparation of hermetically sealed fish products are capable 
of improvement, but these improvements must, m the main, 
be the result of purely industrial research: improvement 
of the tin-making machinery, introduction of labour-saving 
devices, automatic plant for “handling” the fish in the opera- 
tions of trimmimg, automatic smoking and drymg machinery 
and ovens, economy of material and in general process research 
which aims at increasing production in relation to establishment 
and labour costs and the cost of raw material by speeding up 
machinery and eliminating unnecessary manual operations— 
with all this, though it is the most important part of the whole 
matter, the scientific man, as such, has little to do. 
The improvement of the product itself, apart from economy 
in producing it, is another matter and most British “ hermetics” 
are certainly capable of improvement. In some cases the raw 
materials—summer-caught herrings and mackerel and Cornish 
_ pilchards—are probably the best that can be obtained: they are 
certainly equal to the French or Californian pilchards. In 
many other cases the raw materials—winter-caught herrings 
and sprats—are inferior, being not so suitable for canning as 
