106 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
cussions and estimates. It is very remarkable that the analyses 
of fresh uncooked fish flesh should be made use of in this way 
without qualifications, involving, as such estimates do, the 
tacit assumption that fish 1s eaten raw. Thus the Royal Society 
Food (War) Committee* give a list of analytical results of raw 
fish flesh which are expanded into absolute quantities of 
proximate food-stufis, which again are expanded in terms of 
energy-values. 
It is most unfortunate that there are so few analyses of 
cooked fish. So far the only results I can find in the literature 
are those of Miss Williams (see footnote on a previous page), 
and these are of little value since there are no corresponding 
analyses of the same fish in the uncooked state. 
Whether or not cooking produces actual chemical changes 
which alter the energy-values of the constituents of the flesh, 
has not been experimentally determined. But there can be 
ttle doubt that such changes occur. Certain grosser effects 
may, of course, occur. Thus fat-rich fresh herrings and kippers 
which are fried must lose a considerable proportion of their fat, 
and the latter is unfortunately unavailable (because of its odour) 
for other cooking processes. The prolonged soaking of salted 
herrings and of dried cod may also diminish the food value, 
perhaps to quite a considerable degree. It is known that both 
distilled water and (still more) salt solution will dissolve out 
nitrogenous extractives from fish flesh—gelatine and no doubt 
other coagulable proteids. Both salted herrings and dried cod 
are cured at low temperatures so that there may be no coagula- 
tion of proteid substances, and so no loss of solubility. In such 
process as that of kippering there may be some superficial 
coagulation of proteid which may protect the flesh against 
solution in subsequent cooking operations. 
It is also probable that boiling fish may be so carried out 
* The Food Supply of the United Kingdom: A White Paper, cd. 8421, 
1917. 
