178 The Museum Gazette 



Lent with strictness lose flesh, that is, fat, somewhat, and 

 many complain of being weakened. Of all forms of animal 

 food, white, dry fish, such as cod, haddock, and whiting, is 

 probably the least fattening. In our ordinary mode of life, 

 however, things are so complicated that it is difficult or 

 impossible to trace the influence of any one article of food. 

 An Englishman usually eats his fish in addition to flesh, and 

 only in very moderate quantities. At the seaside he may not 

 improbably get it less frequently than at home if his home 

 be a city, whilst in many country districts he can scarcely 

 get it at all. He will run no risk of debility if he takes 

 it as often as it is offered, and in any quantity that meets his 

 appetite. 



It is matter of notoriety that the dwellers in fishing villages 

 generally appear to enjoy robust health. Other agencies 

 apart from their liberal fish meals may, however, contribute 

 to this result. It is thought that they are less liable to 

 tuberculosis and scrofula than those who live inland, but here, 

 again, it may be that eating less flesh meat, and perhaps 

 drinking less milk, they are less often exposed to the risk of 

 swallowing the bacillus. The strong and vigorous are those 

 who alone can engage in a fisherman's life, and thus the 

 population undergoes a process of social elimination which 

 tends to the transmission of sound constitutions. 



As regards the risk of leprosy, it is to be clearly recognised 

 that not the slightest imputation rests upon either sound 

 fresh fish or well-cured fish. All that is allowed to come into 

 the English market may be eaten in any quantity without 

 any danger whatever. It is the communities in which 

 decomposing fish is habitually eaten which suffer from this 

 terrible malady. 



To many persons the fat of fish, of eels, salmon, &c, is 

 absolutely indigestible, and may cause symptoms of liver 

 derangement, &c, lasting several days after the meal. Here 

 materfamilias and the chemists are not quite in accord, for 

 Popoff, as the result of experiment, arrived at the result that 



