Production of Isinglass on the Coasts of India. 77 



of subsequent authors (see Hardouin's Pliny), where the same fish is 

 mentioned, we find it described as being without bones and without 

 scales, but provided with bucklers on its skin ; also that its name is 

 Acipenser, and that it is found in the Danube and in the rivers falling 

 into the Euxine. Hence, there can be no doubt that the substance 

 was Isinglass, and that it was obtained from some species of Sturgeon. 

 The continuance of this commerce from ancient times until the 

 present day is a proof of the abundance as well as of the facility 

 of the fishery. It may likewise be taken as an indication of the ex- 

 cellence of this Isinglass, considering that it is a substance prepared 

 from an organ like the sound, so generally found in fishes. The 

 whole quantity exported from Russia is considerable, but we will 

 at present refer only to that which is imported into England. From 

 McCulloch's Commercial Dictionary, we learn that the imports in 

 1831 and 1832 amounted on an average to 1,984^ cwt. a year. In 

 the Report of the Committee on the Import duties, we see, that in 

 the year 1839 there were imported 1,860 cwt. with additional 25 

 cwt. from British possessions. The former yielding a duty of 4,039/. 

 and the latter of 19/.* 



Considering the nutritious nature of Isinglass, and the facility it 

 affords in making elegant dishes for the sick and convalescent, as 

 well as its general uses in confectionary and cookery, its employ- 

 ment in clarifying wine, beer, &c, and its utility also in some other of 

 the arts, we should have expected a considerable increase in the 

 importation even from 1831 to 1839. Instead of this, there is, in 

 fact, an actual decrease, though this is only to a small amount. 

 There is no doubt that the very high retail price of the best Isin- 

 glass, amounting to 18s., or even higher, per pound, must check its 

 consumption in domestic economy, and necessitate only the inferior 

 kinds being employed in the arts. Perhaps its being principally 

 supplied from the more difficultly accessible parts of Russia may 

 also have some effect. But the consumption limited by these causes 

 is still further diminished by substitutes being found for it, in a con- 

 stituent of the animal frame, of which it itself is the purest form. 



* Isinglass, the produce of, and imported from, any British possession, pays 15.?. 

 lUd., but otherwise imported a duty of 11. 7s. 6d. per cwt. 



