of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



221 



there is every probability that young herrings would make a valuable 

 article of food if preserved a la sardine; and, as each fish has to be indi- 

 vidually handled in the process of cure, it would probably not be difficult 

 to distinguish the herrings from the sprats, and ' tin ' them separately. 

 On the other hand, it could easily be ascertained by experiment whether for 

 the purpose of preparation in tins any such separation would be necessary. 



The heads and entrails of the fish, and all fish rejected as unsound, 

 should be utilised in the manufacture of fish guano.* 



It will be understood that there are various circumstances under which 

 the application to sprats of the French system of preserving sardines must 

 be attended with disadvantage. In the first place, the sardine season in 

 France is in the summer months, when the fish can be readily dried 

 without artificial heat. In Cornwall the pilchard harvest takes place 

 later than that of sardines in France, and towards the end of the season 

 the occurrence of rainy or damp weather is a great drawback. The sprat 

 season is later than either, and the provision of artificial means of drying 

 the fish will become more necessary. On the other hand, the heat of a 

 French or Cornish summer is a disadvantage as compared with the com- 

 parative coolness of the weather at the time of the sprat harvest, while 

 the sprat has the additional point in its favour that it is less delicate, and 

 will stand carriage and handling better than the sardine. The bones of 

 the sprat, however, are much harder than those of the small immature 

 sardines generally preserved in France. The bones of the pilchard (which 

 is an adult sardine) are much harder than those of its French relative, 

 and those of the sprat are probably harder still. This is one of several 

 points (such, e.g., as the relative delicacy of flavour of the flesh — as to 

 which the warning, de gustibus, advises me to offer no observations) which 

 must be taken into consideration in any proposal to place tinned sprats 

 into competition with tinned sardines. The greater cheapness of sprats 

 will, no doubt, be a question of some importance in determining the issue 

 of such competition. 



APPENDIX F.— No. III. 



ON THE NUTRITIVE VALUE AND RELATIVE DIGESTIBILITY 

 OF FRESH FISH. Part L— Introductory. By R. D. Clark- 

 son, B.Sc, Baxter Scholar, University of Edinburgh. 



In the last Report of the Scotch Fishery Board, Professor Ewart drew 

 attention to the facts that there is a very general prejudice against the use 

 of fish as food, that the working classes too often regard it as not fitted 

 to furnish a satisfying meal on the strength of which hard work can be 

 done, and that the better classes regard it only as an accessory to the 

 staple dishes prepared from beef or mutton. Professor Ewart suggested 

 that some investigations should be made into the nutritive value and 

 relative digestibility of fish, and at his request I have prepared the 

 following paper, in the introductory part of which I shall endeavour to 

 state some of the chief facts which we already know as to the chemistry and 

 digestibility of the muscles or flesh of fish, and I hope, before the issue of 

 the next Report, to be able to add to this an account of some experiments 

 specially intended to test the digestibility of our ordinary food-fishes. 



Much more is known with regard to the chemical composition of fish 



* The manufacture of fish into guano, instead of simply throwing' them in their raw 

 state on the land, is a matter which deserves more attention than it has hitherto 

 received in this country. 



