256 



Appendices to Fourth Annual Report 



APPENDIX F.~No. XX. 



SOME ECONOMIC PRODUCTS from FISH and CORRESPOND- 

 ING VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. By William Stirling, M.D., 

 Sc.D., Brackenbury Professor of Physiology in Owens' College and 

 Victoria University, Manchester ; formerly Professor of Institutes of 

 Medicine in the University of Aberdeen. 



Public attention has been thoroughly aroused to the question of social 

 economics involved in our food supply, whether it be derived from the 

 vegetable or animal kingdom. The immense importance of the fishing 

 industry is now well understood, and while what concerns the capture of 

 fish has been matter of anxious inquiry, and has received much attention 

 from the legislature, other problems connected with the utilisation of the 

 ' harvest of the sea ' have not received so much attention as they demand. 

 The whole question of the conveyance of fresh fish from the often remote 

 districts where they are captured to the great dense centres of population 

 requires to be thoroughly gone into, so that facilities may be offered — by 

 rail or sea, or both — for the speedy distribution of the spoil. Professor J. 

 C. Ewart, in some articles recently contributed to the Scotsman^ has 

 directed the attention of the public to the importance of preserving fish in 

 such a state of freshness that they can be transported within a reasonable 

 period to any part of the kingdom. The ordinary methods in everyday 

 use — such as salting, smoking, and other processes — are well-known and 

 understood. 



There are other aspects, however, in which the question of our fish 

 supply, in relation to social economics, may be viewed. A fish is a com- 

 posite creature, and from it many products are obtainable other than those 

 directly useful as food, and which have a direct and even high marketable 

 value. The question arises therefore whether it is not possible so to 

 utilise the supply of fish at our great fishing ports as to obtain the best 

 possible value for the products. Everyone is familiar with the fact as 

 regards cattle that, when it is not possible — or at least it is not advan- 

 tageous from a commercial point of view — to transport them from the 

 great cattle raising districts of South America, or elsewhere, various 

 methods of utilisation are employed on the spot, whereby the meat is 

 either boiled and sealed up in tins, or an extract is made. The latter is at 

 least a portable article, and has a certain dietetic value. 



Baron von Liebig suggested the idea — and had it carried into practice 

 of making what he called an ' Extract of Meat,' — which bears his name 

 and is now well-known as an article of commerce. It is right, however, 

 that these extracts should be estimated at their true dietetic value. In 

 an extract of meat, those substances soluble in water are extracted from 

 the meat, and all the proteids (or albumins) are afterwards coagulated by 

 the aid of heat, and it may be by the addition of dilute acid. The fluid, 

 after the coagulated albumin has been skimmed off, consists of the 

 extractives and the salts soluble in water. This is evaporated down 

 until a thick syrupy brownish looking semi-fluid substance is obtained, 

 which is the extract. It contains no proteids, but undoubtedly the 

 extractives are powerful stimulants and restoratives, and as such they are 

 very useful in some diseases and for forming a basis for soups. 



Now it is possible to make similar extracts from marine animals. 

 Take for example the whale, certain species of which are sought after, and 

 captured for their mercantile value in oil or whalebone. 



