MAINE SARDINE INDUSTRY. 77 
According to these results, variations in the preliminary treatment 
of the fish and their condition have no effect upon the formation of 
ammonia or amines during storage. Only slight variations are 
shown in the results of the analyses of the whole fish as removed 
from the can, the flesh alone, and the viscera and contents, indicating 
that no greater changes took place in any one portion than in the 
others. The quantity of total volatile alkaline material gradually 
increased during storage at ordinary temperatures in all three of the 
divisions made for analysis, but when stored at a temperature of 
33° F. its formation was greatly retarded. 
The relative quantities of ammonia and amines composing the 
total volatile alkaline material changed during storage. After proc- 
essing practically two-thirds of the total alkaline nitrogen con- 
sisted of ammonia and one-third of amines. After storage these 
proportions changed, the volatile alkaline material consisting of about 
equal parts of ammonia and amines. Storage at a low temperature, 
while causing a decrease in the total quantity of ammonia and 
amines, apparently does not affect the relative amounts. The 
quantity of ammonia and amines in the storage samples is also about 
equally divided. 
By far the largest part of the volatile alkaline material,! consisting 
of amines, existed in the form of triamine in canned sardines stored 
for the lengths of time used in these tests. Apparently the separa- 
tions of the canned fish had no effect on the results for triamine. 
No uniform increase or decrease in the amounts of triamine contained 
in the different portions of the fish analyzed, due to the various 
periods or temperatures of storage, was shown. Monamine and 
diamine were present in very small amounts and about equal quan- 
tities at the end of 15 and 18 months. At the end of 32 months of 
storage no monamine was found, while the amount of diamine had 
increased in some instances, being double or more than double the 
quantities found at the end of 15 months. The temperature of 
storage apparently has no influence on the quantities of monamine 
and diamine formed. 
CONCLUSIONS. 
Marked changes in the quantities and relative amounts of ammonia 
and total amines took place in the canned fish on standing. In the 
case of packs composed of ground meat, these changes could be de- 
tected at one-month intervals, amounting in the first few months to 
an increase of approximately 5 mg of total amines per 100 grams of 
the material per month. Directly after processing the volatile 
alkaline material contained practically two-thirds ammonia and one- 
1 As the method (37) for these determinations was not available at the time of the first examination cf 
these packs, the data for the separation of the total amine fraction into its constituents are given for the 
longer periods of storage only. 
