L L authors, who have hitherto delivered pro- 
cess for making ifthyocolla, fifh-glue or ifin- 
glafs, have greatly miftaken both its conftituent mat- 
ter and preparation. 
To prove this aflertion, it may not be improper 
to recite what Pomet fays upon the fubjec% as he 
appears to be the principal author whom the reft 
have copied After defcribing the Mi, and re- 
ferring to a cut engraved from an original in his cuf- 
tody, he fays : ‘ As to the manner of making the 
* ifinglafs, the finewy parts of the fifh are boiled 
c in water, till all of them be diftolved that will dif- 
* folve ; then the gluey liquor is ftrained, and fet to 
{ cool. Being cold, the fat is carefully taken off, 
‘ and the liquor itfelf boiled to a juft confiftency, 
‘ then cut to pieces, and made into a twift, bent in 
‘ form of a crefcent, as commonly fold, then hung 
‘ upon a firing, and carefully dried.’ 
From this account, it might be rationally con- 
cluded that every fpecies of fifh which contained 
gelatinous principles would 'yield ifinglafs : and this 
parity of reafoning feems to have given rife to the hafty 
conclufions of thofe, who ftrenuoufly vouch for the 
extraction of ifinglafs from fturgeon ; but as that fifh 
is eafily procurable, the negligence of afcertaining 
the fait by experiment feems inexcufeable. 
Every traveller, as well as author, who mentions 
ifinglafs, obferves that it is made from certain fifh 
* See Pomet’s Hiftory of Drugs, and Cafpar Neuman’s Che- 
miftry, Englifh tranflations. Hift. Materioe Medicae, Vogel. 
Lewis’s Materia Medica, Doffie’s Inflitutes of Chcmiftry. 
B 2 
found 
