' [ 5 ] 
with immenfe quantities of lifh, faid to be the fame 
fpecies with thole in Mufcovy, and yielding the finefc 
ifinglafs, the fifheries whereof, under due encourage- 
ment, would doubtlefs fupply all Europe with this 
valuable article. 
But to return, no artificial heat is necefiary to the 
production of ifinglafs, neither is the matter dif- 
iolved for this purpofe ; for, as the continuity of its 
fibres would be destroyed by folution , the mafs 
would become brittle in drying, and lhap fhort 
afunder, which is always the cafe with glue, but 
never with ifinglafs. The latter, indeed, may be re- 
folved into glue with boiling water, but its fibrous 
recompofition would be found impracticable after- 
wards, and a fibrous texture is one of the molt 
diftinguifhing characteriftics of genuine ifinglafs. 
The reproduction of leather might, with equal rea- 
fon, be attempted from the former. 
A due coniiideration that an imperfeCl folution of 
ifinglafs, called fining by the brewers, poffeffed a 
peculiar property of clarifying malt liquors, induced 
me to attempt its analyfis in cold fubacid men- 
ftruums. One ounce and a half of good ilinglafs, 
fteeped a few days in one gallon of dale beer, was 
converted into good fining, of a remarkable thick 
confidence : the fame quantity of glue, under fi- 
milar treatment, yielded only a mucilaginous li- 
quor, refembling diluted gum- water, which, inftead 
of clarifying beer, increafed both its tenacity and 
turbidnefs, and communicated other properties in no 
ifinglafs, the produce of fifli taken in thefe parts, have been 
lately fent to England, with proper atteftations as to the un* 
limited quantity which may be procured. 
refpeCt. 
