1919.] 
Reviews and Abstracts. 
157 
A large number of resolutions for transmission to the Advisory Council 
were passed, most of them relating to plant-breeding, but the attention 
of those in New Zealand whom it may concern is directed to the following : 
“ That this conference expresses its appreciation of the action of the 
Executive Committee of the Advisory Council of Science and Industry in 
calling it together, and is confident that the opportunity of meeting and 
consulting together thus afforded to agricultural scientists from the different 
States will be beneficial to agricultural progress in Australia.’ 5 
L. J. W. 
Preserving Fish without Ice. 
In the International Review of the Science and Practice of Agriculture 
for June, 1918, and in the Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 
for July, 1918, appear short articles dealing with this important subject. 
By the present method of fish-freezing, the fish, after being brought as 
rapidly as possible to the refrigerator, are frozen dry on trays at about 
10 G F.—a process taking about thirty-six hours. “ The fish are then drawn 
into a room at 20° F., where they are dipped into fresh water, their surfaces 
being thus covered with a glaze of ice. They are then packed in parchment 
paper in strong wooden cases ” for export. The process preserves them 
indefinitely, but the fish “ breaks up in cooking, tending to become rather 
woolly, and loses flavour and aroma.” 
A new method is now adopted in North America and in England, a 
method which enables the fish to be perfectly preserved within three hours, 
and at a greatly reduced cost. The fish is first placed in a cooling-tank 
containing water at a low temperature. At the end of half an hour it is 
placed in brine containing about 18 per cent, of salt at a temperature below 
20° F. In three hours it is taken out and has the appearance of fresh fish 
There is no woolliness, and no loss of flavour or aroma. “ The difference is 
due to the fact that, whereas in dry freezing there is a breaking-up of the 
actual muscular fibres, due to the formation of ice crystals, in brine-freezing 
the crystals are so small that the muscular fibres are entirely unaffected 
and on thawing return to the normal.” Fish so preserved may be kept 
indefinitely in a temperature below 20° F., and even in a variable tempera¬ 
ture will remain in good condition for about fifteen days. 
G. M. T. 
RECENT PUBLICATIONS. 
MECHANICS AND ENGINEERING. 
Anon., Express Locomotives for 3 ft. 6 in. Gauge, Engineering, vol. 106, No. 2760, 
pp. 576-79, 22 Nov., 1918. 
A description of the latest New Zealand Government railway locomotive. 
Birks, L., Hydro-electric Power in Canterbury, Electrical Review, London, vol 83, 
pp. 195-97, 30 Aug., 1918 
A descriptive account of Lake Coleridge works and system of supply. 
Birks, L., The Place of Scientific Research in Industrial Development, Chem. Eng. and 
Mining Review, vol. 10, No. 116, pp. 240-41, Melbourne, May, 1918. 
