ON  NEW  ENGLAND  ISINGLASS. 
515 
from  the  sturgeon  of  our  own  rivers,  isinglass  that  will  equal  that 
of  Russia,  which  is  derived  from  the  sturgeon  taken  in  the  Cas- 
pian sea  and  rivers  emptying  into  its  basin. 
The  sounds  or  air  vessels  of  the  cod  and  hake  bear  great 
analogy  with  those  of  the  Acipenser  genus  of  Linngeus,  and  are 
in  general  so  well  known  as  to  require  no  particular  description. 
Ichthyocolla  is  prepared  in  considerable  quantities  by  the 
Newfoundland  and  Iceland  fishermen.  Their  process  is  as  fol- 
lows :  As  soon  as  the  fish  is  taken,  they  are  split  open,  and  the 
backbones,  with  the  sounds  attached,  are  thrown  together  in  a 
heap  ;  but  previous  to  incipient  putrefaction  the  sounds  are  re- 
moved from  the  bone  and  salted  for  preservation.  If  the  sounds 
are  cut  out  from  the  back-bone,  the  intercostal  parts  are  left 
behind  ;  these  parts  are  the  most  valuable,  and  the  Iceland  fish- 
ermen are  so  sensible  of  this  that  they  beat  the  bones  upon 
blocks  until  the  «  pockets,"  as  they  term  them,  come  out  easily, 
thus  preserving  the  sounds  entire. 
If  the  bladers  are  preserved  with  salt  this  must  all  be  removed 
by  »  freshening"  in  water  before  they  are  prepared  as  isinglass. 
After  being  thoroughly  freshened,  they  are  scraped  free  from  all 
adhering  mucous,  slit  open,  washed  with  lime  water  to  remove 
all  oleaginous  matter,  then  rinsed  in  clean  water,  and  dried  upon 
nets  in  the  sun. 
I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Jabez  R.  Gott,  Esq.,  of 
Rockport,  Mass.,  for  most  of  the  information  and  statistics 
relating  to  the  manufacture  of  the  article  known  as  New  Eng- 
land isinglass.  Mr.  Gott  is  the  oldest,  and,  in  fact,  the  only 
manufacturer  of  this  article  known  to  me. 
As  early  as  the  year  1822,  or  thereabouts,  his  process  was 
the  subject  of  a  patent  in  this  country ;  since  that  time  experi- 
ence has  done  much  to  simplify  and  improve  the  mode  of  manu- 
facture. 
I  learn  from  him  that  the  sounds  or  air  vessels  of  the  hake 
(Gadus  mertuccius)  are  generally  used,  those  of  the  cod  having 
the  disadvantage  alluded  to  in  speaking  of  the  Iceland  fishery 
process. 
The  sounds  are  collected  by  parties  residing  upon  the  sea- 
coast  of  Cape  Ann,  and  brought  to  Rockport  for  sale. 
