ton, 1896-1900); Goode and Bean, Oceanic Ich thyology (ib., 1895); Goode, American Fishes (New York, 1888); annual Reports and Bulletins of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries and of the National Museum (Washington, 1870 onward); governmental documents issued by Canada and Newfoundland; Eigenmann, South American Fishes (San Francisco, 1893); Yarrell, History of British Fishes (3d ed., London, 1859); Couch, History of British Fishes (ib., 1865); Houghton, Freshwater Fishes of Great Britain (ib., 1879); Siebold, Die Süsswasserfische von Mitteleuropa (Leipzig, 1863); Blanchard, Les poissons des eaux douces de la France (Paris, 1866); Day, Fauna of British India: Fishes (London, 1889); Hutton and Hector, Fishes of New Zealand (Wellington, 1872). For fossil fishes, consult: Woodward, Outlines of Vertebrate Paleontology (Cambridge, 1898), in which is a full bibliog. raphy to the fossil forms; Agassiz, Recherches sur les poissons fossiles, vols. i-iii and supplement (Neufchâtel, 1833-44); Woodward, Catalogue of Fossil Fishes of the British Museum, vols. i-iii (London, 1889-95); and for American forms, Newberry, "Paleozoic Fishes of North America," in Monographs of the United States Geological Survey, vol. xvi (Washington, 1890). FISH, HAMILTON (1808-93). An American statesman. He was born in New York City, graduated at Columbia College in 1827, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1830. In 1842 he was elected to Congress as a Whig. In 1846 he was the Whig nominee for Lieutenant Governor on the same ticket with John Young for Governor. During the campaign Fish antagonized the "antirenters" (see ANTIRENTISM), with the result that, although the Whig ticket was generally successful, he himself was defeated. In the year following, however, on the appointment of his successful Democratic competitor, Addison Gardiner, as a judge of the State Court of Appeals, a special election was held to fill the vacancy, at which Fish was elected. In 1848 he was nominated by the Whigs for Governor, and the result was a sweeping victory for Fish. In 1851 he was elected United States Senator to succeed Daniel S. Dickinson. The years 1857-60 he spent in Europe, returning in the latter year to take an active part in the campaign in behalf of the Lincoln ticket. During 1861-62 he was associated with other prominent citizens of New York on the Union Defense Committee, which coöperated with the municipal government in raising and equipping troops and in relieving New York volunteers and their families. Early in 1862 he was appointed, with Bishop Ames, a commissioner to proceed to Richmond and other Southern cities within the Confederate lines to relieve Federal prisoners; and although the Confederate authorities refused to allow them to proceed, the negotiations that followed resulted in an arrangement for the exchange of prisoners that was continued throughout the Civil War. In March, 1869, Fish was appointed Secretary of State and served through both of Grant's administrations, retiring in 1877. In 1871 he was one of the commissioners who negotiated and signed the Treaty of Washington with Great Britain. During the "Alabama Claims" arbitration he was successful in securing the adoption by the tribunal of a provision which relieved the United States from responsibility for indirect damages arising out of the Fenian raids and Cuban filibustering ex

peditions. He also brought about the settlement of the long-standing Northwestern Boundary dispute with Great Britain, which resulted in the cession to the United States of the island of San Juan (see SAN JUAN BOUNDARY DISPUTE), and the satisfactory settlement of the complications growing out of the Virginius massacre (q.v.). Under his direction, also, extensive reforms were undertaken in the consular service, by which civil-service examinations were required of candidates.

FISH, HAMILTON, Jr. (1849- ). An American lawyer and politician, born in Albany, N. Y., the son of Hamilton Fish. He graduated at Columbia College in 1869, acted as private secretary to his father, and after his graduation at Columbia Law School (1873) was aid-decamp to Governor John Adams Dix; he was Republican leader in the Assembly in 1890, and its Speaker in 1895. He was Assistant Treasurer of the United States in 1903-08 and a member of Congress in 1909-11.

FISH, NICHOLAS (1758-1833). An American Revolutionary soldier. He was born in New York City and began the academic course at Princeton, but left before graduating to pursue the study of law in the office of John Morin Scott in New York. There he became actively interested in the organization of the Sons of Liberty (q.v.) and in 1776 was appointed by Scott, who had been commissioned brigadier general, as aid-de-camp on his staff. At the close of the Revolutionary War he held the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was a division inspector under Steuben in 1778 and ably seconded that officer in his attempts to drill and discipline the continental troops. He participated in the battles of Saratoga and Monmouth, in Sullivan's expedition against the Indians in 1779, and in the Virginia and Yorktown campaigns, in which he served for a time on the staff of Lafayette. In 1786 he was appointed adjutant general of New York State, which position he held for many years. In 1794 he was appointed by Washington supervisor of the Federal revenue in New York City. In 1811 he was the Federalist candidate for Lieutenant Governor of the State, and carried New York City by a large majority. During the War of 1812 he served as a member of the City Committee of Defense.

FISH, NICHOLAS (1846-1902). An American diplomatist, grandson of Col. Nicholas Fish, and son of the Secretary of State, Hamilton Fish (q.v.). Born in New York and educated at Columbia and at Harvard Law School, he praeticed law in New York City and then went into the diplomatic service. Appointed Second Secretary of Legation at Berlin (1871), he became Secretary (1874) and acted in the continued absence of his chief as chargé d'affaires, held the latter position in Switzerland (1877–81) and then served as Minister to Belgium (1882-86). He returned to New York in 1887 and became a member of the banking firm of Harriman & Co. He was president of the New York branch of the Society of the Cincinnati. He was fatally as saulted in New York City, Sept. 16, 1902.

FISH, ROYAL. Certain "great fish," as the whale and sturgeon, which by the common law of England are deemed the property of the crown when either thrown on shore or caught near the coast. The principle applied constitutes an exception to the rule, common to all systems of jurisprudence, that fish, as animals fere natura (of a wild nature'), belong by finding, or “occu

pation," to the one who first reduces them to possession. "Our ancestors," says Blackstone, "seem to have entertained a very high notion of the importance of this right, it being the prerogative of the kings of Denmark and the dukes of Normandy; and from one of these it was probably derived to our princes. It is expressly claimed and allowed in the Statute De Prærogativa Regis (17 Edw. II, c. 11), and the most ancient treatises of law now extant make mention of it." Strictly it was the head only of the whale which belonged to the King, the tail being a perquisite of the Queen Consort. In Scotland whales thrown on shore above six-horse-power draft belong to the Queen or the Admiral. See GAME LAWS.

FISH, STUYVESANT (1851-1923). An American banker and railroad official, born in New York City. In 1871 he engaged in clerical work for the Illinois Central Railroad, of which corporation he subsequently became director (1876), second vice president (1883-84), vice president (1884-87), and president (1887-1906). He also held high offices in connection with other roads, among them the Chicago, St. Louis, and New Orleans, from 1883 to 1906 was a trustee of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, and served as trustee of the New York Life Insurance and Trust Company, vice president and director of the National Park Bank, and director in other corporations. In 1904-06 he was president of the American Railway Association and in 1905 chairman of the seventh International Railway Congress. He published The Nation and the Railways (1908).

FISH AS FOOD. Fish is almost universally recognized as one of the important food materials and enters into the diet of very many if not most American families. From recent data published by the Bureau of Statistics, United States Department of Commerce and Labor, it appears that the total weight of the fish marketed yearly in the United States is 1,893,454,000 pounds, having a value of $54,031,000, By the processes of canning, salting, smoking, and otherwise preserving, the value of the fish is very much increased. In addition, thousands of pounds of fish are annually caught by sportsmen, but statistics of the amount are not available. Of the very large quantity of fish annually placed on the American market the greater part is consumed at home, although a portion is prepared in various ways for export. The preference for fresh-water or saltwater fish is a matter of individual taste. Both are, so far as known, equally wholesome. The market value of fish is affected by various conditions. Among these are the locality from which they come, the season in which they are taken, and the food on which they have grown.

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Fish are sold either dressed or round, i.e., whole. Sometimes only the entrails are moved. Often, however, especially when dressed for cooking, the head, fins, and, less frequently, the bones, are removed. This entails a considerable loss in weight as well as of nutritive material. In dressing fish the following percentages are commonly lost: large-mouthed black bass, sea bass, cisco, kingfish, mullet, white perch, pickerel, pike, tomcod, weakfish, and whitefish, each, 17 per cent; small-mouthed black bass, eel, Spanish mackerel, porgy, and turbot, each, 13 per cent; butterfish, 12 per cent; shad, 11 per cent, and brook trout, 16 per cent; bullhead, 50 per cent; buffalo fish and lake stur

geon, 40 per cent; carp and sucker, 35 per cent; fresh-water sheepshead, 23 per cent; grass pike, black bass, white bass, yellow perch, and salmon, 15 per cent.

Fresh-water and salt-water fish alike are offered for sale as taken from the water, or preserved in various ways. Large quantities of fish are dried, salted, and smoked, the processes being employed alone or in combination. These methods insure preservation, but modify the flavor. Several fish products are also prepared by these processes. For example, caviar, prepared very largely in Russia, and to some extent also in the United States, is usually prepared from sturgeon roe by salting. The methods of salting and packing vary somewhat and give rise to a number of varieties.

When fish is salted or otherwise cured, there is a considerable loss in weight due to removal of the entrails, drying, etc. Codfish loses 60 per cent in preparation for market. If the marketdried fish be boned, there is a further loss of 20 per cent. The loss in weight of pollack is 60 per cent; haddock, 62 per cent; hake, 56 per cent; and cusk, 51 per cent. The canning industry has been enormously developed in recent years, and thousands of pounds of fish, oysters, clams, lobsters, shrimps, etc., are annually preserved in this way. Various kinds of fish extract, clam juice, etc., are offered for sale. There are also a number of fish pastes-anchovy paste, e.g.-and similar products which are used as relishes or condiments. Preservatives such as salicylate of soda were once employed to some extent with fish, and especially oysters, for shipping, but their use has been largely checked by State and national pure-food laws.

Oysters and other shellfish are placed on the market alive in the shell, or are removed from the shell and kept in good condition by chilling or other means. In the shell oysters are usually transported in barrels or sacks. Shipment is made to far inland points in refrigerator cars and to Europe in cold-storage chambers of vessels. Oysters are often sold as they are taken from the salt water. However, the practice of "freshening," "fattening," or "floating" is very widespread-i.e., oysters are placed in fresh or brackish water for a short period, in which they become plump in appearance, owing chiefly to the water taken up by their tissues. They have a different flavor from those taken directly from salt water. Lobsters, crabs, and other crustacea, though sometimes boiled before being marketed, are usually sold alive. Turtle and terrapin are usually marketed alive. Turtle soup, however, is canned in large quantities. Frogs, valued for their hind legs, are marketed alive or dressed in all seasons, but are in the best condition in fall or winter. In addition to the varieties of fish commonly used as food, others, such as the common sea mussel, smooth and horned dogfish, sand shark, and toadfish, which are not found in quantity in the American market, are also edible, and their use would add to some extent to the available supply of sea food.

The average composition of the principal fish, crustacea, etc., used for food is shown in the table below. That of others less frequently eaten is similar.

Fish usually contains less fat than is found in meat. There is, however, much difference in the fat content of the various kinds of fish. They may, indeed, be roughly divided into three

classes: the first class would include those containing over 5 per cent fat; the second those containing between 2 and 5 per cent; and the third those containing less than 2 per cent. The first group would include such fish as salmon, shad, herring, Spanish mackerel, and butterfish; the second, whitefish, mackerel, mullet, halibut, and porgy; the third, smelt, black bass, bluefish, white perch, weak fish, brook trout, hake, flounder, yellow perch, pike, pickerel, sea bass, cod, and haddock.

When judged by its composition, the place of fish in the diet is the same as that of meat; i.e., it is supplementary to cereals and other vegetables, most of which, as wheat, rye, maize, rice, potatoes, etc., are rich in carbohydrates, which are not present in appreciable amounts in the flesh of fish. Preserved fish, as a rule, show a small percentage of refuse, with the exception of a few kinds which are preserved whole. The percentage of actual nutrients is much larger than in the corresponding fresh fish, owing to the removal of a large part of the refuse and more or less water. The gain in nutrients is mostly represented by protein, which is the most valuable nutrient. Canned fish, which is in effect cooked fish, compares favorably as regards composition with the fresh material. Generally speaking, the amount of refuse is small, since the portions commonly rejected in preparation for the table have been removed before canning. Shellfish resemble meat and food fishes in general composition. They contain, however, an appreciable amount of carbohydrates. Judging by the relative amount consumed, oysters are the most important of the shellfish. Speaking roughly, a quart of oysters contains on an average about the same quantity of actual nutritive substances as a quart of milk, or three-fourths of a pound of beef, or two pounds of fresh codfish, or a pound of bread.

A number of experiments have been made with man to learn how thoroughly fish is digested and to compare it in this respect with other foods. It has been found that fish and lean beef are about equally digestible. In each case at least 95 per cent of the total dry matter, 97 per cent of the protein, and 97 per cent of the fat were retained by the body. Other experiments of the same character indicate that salt fish is less thoroughly digested than fresh fish. The nutritive value of shellfish, as of other fish, depends to a considerable extent upon their digestibility; but so little is known upon this point that nothing more can be said with certainty here than that oysters belong to the more easily digestible class of foods. So far as can be learned no experiments have been made which show how thoroughly crabs, clams, and other crustacea, turtle and terrapin, and frogs' legs are digested. Inspection of a considerable number of dietary studies of families of farmers, mechanics, professional men, and others, carried on in different regions of the United States, shows that out of the 20 per cent of the total food and the 43 per cent of the total protein obtained from animal sources, only about 2 per cent of the total food and 4 per cent of the total protein is furnished by fish, shellfish, etc., showing to what a limited extent this valuable food is used in the average household. It is not improbable that in communities where fishing constitutes the principal industry much larger quantities are consumed. It was found that the laborers employed in the fisheries of Russia

consumed from 26 to 62 ounces of fish daily. This, with some bread, millet meal, and tea, constituted their diet throughout the fishing season. These quantities are unusually large, but no bad effects are mentioned as following the diet.

There is a widespread notion that fish contains large proportions of phosphorus and on that account is particularly valuable as brain food. The percentages of phosphorus in specimens thus far analyzed are not larger than are found in the flesh of other animals used for food. But even so, there is no experimental evidence to warrant the assumption that fish is more valuable than meats or other food material for the nourishment of the brain. The opinion of eminent physiologists is that phosphorus is no more essential to the brain than nitrogen, potassium, or any other element which occurs in its tissues. The value commonly attributed to the phosphorus is based on a popular misconception of statements by one of the early writers on such topics. It should be stated that most physiologists regard fish as a particularly desirable food for persons of sedentary habits, since it is easily digested and not too hearty. While, so far as can be learned, such statements do not depend upon experimental evidence, they are thought to embody the result of experience.

In cooking, fish may be boiled, steamed, broiled, fried, baked, or combined with other materials in some made dish. When boiled, it

is stated that the loss in weight ranges from 5 to 30 per cent, a loss that consists largely of water-i.e., the cooked fish is less moist than the raw. Little fat or protein is lost. So far as known, experiments have not been made which show the losses by other methods of cooking. It is, however, probable that there would be usually a very considerable loss of water.

In view of statements of a popular nature which have been made on the dangers from eating poisonous fish or from ptomaines contained in fish, a few words summarizing the actual knowledge on these topics seem desirable. There are several species of fish which are actually poisonous. Few of them, however, are found in the United States, and the chances of their being offered for sale are very small. Such fish are mostly confined to tropical waters. Fish may contain parasites, some of which are injurious to man. These are, however, destroyed by the thorough cooking to which fish is usually subjected. Occasionally cases of illness which have been said to be ptomaine poisoning have been traced to eating fish or fish products. Fish which has been frozen and, after thawing, kept for a time before it is cooked is commonly be lieved to be especially likely to contain injurious ptomaines. It is possible, though, that the illness may be due to bacteria or their spores which are not destroyed by cooking. Canned fish should never be allowed to remain long in the can after opening, but should be used at once. There is some possibility of danger from the combined action of the can contents and oxygen of the air upon the lead of the solder or the can itself. Furthermore, canned fish seems peculiarly suited to the growth of microorganisms when exposed to the air. Finally, fish offered for sale should be handled in a cleanly manner and stored and exposed for sale under hygienic conditions. Oysters when "floated" or "fattened" should never be placed in water contaminated by sewage. Severe illness and death have resulted in a number of