Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1885-05-28
FISH AS FOOD.
A Valuable and Cheap Article of Muir
ment.

n Valuable and Cheap Article OF Nutri-
ment.
The many species that men consume
giving them great variety of flavor
and many degrees of nourishment In
some parts of the earth fish form the
chief sustenance of the people. In the
frigid zone, fish are dried, ground to
powder, and converted into substitute
for bread. Even putrd fish forms the
ordinary food of whole tribes of men.
From the earliest period of mankind,
fish has been their common nOurish-
ment.
The flesh of fish is less nutritious than
meat, and differs in the amount of
plastic and fatty matter they contain.
But generally We may say that they
contain seventy-five per cent. of water,
fifteen per cent of heterogeneous
materials. The white fish, however,
contains only three per cent of fat and
eighteen of plastic matter. Some are
not easily digested in the human
stomach. Others dissolve readily. and
enter and mingle easily in the circula.
ton of the blood. 1t may be well for
the mother to know that some fish are
poisonous at certain seasons of the year,
and under the influence of certain kinds
of food. especially in hot and unhealthy
climates. They should not forget that
various articles OF ordinary diet vary in
their influence upon the health and
comfort of different children. Some
can not safely eat veal. or mutton, milk
nor Strawberries. Shell fish Gas lobster)
may induce cholera; in Others special
form of nettle rash may appear; and in
still Others, nervous malalies may
seemingly be caused by eating certain
kinds of fish. Such eases are very rare,
and have been ascribed to the food on
which some fishes live, and 10 the
idiOsyncrasy of persons so affected.
If fish do not Yield As much nourish-
ment as meat, still those who live
chiefly on this diet usually maintain a
healthy state of body, and discharge well
the usual duties of active life. Fish
eating children ultimately make healthy
and active men and women.
We may find it convenient to form
two grades of fishes, namely, those that
have white flesh and those that have
red. The former have looser texture
than the latter. and so are more easily
digestcd. Among the white-fleshed fish
are the perch, haddOck, sole, cod, etc
Their bodies usually contain but
small amount of fat, such as usually
accumulatcs in the Goldfish and its rela-
tives, whose livers are ordinarily dis
tended with oil. Whitc-cOlOred fish, on
an average, contain nearly eighteen per
cent. of plastic matter. seventy-eight
per cent. of water and four per cent, or
less. of fat.
The red-ileshed fishes. as the mack
erel, herring, eels, salmon, etc, are
by having fat mingled
with the flesh, especially in the part be-
low the belly. So the members of this
second class are richer, more nutritious,
but less easy of d gestion. The salmon,
that prince of fishes. approaches meat
i'll color, and yields more nourishment
than any other member of the finny |
tribe. The fat is mingled with the |
fibers of the muscles, and also exists in |
LAYERS directly beneath the skin. In |
most fishes, the fat abOunds in the belly |
part more than in the back, so that the
former are not so suitable for children
and weak stomachs.
The red tleshed fishes are more nu-
tritious, but harder of digestion than
the lean and white-meatad ones. This
latter class, cooked without much fat,
are easily digested and assimilated in
the weakest stomach and are particu-
larly suitable as good for children.
The favor of fish depends in part
upon the species to which they belong,
and partly upon the food they eat and
the place in which they live. Those
that live in deep or quickly moving
waters with gravelly bottoms are
sweeter and more delicate than those
hat spend their days in shallow. slowly
moving waters on muddy bottoms. The
latter are not only less nutritious but
tougher, harder to digest and have an
earthly flavor. We ought to repeat that
he fatty class of fishes require more
digestive force than the lean, and so
are not proper for young children. But
hey may be made more digestible by
adding to them when cooking little
vinegar. All fish should be beheaded
md cleaned as soon as caught--C H.