The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1892-10-07
FISH REGARDED ASA FOOD
THERE ARE ONE THOUSAND VA
RIETIES TO CHOOSE FROM.


The Myth About It's Being . R-.s.
S..s.s.:.o"Ur Loss Nutrativs
Than Fiesh-Its lseal Value.
"HE housekeeper in each famil.
VI will do well to remember th,
/ fact that there are 1000 differ
ent species Of edible fish in this
country. Not that she need expect ts
be called upon to choose from this be.
wildering lot each time she goes to the
fish market, but only because the men.
ton Of possible fish In such largo quanti-
ties as this makes the mere fact Of selec-
tion for dinner a moro important and
awe.inspiriug achievement.
Professor Atwater, - the recent re.
port issued by the Fish Commission, has
settled the number Of edible fish at no
less than that, and Professor Atwater's
authority is not to be disputed.
The food value Of fish is q matter OF
great interest to anybody who eats fish.
It would be worth while to trace back
the legend about the value OF fish as Q
brain food aud discover, il possible,
whether the originator OF the idea ate
fish in large quantities, for the idea is
brilliant fraud.
In the first place there is no proof oil
the fact that fish contains PHOSPHORUS in
larger quantities than any meat does. In
fact, the analysis OF fish has proved that
il docs not. And, in the second place,
there is no proof that phosphorus is any
more Of brain food than any other
substance.
The real value of the commoner kinds
of fish as food is about as follows: In ali
fish there is larger per cent. of water
and a less per cent. of fat than there is il
like quantity of the flesh OF fowl an0
domestic animals. There is therefore
less nutritive material, pound for pound,
in fish than in flesh.
In the flesh of the founder there is
sixteen per cent. of nutrItive material
and eighteen per cent. in the fresh cod
In the fatter fish, the herring, the shad +,
the whitefish, the mackerel and Others,
the per cent. of nutrition is somewhat
higher and near the val,c of beef, which
ranges from twenty five to thirty three
per cent.
Curiously enough dried and salt fish
are more nutritious than the same fish
when fresh. Salt Goldfish contains TWEEN,
ty-elght per cent. of nutrition, salt mack,
erel forty.seven and dessicated Goldfish as
high as eighty.two per cent. Part OF
this increase in nutrition per pound is to
be accounted for by the fact that the
waste materials, the bone, skin aud re-
fuse, are more or less removed from dried
and salt fish; the removal Of the moisture
also has considerable influence.
Because of the presence Of so much
water the juicy shellfsh, such as oysters,
clans, Holsters and crabs, have a low
per cent. of nutrition-the oyster being
rated as low as from seven to ten per
cent, with the lobster about on par al
eighteen. Nearly all of the oyster--as
much as S7.3 per cent.--ls water, in a
quart of oysters the solid portion
weighing but two to five ounces. This,
of course, makes oysters costly food,
since, in order to be properly nourished
by oysters, one would need not only to
buy, but to eat them in extremely large
quantities.
.v50 p,UfG. V.vuv3 "Vuv a,hjulv d
given quantity contains of three things
protein, carbohydrates and fats. Of
these three the protein, containing
nitrogen, seems to be the most essential
to human well-being.
The A nericau fault In eating is eating
90 much fat and -hydrates-
Aot enough protein. "This," said Pro-
lessor Atwater recently, "is a natural
result Of our agricultural conditions,
which have led to the production OF
large quantities of maize, which is rela,
lively deficient in protein and of ex.
cessively fat beef and PORK. Our agri.
cultural production is in this sense, one
| sided. New York World.