METHOD of manufacturing Isinglass, or fish glue; with remarks by the Editor, Page. On Caviar, and mode of preparing it; by the Editor, On the encouragement given to the manufactory of Fine Cloth by the Legislature of New York, in a letter to the Editor, by R. R. Livingston, Esq. with remarks on do. On the Distillation of Holland Gin; by E. G. Crookens, Remarks on do. and on Ferments, by the Editor, On the influence of the Form of Stills upon distilled li- 1 Mode of making Spanish white, and Paris white, On Bleaching; by Dr. Stephenson, of Belfast, Experiment on Rotting Hemp, agreeably to Mr. Braalle's method, translated from the French for the Archives, 198 Miscellaneous observations on Sheep; by the Editor, Remarks on do. by Col. Williams, On Cochineal; by Edward Cutbush, M. D. Improvement in sheep, in a letter from L. Washington to On distilling Apple Brandy, and Peach Brandy, by Account of Mr. Cooper's luxuriant native grape-vine, and his mode of making wine; by the Editor, Account of the Fourth Cattle Show; by the Editor, Composition for healing Wounds in trees; by Earl Stan- Account of the produce of Milk and Butter from a cow of Substitute for Verdigris; and on making Verdigris, On Improving the Breed of Domestic Animals, American Cattle-their Weights; by the Editor, USEFUL KNOWLEDGE. JULY, 1810. FORK No. 1. METHOD OF MANUFACTURING ISINGLASS. THE following account of the manufactory of Isinglass is the only one ever published. It is the result of a journey to Russia, expressly undertaken to discover the process, and of numerous experiments upon British fish, by the late Humphrey Jackson, of London, and published by him in the Trans. Royal Soc. vol. 63. THE secret of Isinglass rested a long time solely with the Russians, and made from the fish Huso,* or Isinglass Sturgeon; and its name in Greek signifies fish-glue, viz. ICHTHYOCOLLA. All authors who have hitherto delivered processes for making fish-glue, or Isinglass, have greatly mistaken both its constituent matter and preparation. To prove this assertion, it may not be improper to recite what a writer of the name of Pomet says on the subject, as he appears to be the principal author, whom the rest have copied. After describing the fish, he says, as to the manner of making the Isinglass, the sinewy parts of the fish are boiled in water till all of them be dissolved that will dissolve, then the gluey liquor is strained and set to cool. Being cold, the fat is carefully taken off, and the liquor itself is boiled to a juicy consistency, then cut to pieces and made into a twist, bent in form of a crescent, as commonly sold, then hung upon a string and carefully dried. From this account it might rationally be concluded that every species of fish, which contained gelatinous principles, would yield Isinglass; and this parity of *i Accipenser Huso Lin. EDIT. |