ISINGLASS.
Loo-pa, . . . CHIN. Hausblase, . . . GER.
Yu-kiau, ,; Hausenblase, . . . „ Husblas, . . Sw. Ichthyocolla, . . . GR. Sounds, Swim, . ENG. Cola di peace, , . . IT. Air-bag, . . . „ Palogpong . MALAY. Swimming bladder, . „ Ari-ikan, . . . „ Fish-maws, . . . . „ Coils, de peixc, . PORT. Fish sounds, . . . „ Klei rubui, Karluk, RUS. Colle de poisson, . . Fit. I Colapez, Sr Carllock, . . . . „ The Greek name Ichthyocolla, is from ix011, fish, xo7aa, glue. Isinglass is from the German Hausenblase, from Hauser], the great sturgeon, and Blase, a bladder, being one of the coats of the swimming-bladder of fishes. Fish-maws or fish sounds of commerce, exported from Calcutta, Madras, Penang, Mergui, Malabar, and Sind, are the sac-like membrane, slit open ; some small, thin, and transparent, others three and four inches across in both diameters, something of the shape of short purses with spring clasps, of a light colour, and semitransparent, resembling in appear ance the ordinary qualities of isinglass, especially some of the Brazilian kinds. Fish-maws, under the names Singally and Sozille, had long been carried away by the Chinese from Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, at the rate of about a shilling a pound, without its being generally known that it was isinglass which was thus 'exported.
The swimming-bladder of fishes consists of three membranes, the outer or peritoneal coat, the middle membranous and muscular one, and the inner, glossy, highly vascular coat, 'which has a Pulpy appearance, and is the membrane which forms the best isinglass. The fish which yield the European supplies are the great sturgeon, osseter, sevruga, and sterlet, also the Silurus glanis, barbel; Cypriot's brama and C. carpi° and Perca lucio perca, which do not belong to the tribe of stur geons. In the fisheries of the Caspian and Volga, where the system is most complete, and the divi sion of labour the greatest, the sounds and roes of are extracted immediately the fish are caught, and over to the isinglass and caviare makers. The fresh sounds are first split open, and well washed to separate the blood, and any adhering extrrineous matter. They are then spread out, and exposed to the air to dry, with the inner silvery white membrane turned upwards. This, which is nearly pure gelatine, is carefully stripped off, laid in damp cloths, and left in the outer covering, and forcibly kneaded with the hands.
It is then taken out of the cloths, dried in the form of leaf isinglass, or rolled up and drawn in a serpentine manner into the form of a heart, horse shoe, or lyre (long and short staple), between three pegs, on a board covered with them ; here they are fixed in their places by wooden skewers. When they are somewhat dried thus, they are hung on lines in the shade in well-arranged rooms till their moisture is entirely dissipated. The oblong pieces sometimes are folden in the form of book isinglass. Though isinglass of the finest quality, and in the largest quantities, is yielded by, it is not confined to, the sturgeon tribe ; for even in Russia, the Silurus glanis, species of Cyprinus and barbel, yield it, and are met with in commerce with Brazilian, New York, and Hudson's Bay isin glass. The fishes which produce it on the coast of Brazil, Mr. Yarrell informed Dr. Hoyle, are pro bably several species of the genera Pimelodus and Silurus, or of closely-allied genera. The Brazilian isinglass is imported from Para and Maranham. It is very inferior in quality for domestic purposes 'to the best imported from Russia, which sells for 12s. per lb., and the other from 9d. to 3s. 6d. • It is iu the form of pipe, block, honeycomb, cake, and tongue isinglass, the last formed of a double swimming-bladder. The isinglass obtained from North America in the form of long ribbons, is produced, according to Dr. Mitchell, by Labrus squeateague, at New York, called weak fish, which is about 15 inches in length, and above 6 lbs. in -weight, forming one of their most abundant fish, and furnishing the principal supply for their tables. • An anonymous correspondent in Parbury's Oriental Herald, in 1839, stated that the Chinese had long been engaged in a trade with Calcutta in isinglass, afforded by a fish called Snlleah in Bengal, from half a pound to three-quarters of a pound being obtained from each fish. Dr. M'Clel land (June 1839, J. As. Soc: vol. viii. p. 203) then mentioned that the fish yielding the isinglass is Polynemus sale, Buck, sele or sulea of the Bengalese, common in the estuaries of the Ganges, and often found weighing from 20 to 24 pounds, and that Palogpong ikan or Ari-ari ikan of the Malays, Leo-pa of the Chinese, appears to have formed an article of exportation from the islands of the Indian Archipelago as early as they became visited by the Chinese.