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Mackerel and Sea Fish (Commercial sizes of Mackerel)

THE commercial sizes of Mackerel are "large," "seconds," "tinkers," and "blinks," according as they are of four, three, two, and one, years of growth. Robert Lovell told (1661) "Mackerel are naught for those that are troubled with the epilepsy: they are not to be used except by young strong men." This fish is said in Somersetshire to come into season when Balaam's ass speaks in church: that is, when the chapters twenty-three and twenty-four of the Book of Numbers are read as the first lessons for the day. Mackerel contains 65 per cent of water, and 24 per cent of nutrients. Its fat is difficult of digestion for ourselves; but a young lady, of the Sandwich Islands, even now, will swallow half a dozen raw mackerel for breakfast without incurring the least personal inconvenience. The fish, smoked whilst fresh, is a popular preparation in New York. Its charred bones when powdered, furnish alkaline phosphates, useful against acidity of stomach.