SC - Islinglass, Waterglass and eggs (long)

[Robyn Probert]

Rhiannon wrote:
>I think you might be thinking of waterglass.  That is what I have read is
>used to preserve eggs, 

Gwen-Cat wrote:
> This topic was discussed a few weeks ago on rec.food.preserving.  The gist 
>of the conversation was that in mundane parlance it is called waterglass, 

I suspect my memory was faulty and it was Waterglass I was thinking of. I
checked Mrs B and she discusses Isinglass for use as a clarifier and
superior gelatine (as discussed on this list). 

Her suggestion for preserving eggs was to take very fresh eggs and dip them
in boiling water briefly, then pack in bran.

BTW the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) says about waterglass:

6. An aqueous solution of silicate of soda or potash (or of both), which
solidifies when exposed to the air. It is used for many purposes, e.g. as a
vehicle for fresco-painting, as a paint for rendering material
incombustible, for pickling eggs, etc.

•1859 Ecclesiologist XX. 283 Water-glass seems likely to offer a substitute
for enamel. 

•1867 Brande & Cox Dict. Sci. etc., Waterglass..is a soluble alkaline
silicate, a liquified flint, made by boiling silica in an alkali. 

•1880 Times 25 Dec. 5/6 What is designated `Herr Windsperger's
fire-extinguishing solution', which is an aqueous solution of silicate of
soda, the substance commonly known under the name of `water-glass'. 

•1907 Westm. Gaz. 14 May 2/1, I have just bought eleven score of new-laid
eggs..and put them down in water-glass to use all through the time when eggs
are dear.

So the term "waterglass" seems OOP, even though the substance itself might
have been known in period under another name.

On Isinglass the OED says:

isinglass <e>i;zinglas, . Forms: 6 isonglas, 7 ison glass, 7-8 isonglass,
ising-glass, 8 icinglass, icing-glass, 7- isinglass. Supposed to be a
corruption or imperfect imitation of an obs. Dutch huisenblas (Kilian
huysenblase, huysblas), Ger. hausenblase isinglass, lit. `sturgeon's
bladder': see hausen and huso. No English forms approaching the Dutch more
closely have been found, so that, if this was the source, the perversion of
the name would seem to have been made at its first adoption.

1. A firm whitish semitransparent substance (being a comparatively pure form
of gelatin) obtained from the sounds or air-bladders of some fresh-water
fishes, esp. the sturgeon; used in cookery for making jellies, etc., also
for clarifying liquors, in the manufacture of glue, and for other purposes.
Also extended to similar substances made from hides, hoofs, etc.

(Cited in Rogers Agric. & Prices IV and VI for the years 1527, 1585, 1601,
1623, etc., but without any information as to the name under which it is
mentioned.) 

•1545 Rates of Custome-ho. b v b, Ison [printed m] glas the C. li. xxxiiis.
iiiid. 

•1660 Act 12 Chas II, c. 25 Sect.11 That noe Merchant Vintner..retailing any
Wine shall..put in any Isinglasse Brimstone Lime Raisons Juice of Raisons

•1662 Stat. Irel. (1765) II. 401 Ison glass the hundred pound 10l. 

•1663 Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. ii. i. 24 Ising-glass steeped two days
in water, and then boiled up. 

•1678 Phillips (ed. 4), Ichthyocolla, a kind of Glew made of the skin of
Fishes, commonly called Isonglass. 

•1723 Pres. St. Russia I. 76 Icing-glass, (of that sort which is a Glue made
of a Fish). 

•1727 W. Mather Yng. Man's Comp. 439 A Beer-Glass full of White-Wine,
wherein an Ounce of Isonglass is dissolved. 

•1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) III. 91 The isinglass most common in our
shops, is made from a species of dolphin, called the beluga. 

•1842 Barham Ingol. Leg., Blasphemer's Warn., Jellies composed of punch,
calves' feet and isinglass. 

•1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 192/1 A little isinglass or white of egg is
first spread over the surface.

Many thanks to the people who gave the OED URL!

Rowan
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