io8 A SO OK OF WHALES 



many whales, especially in the Sperm whale, a certain 

 amount of clear oil contained in the head, which is 

 solid when cold, and is known as spermaceti. But 

 you must first catch your whale, and then extract the 

 oil. The use of whale oil seems to be very ancient. 

 M. Pouchet* tells of a convent mentioned in the life 

 of St. Philibert which had run short of oil. In 

 answer to the prayers of the inmates a large whale 

 was found stranded the next day. This was in the 

 year 684. M. Pouchet thinks that whales were more 

 frequently stranded in old times than now, for the 

 reason that not being hunted they were necessarily 

 more numerous. 



It seems to be hardly a matter for doubt that 

 whales were first of all utilised only when stranded 

 on the shore. And very numerous are the records 

 of whales cast up upon our coasts and those of other 

 European countries. A number of these events are 

 collected together by van Beneden, in his Cttac^es 

 des Mers d' Europe, and more recently Paronat has 

 described the whales of the Italian shores. There 

 are numerous other scattered, and more or less 

 elaborate, enumerations of the stranding of different 

 species of whales. John Evelyn, in his Diary, re- 

 cords a large whale which came ashore near to his 

 house. It seems probably, from the size and other 

 suggestions, to have been a Rorqual. Here is his 

 description : 



"A large whale was taken betwixt my land butting 



* Comptes Rendus Soc. Bio 1., 1890, p. 686. 

 t Atti. Soc. ItaL, xxxvi., p. 297. 



