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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



it steadily declined notwithstanding a phenomenal increase in prices — 

 an increase amounting to somewhere between five thousand and ten thou- 

 sand per cent, during the course of the century! 



Curves for the prices of oils need not be added. They of course show 

 the sperm oil constantly higher than whale oil, with both showing con- 

 siderable vacillations for about the first half century of the period here 



Diagram 3. Speem Oil Brought Back by American Fleet. Scale for ordlnates the 



same as in the case of whale oil. 



Diagram 4. Production of Whale Bone. Unit of scale = 500,000 pounds. 



under consideration. At the time of the Civil War, with the whaling 



fleet rapidly decreasing and many of the vessels still in the service 



lying idle, the prices mounted high; but this was also the time of the 



establishment of the petroleum industry, by the development of which 



the fate of whaling was sealed. The prices gradually fell until in spite 



of the scarcity of the products they reached almost the level of those that 



prevailed when the industry was at its height. 



Cold Spring Harbor, L. L, 

 January 20, 1914 



