WHALES AND WHALING 303 



being dried in the same type of drier that is used 

 for drying the scrap, are finely ground, thus pro- 

 ducing bone meal which is extensively used as a 

 fertilizer. Whale bone meal furnishes the crops 

 with phosphorus and nitrogen, two plant nutrients 

 that are often deficient in soils. 



The most valuable product obtained from the 

 whale is the oil, which has a multitude of uses. The 

 oil rendered from the blubber of whalebone whales 

 is a liquid fat known as whale oil; the sperm-whale 

 yields a liquid wax known as sperm oil. Whale oil 

 is now steam rendered and is a product far superior 

 to the oil made by boiling the blubber in open 

 kettles. Fresh steam-rendered oil is light in color 

 and does not possess an unpleasant odor, whereas 

 the oil heated in kettles over open fires is dark in 

 color and foul in odor. Whale oil is similar in 

 composition and properties to the slow-drying fish 

 and fish-liver oils. Much stearin may be separated 

 by cooling and racking the oil. The stearin is 

 largely used in the finishing of leather. Whale oil 

 itself is also extensively used in the tanning and 

 finishing of leather. 



The chemist has done much to aid the whaling in- 

 dustry. For even the darkest, foul-smelling oil may 

 now be converted by treatment with hydrogen into a 

 colorless, odorless, solid fat, suitable for the manu- 

 facture of high-grade soaps. These hardened fats are 

 so white and sweet that they are used in Europe as 

 lard substitutes. Hydrogenated whale oil may be 

 made so hard that it can be molded into candles, and 

 much of it is used for this purpose. 



