DESCRIPTION OF WHALE-BOXE. 415 



serving it uninjured, is to keep it at such a tem- 

 perature that it shall not freeze ; as it is probahle 

 that the resinous part only concretes with cold, 

 and that a gas is disengaged, which consists of 

 some of its most volatile parts, and materially in- 

 jures its property of burning *. At least, oil which 

 has been kept over a winter or two, is supposed to 

 be scarcely capable of burning ; though I suspect 

 the prejudice against old oil, unless it has been very 

 ill kept, is much greater than the actual deteriora- 

 tion of the article can warrant. 



AVhale-oil is said to be rendered more fluid, as 

 well as more combustible, by the addition of cold 

 drawn linseed oil f . 



SECT. IV. 



Descri'ptwn of Whale-hone, and of the Method of 

 Preparing it. 



Whale-bone, or whale-fins, as the substance 

 is sometimes, though incorrectly named, is found 

 in the mouth of the common Greenland whale, 

 to which it serves as a substitute for teeth. It 

 fonns an apparatus most admirably adapted as a 

 filter for separating the minute animals, on which 

 the whale feeds, from the sea-water in which they 

 exist. 



• Nicholson's Journal, vol. ii. p. 10'. t Idcui. 



