184 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ships of Great Britain. The difficulty of obtaining rai^e-seed oil in 

 the United States and the importance of the whaling industry to the 

 national welfare caused the use of sperm oil in this countrj^ for ten 

 years longer, when through the researches and experiments of Pro- 

 fessor Ilenrj^ it was found practicable to use lard oil, and in 1862 that 

 became the illuminant in the light-houses of the United States. A 

 few years later hoth colza and lard oils were superseded by forms of 

 petroleum. 



Not onl}^ did the products of j)etroleum take the place of aquatic- 

 animal oils as illuminants, but they seriously interfered with tliem 

 in the markets as lubricants. Then came the development of render- 

 ing and refining a large number of vegetable oils, which are now 

 used for many i)urposes formerly served b}^ fish oils. Among these 

 vegetable products are olive oil, cotton-seed oil, linseed oil, and, to a 

 less extent, palm oil, cocoanut oil, corn oil, etc. The employment of 

 these substances and a large decrease in the abundance of whales 

 have resulted in a great reduction in the extent of tlie whale fishery, 

 the fleet decreasing from 735 vessels in 1846 to 38 in 1902. Those 

 marine enterprises more or less associated with the whale fisheries, 

 as the taking of seals, sea-elephants, walrus, etc. , have decreased corre- 

 spondingly. 



Fish oils have therefore, to a large extent, given place to land 

 products, and their diminished sale and reduced price have greatly 

 decreased the prosperity of many fisheries. At present the use of fish 

 oils for illumination as comjDared with that of mineral oils is very 

 small in those countries where the latter are obtainable, their prin- 

 cipal use being in miners' lamps. But among many semicivilized 

 people, esi)ecially those of subpolar regions, marine-animal oils are 

 more easily obtained than petroleum, so that the native products con- 

 tinue in use. And notwithstanding the large amount of mineral oils 

 now used for lubrication of heavy machiner}^, there is yet an extensive 

 demand for fish oils for that i:)urpose, experience having sliown that by 

 theirjudicious blending with hydrocarbon oils a greater uniformity of 

 lubrication is secured, and that less quantity is required than by use 

 of mineral oil alone. The outlook for an increased use of fish oils in 

 leather-dressing is said to be not encouraging, owing to a decrease 

 in "hand-stuffing" and the increasing pox)ularitj^ of chrome tannage, 

 in which only a small quantity of oil is required, and tliat usuallj^ a 

 superior quality of neatsfoot. There is a wide field of technical uses 

 wherein certain fish oils can not readily be dispensed with, espe- 

 cially for lubricating delicate machinery, in steel-tempering and screw- 

 cutting, as a bodj^ for paints to be applied to out-of-door surfaces, in 

 the textile trades where only sai^onifiable oil can be satisfactorily 

 employed, etc. 



In addition to their many technical uses, marine-animal oils are 

 also used for nourishment to a considerable extent. Tlie Eskimos 

 and other pi-imitive peoph^ depend ver}^ largely on the blubber of 



