AQUATIO I'KODUCTS IN ARTS AND INJ>USTK[KS. 185 



seals, walrus, and whales, for food supplies. Among more cIn ili/.ed 

 nations fisli oils arc not iiscd ordinavilj^ as an art i(d(^ of <liei; an cxcep- 

 t ion, liowever, is tlie well-known and valuable cod-liver oil, of which 

 twenty or tiiii-ty thousand barrels are annually consumed in cases of 

 malnutrition. Certain tliei-apeutic cpuilities are also attri])ut('(l to 

 various minor oils, as those from the shark, eulachon, nuinatee, 

 dugong, alligator, terrapin, etc., but the use of these is not general. 



The marine-animal oils are divisible into four principal groups, viz: 

 (1) blubber oils; (2) head oils; (."3) liver oils, and (4) body oils. The 

 ])lubber oils are obtained from the layer of fat between the skiii and 

 the flesh or muscular tissues of whales, seals, walrus, sea-lion, por- 

 poise, black-fish, etc. Head oils are secured from cavities in the skull 

 and from other head parts of sperm whales, black-fish, porpoise, 

 sword-fish, halibut, etc. Some of these are of superior quality, as 

 those of the black-fish and x>orpoise, for instance, which sell for 15 to 

 ■SIO per gallon. The head oil of the sperm whale yields the valuable 

 spermaceti. Those of the third group are obtained principally from 

 the livers of cod and to a less extent from haddock, hake, pollock, 

 cusk, ling, sharks, and skates. The bodies, heads, and viscei-a of 

 these fish are so slightly oleaginous that they are rarely utilized eco- 

 nomiealh^ for oil purposes. The body oils, or fish oils,^' as they are now 

 generally known commerciallj", are obtained principally from species 

 of the herring familj^ — the menhaden in America, the herring, sar- 

 dine, and pilcliard in Europe, and the iwashi in Japan. In case these 

 fish are used for food in large quantities, the viscera are generally 

 devoted to oil-rendering. Most of the other species of food-fish con- 

 tain so little oil that it is profitabl(> to use only the intestines or other 

 refuse dressings for this puri)ose. And in some the jaeld of oil is so 

 small that not even the waste parts can be profitably utilized in this 

 manner. In addition to the foregoing, there are a number of oils 

 produced in A^arious localities which enter largel}^ into the domestic 

 economy of those procuring them and j^et are of little commercial 

 importance, as alligator oil, turtle oil, terrapin oil, etc. 



The total annual product of crude oil from marine animals through- 

 out the world is estimated at 18,300,000 gallons, of which 5, 500,000 

 represents the product from the blubber and fat of whales, seals, and 

 the like; 5,300,000 gallons is from the livers of cod, shark, etc., and 

 7,500,000 gallons from menhaden, herring, sardine, and otlier species, 

 including waste in dressing fish. 



Even a brief survey of the fish- oil industries reveals the fact that 

 they are not by any means so extensive as the natural resources per- 

 mit. True, the right-whale fishery is prosecuted apjjarently to an 



« The term " flsli oil " is used by chemists and other technologists as comprising oils from all 

 aquatic animals. Previous to 1800 it trenerally referred to whale oils. At the present time its 

 commercial iise is generally confined to oils obtained from fish alone. In a restricted sense it 

 refers especially to oil obtained from the principal species of the herring family in the locality 

 in which the term is applied. Thus " fish oil " on the Atlantic coast of the United States indi- 

 cates in a restricted commercial sense the oil of the menhaden; in Norway, the herring: in 

 France, the sardine; in Japan, the iwashi, etc. 



