202 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Wliale oil. — The color of whale oil depends on the "age" of the 

 blubber, or the time that elapses between the death of the whale and 

 the trylng-ont of the oil. Usually it is brown, mueh darker than 

 sperm oil, with a slightly disagreeable odor. In a crude state it is 

 used to some extent by screw-cutters, steel-temperers, cordage-manu- 

 facturers, and as an illuminant for miners' lamps, but more than half 

 is refined in a manner similar to the treatment of sperm oil. The first 

 boiling and freezing processes are the same as with sperm oil. Wlien 

 removed from the refrigerator the congealed mass is usually dumped 

 on woolen strainers, 2 feet wide and from 10 to 20 feet in length, 

 stretched across frames. The process of straining is employed to 

 reduce the bulk, since much oil will pass through the woolen cloth 

 and leave a less quantit}^ to be pressed. The thick part remaining on 

 the strainers is placed in bags, as in case of sperm oil, and subjected 

 to great pressure. The first oil from the press congeals at 3()° to 40° 

 F. and is called "winter whale oil." The foots or stearin that remains 

 in the bags, averaging one-tenth of the original bulk, and about the 

 consistency of leaf lard, is usually white and clean. This may be 

 reheated and refrigerated, and upon a second i^ressing yields " spring 

 whale oil" of a higher degree test; but this is not frequently done. 



The oil with the foots removed ma}^ be sold in its natural color or it 

 may be bleached. One-eighth of the whale oil and j)robably half of 

 the sperm oil is bleached by the refiners. In this process it is first 

 placed in the refining tanks and heated. When partially cooled the 

 water and sediment are drawn off from the bottom of the tank, and 

 while the oil is agitated or stirred some soda ash or caustic soda is 

 added. This so acts on the oil as to cut the gum, and the thick part 

 settles to the bottom, leaving the oil clearer and of a lighter color. It 

 is also accomplished by exposing the oil under a glass roof to the sun- 

 light for a few hours, or even days, in large shallow vats or pans from 

 3 to 12 inches deep, each with capacity for several hundred gallons. 



The refuse in the bottom of the tanks is drawn off and boiled down 

 into oil soap, which is worth about 3 cents per pound. The first bleach- 

 ing will give about 2 per cent in hard soap, the second and third each 

 give about the same. If the oil is clear and sweet the first bleaching 

 is sufficient. Much of the oil soap is shipped to California, Florida, 

 and other fruit-growing sections, where it is employed as a wash for 

 trees to protect them from the ravages of insects. It is also used to 

 some extent in fur-dressing. 



In the usual pressings, the oil of the right whale taken in high 

 northern latitudes gives about 8 per cent of foots or stearin; if taken 

 in the vicinity of the equator, or south of it, about 15 per cent of 

 stearin is yielded. Humpback and finback oils jield about 12 per 

 cent of foots; sea-elephant yields 5 or 6 per cent; menhaden from 5 

 to 10 per cent; and seal oil yields only 3 or 4 per cent in the customary 

 pressings. Of course this varies according to the temperature at 

 whicli the oil is pressed. Tallow regulates the price, in a measure, as 



