THE WHALING INDUSTRY 701 



The hot-wire test was advocated by Morrison and later by Carter (1935). 

 Heat a wire or needle for 10 to 20 seconds, insert for Ya inch, whereupon, if genu- 

 ine ambergris, a dark resinous liquid forms on the wire and appears to boil. 

 Withdraw the wire and, before cool, touch with finger; tacky pitchlike "strings" 

 will adhere to the skin. When cold the ring of melted ambergris shines like dark 

 enamel. Fire the ambergris over Hame, and extinguish, noting a fatty or resinous 

 odor to the smoke, often with slight odor of burning rubber. 



Ivory. Ivory derives from the teeth of the sperm whale and, less commonly, 

 from other smaller toothed species, such as the killer whale, narwhal, and white 

 porpoise. It is used for carving of all sorts: chessmen, miniatures, combs, scrim- 

 shaws, etc. The spirally twisted tusk of the narwhal is a prized ivory trophy. 



Scrimshawing was once one of the notable endemic traits of the sperm- 

 whaling industry. The old-time whalers passed much of their leisure time on 2-, 3-, 

 and 4-year cruises by carving and incising sperm whale teeth and slabs from the 

 hard bone of the lower jaw. These objets d'art have since become prized bits of 

 primitive Americana. They represented the details of this arduous, but romantic 

 and soul-filling life. 



Glands. A recent primary product of the whaling industry is frozen glands. 

 Pituitary (hypophysis) for pituitrin and other hormones, thyroid for thyroxin, 

 pancreas for insulin, adrenals for adrenalin and cortin, ovaries for ovarian (follicle) 

 and luteinizing hormones, and testes for testosterone have been experimentally 

 or commercially utilized, but the thymus and parathyroid remain unutilized. The 

 thymus is present and obtainable, but is too little known physiologically in any 

 animal to warrant collection from the whale. The parathyroid is exceedingly diffi- 

 cult to find. The large size and generalized mammalian structure and function of 

 the glands allow for handling and processing by the packing and pharmaceutical 

 houses, as are the comparable glands from cattle, sheep, and hogs. 



Baleen (Whalebone). Baleen is the proper name for "whalebone," although it 

 is also known as "fins," "bone," etc. It is the horny hard substance which hangs 

 in long plates or slabs, shaped like knife blades, from the roof of the mouth on 

 each side where teeth should be. Each plate is pointed and fringed on the inner 

 side because of the frayed condition of the constituent fibers. The plates are 

 placed one in front of the other like cards in a deck, and the fringed edges make 

 a mat or sieve which strains out the small shrimp and copepods from the water 

 and concentrates them for swallowing. The substance of whalebone is like that 

 of the fingernail; it is keratinous, and consequently stiff, elastic, waterproof, and 

 divisible by splitting into plaits or fibers as fine as desired. It was once very 

 popular for dress stays, stiffeners of taffeta silk, and collars, buggy whips, and 

 umbrella stays. The advent of steel "feather bone" came just in time to save the 

 bowhead and right whale from almost complete extinction. These two species 

 yielded the longest and finest bone, from 5 to 12 feet long. The fantastic high 

 prices of $5.00 to even $7.00 a pound enabled a whaler to pay for a trip with 

 1 or 2 whales yielding 1500 pounds or more of "bone." Today it is discarded by 

 the ton from all operations, nor has any substitute use been found, aside from 

 trinkets, such as cigarette cases and baskets. 



Hides. Whales, dolphins, and porpoises as a rule have a skin unsuited for leather 

 because of the lack of compactness of the fibers; but the skins of the white whale, 

 narwhal, and perhaps the common porpoise and bottlenose dolphin have been 



