FISH OILS, FATS, AND WAXES. 



GENERAL REVIEW. 



Previous to 1600 there was comparatively little demand for oil of 

 any kind. Tallow dips, pine knots, and the like afforded the princi- 

 pal means of illumination. The quantity of machinery in use was 

 small and lubricants were in little demand. The leather industries 

 were undeveloped and the greases required in currying were obtained 

 principally from the fat of the auimar furnishing the skin, supi)le- 

 mented later by certain vegetable oils. 



The value of whale oils for purposes of illumination was not unknown 

 previous to the seventeentli century, but the fishermen were unequal 

 to the task of capturing the cetaceans, in large numbers. A few that 

 drifted ashore were secured, the use of the oil for illuminating i^ur- 

 poses developed; and, as the experience and daring of the fishermen 

 increased, their wanderings extended not only offshore, but to distant 

 seas. After the invention of the Argand burner in 1784, whale oil 

 became the principal illuminating agent, and at the beginning of the 

 nineteenth century it was in general use. Not only were residences 

 lighted with it, but also streets and municipal buildings. .\ large 

 quantity of sperm oil was used in residences of the wealthy and also 

 in lighthouses, that being the j)rincipal illuminant in the coastal lights 

 of the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, and other 

 advanced countries up to 183:2. The currying trade had in the mean- 

 time increased in importance, and grease for softening was secured 

 in the form of oil from seal, walrus, sea-elephant, cod livers, etc. 

 The increasing use of macjhinery resulted in an enhanced demand for 

 a lubricant, which was generally furnished in the form of sperm oil. 

 This resulted in very high prices; sperm oil, for instance, ranged 

 from II to 12 per gallon, although the fishery increased until it was 

 one of the most important organized industries of the world. Other 

 fish oils became iinportant commercial products, including oils from 

 the livers of cod, haddock, sharks, etc., from herring, menhaden, 

 sardine, pilchard, and other species of the Clupeidm family, and a 

 miscellaneous variety of minor importance. 



The continued upward tendency in prices, as a result of an increased 

 demand, led to endeavors to find substitutes. Lard oil was success- 

 fully introduced as a summer lubricant in the j)lace of sperm oil for 

 ordinary uses. Colza or rape-seed oil likewise entered into competi- 

 tion with it as an illuminant, and the process of refining was improved 

 until it became a fairly satisfactory substitute at about half the price. 

 In 1832 France adopted colza in place of sperm oil as a light-house 

 illuminant, and in 1845 it was adopted in the light-houses and light- 



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