184 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ships of Great Britain. The <lini<'ult>' of (>])t<iiiuiiii' rapo-seed oil in 

 the United Slates and the importance of tlie wiialiiii;- industry to tlio 

 national Avelfare caused tlie use of sperm oil in tliis country for ten 

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

 fessoi- Henry it was found practicable to use lard oil, and in 18G2 that 

 became the ilium inant in the light-houses of the United States. A 

 few years later both colza and lard oils were superseded V»y forms of 

 petroleum. 



Not only did the products of petroleum take the place of aquatic- 

 animal oils as illuminants, l)ut they seriously interfered with them 

 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 purposes formerly served l)y 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 sul)stances and a large decrease in the al)undance of whales 

 have resulted in a great reduction in the extent of the Avhale fishery, 

 the fleet decreasing from 735 vessels in 184G to oS in 1902. Those 

 marine enterprises more or less associated witli 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 

 j)roducts, 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 compared 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, especially those of subpolar regions, marine-animal oils are 

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

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

 now used for lubrication of heavy machinery, there is yet an extensive 

 demand for fish oils for that purpose, experience having shown that by 

 theirjudici()usl)lending 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 oi fish oils in 

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

 in "liaiid-stufling'' and the increasing popularity of chrome tannage, 

 in which only a small (luantity of oil is required, and that usually a 

 superioi' quality of neatsfoot. Thei'O is a wide field of technical uses 

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

 cially for lubricating delicate machiuerj^, in steel-tempering and screw- 

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

 the textile trades where only saponitiable oil can be satisfactorily 

 emjjloyed, etc. 



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

 also used for noui-ishment to a considerable extent, 'i'he Eskimos 

 and other [)rimitive people depend very largel\' on llic blubber of 



