240 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



eifie gravity tluiii oleic acid or any otlior constituent of ordinary' fats 

 (specific gravity O.SOo to 0.872 at 50° F."), and seems to resemble the 

 iinsaponifiable constituent of sperm oil."'' According to Dr. Schaed- 

 ler, when eulachon oil is mixed Avith sulphuric acid (1 volume of acid 

 to 5 parts of oil) the t(^mperatur(M)f tlie mixture i-isesto 121° F., whereas 

 under similar conditions cod oil rises to 235° F. This acid does not 

 impart to eulachon oil the beautiful purple coloi- that it does to cod 

 oil, but a deep brown, subsequentl}' inclining to reddish yellow. 

 Under saponification the pi-ecipitated fatty acids amount to about 95 

 per cent of the original bulk of the oil. Efforts have been made to 

 introduce eulachon oil in the markets in competition with cod-liver 

 oil for medicinal uses. It is claimed that it has nourishing and stimu- 

 lating properties that^ adapt it to certain cases of malnutrition, and 

 that it is more easy of digestion than cod-liver oil. 



Large quautites of lampreys are used for oil-rendering in southern 

 Russia. Prior to 1870 the lamprey was not an article of commerce 

 there, except a small quantity used locally as candles in much the 

 same manner as the eulachon on the Alaskan coast. It is now taken 

 in large numbers on the Volga and Kur rivers. A small quantity is 

 pickled for food, but the greater portion of them are used in oil-man- 

 ufactui'e. It is reported that between Tsaritsin and Yenotayevsk, on 

 the Volga River, about 50,000,000 lampreys are taken annually, yield- 

 ing about 100,000 gallons of oil.'' When properly prepared this oil is 

 clear and ti-ansparent, but it contains a large (quantity of glue, and 

 conse([uently it is quite viscous. 



OIL FROM FISH HEADS. 



During the last twenty years the market has received considerable 

 oil made from refuse at the salmon canneries on the Pacific coast. 

 This was first prepared, about 1870, at a factory above Astoria, on the 

 Columbia River. The heads alone were utilized. These Avere pur- 

 chased at the canneries at the nominal price of 50 cents to $1 per 1,000, 

 that quantity yielding from 30 to 35 gallons of oil.'^ The heads were 

 cooked by steam and the oil expressed fi-om the mass. I'his product 

 was sold for use on the Pacific coast at jDrices varying from 22 to 35 

 cents per gallon according to the supply and demand. The output 

 of salmon oil was small until 18!)5, when somewhat more than 50,000 

 gallons was received on the market. In 1899, according to Mr. W. A. 

 Wilcox, two small establishments at Astoria for utilizing salmon ref- 

 use prei)ared 10,000 gallons of oil and 140 tons of fertilizer, and one 

 factory at Anacortes, Wash., produced 22,000 gallons of oil and 350 

 tons.of fertilizer. Only a small portion of this refuse on the coast is 

 used. This oil compares favorably with that from menhaden and, 

 being a waste product, can be prepared at a very low price. The vis- 



« The spwiflo gravitv at T)!)'^ F. is given by Dr. Schaedler as 0.907. 



(> Journ. Soc. Arts, 1.S84, p. Wn. 



<• Fishing and Hunting in Russian Waters, p. 27. 



''See Fishery Industries of the United States, Soc. V, vol. I, p. 750. 



