246 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



makers purchasing- tlie crude liead jiuitter only. IJut i^radually the 

 two industries were combined to their mutual advantage. When tlie 

 sperm-whale fishery developed to its full cai)acity, the production of 

 spermaceti was veiy large, averaging more tlian 3,000,000 jjounds 

 annually from 1835 to 1845. With the decrease in extent of the fish- 

 ery, tliere was a corresponding decrease in the yield of spermaceti, 

 reaching its lowest product in 1890, wlien less than 200,000 pounds 

 wei<' ])repared. 



Si)erma('eti is among the very best materials for candle-making, the 

 liroducllKMUg beautifully semitransparent and naci-eous, ])ui'ningwith 

 great regularity and with Avhite light of high illuminating power; 

 j^et owing to the cheapness of other matei-ials, esi>ecially parafTin, 

 onl}^ a small percentage of the candles used at present are made of 

 this material. To reduce the tendency of spermaceti to crystallize in 

 molding and consequently lower its friability, it is customary to add 

 a little pai-affin wax, tallow, stoarin, beeswax, or cerasin. The clear 

 natural color of the refined spermaceti is usually preferred in candles, 

 but sometimes coloring material is introduced, in so small a quantity, 

 however, as not to destroy the transparency of the spermaceti. A 

 yellow tint is imparted by adding gamboge, a red by carmine, and a 

 blue b}^ Prussian blue. Owing to the cheapness and excellence of 

 paraffin candles, the consumption of spermaceti in candle-making 

 has been greatly reduced. The quantity thus used at the present 

 time bears no relation to the extensive use of petroleum wax for that 

 purpose, the consumption of which in Great Britain alone amounts to 

 upward of 50,000 tons annually. 



Sperm candles are at present the standard used by the principal 

 gas-examiners for photometric measurements. The rules for the 

 l)reparation of standard sperm candles for photometric pui-poses, 

 published by the Metroi3olitan Gas Referees, of London, i)rescribe 

 that, for the purpose of rendering the spermaceti less brittle, best air- 

 bleached beeswax, melting at about 144° F., shall be used exclusively, 

 and that the proportion of beeswax to spermaceti shall not l)e less than 

 3 per cent nor more than 4^ per cent; the spermaceti itself to be so 

 refined as to have a melting-point lying between 112° and 115° V." 



The production of spernuiceti in 1901 in the United States was 

 about 400,000 pounds, worth $100,000. Of this amount probably 70 

 per cent was exported to Germany, England, and other foreign coun- 

 tries. Its principal foreign use is in the making of candles, large 

 quantities being made in England and Germany for ecclesiastical use, 

 esiiecially in southern Europe. Minor uses are as an ointment for 

 medicinal purposes, in hiundries for producing a polish on linen, and 

 for self-lu])ricating cartridges. Of the domestic consumption, prob- 

 ably 5,000 pounds are used in candle-making and the rest for medici- 

 nal and industi'ial purposes. 



" Journal Society Chemical Industry, 1894, p. 65. 



