THE SEA FISHERIES OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA. 149 



built up, uot only iu this country but abroad. In 187G the value of the 

 sardines and anchovies, prepared in oil and imported from abroad, 

 amounted to $595,901, each year showing a considerable increase. The 

 only advantage that foreign countries have over us in this matter is in 

 the price of oil ; and if the cultivation of the olive in California proves to 

 be a success this will furnish the finer material, although the best quality 

 of purified cotton-seed oil is believed to be equally wholesome and can 

 be furnished at a very low figure. 



2. As oil. — We have already referred to the use of the oil of the 

 livers of fish as an article of food or medicine, but it is in its indus- 

 trial applications that the oil of fishes merits the principal considera- 

 tion. While there is a great difference in the amount of oil furnished 

 by the livers in different species, almost any will yield it in greater or 

 less abundance on being boiled and pressed, varying in amount with the 

 species. The most of the fish-oil is, however, derived from the body 

 generally. In one fish abounding on the northwest coast of America, 

 known as the candle-fish (Tlialeichthys marinus), closely allied to the 

 smelt and capeliu, which, indeed, it resembles, the dried fish is used for 

 the purpose of illumination, the amount of oil being such that it fur- 

 nishes no mean substitute for a candle, being capable of ignition and 

 burning for a considerable time. As this fish is very abundant, it is not 

 improbable that it will hereafter constitute an important source of oil, 

 parties in British Columbia and Alaska being now engaged in the busi- 

 ness on a small scale. 



It is from the menhaden or pogy of the Atlantic coast of the United 

 States, however, that the greatest quantity of oil is obtained. 



Next to the menhaden or pogy the sea herring is probably the most 

 extensive source of supply in the United States, the fish as caught in 

 weirs in the Bay of Fundy and elsewhere being treated for this pur- 

 pose. It is not improbable that the offal of cod and other fish will 

 after a time be largely utilized in this direction, as it is on the coast of 

 Norway, where very little is wasted. 



A further extensive source of oil for technical purposes is found in 

 the liver of the dog shark (Acanthias), a small species scarcely more 

 than one or two feet in length, but occurring on the American coast in 

 immense numbers. 



As almost any fish will furnish oil when boiled or steamed and sub- 

 jected to great pressure, other species are treated for this object from 

 time to time, according to their abundance or the immediate necessities, 

 but those mentioned above are probably the most important. The 

 capelin, it is true, furnishes an excellent source of supply, but it is found 

 for so short a time on the coast of Newfoundland and the other regions 

 inhabited by it, that it would hardly pay to put up permanent establish- 

 ments for operating on a large scale. 



The limitations of my subject exclude the consideration of oils as ob- 

 tained from whales, porpoises, blackfish, grampuses, &c, the supply of 



