THE PROPERTIES AND UTILIZATION OF 

 SOME MARINE ANIMAL OILS 1 



By Dr. George F. White, Clark College, Worcester, Mass. 



(From the Laboratories of the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, 



Woods Hole, Mass., and Clark University 



Worcester, Mass.) 



The term "fat" may be considered, for technical pur- 

 poses, to include all those substances which are glycerides 

 of fatty acids, exclusive of the lipoids, which may be 

 nitrogenous and phosphorized glycerides such as lecithin. 

 Fats are divided for convenience into solid and liquid 

 fats, the latter being classified ordinarily as oils. It 

 should be noted, however, that oils may become solid fats 

 by lowering the temperature and solidifying the con- 

 tained glycerides, so that the distinction is purely arbi- 

 trary. Oils, in turn, are either vegetable or animal, and 

 to this class belong the marine animal oils. 



Fish, liver and blubber oils constitute the class of ma- 

 rine animal oils and show fairly distinct differences in 

 composition and behavior. Sperm oil is not included in 

 these as it contains a large amount of spermaceti, which 

 is a wax and not a fat, waxes being esters of other alco- 

 hols than glycerol. Some important and characteristic 

 differences between a vegetable oil (linseed) and marine 

 animal oils of various kinds, and of sperm oil and sperm- 

 aceti, may be best shown by the following table, compiled 

 from the results of experiments at Woods Hole. 



It is not in the scope of this paper to discuss methods 

 of preparing oils. The methods of obtaining menhaden 

 oil are simple in principle, involving a digesting process, 

 pressing by one means or another, steaming out the oil 



'Published by permission of Dr. Hugh M. Smith, U. S. Com- 

 missioner of Fisheries, Washington, D. C. 



*For a fuller account of the industrial side of this topic, see 

 "Aquatic Products in Arts and Industries," C. H. Stevenson, 

 Part XXVIII, Report of the Commissioner, U. S. Commission of 

 Fish and Fisheries, p. 177, 1902. 



