Oils from Marine Mammals. 201 



At St. John's, Newfoundland, the head-quarters of the 

 sealing trade, the blubber used to be generally put into 

 wooden cribs, beneath which were wooden pans to catch the 

 oil. No artificial heat was used in this process. The oil 

 which runs for the first two or three months is termed pale 

 seal oil, and forms 50 to 70 per cent, of the whole quantity. 

 As putrefaction takes place, the oil becomes darker and 

 more offensive. The putrescent refuse and the clippings of 

 the pelts, or skins, yield further quantities of oil by boiling 

 (boiled seal oil). This process is now very generally re- 

 placed by steam apparatus. A uniform and much better 

 quality of oil is thus obtained, free from the horrible odour 

 of that prepared by the old method, and the time required 

 for rendering out the oil is only twelve hours, instead of six 

 months. A few drops of nitric ether is said to destroy the 

 disagreeable smell of rancid oil, and to prevent oil be- 

 coming rancid. When the oil is heated to separate the 

 alcohol, it becomes clear and bright, even when it was 

 before turbid. 



In Russia a quantity of seal oil is obtained annually in 

 the White and Caspian Seas. The mode of preparation is 

 very simple. After removing the layer of blubber which 

 adheres to the skin, it is exposed in casks or vats to the heat 

 of the sun, which dissolves out the oil of first quality. The 

 residue is heated in cauldrons with a little water. In one 

 or two factories the preparation of the oil on a large scale 

 is carried on by steam. The seals killed in autumn and 

 winter have the oil rendered out ^forthwith, without the 

 necessity of first salting the skins ; but in the hot seasons 

 this step is necessary, and a great pit is prepared, capable 

 of holding 50,000 skins. 



Repeated and careful experiments in rendering out seal 

 blubber show the relative produce of pure oil obtained from 



