2 1 6 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



membranes by which the fish fat is surrounded, and facili- 

 tates its flow. The quantity of this oil made amounts 

 to more than 100,000 pouds of 36 lbs. The oil used to 

 be extracted not only from different parts of fish, but 

 large quantities of small fish were also rendered down for 

 their oil, especially the herrings of Astrakhan and many 

 small species of Cypriitoides. The Government have of 

 late years, however, put a stop to this practice of using 

 small fry for the purpose, although the extraction of 

 herring oil is permitted, because such enormous shoals of 

 these can be obtained that it is impossible to salt them 

 rapidly enough when they are fresh, hence the policy of 

 turning them into oil. 



Not only are the livers of the codfish now used to 

 extract oil from, but those of a number of other fish are 

 sought for the purpose. Thus, the livers of the ray, the 

 shark, and other Squalus are used in Iceland and Norway 

 to extract an oil used for lighting and employed by 

 curriers. In British Guiana an oil is obtained from the 

 liver of the saw-fish {Pristis pectinatus), which is used for 

 lighting, and by the immigrants from India for anointing 

 their bodies. A liver will yield from 1 5 to 20 gallons of oil. 

 In Cambodia a fish called tussoc yields an oil remarkable 

 for the proportion of stearine it contains. 



The quantity of fish oil obtained in India has much 

 declined of late years. From Bombay, Sind, and Madras, 

 in 1865, more than 3,750,000 lbs. were shipped. In Madras 

 a good deal is still made. The Indian fish oils are mainly 

 of two descriptions — medicinal and common. 



The natives prepare fish oils from the livers of sharks, 

 skates, saw-fishes, rays, cat-fishes, oil sardines, and other 

 kinds. The cat-fish livers have the most oil about Janu- 

 ary, just before they are breeding. When the livers of 



