198 The Commercial Products of the Sea. 



CHAPTER V. 



OILS FROM MARINE MAMMALS. 



The seal fishery — Seal oil — Yield of oil from blubber — Seal-skins — The fur 

 seal — The walrus — The whale fishery — Imports of train oil or blubber, 

 spermaceti, and whalebone — Porpoise oil — Dugong oil. 



Oils from the Mam^nals. — One of the articles contributed 

 by marine animals to the wants of industry is oil, which is 

 largely obtained both from mammals and fishes. The 

 aggregate value of the trade in these in the United King- 

 dom alone exceeds ;^ 1,000,000 sterling a year. Some of 

 these oleaginous substances are employed as food by man, 

 some in manufactures, and others in medicine. 



Oil for commercial purposes is obtained in greater or 

 less quantities from numerous inhabitants of the seas — 

 from the marine mammals, the right and spermaceti 

 whale, the seal, sea-elephant, dugong, porpoise, etc. ; from 

 the shark, sunfish, cod, herring, and numerous small fish, 

 which are especially sought for the oil they yield. 



The great trade in animal oils and fatty substances 

 indicates the care with which oily matters, rich in carbon 

 and hydrogen, are sought in all countries, supplying as they 

 do a great number of wants in countries the most civilized, as 

 well as among people still in their primitive state. We 

 know that fish oils are beneficial in consumptive cases, as 



