The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1905-08-11
MILK FROM WHALES.
4 NEW FoUNDLAND SCIENTIST
HAS AMPHIBIAN DAIRY.
Psrfects Device for Milking H1s
Queer Cattle-Yield Five to
Seven Hogsheads
Day.


ton OF natural resources is forecast In
the brief announcement just received
from the Balena whale fisheries OF
Port-au- Basques, ~ F., TO the effect
that Prof. Muller has succeeded in do
mesticating herd of so sulphur bottom
COW whales and has perfected an ap-
paratus for milking the mammoth
cetaceans.
The yield of milk from a full-grown
whale is from five to seven hogsheads
day. The milk is fresh and sweet and
peculiarly rich in nutritive and medici-
nal qualities. Ii is much thicker and
rlcher than the best Jersey milk and
possesses peculiarly pleasant and dis
tinctive flavor which those who have
tasted II pronounce superior to any
known product of the tactical variety
Chemical analysis has shown that the
milk of the sulphur-b bottom whale is
rich In those same fats and proteids
which give to cod-liver oil its value as
remedial food.
Prof. Muller's experiments with
whales, which have been carried on in
comparative secrecy for several
years. have resulted in many remark
able discoveries in the line of utilizing
the different parts of the huge car
casses which have hitherto gone to
waste.
lie has devised process for curing
and preserving the tons of meat which
has always been considered worse than
valueless. This meat, which compares
favorably in texture and flavor with
the average beef, will soon be put upon
the market. The company has assur-
ances that it will find ready sale in the
West Indian islands and other tropical
countries which now depend for their
meat supply on the South American
jerked beef
Prof. Muller has invented and pat
ented a process for making leather
from the intestines. pleural sacks. heart
coverings and other internal men,
branes OF the whale, which when tanned
and finished, is of greater durability and
finer texture than any known leather.
Besides Its superior quality, the whale
leather furnishes single pieces Of much
greater dimensions than 1t Is possible
to procure from any other animal It
is possible. according to the inventor.
TO obtain from the intestines OF a full
grown sulphur-bottom a strip of leath-
er nearly 300 feet in length and three
and one-half feet in breadth From the
pleural lining piece OF leather 25 feet
in diameter can be obtained
Processes for grinding the mammoth
skeletons into bone meal for fertilizer
and of converting the gristle and car
| tilage into glue and like products are
among the minor inventions Of the ex-
pert, who has secluded himself for the
| past five years at the little fishing viii
lage and turned his attention to the
study of whales.
But by far the greatest triumph yet
attained by the erudite professor lies
in the demonstration OF the cow whales.
Like all scientific men, Prof. Muller
would rather conserve than DESTROY.
The whales are still abundant In New
| foundland waters. but under the old sys-
tenn OF killing them for their oil and
casting the carcasses adrift. it was a
question OF only few years at most
when they would become so rare as to
make their pursuit Improbable. It will
now be for the financial interest OF
whalers to capture the young whales
and keep them alive. because of the
promise Of richer reward from the dairy
products than can be realized in their
| destruction
The problem of teaching them 10 per-
NIT the operatives to milk them was
more difficult one. An apparatus was
devised to do the work, but when an
effort was made to try it there was
trouble at once. Ii was necessary to
drive the whales up on the flats at low
water to do the milking and it has been
this part of the work which has abb
sorbed the attention of the professor for
more than a year.
Patience in the face of all discourage
ments with a determination to succeed
finally conquered. The first captives
learned gradually to go of their own ac-
cord to the milking ground. The herd
has been increased a few whales at
time until ii now numbers 80 and it
requires the services of a staff of 90
men to carry on the daily milking.
Just what the plans of the company
are is not generally known and none
of the officials will say. 1t was learned
on good authority, however. that as soon
as the dairy experiments in the way
of butter and cheese making are COM
plete and the canning plant is ready
the herd will be driven down to an in
let on the Maine coast. which has been
fitted for a pasture. There the dairy
will be established permanently.
Experiments have been made recent
ly in permitting several of the tanner
cows to go outside the inlet These ex-
periments have been peculiarly crafty
ing In every instance the COW has re-
turned. indicating clearly her prefer
ence for domestic life, and on two sep
arate occasions cows of the herd have
brought back with them strange CON-
panons. The strangers are now thor
oughly domesticated and have become
valuable members of the herd.
II. as is now believed. the whale milk
is Of rare medicinal value and proves to
be a palatable substitute for the
nauseous cod-liver oil. Ii is easy to see