Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-25
WHALE MILK AS FOOD
SCIENTIST PFRFECTs DEVICE FOR
MILKING sULPHUR-BoTToM cows
Cetaceans Yield Five to Seven Hogs
heads Day-Product Has Remedial
Value Of Cod Liver Oil.
From the Chicago Chronicle,

Npl the iedSSl Oh the triumph OF nlO0erl
scientific methods In mans utilization of
natural resources Is forecast in the brief
announcement just received from the Ba-
| lena whale fisheries to the effect that Prof
| Muller has succeeded in DEMONSTRATING
herd OF fifty sulphur bottom cow whales
and has perfected an apparatus for milking
the mammoth cetaceans.
The yield Of milk from full grown whale
Is from five to seven hogsheads a day. The
milk Is fresh and sweet and peculiarly rich
| in nutritive and medicinal qualities 1t is
much thicker and richer than the best
Jersey milk and possesses a peculiarly
pleasant and distinctive flavor which those
who have tasted it pronounce superior TO
any known product of the Tactical variety.
Chemical analysis has shown thai the milk
of the sulphur bottom whale is rich in those
same fats and proteidS which give to cod
liver oil its value remedial food.
Prof. Muller's experiments with whales,
which have been carried on in comparative
secrecy for several years, have resulted in
many remarkable discoveries in the line of
utilizing the different parts of the huge car
casses which have hitherto gone to waste.
He has devised a process for curing and
preserving the tons Of meat which has al
ways been considered worse than valueless.
This meat, which compares favorably In
texture and favor with the average beef.
will soon be put upon the market The
ready sale in the West Indian islands and
other tropical countries which now depend
for their meat supply on the South Ameri
can jerked beef.
Prof. Muller has invented and patented
a process for making leather from the in
testnes, pleural sacks. heart coverings and
other internal membranes 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 it
is possible to procure from any other ami
NAL It Is possible, according to the In
ventor to obtain from the intestines of
full-grown sulphur-bOttom q strip of leather
nearly 300 feet in length and three and one
half feet in breadth. From the pleural lin
ing a piece Of leather twenty-five feet in
diameter can be obtained
Inventor Studies Whales.
Processes for grinding the mammoth
skeletons into bone meal for fertilizer and
of converting the gristle and cartilage into
glue and like products are among the minor
inventions of the expert. who has secluded
himself for the past five years at the lit
tie fishing village and turned his attention
to the study of whales.
But by far the greatest triumph yet at
tanned by the erudite professor lies in the
domestication of the COW whales. Like all
scientific men, Professor Muller would
rather conserve than destroy. The whales
are still abundant in Newfoundland waters,
but under the old system of killing them
for their oil and casting the carcasses
adrift, 1T was a question of only a few
years at most when they would become
so rare as to make their pursuit unprofit-
able. It will now be for the financial in
terest 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.
1t Is impossible to give an adequate idea
of the infinite care and patience which it
has required TO tame the whales. The whale
as every schoolboy knows. is a warm-blood-
ed animal of the mammalian group more
nearly related to the seal and walrus than
to the fish. The whale at times displays a
high degree of intelligence and reasoning
from the analogy of the seal. Professor
Muller several years ago, made I'D his mind
that the difficulties in the way of domesti-
eating the largest of all animals were only
those which arose from the unwieldly size
of the subjects.
The professor looked about until he found
a suitable inlet, salt water lake about an
eighth of a mile across, giving on the sea
by a narrow strait about fifty feet across
He arranged a gateway of iron bars by
which the inlet could be completely closed.
Late in the fail about two years ago herd
of whales was sporting in the offing and II
was noticed that there were a number of
young heifers in the herd. By careful work
ten of these heifers were separated from
the main herd and coaxed and driven
through the strait into the lake.
Then began the work of tanning them.
They were watched and studied until their
favorite kind of food was learned. This
was a peculiar kind of kelp or rock weed
which grows In abundance In about twelve
fathoms of water off the coast Large
quantities of this rock weed We're gathered
and stored near the professors headquar-
ters at the upper end of the inlet.
Twice a day this food was put outside
WherA the wlalpkpepprs osoltId =
Within a month they had learned to come
to the feeding place for their meals Within
another month the creatures were quite
tame and name was given to each one.
Gradually the cetaceans learned to respond
to their names, and after six months of
training could be summoned from any part
Of the Enclosure.
Milking Difficult Problem.
The problem of teaching them to permit
the operatives to milk them was more
difficult one. An apparatus was devised to
DO the work. but when effort was made
to try 1t there was trouble at once It
was necessary to drive the whales up on the
fiats at low water to do the milking and
It has been this part of the work which
has absorbed the attention OF the professor
for more than year.
Patience In the face OF all discourage
finally conquered The first captiyes learn
ed gradually to go Of their own accord to
the milking ground. The herd has been In
creased feW whales at q time until 1t
now nunbers dfty. and It requires ~ ssrv-