1-158-325 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

The Whale, c1850. Around the main illustration of harpooning a whale and the whalers being tossed from their boat are vignettes of the uses to which the whale was put after the carcass had been cut up. Spermeciti candles and whale oil were prized for lighting. Whalebone, from the plates from the upper jaw of whalebone whales, was used for corsets and for umbrella frames. Whale meat was eaten. Ambergris was used in perfumes. Parts which were otherwise of no use were applied as fertilizer. From Graphic Illustrations of Animals and Their Utility to Man. (London, c1850).