WHALEBONE, the inaccurate name under which the ba leen plates of the right whale are popularly known; the trade-name of whale-fin, which the substance receives in commerce, is equally misleading. Whalebone is formed in the palate on the roof of the mouth and is an exaggeration of the ridges, often horny in character, which are found on the roof of the mouth of all mam mals. Three kinds are recognized by traders-the Greenland, yielded by the Greenland whale, Balaena mysticetus; the South Sea, the produce of the Antarctic black whale, B. australis; and the Pacific or American, which is obtained from B. japonica. Of these the Greenland whalebone is the most valuable. It formed the only staple known in earlier times, when the northern whale fishery was a great and productive industry. This whalebone usually comes into the market trimmed and clean, with the hairy fringe which edges the plates removed. To prepare whalebone for its economic applications, the blades or plates are boiled for about 12 hours, till the substance is quite soft, in which state it is cut either into narrow strips or into small bristle-like filaments, according to the use to which it is to be devoted.
Whalebone is light, flexible, tough and fibrous, and its fibres run parallel to each other without intertwisting. One of its earliest uses, referred to by William le Breton in the 13th century, was to form the plumes on helmets. Steel is now used for several pur poses to which whalebone was formerly applied, especially in the umbrella and corset industries. Whalebone is, however, still in demand among dressmakers and milliners and for brushes for mechanical purposes, a use patented by Samuel Crackles in 18o8.
When whalebone came into the English market in the 17th century it cost at first about £700 per ton. In the i8th century its price ranged from £350 to Lsoo per ton, but early in the 19th century it fell as low as £25. Later it varied from i2oo to £2.50; but with the decrease in whaling the article has become very scarce, and upwards of £2,000 per ton has been paid for Green land whalebone.