Egg-oil is semifluid at ordinary temperatures, and of a beautiful deep-yellow colour. It has an agreeable odour, and a very pronounced sweet flavour of yolk of egg. It commences to solidify at 8°-10° (46F-50° F.). It easily becomes rancid, and loses its colour by long keeping. It has been used for application to chapped skin, and on the pustules of small-pox. It is most largely prepared probably in Russia, whence many samples were shown at the Exhibition of 1862. The best qualities are considered far superior to olive-oil for cooking purposes ; the impure and very yellow qualities are chiefly manufactured into the celebrated Kazan soap, used by the luxurious classes as a cosmetic. It is sometimes adulterated by means of a fatty oil coloured with turmeric. The fraud is discovered by the mass remaining solid at 8° (469° F.), and by its giving a soap wanting in consistency.
Herring-oil.—A species of herring (Clupea pontica), which is sold in Russia as " Astrakan herring," is turned to account for its oil in Russia and Japan. It is estimated that on the Volga about 100 million of these fish are sacrificed annually for their oil, no use being made of the flesh. During the 3-4 weeks that the fish are arriving in shoals, some 100,000-250,000 poods (of 36 lb.) of oil are made. The herrings are placed in open casks containing about 1000, and boiling water is poured over them. After several days, putrefactive fermentation sets io, and the oil commences to escape from the cells ; a day's duration of this fermentation suffices to determine the separation of the oil, which floats on the surface of the mass, and is skimmed off. The Japanese extract oil from the herrings caught on the coast of Yesso and the north of Nipon. The principal market for it is Hakodadi, where the value is about 48-56s. a picul (1339 lb.).
Horse-grease or Blares'-grease.—Quantities of this article are shipped from S. American ports. It has about the same consistency as ordinary commercial American lard, and has practically a like value for the purposes of the soap- and candle-maker.
Houlican- or Oolachan-oil.—An oil, which forms an indispensable necessary to the aboriginal inhabitants of British Columbia and Vancouver's Island, is afforded by a little fish (Thaleichthys pacificus [Osmerus sp.]) closely resembling a smelt or sprat. The fish appear on the coast in April and May, and ascend the rivers in millions to spawn. During their run, which lasts about 3 weeks, countless numbers might be caught. By warming over a slow fire, or heating in water, they yield an abundance of oil, which, when properly filtered, is pellucid, of pale-yellow colour, odourless, and possesses a pleasant flavour. The natives consume it in immense quantities, as we do cod-liver-oil, and with great benefit in the consumptive diseases to which they are subject. It is just coming into general commerce, is of great importance in local trade, and might be procured in very large quantities. The fish are said to be so rich in oil as to burn like a candle
when ignited.
Lard (Fs., Axonge, Saindoux, Graisse de Pore ; GER., Schmalz) and Lard-oil.—The fat of the pig, freed from the cellular tissue in which it is contained, is known as "lard." The pieces of adipose tissue are sometimes salted a little to keep them sweet, and are stored in barrels. They are scored and sliced till they do not exceed about 1 in. in diameter, and thrown into caldrons. The common method of " rendering " the lard among very small fat-melters is by means of boiling with water in an open cast-iron vessel exposed to the direct heat of a fire. The use of a steam jacketed pan and injected steam, as described on p. 1447, is universal in the great American centres. Whatever plan be pursued, the oil is liberated from the tissues, and forms a layer on the surface of the mass ; it is drawn off while still warm and liquid, and received in the vessels in which it is to be stored and transported. These vessels are bladders in the case of superior qualities, and little wooden kegs for inferior sorts. The fat immediately surrounding the kidneys yields the best and purest lard. This, and that which is obtained in flaky layers between the flesh and the skin of the animal, is known as " leaf" lard, and is kept separate from the rest, being much more valuable— harder and less fusible. Second-quality lard (which in reality, is the ordinary commercial first quality of wholesale quotations) is used for the production of lard-oil ; the third quality, from trimmings which have become slightly tainted, is employed for making low-grade oil or for soap. The best pure lard should be moderately firm and white ; the degree of firmness entirely depends upon temperature and the molecular condition [unless stirred while cooling, or exposed to very great cold in a refrigerating-room, it is usually " seedy " and sloppy, even at as low a temperature as 10° (50° F.)] ; when melted, as clear and transparent as water ; completely free from taste and smell ; liquefiable at about 100° (212° F.) without ebullition, or affording a particle of deposit ; and containing never more than 2 per cent. of either water or salt (good American lard has no salt, and not above per cent. of water). Its melting-point ranges from 42°•6 (l08°•6 F.) to 44°•6 F.), and averages 43°• 6 (110°44 F.). Its composition, according to Braconnot, is 38 per cent. of stearine and margarine, and 62 per cent. of oleine ; 100 parts of it by saponification yield 9 parts glycerine and 94.65 parts margarie and oleic acids. The solidifying-point of the fatty acids of lard is about 41° (106° F.). Lard dissolves in 36 parts boiling alcohol at ap. gr. Accord ing to Dr. Hager, the sp. gr. of lard is at 15°-16° (58°-60° F.) when fresh, and 0.940-0.942 when old.