Ambergris

Ambergris (i.e. 'gray amber'), a fatty substance, of an ash-gray colour, with yellow or reddish striae, like those of marble, which is found in lumps of from half an ounce in weight to 100 lb. and upwards, floating on the sea, or cast upon the seashore in different parts of the world, and is also taken by whale-fishers from the bowels of the spermaceti whale (Physeter macrocephalus). Much ambergris is obtained from the coasts of the Bahama Islands; it is also brought from different parts of the East Indies, and the coasts of Africa, Brazil, China, and Japan. It is probable that all of it is produced by the spermaceti whale, and that it is a morbid secretion in the intestinal canal of that animal, derived from the bile. It is highly valued on account of its agreeable smell, and is much used in perfumery. The price is about 120s. an ounce. It has been strongly recommended for medicinal uses, but is scarcely employed in Europe; although in some parts of Asia and Africa it is much used as a medicine, and also in cookery as a condiment. The specific gravity of ambergris ranges from .780 to .920. It almost always contains black spots, which appear to be caused by the presence of beaks of the Sepia octopodia, the principal food of the spermaceti whale. It consists in great part (85 per cent.) of a peculiar brilliant white crystalline substance called Ambrein, believed to be identical with Cholesterin (q.v.).