ig8 A BOOK OF WHALES 



concretion, closely resembling cholesterine. But its 

 appearance in the whales is pathological and not 

 natural ; for those individuals in which it was found 

 were dead or in a sickly condition. Ambergris has 

 been used as a medicine, even as an aphrodisiac ; it 

 is now solely used in perfumery. It is mainly used as 

 a vehicle for various perfumes, and is worth from 1 5$. 

 to 255. per ounce. A piece of ambergris has been 

 found worth no less than ,500; it weighed 130 Ibs. 

 A larger piece even than that has been stated to have 

 been in the possession of the Dutch East India Com- 

 pany ; it weighed 982 Ibs.* 



The origin of ambergris was known more or less 

 definitely so long ago as the middle of the sixteenth 

 century. That is to say, it was known to be the 

 product of a whale, though not known to be confined 

 to the Sperm whale. A section of Olaus Magnus' 

 Historia, de Gentibus Septentrionalibus is headed, 

 " De Spermate Ceti, quod Ambra dicitur, et ejus 

 medicinis." He describes it as found floatino- in the 



o 



sea, as being of a blue colour with a whitish tinge, 

 i.e., grey. It is held to be the sperm of the whale, 

 and is set down as an excellent remedy for syncope 

 and epilepsy. But in 1672 the Hon. Robert Boyle 

 transcribed the contents of a manuscript found on 

 board of a Dutch vessel, which asserted that this 

 substance " is not the scum or excrement of the whale, 

 but issues out of the root of a tree, which tree howso- 

 ever it stands on the land, alwaies shoots forth its 

 roots towards the sea, seeking the warmth of it, 



* VAN BENEDEN and GERVAIS, Osteograpliie des Ceiacees, p. 304. 



