252 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Porfuiners exercise much care in the selection of the ambergris 

 whicli they use. The wholesale dealer grades his stock of the material 

 according to its odor, appearance, etc. But this is by no means suffi- 

 cient for the trained olfactory sense of the perfume-manufacturer. 

 Before determining the use of a special lot he tests it by his own 

 standards, and these tests may extend over a month, especially for 

 durability of perfume. Some manufacturers prize most highly those 

 lots and grades which another manufacturer would not accept. The 

 selection of just the proper quality to produce the desired bouquet 

 forms one of the niceties of the perfumer's art. 



The value of ambergris depends largely on its scarcity at the time 

 and its freedom from impurities. During the last thirty years it has 

 varied in price from 15 to $40 per ounce. At the present time it is 

 quoted at $8 to $30 per ounce. In 1880 crude ambergris l)rought home 

 by the whalers was sold at 110 an ounce and the dried article at $20 

 an ounce. In 187G the value, dried, was 125 an ounce. In the London 

 Price Current of Colonial Produce in 1807 ambergris is quoted at 40s. 

 to 45s. per ounce for "gray, fine." Considering the respective pur- 

 chasing powers of money two centuries ago and ati the present time, 

 that price is quite equal to the average value in recent years. 



