88 Analysis of Amlergrls. 



.i greater oxidation of the lead. If pulverized, and if a 

 solution of muriate of tin be poured over it, in a close ves- 

 sel, it loses its yellow colour and becomes white. 



[To be continued.] 



X. Analysis of Ambergris. By Bouillon-Lagrange*. 



At is is now almost generally admitted that ambergris is 

 found in the stomach of the cachelot, called by naturalists 

 Physeter macrocephalus, and that it seems to be the product 

 of its digestion. 



Dr. Swediaur has proved in his Researches on the Nature 

 and Origin of Ambergris, that the beaks of the sepia, with 

 which large pieces of ambergris, both those found on the 

 coasts or at the surface of the sea, and those t;iken from the 

 bellies of these whales, are mixed, belong to that species to 

 vi'hich Linnasus has given the name of Sepia ociopoda. The 

 existence of these beaks and of other foreign bodies in am- 

 bergris is a convincing proof that it has been once in a state 

 of softness or liquidity. M. Swediaur says, that the kind of 

 whale which contains ambergris in its belly is that species 

 from which spermaceti is extracted, which seems to be the 

 Physeter inacrocephalus of Linnaeus, and which feeds chiefly 

 on the large species of sepia. It is in the intestinal canal 

 of this whale that the ambc-rgris is found : to the animal it 

 is a source of disease: this matter when it issues from the 

 bag which contains it gradually acquires that solidity which 

 it IS observed to possess. 



Ambergris is found in the Indian seas, near the Moluc- 

 cas, the Maldives, and Madagascar, and on the coasts of 

 China and Japan, and from lolo to the Manillas. It is 

 often picked upon the coasts of Maragnon, orofBrasi!, 

 but more commonly on those of Africa towards Cape Blanc , 

 the Gulf of Arguin, the Bay of Portcndia, and in some 

 other islands which extend iVom that of Mosambique to 

 the Red Sea. 



According to the accounts of several travellers the inha- 

 bitants of the isles of Sanballat search for it in a verv sin- 

 gular manner. After storms they proceed along the shore, 

 snd if there be ambergris on it they perceive it by the smell. 

 There are certain birds and other animals on these shores 

 which are fond of ambergris ; and as they discover it at a 



* From the Annales dv Cbimir, No, 13c/. 



- ■ distance 



