CETACEANS. 225 



specific gravity, according to Professor Brande, is 940, 

 and its point of fusion about 110. At the temperature 

 of 500 it evaporates and maybe sublimed. It is named 

 cetine by Chevreul ; and that chemist has detected in 

 its composition a peculiar acid, to which he has applied 

 the name of Cetic. 



In the therapeutics of the olden time, Spermaceti was 

 held in high esteem for many medicinal virtues ; we 

 have, indeed, the authority of Shakspeare for the an- 

 cient popular opinion, that 



" the sovereign'st thing on earth 



Was 'parmaceti, for an inward bruise." 



At present its use in pharmacy is limited to the com- 

 position of cerates and ointments, and in medicine is 

 almost obsolete. Its principal commercial value is de- 

 rived from the extent to which it is employed as a sub- 

 stitute for wax, in the manufacture of candles. 



Ambergris is the most rare and costly product of the 

 Sperm Whale, and one peculiar to this species of ceta- 

 cean. For many years after the civilized world became 

 acquainted with this drug, its origin and composition 

 remained involved in great obscurity. It was usually 

 found floating on the seas of warm climates, and was 

 generally considered to be of a resinous or bituminous 

 nature ;* and when subsequently detected in the intes- 

 tines of the Cachalot, a doubt was still entertained of 

 its true character, and whether it had not been swal- 

 lowed by the animal, rather than produced within its 

 body.f Of late years, chemical investigations, and a 



* The gothic name yet retained for this commodity is derived from the 

 French words ambre, the bituminous substance, amber, and gris, gray. 



f Pomet, a French author, who wrote on drugs about the middle of 

 the eighteenth century, gravely asserts that ambergris is identical with 

 VOL.11. Q 



