274 EASTERTIDE, SHAMROCKS, SPERMACETI 



which by misadventure landed themselves on the coast of 

 France, Spain, or Great Britain, and was eagerly pur- 

 chased by the apothecaries and perfumers of the great 

 cities of Europe. There are several records of such 

 strange mistakes on the part of the great sperm whale. 

 Only ten or fifteen years ago one was stranded on the 

 Lincolnshire coast, whilst the specimen exhibited in the 

 Natural History Museum was washed ashore at Thurso 

 in Caithness. The spermaceti is found dissolved in the 

 more ordinary oil (or fat), which occupies a huge region 

 above the bones of the upper jaw and gives the sperm 

 whale its barrel-shaped head. It separates on cooling, 

 from the liquid oil, in crystalline flakes, forming great 

 masses, which are purified by re-melting and cooling. In 

 early times the fine waxy, flaky material thus obtained 

 was known in samples of a few ounces, and sold by 

 apothecaries. It was known that it came from a whale, 

 and was believed to be the seed or sperm of that animal, 

 hence its name " spermaceti." M. Pomel, whom I cited 

 above, believed it to come from the brain of the whale called 

 " cachalot." No one would have dreamt in the sixteenth 

 century of mixing this precious stuff with beeswax for 

 modelling purposes. At that date one would as soon 

 have mixed amber with pitch. That reminds me that 

 "grey "amber" or "ambergris" is also a product of the 

 sperm whale not to be confounded with spermaceti. It 

 is an unhealthy intestinal concretion like bezoar stones (see 

 p. 94), only exceptionally produced. It is found floating in 

 the ocean, and is recognised as coming from the cachalot 

 owing to its being largely made up of the horny beaks of 

 cuttle-fish, upon which the cachalot feeds. It is still 

 used in perfumery, and fetches the extraordinary price 

 of four guineas the ounce. A piece weighing 4^ oz. may 

 be seen in Cromwell Road. 



Though the oils (or fats) of plants and animals are 



