44 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



First discovery of the spermaceti. 



that the spermaceti is taken, which cavities are 

 from twenty to thirty in number, and covered 

 with the common integuments or skin? The per- 

 fume called ambergris, is formed within its intes- 

 tines, and when the animal is sick, this is ejected 

 thence in large quantity. 



The spermaceti is a fine, bright, white, and 

 semi-pellucid matter, composed of a fine sur- 

 faracious substance, formed into oblong flakes, 

 very light, soft, and unctuous to the touch, in- 

 flammable, soluble in oil, but not in watery men- 

 strua; of scarce any smell when fresh and fine, 

 and of a soft, agreeable, and unctuous taste. 

 The largest, firmest, and whitest flakes of it are 

 to be chosen. It is liable to become rancid and 

 yellowish in keeping; and the smaller fragments 

 contract this bad quality sooner than the larger. 



It seems the first knowledge mankind had of 

 spermaceti, was the finding it swimming on the 

 surface of the water in the northern seas: and 

 we are not to wonder that people who knew no 

 more of its origin than what they were informed 

 of by those who found it so floating on the sea, 

 referred it to the mineral class, supposing it to 

 be bitumen formed in the bowels of the earth, 

 and thrown up from the bottom of the ocean, as 

 was the opinion of Schroder, and others of his 

 time. It was soon after discovered, however, 

 that the head of a peculiar species of whale af- 

 forded a fatty substance, which, when boiled, 

 and properly prepared, was analogous to this. 



