THE CACHALOT. 45 



Spermaceti now made from any whale oil. 



And here it was soon deduced, that the masses 

 of it first found were of the same origin; that 

 they had been formerly an oily matter in this 

 fish, which, getting loose, on the perishing of 

 the dead carcase, or by any other means, had 

 been washed and bleached by the salt water, and 

 the sun, into the form in which it was then 

 found. The opinion of its being the sperm, or 

 semen, of the whale, was about as early as the 

 first discovery that it belonged to that animal, 

 and seems to have been formed merely on ac- 

 count of its whiteness. 



At first the spermaceti of the shops was made 

 from ^lie head of this fish; the oil obtained from, 

 its brain, and the diploe of the cranium, furnish- 

 ing the whole ; and hence the considerable price 

 it was then kept at. It was some time after 

 found out, however, that any whale oil would do 

 as well as this, which occasioned the price to fall 

 Considerably. At present it is made in England 

 from whale oil of any kind, the settling of our 

 oilmen's large vessels, particularly, which are 

 boiled with a quantum of German pot-ash, or 

 pearl-ashes, till white and firm ; and after several 

 other meltings, and a thorough separation of 

 what saline particles might have got into the 

 matter, it is, when cold, cut out with knives into 

 flakes. The process is easy, but it requires care, 

 and nice inspection towards the end: if not 

 enough boiled, it is apt to turn yellow, and soon 

 grow rancid. 



