PHYSETER MACROCEPHALUS. 



This ointment is employed as a mild dressing for blisters, 

 wounds, and excoriated surfaces. It should be made in small 

 quantities, as it is apt to become rancid when long kept. 



AMBERGRIS. Ambra grisea. This substance, which is found 

 floating on the waters of the sea, or thrown by the waves 

 upon the shores of various countries, particularly in the 

 Southern hemisphere, is now very generally believed to be 

 produced in the intestines of the PHYSETER MACROCEPHALUS, 

 Spermaceti whale or Great-headed Cachalot, and perhaps also 

 in those of some other fish. It appears to be the indurated 

 faeces (perhaps somewhat altered by disease) of the animal. 

 Mr. Beale collected some of the semifluid faeces, and found 

 that the dried mass had all the properties of ambergris. In 

 the United States it is used as a perfume only, in Europe it is 

 employed in medicine. It is in roundish or amorphous pieces, 

 usually small, but masses have been found weighing fifty, a 

 hundred, or even two hundred pounds. These pieces are often 

 composed of concentric layers. They are of various colors, usu- 

 ally gray, with brownish-yellow and white streaks, often dark 

 brown or blackish on the external surface. They are opaque, 

 lighter than water, and of a consistence like that of wax. 



Ambergris has a peculiar aromatic, agreeable odor, is almost 

 tasteless, softens with the warmth of the hand, melts under 

 212, is almost completely volatilizable by heat, and is inflam- 

 mable. It is insoluble in water, but is readily dissolved with 

 the aid of heat, by alcohol, ether, and the volatile and fixed 

 oils. It consists chiefly of a peculiar fatty matter, analogous 

 to cholesterin, and denominated by Pelletier and Caventon 

 ambrein. This may be obtained by treating ambergris with 

 heated alcohol, filtering the solution, and allowing it to stand. 

 Crystals of ambrein are deposited. It differs from most other 

 fatty matters in not forming soaps -with the alkalies. When 

 pure it has little or no odor. 



Ambergris is often adulterated, but does not then exhibit 

 its ordinary fusibility and volatility. It was long regarded 

 as a cordial and antispasmodic, somewhat analogous to musk, 

 and has been recommended in typhoid fevers, and various 

 nervous diseases. It formerly entered into many officinal 

 preparations, and is still retained in some of the European 

 Pharmacopeias. It is, however, feeble as a remedy, and is 

 much more used in perfumery than in medicine. The dose 

 is from five grains to a drachm. 



8 



