VIVERRA CIVETTA. 



or the Indies, which is generally less genuine. That which is 

 imported from Guinea would be the best of any, were it not 

 that the negroes, as well as the Indians and the people of the 

 Levant, adulterate it with mixtures of laudanum, styrax, and 

 other balsamic and odorous drugs. 



The generality of naturalists have been of opinion that 

 there is only one species of animals that furnish the perfume 

 known by the name of civet. Two animals that furnish it, 

 however, are easily distinguishable ; namely, the VIVERRA CI- 

 VETTA, or civet cat of Africa, and the VIVERRA ZIBETHA, which 

 inhabits the East Indies. The latter animal differs from the 

 civet in having a body longer and less thick, a snout flatter, 

 more slender, and somewhat concave at the upper part ; its 

 hair is much shorter and softer, it has no mane, and no black 

 under the eyes or upon the cheeks. 



CHEMICAL AND MEDICAL PROPERTIES AND USES. 



CIVET is an odorous substance, and a very strong per- 

 fume. It is secreted in the opening between the anus and 

 external genitals, and though the odor is so strong, it is yet 

 agreeable even when it issues from the body of the animal. 

 This perfume must not be confounded with that of musk, 

 which is a sanguineous humor obtained from an animal 

 altogether different from the civet. 



CIVET ZIBETHUM is a semi-liquid, unctuous, yellowish, be- 

 coming brown and thicker by exposure to the air, of a very 

 strong, peculiar odor, similar to that of musk, though less 

 agreeable and less diffusible, and of a bitterish, sub-acrid, dis- 

 agreeable, fatty taste. When heated it becomes quite fluid ; 

 and at a higher temperature takes fire and burns with a clear 

 flame, leaving little residue. It is insoluble in water, and 

 only slightly soluble in ether and cold alcohol; but heated 

 alcohol dissolves it almost entirely, depositing it again upon 

 cooling. It contains, among other ingredients, a volatile 

 oil, fat, and free ammonia. In medicine it was formerly em- 

 ployed as a stimulant and antispasmodic, like castor and 

 musk, and its virtues were considered both numerous and 

 various ; but it is now almost entirely laid aside, even as a 

 perfume, so that the words of the dramatist, " Give me an 

 ounce of civet, good apothecary, to sweeten my imagina- 

 tion," maybe frequently repeated, even in our largest cities, 

 with slight probability of obtaining the article. 



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