l60 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 16Q7. 



best sort of amber, but, like it, speckled with whitish grains, and of a most 

 fragrant scent. Many other pieces have been there found. 



What sort of substance spermaceti is, and in what part of the whale it is 

 found, physicians and naturalists are not agreed ; but it is truly nothing else 

 but part of the oil or liquid fat of this particular sort of whale; which oil, at 

 first when confused and niixed, shows like a whitish liquor of the consistence 

 and colour of whey, but laid by in vessels to settle, its parts by degrees sepa- 

 , rate: that which is lighter and swims at top, becomes a clear oil, pellucid like 

 water, answering all the uses of common train oil got out of the blubber of 

 other whales ; that which subsides, because it is heavier and of a closer consist- 

 ence, candies together at the bottom, and is what is sold for spermaceti. Of 

 this substance several hundred pounds weight may be procured out of one 

 whale ; but the cleansing and curing of it is troublesome, and requires no small 

 art, time, and charge : the fat of the whole body affords it, but that of the 

 head yields the greatest quantity, and purest spermaceti. 



Again, the arbutus, sive unedo, or the strawberry tree, is not to be found any 

 where of spontaneous growth nearer than the most southern parts of France, 

 Italy, and Sicily; and there too it is never known but as a frutex or shrub: 

 whereas in the rocky parts of the country of Kerry, about Loughlane, and in the 

 islands of the same lough, where the people of the country call it the cane apple, 

 it flourishes naturally to that degree as to become a large tall tree ; the trunks of 

 these are frequently 44 feet in circumference, or 18 inches in diameter, and 

 the trees grow to about 9 or 10 yards in height ; and in such plenty that they 

 now cut them down as the chief fuel to melt and refine the ore of the silver 

 and lead mine, lately discovered near the castle of Ross, in the county of 

 Kerry. 



Another plant I shall notice is cotyledon, sive sedum serratum latifolium 

 montanum guttato flore Parkinsoni et Raii, commonly called by the gardeners 

 London Pride. Ray rightly conjectures it is a mountainous plant, for it grows 

 plentifully here with us in Ireland on a mountain called the Mangerton, in 

 Kerry, 6 or 7 miles over, and reputed the highest in Ireland, 2 miles from the 

 town of Killarny, and 4 miles from the castle of Ross: here it spreads itself so 

 abundantly as to cover the greater part of the mountain, and I understand is pecu- 

 liar to tliis country. 



Whether both the foregoing plants are truly American I cannot at present 

 determine ; but this I know, that sabina vulgaris, or common savin, is men- 

 tioned by Mr. Josselyn as a plant common on the hills of New England ; and 

 I have been assured by an apothecary of this town, that he has gathered savin 

 growing wild as a native shrub in one of the islands of Loughlane, in the 



