the: cachalot. 



which thefe animals have been found to contain. The 

 various purpofes to which thefe fubftances are applied, 

 both as drugs and articles of luxury, have rendered the 

 cachalot, which fupplies them, a fifli in great requeft, 

 and its capture the moil advantageous objedl in the 

 Greenland trade. 



Spermaceti is the name erroneoufly given to that fub- 

 llance which is found in the head of the cachalot, and 

 which is by no means the femen, but the brain of the 

 animal. Goldfm'ith gives the following account of the 

 method by v»'l)ich it is extradled *. The outward ikin 

 of the liead being taken off, a covering of fat appears, a- 

 bout tnree inches thick ; and under that, inftead of a 

 bony fkuU, the animal has only another thick Ikin, that 

 fences for a covering and defence of the brain. The firft 

 cavity or chamber of the brain, is filled with that fper- 

 maceti which is fuppofed of the greateft purity, and is 

 of the highefl value. From this cavity there is generally 

 drawn about feven barrels of the cleared fpermaceti, 

 that, thrown upon water, coagulates like cheefe. Below 

 this there is another chamber, juft over the gullet, w^hich 

 is about feven feet high ; and this alfo contains the drug, 

 but of lels value. It is diftributed in this cavity, like 

 honey in a hive, in fmall cells, feparated from each other 

 by a rnembrane like the inner lldn of an egg. In pro- 

 portion as the oily fabftance is drawn away from this 

 part, it fills anew from every part of the body ; and 

 from this is generally obtained about nine barrels of oil. 

 Eefides this, the fpinal marrow, which is about as thick 

 as a man's thigh, and reaches all along the back-bone to 



the 



♦ ^?ac, Hill. vol. vi- p. Jig. 



