April 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



FLOWERS AND PLANTS. 393 



have also a musky fragrance,* but I have never met with any which 

 bore out this assertion. 



Civet is the glandular secretion of the Viverra civetta, an animal of 

 the feline tribe, about three feet in length and one foot in height, which 

 is found in Africa and India. It is now chiefly imported from the 

 Indian Archipelago, but formerly Dutch merchants kept some of those 

 cats at Amsterdam in long wooden cages, and had the perfume scraped 

 from them two or three times a week with a wooden spatula. Civet in 

 the natural state has a most disgusting appearance, and its smell appears 

 equally repulsive to the uninitiated, who would be tempted to cry out 

 with Cowper — 



" I cannot talk with civet in the room, 

 A fine puss gentleman that's all perfume ; 

 The sight's enough, no need to smell a beau 

 Who thrusts his nose into a raree show." 



Yet when properly diluted and combined with other scents it produces 

 a very pleasing effect, and possesses a much more floral fragrance than 



Civet Cat ( Viverra civetta). 



musk ; indeed, it would be impossible to imitate some flowers without 

 it. Its price varies from 20s. to 30s. per ounce, according to quality. 



Ambergris puzzled the savans, who were at a loss to account for its 

 origin, and thought it at first to be of the same nature as yellow amber, 

 whence it derived its name of grey amber (ambre gris). It is now ascer- 

 tained beyond a doubt to be generated by the large -headed or sperma- 

 ceti whale (Physeter macrocephalus), and is the result of a diseased state 

 of the animal, which either throws up the morbific substance, or dies 

 through it and is eaten up by other fishes. In either case, the ambergris 

 becomes loose, and is picked up floating on the sea, or is washed ashore. 

 It is found principally on the coasts of Greenland, Brazil, India, China, 

 Japan, &c, and sometimes on the west coast of Ireland. The largest 

 piece on record was one weighing 182 lbs., which the Dutch East India 



* ' Osphresiologie,' p. 76. 



