36 PHYSETER MACROCEPHALUS. 



inches in diameter, and placed just about the end of the snout. 

 Both the pectoral fins and tail are comparatively small, and the 

 lobes of the latter are long and pointed, and have a waving margin. 

 The genital organs are enveloped in a sheath, and the penis of the 

 male is sometimes eight feet in length. 



The great Spermaceti Whale swims swiftly, and pursues with 

 great eagerness the Squalus Carcharias, or white shark. It also 

 feeds on the lump-fish, dog-fish, the Sepia octopodiu, and other 

 marine productions. It is found most commonly in the Green- 

 land seas, and about Davis's Straits, in North America ; but has 

 occasionally been seen in the German Ocean, and the British 

 Channel. A considerable number of them were cast on shore 

 on the coast of Lower Brittany, in France, in the year 1784. 

 This species yields a considerable quantity of spermaceti, for 

 which chiefly it is taken, though its flesh, skin, tongue, and intes- 

 tines are eaten by the Greenlanders. The flesh is of a pale red, 

 like that of pork, and the tongue is esteemed a great delicacy when 

 roasted, The blubber is about five or six inches thick on the 

 back ; but the animal is not very productive of oil. 



The spermaceti, or cetine, as it is called by Chevreul, is con- 

 tained in numerous cartalaginous cavities in the upper part of the 

 head. When fresh, and in its natural receptacle, it is semi-fluid, 

 and has a yellowish unctuous appearance, but concretes when 

 exposed to the air in opaque masses. The oil, containing the sper- 

 maceti in a state of solution, is taken out of the cavities containing it 

 and brought home in barrels, for various domestic and medicinal 

 purposes. In this country, however, spermaceti undergoes a 

 particular process for its purification. The mass is put into hair 

 bags, and pressed between plates of iron, in a screw press, until it 

 becomes hard and brittle. It is then broken to pieces and thrown 

 into boiling water, where it melts, and the impurities rising to the 

 surface are skimmed off. After being cooled, and separated from 

 the water, it is put into fresh water in a large boiler, and a weak 

 ley of the potash of commerce added to it by degrees. This part 

 of the process is thrice repeated, after which the whole is poured 

 into coolers, where the spermaceti concretes into a semi-trans- 

 parent mass. Thus obtained it is a beautiful white, somewhat 



