AMBERGRIS. 
ceti whale. I doubt not/’ he continues, “ hut in process 
of time some further particulars may be procured with 
respect to ambergris, and I shall be proud to transmit 
them ; in the mean time I hope the Society will accept 
of this first essay, and allow my poor country the honour 
of discovering , or at least ascertaining, the origin and 
nature of ambergris.”— Phil. Trans . vol. xxxiii. 
In a paper which was read before the Royal Society 
by Dr. Schwediawer, in 1783, respecting the medical 
properties of ambergris, he remarks, that u if we wish to 
see any medicinal effects from this substance, we must 
certainly not expect them from two or three grains, but 
give rather as many scruples of it for a dose ; though even 
then I should not expect much from it, as I have taken 
of pure unadulterated ambergris in powder thirty grains 
at once, without observing the least sensible effect from 
it. A sailor, however, who had the curiosity to try the 
effects of some recent ambergris upon himself, took half 
an ounce of it melted upon the fire, and found it a good 
purgative, which proves that it is not quite inert.”— 
Phil . Trans . vol. lxxiii. p. 226. 
In 1791, the attention of government was drawn to 
this subject, in order to discover if it could be more fre- 
quently found. When Captain Coffin was examined at 
the bar of the House of Commons on the subject, and 
stated that he had lately brought home 362 ounces, 
troy, of this costly substance, which he had found in the 
anus of a female sperm whale that he had captured off 
the coast of Guinea, and which he stated was very bony 
and sickly. At the time he brought this quantity to 
