236 „ . Dr. SC FI W EDI A WE r’s Account 
fwi naming upon the Tea ; therefore the goodnefs of amber- 
grife feems rather to depend on its age. By being accu- 
mulated after a certain length of time in the internal ca- 
nal, it feems even then to become of a whiter colour, and lefs 
ponderous, and acquire its agreeable fmell. The only reafon 
why ambergrife found floating on the fea generally polfefles the 
above-mentioned qualities in a fuperior degree, is becaufe it is 
commonly older, and has been longer expofed to the air. It is 
more frequently found in males than females; the pieces found 
in females are in general fmaller, and thole found in males 
feem conftantly to be larger and of a better quality, and there- 
fore the high price in proportion to the fize is not merely ima- 
ginary for the rarity-fake, but in lome refpeft well founded, 
becaufe fuch large pieces appear to be of a greater age, and pof- 
fefs the above-mentioned qualities in general in a higher degree 
of perfe&ion than fmaller pieces. 
Having difcovered, as 1 juft now mentioned, beaks of the 
cuttle fifh in all the pieces of ambergrife I had an opportunity 
of examining, it now remained to be afcertained, how thofe 
beaks became fo conflantly mixed with ambergrife ? In profe- 
cuting this enquiry, I had the fatbfadtion to learn from the fame 
perfons who gave me the information above-mentioned, that the 
Sepia O&opodia, or cuttle fifh, is the conflant and natural food 
of the fpermaceti-whale, or Phyfeter Macrocephalus. Of this 
they are fo well perfuaded, that whenever they difcover any re- 
cent relics of it fwimming on the fea, they conclude that a whale 
of this kind is. or has been, in that part. Another circumftance 
which corroborates this fa<5t is, that the fpermaceti-whale on 
being hooked generally vomits up lome remains of the Sepia*. 
From 
* It will not be improper here to remark, to what an enormous fize this fpecies 
Sepia grows in the ocean. One of the gentlemen who was fo kind as to com- 
municate 
