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 fifti in great requeft, 
and its capture the moft advantageous objeft in the 
Greenland trade. 
Spermaceti is the name erroneoufly given to that fub- 
ftance which is found in the head of the cachalot, and 
which is by no means the femen, but the brain of the 
animal. Goldfmith gives the following account of the 
method by which it is extra&ed *. The outward ikin 
of the head being taken off, a covering of fat appears, a- 
bout three inches thick ; and under that, inftead of a 
bony fkull, the animal has only another thick Ikin, that 
lerves for a covering and defence of the brain. The firft 
cavity or chamber of the brain, is filled with that fper- 
xnaceti which is fuppofed of the greateft purity, and is 
of the liigheft 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, which 
is about feven feet high ; and this alfo contains the drug, 
but of lets value. It is diftributed in this cavity, like 
honey in a hive, in fmall cells, feparated from each other 
by a membrane like the inner Ikin of an egg. In pro- 
portion as the oily fubftance is drawn away from this 
pa,rt, it fills anew from every part of the body ; and 
from this is generally obtained about nine barrels of oil. 
Befides this, the fpinal marrow, which is about as thick 
ns a man’s thigh, and reaches all along the back-bone to 
the 
* I'lift. vql. vi- p. 1 Tfi. 
