4(32 
CACHALOT TRIBE. 
drawn away from this part, it fills anew from every 
part of the body ; and from this is generally ob- 
tained about nine barrels of oil. Besides this., the 
spinal marrow* which is about as thick as a man's 
thigh, and reaches all along the back-bone to the 
tail, where it is no thicker than one's finger, affords 
no inconsiderable quantity. 
Formerly the spermaceti was obtained, but in 
small quantities, and was sold at a very high 
price, from the supposition of its great efficacy as 
a medicine. Though it still enters into the com- 
positions of the apothecary, yet it is rather to give 
a consistency to his medicines than to add to their 
virtue ; and since the art of converting the whole 
oil of the cachalot into spermaceti by boiling has 
been discovered, the article has decreased rapidly 
in its value. It has now fallen below the price of 
wax, and is used instead of it for candles. 
Ambergris is the other medicine, for which 
mankind, are indebted to the cachalot ; and this 
substance, rather than the former, should have ob- 
tained the name of spermaceti, because it is found 
io the place where the seminal vessels of other 
animals are commonly situated. For a long time 
the world was taught to believe, that ambergris 
was a substance to be found only in small quantities 
upon the surface of the water. The trade in 
these articles was originally in the hands of men 
of obscure and suspicious characters ; and this 
was one of the arts by which they endeavoured to 
add to the mysterious nature, and value of the 
commodity. Time, which reveals the secrets of 
the mercenary, has at last discovered that this me- 
dicine is the produce of the cetaceous fishes.^ 
Among the intestines of the cachalot is found a 
bag three or four feet long, filled with liquor of 
a yellowish colour, and thinner than oil ; and in 
Hlris fluid, the ambergris is seen floating in round 
