AMBERGRIS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1218, 10 January 1883, Page 2

AMBERGRIS.

A good deal of inquiry having been made during the past day or two as to the nature of ambergris, we extract the following from the last edition of the " Encyclopaedia Britanica."

Ambergris (u'tibra qrisea, embre gris, or grey amber) is a solid fatty inflammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour, the shades being variegated like marble, possessing a peculiar sweet earthy odour. It is now known to be a morbid secretion found in the intestines of the spermaceti whale (Physeter viacrocepliahcs), and is found floating upon 1 the sea-cost. It is met with in the Atlantic Ocean, on the costs of Brazil and Madagascar, also on the coasts of Africa, of the East Indies. Japjin, China, and Molucca Islands, but most of the ambergris which is brought to England comes from the Bahama Islands, Providence, &c. It is sometimes found

in the abdomen of whales, always in lumps, in various shapes and sizes from £oz to 1001 bor more. A piece which the Dutch East India Company j brought , from an Indian Potentate weighed 1891 b. An American fisherman, from Antigua, found inside a whale, about 32 leagues south-east from the Windward Islands, a piece of ambergris which weighed about 1301 b, and sold for £500 sterling. . ...

It was found by Dr Swediaur that ambergris very frequently contained horny mandibles or beaks of the spuid, on which the sperm whales are known to feed. It was further observed that the whales in which the ambergris was found were either dead or much wasted, and evidently in a sickly condition. From this it was inferred that

ambergris, was in some way connected with a morbid condition of the sperm whale. Ambergris, when taken from the intestinal canal of the whale is of a deep grey color, soft consistence, and a disagreeble smell. On exposure to the air it gradually hardens, becomes . pale, and develops its pecular sweet, odour. . . . The use of ambergris in Europe is now entirely confined to perfumery, though it formely occupied no inconsiderable place in medicine. As a material of perfumery, its price varies from 15s to 25s per ounce, and in minute quantities its alcoholic solution is much used for giving a floral fragrance to bouquets, washes, and other preparations of the perfumer. It occupies a very important place in the perfumery of the East, and there it is also used in pharmacy, and as a flavouring material in cookery. The high price it commands makes it peculiarly liable to adulteration, but its genuineness is easily tested by its solubility in hot alcohol, its fragrant odour, and its uniform fatty consistence on being penetrated by a hot wire.

. [The value of the article no doubt fluctuates. It is stated that a Dunedin firm obtained £5 an ounce a short time ago for a small parcel which they sent

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