296

Materia Medxca.

PART II.

CIA. Ord.1. Mammalia Cete.

G. 39. Teeth in the lower jaw, but none in the upper. Tube in the

head or great front.Species 2. P. Macrocephalus. Spermaceti Whale. Willough. Pise.

t. A. l.f. S. Phil. Trans, lx. 321. t.9.Officinal. Cetaceum. Lond. Spermaceti. Edin. Spehma Ceti ;

sevum. Dub. Spermaceti.

Syn. Spermaceti; Cetine (F.) Wallrath (G.) Spermaceti (7.) Espermaceti (S.)

This species of whale inhabits chiefly the Southern Ocean,although some are occasionally seen in the European seas. Itis a large fish, generally measuring about sixty feet in length,and thirty in circumference at the thickest part of the head,which is blunt, and about nine feet in height. It is of ablackish colour on the upper part of the body, and white onthe belly. There are 46 double teeth in the lower jaw, whichis shorter than the upper; and in the head is a triangular bonycavity covered by the common integuments only, and filledwith an oily fluid, which, on the death of the fish, congealsinto a spongy mass. The eyes are small: the pectoral fins nearthe angles of the mouth ; and the tail forked.

The spongy oily mass is dug out from the cavity of thehead, and the oil separated from it by dripping.* In this stateit has a yellow unctuous appearance, and is brought to Eng-land in barrels. The following is the mode of purifying it in thegreat way: The mass is put into hair bags, and pressed betweenplates of iron, in a screw press, until it becomes hard and brit-tle. It is then broken in pieces, and thrown into boiling wa-ter, where it melts, and the impurities rising to the surface areskimmed off. After being cooled, and separated from thewater, it is put into fresh water in a large boiler, and a weakley of the potash of commerce added to it by degrees. Thispart of the process is thrice repeated, after which the whole ispoured into coolers, where the spermaceti concretes into awhite semitransparent mass, which, on being cut into smallpieces, assumes the flaky aspect it has in the shops. *

Qualities. — Purified spermaceti is a white, crystallized, fria-ble, semitransparent, unctuous substance, nearly inodotous andinsipid. Its specific gravity is 9*433. It melts at 112° Fah-renheit 3 ; and at a higher temperature evaporates, very littlealtered; although by repeated distillations it is partly decom-posed, and a brown acid liquor obtained. Like the fixed oilsit leaves, when heated, on paper, a greasy stain, and can bediffused in water by means of the yolk of egg or mucilage. Itis soluble in hot alcohol, ether, and oil of turpentine, but con-

• An ordinary sized whale will yield upwards of twelve large barrels of crude spermaceti.

* Monthly Magazine, August 1809. J Bostock, Nichol. Journ. iv. 134.