AMBERGREASE, AMBERGRIZE, or GREY AMBER, in natural history, is a solid, opaque, ash-coloured,
fatty, inflammable substance, variegated like marble, remarkably light, rugged and uneven in its surface, and has a fragrant odour when heated. It does not effervesce with acids; it melts freely over the fire, into a kind of yellow rosin; and is hardly soluble in spirit of wine.
It is found swimming upon the sea, or the sea-coast, or in the sand near the sea-coast; especially in the Atlantic ocean, on the sea-coast of Brasil, and that of Madagascar; on the coast of Africa, of the East Indies, China, Japan, and the Molucca islands; but most of the ambergris which is brought to England comes from the Bahama islands, from Providence, &c. where it is found on the coast. It is also sometimes found in the abdomen of whales by the whale-fishermen, always in lumps of various shapes and sizes, weighing from half an ounce to an hundred and more pounds. The piece which the Dutch East India Company bought from the king of Tydor, weighed 182 pounds. An American fisherman from Antigua found some years ago, about 52 leagues south-east from the Windward Islands, a piece of ambergris in a whale, which weighed about 130 pounds, and sold for 500 l. Sterling.
There have been many different opinions concerning the origin of this substance.
It has been supposed to be a fossile bitumen or naphtha, exuding out of the bowels of the earth in a fluid form, and distilling into the sea, where it hardens and floats on the surface. But having been frequently found in the belly of whales, it has by others been considered as entirely an animal production.
Clusius asserted it to be a phlegmatical recrement, or indurated indigestible part of the food, collected and found in the stomach of the whale, in the same manner as the BEZOARS are found in the stomach of other animals.
In an account communicated by Paul Dudley, Esq; in the 23d volume of the Philosophical Transactions, the ambergris found in whales is represented as a kind of animal product, like musk, and castoreum, &c. secreted and collected in a peculiar bag or bladder, which is furnished with an excretory duct or canal, the spout of which runs tapering into and through the length of the penis; and that this bag, which lies just over the testicles, is almost full of a deep orange-coloured liquor, not quite so thick as oil, of the same smell as the balls of ambergris, which float and swim loose in it: which colour and liquor may also be found in the canal of the penis; and that therefore ambergris is never to be found in any female, but in the male only. But these circumstances are not only destitute of truth, but also contrary to the laws of the animal economy: For, in the first place, ambergris is frequently found in females as well as males; although that found in females is never in such large pieces, nor of so good a quality, as what is found in males. Secondly, No person who has the least knowledge in anatomy or physiology, will ever believe that organised bodies, such as the beaks of the Sepia, which are so constantly found in ambergris taken out of the whale, can have been absorbed from the intestines by the lacteals or lymphatics, and collected with the ambergris in the precluded bag above-mentioned.
Kämpfer, who has given us so many other faithful accounts in natural history, seems to come nearer the truth
truth with regard to the origin of ambergris, when he says, that it is the dung of the whale; and that the Japanese, for this reason, call it kusura no sau, i.e. whale's dung. This account, however, though founded on observation, has never obtained credit, but has been considered rather as a fabulous story, with which the Japanese imposed upon him, who had himself no direct observation to prove the fact.
This matter, therefore, remained a subject of great doubt; and it was generally thought to be more probable, that ambergris, after having been swallowed, and somehow or other changed in the stomach and bowels of the whale, was found among its excrements.
But the most satisfactory account of the real origin of ambergris, is that given by Dr Swediar in the 73d volume of the Philosophical Transactions, art. 15.
We are told by all writers on ambergris, that sometimes claws and beaks of birds, feathers of birds, parts of vegetables, shells, fish, and bones of fish, are found in the middle of it, or variously mixed with it. Of a very large quantity of pieces, however, which the Doctor examined, he found none that contained any such thing; though he allows, that such substances may sometimes be found in it: but in all the pieces of any considerable size, whether found on the sea or in the whale, he constantly found a considerable quantity of black spots, which, after the most careful examination, appeared to be the beaks of the Seria Ostropodia; and these beaks, he thinks, might be the substances which have hitherto been always mistaken for claws or beaks of birds, or for shells.
The presence of these beaks in ambergris proves evidently, that all ambergris containing them is in its origin, or must have been once, of a very soft or liquid nature, as otherwise those beaks could not so constantly be intermixed with it throughout its whole substance.
That ambergris is found either upon the sea and sea-coast, or in the bowels of whales, is a matter of fact universally credited. But it has never been examined into and determined; whether the ambergris found upon the sea and sea-coast is the same as that found in the whale, or whether they are different from one another? Whether that found on the sea or sea-coast has some properties, or constituent parts, which that found in the whale has not? And lastly, whether that found in the whale is superior or inferior in its qualities and value to the former?
It is likewise a matter of consequence to know, Whether ambergris is found in all kinds of whales, or only in a particular species of them? Whether it is constantly and always to be met with in those animals? And, if so, in what part of their body it is to be found?
All these questions we find very satisfactorily discussed by Dr Swediar.
According to the best information that he could obtain from several of the most intelligent persons employed in the spermaceti whale-fishery, and in procuring and selling ambergris, it appears, that this substance is sometimes found in the belly of the whale, but in that particular species only which is called the spermaceti whale, and which from its description and delineation appears to be the PUSSETER Macrocephalus Linnæi.
The New England fishermen, according to their account, have long known that ambergris is to be found
in the spermaceti whale; and they are so convinced of this fact, that whenever they hear of a place where ambergris is found, they always conclude that the sea in that part are frequented by this species of whale.
The persons who are employed in the spermaceti whale-fishery, confine their views to the Pusseter macrocephalus. They look for ambergris in all the spermaceti whales they catch, but it seldom happens that they find any. Whenever they hook a spermaceti whale, they observe, that it constantly not only vomits up whatever it has in its stomach, but also generally discharges its feces at the same time; and if this latter circumstance takes place, they are generally disappointed in finding ambergris in its belly. But whenever they discover a spermaceti whale, male or female, which seems torpid and sickly, they are always pretty sure to find ambergris, as the whale in this state seldom voids its feces upon being hooked. They likewise generally meet with it in the dead spermaceti whales, which they sometimes find floating on the sea. It is observed also, that the whale, in which they find ambergris, often has a morbid protuberance; or, as they express it, a kind of gathering in the lower part of its belly, in which, if cut open, ambergris is found. It is observed, that all those whales, in whose bowels ambergris is found, seem not only torpid and sick, but are also constantly leaner than others; so that, if we may judge from the constant union of these two circumstances, it would seem that a larger collection of ambergris in the belly of the whale is a source of disease, and probably sometimes the cause of its death. As soon as they hook a whale of this description, torpid, sickly, emaciated, or one that does not dung on being hooked, they immediately either cut up the above-mentioned protuberance, if there be any, or they rip open its bowels from the orifice of the anus, and find the ambergris, sometimes in one sometimes in different lumps, of generally from three to twelve and more inches in diameter, and from one pound to twenty or thirty pounds in weight, at the distance of two, but most frequently of about six or seven feet from the anus, and never higher up in the intestinal canal; which, according to their description, is, in all probability, the intestinal cæcum, hitherto mistaken for a peculiar bag made by nature for the secretion and collection of this singular substance. That the part they cut open to come at the ambergris is no other than the intestinal canal is certain, because they constantly begin their incision at the anus, and find the cavity everywhere filled with the feces of the whale, which from their colour and smell it is impossible for them to mistake. The ambergris found in the intestinal canal is not so hard as that which is found on the sea or sea-coast, but soon grows hard in the air: when first taken out it has nearly the same colour, and the same disagreeable smell, though not so strong, as the more liquid dung of the whale has; but, on exposing it to the air, it by degrees not only grows greyish, and its surface is covered with a greyish dust like old chocolate, but it also loses its disagreeable smell, and, when kept for a certain length of time, acquires the peculiar odour which is so agreeable to most people.
The gentlemen the Doctor conversed with confessed, that if they knew not from experience that ambergris thus found will in time acquire the above-mentioned
qualities, they would by no means be able to distinguish ambergris from hard indurated feces. This is so true, that whenever a whale voids its feces upon being hooked, they look carefully to see if they cannot discover among the more liquid excrements (of which the whale discharges several barrels) some pieces floating on the sea, of a more compact substance than the rest; these they take up and wash, knowing them to be ambergris.
In considering whether there be any material difference between ambergris found upon the sea or sea-coast, and that found in the bowels or among the dung of the whale, the Doctor refuses the opinion, that all ambergris found in whales is of an inferior quality, and therefore much less in price. Ambergris, he observes, is only valued for its purity, lightness, compactness, colour, and smell. There are pieces of ambergris found on different coasts, which are of a very inferior quality; whereas there are often found in whales pieces of it of the first value; nay, several pieces found in the same whale, according to the above-mentioned qualities, are more or less valuable. All ambergris found in whales has at first when taken out of the intestines very near the same smell as the liquid excrements of that animal have; it has then also nearly the same blackish colour: they find it in the whale sometimes quite hard, sometimes rather softish, but never so liquid as the natural feces of that animal. And it is a matter of fact, that, after being taken out and kept in the air, all ambergris grows not only harder and whiter, but also loses by degrees its smell, and assumes such an agreeable one, as that in general has which is found swimming upon the sea; therefore the goodness of ambergris seems rather to depend on its age. By being accumulated after a certain length of time in the intestinal canal, it seems even then to become of a whiter colour, and less ponderous, and acquire its agreeable smell. The only reason why ambergris found floating on the sea generally possesses the above-mentioned qualities in a superior degree, is because it is commonly older, and has been longer exposed to the air. It is more frequently found in males than females; the pieces found in females are in general smaller, and those found in males seem constantly to be larger and of a better quality; and therefore the high price in proportion to the size is not merely imaginary for the rarity-fake, but in some respect well founded, because such large pieces appear to be of a greater age, and possess the above-mentioned qualities in general in a higher degree of perfection than smaller pieces.
It is known, that the Sepia octopodia, or cuttle-fish, is the constant and natural food of the Spermaceti whale, or Physeter macrocephalus. Of this the fishers are so well persuaded, that whenever they discover any recent relics of it swimming on the sea, they conclude that a whale of this kind is, or has been, in that part. Another circumstance which corroborates the fact is, that the Spermaceti whale on being hooked generally vomits up some remains of the Sepia. Hence it is easy to account for the many beaks, or pieces of beaks, of the Sepia found in all ambergris. The beak of the Sepia is a black horny substance, and therefore passes undigested through the stomach into the intestinal canal, where it is mixed with the feces; after which it is either evacuated with them, or if these latter be preter-
naturally retained, forms concretions with them, which render the animal sick and torpid, and produce an oblitipation, which ends either in an abscess of the abdomen, as has been frequently observed, or becomes fatal to the animal; whence in both the cases, on the bursting of its belly, that hardened substance, known under the name of ambergris, is found swimming on the sea, or thrown upon the coast.
From the preceding account, and his having constantly found the above-mentioned beaks of the Sepia in all pieces of ambergris of any considerable size, Dr Swediaur concludes with great probability, that all ambergris is generated in the bowels of the Physeter macrocephalus, or Spermaceti whale; and there mixed with the beaks of the Sepia octopodia, which is the principal food of that whale. He therefore defines ambergris to be the preternaturally hardened dung or feces of the Physeter macrocephalus, mixed with some indigestible relics of its food.
The use of ambergris in Europe is now nearly confined to perfumery, though it has formerly been recommended in medicine by several eminent physicians. Hence the Essentia Ambre Hoffmanni, Tinctura Regia Cod. Parisini, Trochisci de Ambra Pl. Wurtemberg, &c.
If we wish to see any medicinal effects from this substance, the Doctor observes, we must certainly not expect them from two or three grains, but give rather as many scruples of it for a dose: though even then, he thinks, there would not be reason to expect much effect from it, as he had himself taken of pure unadulterated ambergris in powder 30 grains at once, without observing the least sensible effect from it. A sailor, however, who had the curiosity to try the effect of recent ambergris upon himself, took half an ounce of it melted upon the fire, and found it a good purgative; which proves that it is not quite an inert substance.
In Asia and part of Africa ambergris is not only used as a medicine and as a perfume; but considerable use is also made of it in cookery, by adding it to several dishes as a spice. A great quantity of it is also constantly bought by the pilgrims who travel to Mecca; probably to offer it there, and make use of it in fumigations, in the same manner as frankincense is used in Catholic countries. The Turks make use of it as an aphrodisiac. Our perfumers add it to scented pillars, candles, balls or bottles, gloves, and hair-powder; and its essence is mixed with pomatum for the face and hands, either alone or mixed with musk, &c. tho' its smell is to some persons extremely offensive.
Ambergris may be known to be genuine by its fragrant scent when a hot needle or pin is thrust into it, and its melting like fat of an uniform consistency; whereas the counterfeit will not yield such a smell, nor prove of such a fat texture.—One thing, however, is very remarkable, that this drug, which is the most sweet of all the perfumes, should be capable of being resembled in smell by a preparation of one of the most odious of all flasks. Mr Homberg found, that a vessel in which he had made a long digestion of the human feces, acquired a very strong and perfect smell of ambergris, inasmuch that any one would have thought a great quantity of essence of ambergris had been made in it. The perfume was so strong and offensive, that the vessel was forced to be removed out of the laboratory.