. The popular natural history . Zoology. The enormous and curiously formed head is the great receptacle of (hp spermaceti, which lies in a liquid oily state, in two great cavities that exist in the huge mass of tendinous substance of which the head is chiefly com- posed. When the Whale is killed and towed to the ship's side, the head is cut off and affixed to tackles for the purpose of supporting it in a convenient position for the extrac- tion of this valuable ^ ~* substance. A large â "'â ^' ---, hole is cut in the top of the head, and a number of sailors lower their buckets into the ca
. The popular natural history . Zoology. The enormous and curiously formed head is the great receptacle of (hp spermaceti, which lies in a liquid oily state, in two great cavities that exist in the huge mass of tendinous substance of which the head is chiefly com- posed. When the Whale is killed and towed to the ship's side, the head is cut off and affixed to tackles for the purpose of supporting it in a convenient position for the extrac- tion of this valuable ^ ~* substance. A large â "'â ^' ---, hole is cut in the top of the head, and a number of sailors lower their buckets into the cavity and bale out the liquid matter. When first exposed to the air it has a clear oily appearance, but after it has been sub- jected to the action of the atmosphere for a few hours, the sperma- ceti begins to separate itself from the oil, and in a short time is suffi- ciently firm to be re- moved and put into a different vesseL The amount of sper- maceti which is pro- duced from the head of a single Whale is very large indeed. From a Cachalot that only measured sixty four feet in length, and was therefore by no means a large one, twenty-four barrels of sperma- ceti and nearly one hundred barrels of oil were obtained. Ambergris, that curious substance whose origin so long baffled the keenest inquirers, and which was formerly only found at rare inter- vals floating on the waves or cast upon the shore, is now often discovered within the intestines of the Cachalot, and is supposed to be a morbid secretion peculiar to the animal, and analogous to biliary calculi. Fifty pounds weight of this substance have been found in a single Whale, and on one occasion a single piece of ambergris of the same weight was discovered on the coast of the Bermudas by some sailors, who immediately deserted their ship and escaped to England with their valuable prize. The value of the ambergris is rather variable, but it is always a costly article. SPERMACETI WHALE.â(tdloJou Macrociphalus.). SKULI, OF S
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectzoology, bookyear1884
