AMBERGRIS, sometimes also called grey amber, has an ash-grey colour, marked with yellowish, brown, and white streaks. It occurs in irregular shaped masses, which have a compact texture ; its specific gra vity varies from 0.78 to 0.92, according to Brisson. Bouillon la Grange found its specific gravity from 0.849 to 0.844. It has an agreeable smell, which improves by keeping. Its taste is insipid; when heated to 122°, it melts without frothing. By raising the heat suffi ciently, it may he volatilized ; when distilled, we obtain a white coloured acrid liquid, and a light volatile oil ; a bulky charcoal remains behind. It is insoluble in water, and acids have little action on it. According to Bouil lon la Grange, it is composed of Wallerius, in his System of Mineralogy, describes this substance as a particular mineral genus under the name ambra, of which he describes two species, viz. umbra grisca and umbra uniculor.
It is seldom found pure, but generally includes beaks of the cuttle fish, and other extraneous matter. It some times occurs in very large masses. Neuman, in his history of ambergris, published in the Philosophicai Transactions for 1734, mentions a fan.ous mass of am bergris thrown on shore on the island of Tidor, and pur chased from the king of that island by the Dutch East India Company in 1693, for il,()Ou dollars, which weigh ed 1821b. measured 5 feet 8 inches in length, and 2 feet 2 inches in thickness. It was long exhibited at Am sterdam, and at last broken up and sold. The grand duke of Tuscany offered 50,000 dollars for this remark able mass. In 1755, the French East India Company had in their possession a still larger mass ; it weighed 225 pounds, and was sold for 52,000 francs. According to captain William Keching, the Moors are said to find masses of ambergris of 20 quintals weight, upon the coasts of Monbassa, AIagadoxa, and de Brava. Hist. gen. des Voyag. torn. i. p. 469.
It is generally found in the sea or upon sea-coasts. According to Flaccourt, (Voy. p. 15u.) it occurs pretty frequently on the coast of Madagascar, and the island of Saint Mary; it is also collected in the bay of Honduras, (Dampier, Voy. vol. i.;) upon the coasts of Brazil, Chili, and in the Archipelago of Chiloe, (Molina, ChM French Trans. p. 61.) near the coasts of Japan, according to Kempfer, Gcn. des Voyag. t. x. p. 657;) on the
shores of Morocco, (Marmol. Afriy. t. ii. p. 30;) ac cording to Vanderbroeck, (Vey. t. iv. p. 308,) at the mouth of the Gambia of Saint Domingo; Cape de Verde islands, Mozambique, and Sofala. (Tavernier, Vow. t. iv. p. 73; Saris in the Hist. Gen. Voy. ib. p. 185.) at the island of Lolo, one of the Manilla islands. (Legentil. Voy. dans Its Mers de I' hale, t. ii. p. 84 ;) at the Bermu das, according to Lade, (Foy. t. ii. p. 4.8, 72, 99, 492.) and even the coasts of France, as in the gulf of Gas cony. (Journal de Plzysiy. 1790, Mars.) Mandeslo in forms us, that it is found in the shores of Bengal and Pegu, (Voyage d'Olearius, t. ii. p. 139.) See also Lins chooten, Gaetan-Charpy, and the older accounts of In dia. The Malays, and the inhabitants of Tenior, collect it in considerable quantities, (Rumphius, Cabinet p. 255 ;) as also the inhabitants of the Maldive islands, (Lopez de Castagnetta; faits des Pcrtztga dans les Ind. Orient. c. 35.) The ambergris of Sumatra and Madagascar is said to be the best. Quadrupeds, birds, fishes, crabs, and cetaceous animals, ate remark ably fond of it.
The smell of ambergris when recently taken from the whale, or even when floating on the surface of the ocean, is very strong, and rather fetid; but, by keeping, the of fensiveness goes off, and it acquires a faint musky odour. When heated, or burnt, it liquefies, and yields that pe culiar penetrating fragrant for which it is so much valued ; and the same takes place when in solu tion, or mixed with other scents; so that, like musk, it is too powerful for most organs, till diluted or diffused in air. In England, ambergris is used in The tincture in spirit of win•, or essence, is the preparation chiefly employed. A drop or two is mixed with a large quantity of lavender water of the shops, and adds much to the fragrance of its scent. It is employed to perfume hair-powder, tooth-powde•, wash balls, &c. It was formerly mach used as an article of the materia medica, but has been found of little all( acy; hence it is now very generally disused, as a medicine, in most parts of Europe. The. chief marts for it are Turkey, Persia, and the East, where it is used in cook ery, medicine, perfumery, and as an aphrodisiac, though its virtues in this respect are altogether imaginary.