CRUDE PERFUMES.
Acorus Calamus.—See p. 190.
Agar, Agila, Akyaw, Calambak, Eagle-wood, Bayugaru, or Lignum-aloes.— This curious product is obtained chiefly from the Mergui Archipelago, also from the islands in the Gulf of Cambodia, and from Sumatra. It has been described as consisting of lumps of consolidated aromatic resin, found embedded in the trunk of certain trees, but should rather he considered as diseased wood whose tissues are impregnated with the resin. The latter is found in all parts of the trunk, most frequently in the alburnum or sap-wood, but only where decay has followed inten tional or accidental injury. This leads to the inference that the supply might be regulated and increased by a systematic wounding of the trees ; it would also appear that the resin is a product of the oxidation of the essential oil contained in the wood, which circumstance might be availed of to artificially augment the yield. Botanists consider it to be produced only by Aquilaria Agallochum, but native collectors in Burma state that it is furnished by two kinds of tree, though the substance does not differ. It occurs in very small quantity, and is altogether absent from 19 trees out of 20 ; the wood-cutters often destroy several trees before finding a particle of it, and it is estimated that some 8000 trees are yearly cut down in the Mergui Archipelago. This is rapidly causing the extermination of the species in those islands, and has led to its attempted cultivation in S. Tenasserim, where 200 seedlings have been planted out. The greater part of the article collected is sent to China, via Penang and Singapore, small pieces being used for torches, incense, and medicine. The wood is also cut into fragments, placed in water in a copper vessel, and boiled ; from this decoction, the perfume is distilled, and is known as "agar-attar ; " it is exported from Burma to Calcutta, for despatch to Arabia and Turkey, and is in high esteem throughout the East. The test of the quality of the resinous compound is that it should melt in the fire like wax, meantime emitting an agreeable odour. The approximate local values per pies/ (of 1334 lb.) are i—lst quality (Sumatra), 40/. 168. 8d. ; 2nd quality (Malacca), 25/. 108. ; 3rd quality (Malacca), Si. 2s. 6d.
Ambergris (FR., Ambre grin ; GEE., Amber, Ambra).—Ambergris is probably a biliary calculus, or mass of undigested and biliary matters, obtained from the stomach of the spermaceti whale (Physeter macrocephalus), and possibly some other species. It is generally found, after having been ejected by the animal, floating on the surface of the sea. Its presence in the animal is said to be always an accompaniment (either cause or effect) of disease. It occurs in amorphous masses, usually only no few oz. in weight, yet concretions weighing 150-300 lb. have been found. Its general colour is greyish-white, with bands of brown or black, as if marking the addition of layers. It has a waxy texture, pungent, agreeable odour, and fatty flavour ; it is lighter than water, melts at 60° (140° F.), dissolves readily in absolute alcohol, ether, and both fatty and essential oils ; it contains 85 per cent. of an aromatic substance called "ambreine," extracted by digestion with alcohol of 0.827 sp. gr., filtering the solution, and leaving it to spontaneous evaporation ; the ambreine then forms delicate white tufts, converted into ambreic acid by the action of nitric acid. Ambergris is sought after in all the fisheries frequented by the sperm-whale (see Spermaceti, p. 1371). Formerly considerable pieces have been found on the W. coast of Ireland—Sligo, Mayo, Kerry, and Isle of Arran. The exports of ambergris from Morocco are extensive, the supply being contributed by whales cast up on the W. coast. The exports were 27 lb., value 600/., in 1868 ; 65 lb., 13001., in 1869 ; 100 lb., 2000/., in 1870 ; and 18 lb., 360/., in 1873. It is occasionally found on the coasts of some of the Bahamas ; the values of the shipments thence were 10/. in 1875,11l. in 1877, 1014/. in 1878, and 737/. in 1879. In 1869, France imported more than 70001. worth of ambergris from Madagascar and Mayotte. The American whale-fisheries produced 15 lb., value 1454/., in 1876; 132 lb., 21,000/., in 1878; and 81 lb., 8781/., in 1879. Ambergris is valued in perfumery less for its own fragrance than for the permanence it gives to compounds into which it enters, by reason of its slight volatility, insolubility in weak alkaline lyes, and slow decomposition.