Spermaceti should not be confused with “ambergris,” a substance of great value in the manufacture of perfumes, which is obtained _only_ from the sperm whale. Ambergris is due to a pathological condition of the intestines and is never found in healthy whales. It is impossible to tell just how the substance is formed, but the fact that it often contains cuttlefish beaks leads to the supposition that it is in some way connected with the squid and cuttlefish upon which the sperm whale feeds. [Illustration: Stripping the blubber from the head of a sperm whale. Immediately beneath the blubber of this portion is the oil-case. The blowhole may be seen at the end of the snout. ] If but a small amount of ambergris is produced it will often pass off with the excreta and, since it is very light, may be found floating in the water, but the entire intestines of dead whales have been known to be clogged with the substance. It is exceedingly valuable, the black ambergris being worth at the present time $12.50 an ounce, and the gray, which is of superior quality, $20. As much as $60,000 worth has been taken from the intestines of a single whale. It is not itself used as an odor but as a _fixative_ in perfumes; that is, to make the fragrance last. Many substitutes for ambergris have been adopted in commercial work, but as yet none has been found which is as effective as the original substance. For hundreds of years ambergris has been known and used in various ways. It was formerly supposed to have wonderful medicinal qualities (which, however, are largely mythical) and in Asia was employed as a spice in cooking. The Turks have long considered it of the greatest value, and pilgrims who traveled to Mecca used to bring it as an offering. Ambergris has a peculiar and not disagreeable odor which, when once identified, will not easily be forgotten; after touching it traces of the smell will still remain even though the hands have received several washings. During the last eight years at least fifty persons have brought to my office for identification almost as many different substances which they have found floating or washed up on the seacoast, and which they devoutly prayed might prove to be ambergris. One man brought as a sample a large piece of tallow from a barrelful which he had collected at considerable trouble and expense; another had a portion of a jellyfish, and a third carefully treasured a mass of dirty soap. But as yet no one has brought “the real thing.” Ambergris is soluble in alcohol and this is a good first test for those to whom the substance is unknown.