The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-09-11

We need touch but lightly on the his tory of ambergris, though the delusions that were prlmitively indulged in are extremely fascinating, In the Ara bian Nights" we are told of eastern beauties whose cheeks were marked with moles like bits of ambergris; and in the story of the sixth voyage of "Sinbad the Sailor" we read in the de- scription of the place where the voy- agers were wrecked; Here is also a fountain of pitch and bitumen that runs into the sea, which the fishes swallow, and then vomit up again turned into ambergris!' That antique author, Robert Boyle, considered it to be of vegetable production and similar to yellow amber; thus it received its name, amber-gris (grayl gray amber. This and other even more plausible theories arc but indeed fallacies that puzzled savauts have set forth when they were at a loss to account for its origin, It Is now ascertained beyond a doubt to be generated by the large headed sperm whale, and is the result of the diseased state of the animal. The victim of this rare malady. may possibly, in extreme rare cases (but of this we are not convinced by actual knowledge) throw off the morbific substance or finally die of the ailment. The disease is located in the intestinal canal, and some saVants suppose 1t to be caused by a biliary irritation. After deep study on the subject several modern scientists have agreed that the .t ies1 1l in tn naNu a human peril appendicitis, intensified and prolonged in this great mammal, that dread ailment that has but lately been understood by the surgeons and medical men of the world
 Whale Appendicitis.
 It is known that the ambergris whale | feeds upon the cutie fish. This crea- ture is armed upon it's head with a sharp pointed curved black horn re- sembling a birds beak, much like that l of parrot, only the lower mandible is | the largest. This is found-as 1t is toe l indestructible to be digested7-in many specimens of ambergris and may often 1 times aid in establishing seated dis | ease. It may be considered, though, tc | be but the primary cause of irritation
 as much of the finest ambergris is en- tirely free from the tough little horn
 Such is the effect in the whale of the
 magnified-and tremendously magni- ] fied--illness which, when established ir l our own comparatively puny organ
 ism, causes an instant and fatal col. lapse, unless quickly and heroicallS
 attacked by the almost miraculous
 modern skill of the surgeons gifted hand. The habits of the great water
 mammals, however, tend to prolone l life, and their resisting power agains l the insidious destroyer is eloquent 0 | their tenacious hold on existence When we realize the enormous physica strength of the whale we wonder les! at it's cumulative force These grea sea creatures are not fish, strfctl,
 speaking, but the largest of living ami
 mals, warm blooded, air-breathing
 bringing forth their young (usuall,
 single) alive and sucking them for ;
 definite period.
 l When the whale is finally captured
 and please bear in mind that we ar speaking of the sperm and ambergri whale alone-it is taken in tow alon!
 
 then begun. The tough outer skin ant
 true skin-of which recent observation | prove the blubber is a part-are thel cut up and boiled; extreme precautiOl
 being taken that the woodwork of tn
 vessel does not ignite in the progress
 The hot oil is then lowered in casks t
 swing and swash in the trail of tn
 ship until it coois; then it is lowered |
 the vessels depths. From 13200 to 200
 barrels is considered bon voyage.