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See also:SPERMACETI (from See also:Lat. sperma, See also:seed, and See also:cetus, a ' See also:whale) , a See also:wax found in the See also:head cavities and blubber of the sperm-whale (Physeter macrocephalus), where it is dissolved in the sperm oil while the creature is living; it also occurs in other See also:Cetacea (see WHALE See also:OILS). At a temperature of about 6° C. the solid See also:matter separates in a crystalline See also:condition, and when purified by pressure and treatment with weak See also:solution of See also:caustic See also:alkali it forms brilliant See also:- WHITE
- WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
- WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
- WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
- WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
- WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
- WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
- WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
- WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
- WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
- WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
- WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)
white crystalline scales or plates, hard, but unctuous to the See also:touch, and destitute of See also:taste or See also:smell. It is quite in-soluble in See also:water, very slightly affected by boiling See also:alcohol, but easily dissolved in See also:ether, See also:chloroform, and See also:carbon bisulphide. Spermaceti consists principally of cetin or cetyl palmita,te, C,5H31CO2Cr6H33. The substance is used in making candles of See also:standard photometric value, in the dressing of fabrics, and in See also:medicine and See also:surgery, especially in cerates, bougies, ointments, and in cosmetic preparations.
SPERM-WHALE, or CACHALOT (Physeter macrocephalus), the largest representative of the toothed whales, its length and bulk being about equal to, or somewhat exceeding those of the See also:Arctic right-whale, from which, however, it is very differenthas on each See also:side from twenty to twenty-five stout conical See also:teeth, which' furnish See also:ivory of See also:good quality, though not in sufficient bulk for most of the purposes for which that See also:article is required. The upper teeth are rudimentary and buried in the See also:- GUM (Fr. gomme, Lat. gommi, Gr. Kµµ1, possibly a Coptic word; distinguish " gum," the fleshy covering of the base of a tooth, in O. Eng. gbma, palate, cf. Ger. Gaumen, roof of the mouth; the ultimate origin is probably the root gha, to open wide, seen in
gum. The flipper is See also:short, broad, and truncated, and the dorsal fin a See also:mere See also:low protuberance. The See also:general See also:colour of the See also:surface is See also:black above and See also:grey below, the See also:colours gradually shading into each other. The sperm-whale is one of the most widely distributed of animals, being met with, usually in herds or See also:schools," in almost all tropical and subtropical seas, and occasionally visiting the See also:northern seas, a number having been killed around the Shetlands a few years ago. The See also:food of sperm-whales consists mainly of squid and cuttlefish, but also comprises See also:fish of consider-able See also:size. The substance called " See also:ambergris," formerly used in medicine and now in See also:perfumery, is a See also:concretion formed in the See also:intestine of this whale, and found floating on the surface of the See also:sea. Its genuineness is proved by the presence of the horny beaks of the cuttles on which the whale feeds. The one representative of the genus Cogia is called the lesser or pigmy sperm-whale, being only from 9 ft. to 13 ft. See also:long.
End of Article: SPERMACETI (from Lat. sperma, seed, and cetus, a ' whale)
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