Ambergris ( /ˈæmbəɡriːs/, Latin: Ambra grisea, Ambre gris, ambergrease or grey amber) is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull gray or blackish color produced in the digestive system of and regurgitated or secreted by sperm whales.
Freshly produced ambergris has a marine, fecal odor. However, as it ages, it acquires a sweet, earthy scent commonly likened to the fragrance of rubbing alcohol without the vaporous chemical astringency. The principal historical use of ambergris was as a fixative in perfumery, though it has now been largely displaced by synthetics.
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Ambergris occurs as a biliary secretion of the intestines of the sperm whale and can be found floating upon the sea, or in the sand near the coast. It is also sometimes found in the abdomens of whales. Because the beaks of giant squids have been found embedded within lumps of ambergris, scientists have theorised that the substance is produced by the whale's gastrointestinal tract to ease the passage of hard, sharp objects that the whale might have eaten.
Ambergris is usually passed in the fecal matter. Ambergris that forms a mass too large to be passed through the intestines is expelled via the mouth, leading to the reputation of ambergris as primarily coming from whale vomit.[1]
Ambergris can be found in the Atlantic Ocean and on the coasts of Brazil, Madagascar, the East Indies, The Maldives, China, Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand, and the Molucca islands. Most commercially collected ambergris comes from The Bahamas in the Caribbean, particularly New Providence.
Ambergris is found in lumps of various shapes and sizes, weighing from 15 g (½ oz) to 50 kg (100 pounds) or more. When initially expelled by or removed from the whale, the fatty precursor of ambergris is pale white in color (sometimes streaked with black), soft, with a strong fecal smell. Following months to years of photo-degradation and oxidation in the ocean, this precursor gradually hardens, developing a dark gray or black color, a crusty and waxy texture, and a peculiar odor that is at once sweet, earthy, marine, and animalic. Its smell has been generally described as a vastly richer and smoother version of isopropanol without its stinging harshness.
In this developed condition, ambergris has a specific gravity ranging from 0.780 to 0.926. It melts at about 62 °C to a fatty, yellow resinous liquid; and at 100 °C (212 °F) it is volatilized into a white vapor. It is soluble in ether, and in volatile and fixed oils.
Ambergris is relatively nonreactive to acid. White crystals of a substance called ambrein can be separated from ambergris by heating raw ambergris in alcohol, then allowing the resulting solution to cool. Breakdown of the relatively scentless ambrein through oxidation results in the formation of ambrox and ambrinol, which are the main odour components of ambergris.
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Ambroxan, which is used widely in perfumery, is one of the many synthetics that emulate natural ambergris.[2]
Ambergris has been mostly known for its use in creating perfume and fragrance much like musk. While perfumes can still be found with ambergris around the world, American perfumers usually avoid it because of legal ambiguities. It was banned from use in many countries in the 1970s, including the United States, because its precursor originates from the sperm whale, which is an endangered species.[3] However, it has been legal since 2005 because of strict monitoring of distributors who ensure that only ambergris that has been naturally washed to shore is sold.
Ancient Egyptians burned ambergris as incense, while in modern Egypt ambergris is used for scenting cigarettes.[4] The ancient Chinese called the substance "dragon's spittle fragrance".[5] During the Black Death in Europe, people believed that carrying a ball of ambergris could help prevent them from getting the plague. This was because the fragrance covered the smell of the air which was believed to be the cause of plague.
This substance has also been used historically as a flavouring for food, and some people consider it an aphrodisiac. During the Middle Ages, Europeans used ambergris as a medication for headaches, colds, epilepsy, and other ailments.[5]
Heston Blumenthal used ambergris as an ingredient in cucumber jelly created for the Channel Four television programme "Heston's Christmas Feast" in December 2009.[6] Eggs and ambergris was reportedly Charles II's favourite dish. [7]
In "Three Hundred Big Boys", an episode of Futurama, Kif is arrested after retrieving a watch from the vomit of a sperm whale and being deemed a thief. He finds out later that what he in fact unintentionally "stole" was significant amounts of ambergris that made up the vomit and had clung to his clothing.
In Chapter 91 of Moby Dick, Stubb, one of the mates of the Pequod (captained by Ahab), cons the captain of a French whaler (Rose-bud) into abandoning the corpse of a sperm whale found floating in the sea. His plan is to recover the corpse himself in hopes that it contains ambergris. His hope proves well-founded, and the Pequod's crew recovers a valuable quantity of the substance. Melville devotes the following chapter to a discussion of ambergris, with special attention to the irony that "fine ladies and gentlemen should regale themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale."
There is a song called "Amber Gris" by the avant-garde jazz trio Medeski, Martin and Wood. They frequently play the song live, and it is recorded on the album "Radiolarians II."
In the H2O: Just Add Water, episode "Irresistible", Zane reads a myth about mermaids being attracted to ambergris and purchases a bottle of it.
In the 2005 Matthew Barney film Drawing Restraint 9 a large floating mass of ambergris created by Barney is a central element to the story.
British occultist Aleister Crowley published his first selected works of poetry under the title Ambergris in 1911.
In the movie Hannibal, the presence of Ambergris in a perfume Hannibal Lecter has used on a letter to Clarice Starling, is detected by perfume engineers consulted by the FBI. This evidence helps narrow the search for Hannibal down, eventually to Florence, Italy.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
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