Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 October 1880 — Ambergris. [ARTICLE]

Ambergris.

of tfcTSJk d • tree On tiwf—Hnn, nmUioc s peealixr’aromstieodor. It Awes at 140 to 150 Fahr., and at m higher temperature gire* (rat a smoke, It is Iband all rfm, from am potted np to twenty or thirty; bat n rr—i n—Uy piece* are picked up, or firand in whaiaa, weighiny Qg two hllDdndpOQßdik Ambergris hw been known from an early E^J^rtS^XESS'lfii sofnetimes mailed with the incense barned in Roman Catholic churches, and is also pot in certain kinds ot wines to improve tbe“bouquet” Tbe gras* use of ambergris is in th* manufacture at perfumery. Not that its ftnCee is either very powerful or pleasing; it posse— the peculiar property of causing other ingredients to throw out their odors and make them more specific and durable. In this respect it bean a resemblance to the use of morbants in dyeing, without which the colon would tail to become per* mament. Hence all the best perftunes contain ambergris, which is one reason of their costliness; and hence, also, the tact that home-made cologne, for instance, smells only of alcohol. The costliness of ambergris is owing, of conns, to its comaprativs scarcity and the uncertainty attending its discovery. It is, therefore, held more valuable than gold, ranging in price from twelve to twenty or more dollars an ounce. Thus it la a little singnlar that two of the most precious products of the sea are the result of disease —pearls and ambergris. The discovery of even a small piece of ambergris helps materially to increase the profit of a voyage. It may not be generally known that the bead-quarters of the world for ambergris is in Boston, one boose having the monopoly of the business, and supplying the leading perfumers of Europe and America. Consequently, this establishment beeps a good supply always on hand, and there it was recently the writer’s privilege to inspect a lump of the precious disease, which weighed 121 pounds and was valued at the round sum of 122,000. — Youth't Companion.