now go down upon the whale, cut off the lard or fat; and then the whale-bone, which they cut off with a hatchet, from the upper jaw of the fish, and make it up in packets. The fat and bone thus procured, what remains of the whale they leave for the bears, and for Greenland birds called mallemuck, which are very fond of it. Nothing now remains but to sail homewards, where the fat is to be boiled, and melted down into train oil. One of the largest fish will fill more than seventy butts. The produce of a large whale is valued at about one thousand pounds. All Europe is thus supplied with oil for lamps, and for many other useful purposes.

A considerable trade is also carried on in the South Seas, as the whales in that quarter, though inferior in size to those in the northern climes, are much more valuable in producing the spermaceti, a very profitable branch of commerce. The largest sort are those about Spitsburg, some of them one hundred feet in length; those on the coasts of America are about ninety or a hundred; and those on the coasts of Guyenne and the Mediterranean the smallest of all.

SPERMACETI is a whitish, flaky, unctuous substance, from which oil is obtained by expression; found in the head of a species of whale. It had its name spermaceti (seed or sperm of the whale) given it, no doubt, to raise its value, under the erroneous belief of its scarcity. The method of preparing it was formerly a secret in the hands of very few. The process is said to be thus the matter being taken out of the animal, is melted over a gentle fire and put into moulds, like those wherein our sugar-loaves are formed. When cold and drained, it is taken out, and melted over again; and this they continue to do till it be well purified, and become white. It is then cut with a knife for the purpose, and reduced into flakes such as we see it. Some of our druggists have now got the art of making it from the sediment or fæces of any kind of oil. It must be chosen white, clear, and transparent, of a sweetish smell, which some think like that of the violet. It is sophisticated with wax, but the deceit may be easily discovered. Some also sell a preparation gained from the tail of the whale, instead of that of the brain.

Spermaceti should be kept close from the air. It is of great use in medicine. Quincy says, it is a noble remedy in asthma, though mostly used in bruises, inward hurts, coughs, &c. For internal use it may be dissolved in aqueous liquors, &c. But its greatest property is in softening the skin, whence it comes to be used by the ladies in pastes, washes, &c.

Spermaceti candles are rather of modern manufacture. They are made smooth with a fine gloss, supe rior to the finest wax candles, in colour and lustre, and when genuine, leave no spot or stain on the finest silk, cloth or linen.

AMBERGRISE, or ambergrease, or grey amber, is a solid, opake, ash coloured, fatty, inflammable substance, variegated like marble, remarkably light, rugged and uneven in the surface, and has a fragrant odour when heated.

It is found swimming upon the sea, or the sea coast, or in the sand near the sea shore; especially in the Atlantic ocean, on the sea coast of Brazil and that of Madagascar, on the coasts of Africa, of the East Indies, China, Japan, and the Molucca Islands: but most of the ambergrise which is brought to England, comes from the Bahama Islands, &c. It is also sometimes found in the stomach or intestines of the spermaceti whale, by the whale-fishermen, always in lumps, of various sizes and shapes, weighing from half an ounce to an hundred and more pounds. An American fisherman, some years ago, found a piece of it in a whale, which weighed about 130 pounds, and sold for 5001. sterling.

There have been many different opinions concerning the origin of this substance. It has been supposed to be fossil bitumen, exuding out of the howels of the earth, in a fluid form, and distilling into the sea, where it hardens and floats on the surface. But having been frequently found in the belly of whales, it is now considered as an animal production. Clusius asserted it to be an indigestible part of the food, collected and found in the stomach of the whale. Paul Dudley, Esq. in the 23d vol. of the Phil. Trans. represents it to be a

kind of animal product like musk, secreted in a particular bag or bladder, &c.

The use of it is now nearly confined to perfumery, though it has formerly been recommended in medicine.

In Asia and Africa, considerable use is made of it in cookery, by adding it to several dishes as a spice. Our perfumers add it to scented candles, balls, bottles, gloves, and hair powder, and its essence is mixed with pomatums for the face and hands, either alone or com. bined with musk.

Ambergrise may be known to be genuine by its fragrant scent, when a hot pin or needle is thrust through it, and its melting like fat, of an uniform consistence; whereas the counterfeit will not yield such a smell, nor prove of such a fat texture. It is only valued for its purity, lightness, compactness, colour, and smell.

ISINGLASS is a preparation formerly made only from the fish huso. The method of making isinglass was long a secret in the hands of the Russians; but it is now well known. H. Jackson, Esq. in the Phil. Trans. observes that authors have hitherto mistaken both the matter and preparation of isinglass, and that Pomet has erred upon the subject. Our lakes and rivers in North America are stocked with immense quantities of fish of the same species with those in Muscovy, and yield the finest isinglass. These fisheries under due encouragement, would doubtless supply all Europe with this valuable article.

No artificial heat is necessary to the production of isinglass, nor is the matter dissolved for this purpose, for as the continuity of its fibres would be destroyed by solution, the mass would become brittle in drying, and snap short asunder, which is always the case with glue, but never with isinglass. Mr. Jackson proves that isinglass is nothing more than certain membraneous parts of fishes divested of their native mucosity, rolled and twisted into certain forms, and dried in the open air. The sounds or air bladders of fresh-water fish in general, are preferred for this purpose, as being the most transparent, flexible, delicate substances; and these constitute the finest sorts of isinglass.

The book and ordinary staple are made of the intes

tines of the fish. That called cake isinglass is formed of the bits and fragments of the staple sorts. Isinglass is best made in the summer.

Prodigious quantities of fish that afford this article are found in the Wolga and Don, in the Caspian sea, &c.

Isinglass is sometimes used as a medicine, and may be useful in a thin acrimonious state of the juices.

MUSK; a kind of perfume, of a very strong scent and only agreeable when moderated by the mixture of some other perfume. Musk is found in a kind of bag, or tumour, growing about the bigness of an hen's egg, under the belly, towards the gential parts of a wild beast of the same name, and appears to be nothing more than a kind of bilious blood, there congealed, and almost corrupted. The animal is pretty common inthe kingdoms of Tonquin, Cochin China, &c. but the most esteemed are those of the kingdom of Tibet, - They inhabit the woods and forests, where the natives hunt them down; when the beast is killed, they cut out the bladder under the belly, separate the coagulated blood, and dry it in the sun, where it is reduced into a sub. stance almost of the nature of powder, of a dusky red. dish colour, after acquiring a very strong disagreeable smell. It is then tied up again in bladders, and exported to other countries, and this is the musk we use.

Musk is in considerable use among the perfumers and confectioners, though much less now than formerly. It is supposed to fortify the heart and brain, and is good against deafness; but it is little used, as being apt to occasion the vapours. It affords the strongest of all known odours. Tavernier purchased 1663 bags, which weighed 1557 ounces. He brought one of the animals with him to Paris, the odour of which was so strong, that it made every head in the house giddy.

It is sometimes adulterated by the peasants, who take out the real musk (or clotted blood) from the bag, and put in the place a mash of the animal's blood and liver, which in time resembles musk,

OF FOWLS.

Under this head, only such fowls will be noticed as are most useful to man as aliment:-and first of the

SWAN.-No bird, perhaps, makes so inelegant a figure out of the water, or has the command of such beautiful attitudes on that element, as the swan. Almost every poet has taken notice of it; but none with that justness of description and in so picturesque a manner as our Milton.

-The swan with arched neck

Between her white wings mantling, proudly rows

Her state with oary feet.-Par. Lost, Book vii.

In ancient times it was served up at every great feast, when the elegance of the table was measured by the size and quantity of the good cheer. Swans were formerly held in such great esteem in England, that by an act of Edward IV. no one that possessed a freehold of less clear yearly value than five marks, was permitted to keep any. Though at present they are not so highly valued as a delicacy, yet great numbers are preserved for their beauty.

The swan is found wild in Russia and Siberia: those about the southern part of the Caspian Sea are very large, and much esteemed for the use of the table.--By the Mohammedans the swan is held in high veneration.

It is a very strong bird and sometimes exceedingly fierce, and has been known to throw down youths and trample them under feet, and even to break the leg of a man with the stroke of its wings. It is said to be very long lived, and frequently to arrive at the hundredth year. They lay eight eggs, and sit six weeks. They feed on both fish and herbage.

It was the popular opinion among the ancients that the swan foretold his end, and that he sung more sweetly at the approach of death, but it has little of probability. They also ascribed to him the powers of melody, hence Virgil ;

Vare, tuum nomen,

Cantantes sublime ferent ad sidera cycni.-Ecl. ix.

But when he lays aside figure and fiction, he gives him his real note:

Dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia cycni.—Æn. lib. xi. In hard winters wild'swans visit our coasts, in large flocks, but do not breed in Great Britain.