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spermaceti

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spermaceti

a white waxy substance obtained from oil from the head of the sperm whale: used in cosmetics, candles, ointments, etc.
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

spermaceti

[‚spər·mə′sed·ē]
(materials)
A white, crystalline, oily (waxy) solid that separates from sperm oil; soluble in ether, chloroform, and carbon disulfide, insoluble in water; melts at 42 to 50°C; used in ointments, emulsions, candles, soaps, and cosmetics; and for linen finishing. Also known as spermaceti wax.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Spermaceti

 

the waxy substance obtained by cooling the liquid animal wax contained in a large fibrous sac in the head of the sperm whale. Spermaceti, a complex ester of palmitic acid and cetyl alcohol, crystallizes in the form of white platelets. It is insoluble in water but dissolves readily in ether, acetone, and hot ethanol. It melts at 53°-54°C. The term “spermaceti” was originally used to refer to the sperm of the sperm whale. The substance serves as a sound conductor for the whale. During the 18th century spermaceti was used in the manufacture of candles; today it is used as a lubricant and as a base for the production of creams and ointments.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
The data from Spermaceti Cove were then analyzed as a group, and those from Earle were separated by the presence or absence of a fence and then analyzed (Appendix 1).
Enderby, one of the most prominent owners of whaling vessels, about whether a spermaceti whale had ever been captured by his crew, the answer was: "Mr.
'Our modelling also indicates that the momentum of the spermaceti organ of a large mobile sperm whale could seriously injure a stationary opponent of similar size, despite the necessity for damping to protect the attacking whale.'
According to Vickers's estimates, spermaceti oil earned twice as much as right whale oil, and the "head matter was worth three times as much."
(9.) The right whale (Baleaenidae) was taken and its blubber is rendered for oil in the same way as that of the fat of the spermaceti, but unlike the latter, the right whale has no "case" in its head filled with spermaceti and oil.
He calls the Sussex "the devil's ship" and tells Una that each night, as a sort of penance, he soaks his hands in spermaceti. "I wring my hands in it," he adds.
not turned-to-stone fossils but the original organic material in tusks of hairy mammoth, walrus, and narwal plus spermaceti and killer whale teeth are being gleaned by native peoples who live on the shores and shallows and inland deposits of the far north.
Flour and spermaceti ointment were also used to dress frostbite; on at least one occasion the physician indicated that rubbing with snow was effective (fol.
Whale oil figured in the production of cleansing agents and other chemical products, and the waxy substance called spermaceti, taken from the head of the sperm whale, made excellent candles.
A subtheme of Melville's cetology is the deckhand with his arms deep in spermaceti teasing the professors sitting in libraries of dubious knowledge or in laboratories too small to accommodate even the tenth part of a whale's head.
Along the way, Brilliant even delves into the development of a candle derived from the head of the sperm whale called "Spermaceti" that was used in the first scientific light experiments and would become the standard for measuring luminous intensity--one candlepower.
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