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Ambergris

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Template:Short description {{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}}

File:Ambergris, Skagway Museum.JPG
Ambergris in dried form

Ambergris (Template:IPAc-en or Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx; Template:Langx), ambergrease, or grey amber is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull grey or blackish colour produced in the digestive system of sperm whales.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Freshly produced ambergris has a marine, fecal odor. It acquires a sweet, earthy scent as it ages, commonly likened to the fragrance of isopropyl alcohol without the vaporous chemical astringency.<ref name="Burr">Template:Cite book</ref>

Ambergris has been highly valued by perfume makers as a fixative that allows the scent to last much longer, although it has been mostly replaced by synthetic ambroxide.<ref>Panten, J. and Surburg, H. 2016. Flavors and Fragrances, 3. Aromatic and Heterocyclic Compounds. Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. 1–45.</ref> It is sometimes used in cooking.

Dogs are attracted to the smell of ambergris and are sometimes used by ambergris searchers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

EtymologyEdit

The English word amber derives from Middle Persian ʾmbl, traveling via Arabic {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), <ref name="Amber Etymonline">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Edward Lipinski | Semitic Languages Outline of A Comparative Grammar | Department Of Oriental Studies Leuven Belgium | Assimilation stages of the word Anbar P.189 https://hcommons.org/?get_group_doc=1004138/1673969011-Lipinski_-_Semitic_Languages._Outline_of_a_Comparative_Grammar.pdf</ref> Middle Latin ambar, and Middle French ambre to be adopted in Middle English in the 14th century.<ref name="Amber Etymonline" />

The word "ambergris" comes from the Old French ambre gris or "grey amber".<ref name="EB1911">Template:Cite EB1911</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The addition of "grey" came about when, in the Romance languages, the sense of the word "amber" was extended to Baltic amber (fossil resin), as white or yellow amber (ambre jaune), from as early as the late 13th century.<ref name="Amber Etymonline" /> This fossilized resin subsequently became the dominant (and now exclusive) sense of "amber", leaving "ambergris" as the word for the whale secretion.

The archaic alternate spelling "ambergrease" arose as an eggcorn from the phonetic pronunciation of "ambergris," encouraged by the substance's waxy texture.<ref name="OED">Template:Cite OED</ref>

FormationEdit

Ambergris is formed from a secretion of the bile duct in the intestines of the sperm whale, and can be found floating on the sea or washed up on coastlines. It is sometimes found in the abdomens of dead sperm whales.<ref name="EB1911"/> Because the beaks of giant squids have been discovered within lumps of ambergris, scientists have hypothesized that the substance is produced by the whale's gastrointestinal tract to ease the passage of hard, sharp objects that it may have eaten.Template:Citation needed

Ambergris is passed like fecal matter. It is speculated that an ambergris mass too large to be passed through the intestines is expelled via the mouth, but this remains under debate.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Another theory states that an ambergris mass is formed when the colon of a whale is enlarged by a blockage from intestinal worms and cephalopod parts resulting in the death of the whale and the mass being excreted into the sea.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Ambergris takes years to form. Christopher Kemp, the author of Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris, says that it is only produced by sperm whales, and only by an estimated one percent of them. Ambergris is rare; once expelled by a whale, it often floats for years before making landfall.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The slim chances of finding ambergris and the legal ambiguity involved led perfume makers away from ambergris, and led chemists on a quest to find viable alternatives.<ref name="Daley 2016">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Ambergris is found primarily in the Atlantic Ocean and on the coasts of South Africa; 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 Atlantic, particularly New Providence. In 2021, fishermen found a 127 kg (280-pound) piece of ambergris off the coast of Yemen, valued at US$1.5 million.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Fossilised ambergris from 1.75 million years ago has also been found.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Physical propertiesEdit

Ambergris is found in lumps of various shapes and sizes, usually weighing from Template:Convert to Template:Convert or more.<ref name="EB1911"/> 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 photodegradation and oxidation in the ocean, this precursor gradually hardens, developing a dark grey or black color, a crusty and waxy texture, and a peculiar odor that is at once sweet, earthy, marine, and animalic. Its scent 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 (meaning it floats in water). It melts at about Template:Convert to a fatty, yellow resinous liquid; and at Template:Convert it is volatilised into a white vapor. It is soluble in ether, and in volatile and fixed oils.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Chemical propertiesEdit

Ambergris is relatively nonreactive to acid. White crystals of a terpenoid known as ambrein, discovered by Leopold Ružička and Fernand Lardon in 1946,<ref name=ruzicka46>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="frs">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="hillier19">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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 produces ambroxide and ambrinol, the main odor components of ambergris.

  • Ambrein.svg

    Ambrein

  • Ambrox.svg

    Ambroxide

  • Ambrinol.svg

    Ambrinol

Ambroxide is now produced synthetically and used extensively in the perfume industry.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

ApplicationsEdit

Ambergris has been mostly known for its use in creating perfume and fragrance much like musk. Perfumes based on ambergris still exist.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Ambergris has historically been used in food and drink. A serving of eggs and ambergris was reportedly King Charles II of England's favorite dish.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> A recipe for Rum Shrub liqueur from the mid 19th century called for a thread of ambergris to be added to rum, almonds, cloves, cassia, and the peel of oranges in making a cocktail from The English and Australian Cookery Book.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It has been used as a flavoring agent in Turkish coffee<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and in hot chocolate in 18th century Europe.<ref name="Green">Template:Cite newsTemplate:Cbignore</ref> The substance is considered an aphrodisiac in some cultures.<ref name="uchicago1">Template:Cite book</ref>

Ancient Egyptians burned ambergris as incense, while in modern Egypt ambergris is used for scenting cigarettes.<ref name="MatHB">Template:Cite book</ref> Template:AnchorThe ancient Chinese called the substance "dragon's spittle fragrance".<ref name=sciam>Template:Cite magazine</ref> During the Black Death in Europe, people believed that carrying a ball of ambergris could help prevent them from contracting plague. This was because the fragrance covered the smell of the air which was believed to be a cause of plague.

During the Middle Ages, Europeans used ambergris as a medication for headaches, colds, epilepsy, and other ailments.<ref name=sciam />

LegalityEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} From the 18th to the mid-19th century, the whaling industry prospered. By some reports, nearly 50,000 whales, including sperm whales, were killed each year. Throughout the 19th century, "millions of whales were killed for their oil, whalebone, and ambergris" to fuel profits, and they soon became endangered as a species as a result.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Due to studies showing that the whale populations were being threatened, the International Whaling Commission instituted a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1982. Although ambergris is not harvested from whales, many countries also ban the trade of ambergris as part of the more general ban on the hunting and exploitation of whales.

Urine, faeces, and ambergris (that has been naturally excreted by a sperm whale) are waste products not considered parts or derivatives of a CITES species and are therefore not covered by the provisions of the convention.<ref>CITES CoP16 Com. II Rec. 2 (Rev. 1), Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, Sixteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties Bangkok (Thailand), 3–14 March 2013 Summary record of the second session of Committee II</ref>

Countries where ambergris trade is illegal include:

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Countries where trade of ambergris is legal include:

  • United Kingdom<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • France<ref name=":0" />
  • Switzerland<ref name=":0" />
  • Maldives<ref name=":0" />

ReferencesEdit

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Further readingEdit

External linksEdit

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