BOOKS and MONOGRAPHS

General Fiction, Non-Fiction and Literature - Crowley, A. Ambergris: A selection of poems of Aleister Crowley. London: E. Mathews, 1910. Not reviewed. Foster, A. D. Star Trek log five - The ambergris element. Leyden, MA: Aeonian Press, 1976. A paperback pulp version of an episode of the popular television series Star Trek. Harmone, Anne N. Ambergris & Arrowheads: Growing up on Cape Cod in the 1930’s & 1940’s. Boston: North Bay Publishers, 1994. Not reviewed. Jackson, G. R. Ambergris Island; or, The new El Dorado: a tale of love and adventure in the southern seas. Boston: W. A. Evans, 1882. Not reviewed. Huneker, J. Bedouins. New York: AMS Press, 1920. A book of essays written by Huneker. Part II, entitled Idols and Ambergris, focuses on religion and contains an essay on devil worship entitled Idols and Ambergris and Rare Inlays. Melville, Herman. Moby Dick, or, the whale. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1871. Of ambergris Ishmael makes the observations: Ambergris is a product of "dyspepsia in the whale." "I have forgotten to say that there were found in this ambergris, certain hard, round, bony plates, which at first Stubbs thought might be sailors' trousers buttons; but it afterwards turned out that they were nothing more than pieces of small squid bones embalmed in that manner." And he asks: "Who would think, then, that such fine ladies and gentlemen should regale themselves with an essence found in the inglorious bowels of a sick whale?" "Now that the incorruption of this most fragrant ambergris should be found in the heart of such decay; is this nothing?" Niskala, Brenda. Ambergris moon. Saskatoon, Sask.: Thistledown Press, 1983. A book of poems. Not reviewed. Stevenson, C. H. Aquatic products in arts and industries. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1903. Not reviewed. Wijesuriya, Usula P. Ambergris. Dehiwala, India: Sridevi Printers, 1991. Novel - fiction. Not reviewed. Odors and Odor Perception - Ackerman, Diane, A natural history of the senses. New York: Random House, 1990. Chapter - Smell. pp. 12, 62. Ambergris is a glandular secretion of the stomach of the whale intended to protect it from the backbones [sic!] of cuttlefish and the beaks of squid. Queen Elizabeth I of England was very fond of wearing gloves scented with ambergris. Harper, Roland, Odour description and odour classification; a multidisciplinary examination. New York: American Elsevier, 1968. Describes odor series and odor specifics containing ambergris, ambrein or synthetic substitutes. The scent, referred to as amber or amber note, can be derived from oak moss or labdanes from a variety of plant materials. Some people are anosmic, non-smellers, and cannot smell ambergris at all. Moncrieff, R. W. Odour preferences. New York: Wiley, 1966. Ambergris scents are ranked 89th by 16 subjects out of 132 standard odors. Men rank it as 105th and women as 81st. Men and women both liked ambergris scents better overall when diluted. Spices, Perfumes and Fragrances - Arctander, S. Perfume and flavor materials of natural origin. Elizabeth, NJ: 1960. Ambra, p. 55 Ambergris, which should really be called ambra, is found in the sperm whale, Physeter catodon, as the result of a pathological condition. It is found on the shores of New Zealand, East India, est and Southwest Africa, Madagascar, Indochina, Brazil and Norway (???). He also says it is found in all seven seas. The scent is of seaweed, wood and moss with a sweet undertone of unequalled tenacity. It is used as a 20-fold concentrated tincture or resinoid. In addition to perfumery it has been used in the flavoring of dried fruit and tobacco. Askinson, G. W. Perfumes and cosmetics, their preparation and manufacture; A complete and practical treatise for the use of the perfumer and cosmetic manufacturer. Covering the origin and selection of essential oils and other perfume materials, the compounding of perfumes and the perfuming of cosmetics, etc. 5th ed. Rev. New York: Norman W. Henley Publishing Co. 1922. Bauer, K. Common fragrance and flavor materials : preparation, properties, and uses. Berlin: VCH Verlagsgesellschaft , 1990. Not reviewed Bedoukian, P. Z. Perfumery synthetics and isolates. New York: Van Nostrand, 1951. Not reviewed Billot, M. Perfumery technology: Art, science, industry. East Horwood, NY: Halsted Press, 1975. Not reviewed. Chevalier, N. Description de la piece d'ambre gris que la Chambre d'Amsterdam a receue des Indes Orientales pesant 182 livres: Avec un petit traite de son origine et de sa vertu. Amsterdam: Published by the author, 1700. Not reviewed. Clifford, F. S. A romance of perfume lands, or, The search for Capt. Jacob Cole: with interesting facts about perfumes and articles used in the toilet. Boston: Clifford & Co., 1881. Jean's Hidden Treasures, pp. 287-290. In this ridiculous and wholly fictional account of a worldwide sea journey in search of the lost Capt. Jacob Cole, Clifford describes using a diving suit to find ambergris on the bottom of the sea and digging it out of the sediments with a pick axe! He notes that in Sinbad's sixth voyage he is shipwrecked on a desert island and finds that, "Here is also a fountain of pitch and bitumen that runs into the sea, which the fishes swallow, and then vomit it up again, turned into ambergris." Ambergris is used in the manufacture of cassolettes, little perforated ivory boxes made to contain powdered odoriferous substances to carry in the pocket or reticule. It was also used in the production of peau d'Espagne, or "Spanish skin," used for perfuming writing paper and envelopes. Queen Elizabeth I is said to have worn a cape made of peau d'Espagne. Cooley, A. J. The toilet and cosmetic arts in ancient and modern times: with a review of the different theories of beauty, and copious allied information. London: R. Hardwicke, 1866. Not reviewed. Delbourg-Delphis, Marylène, Le sillage des élégantes: Un siècle d’histoire des parfums. Paris: J.-C. Lattès, 1983. Not reviewed. Faure, P. Parfums et aromates de l’antiquité. Paris: Fayard, 1987. Not reviewed. Feinberg, Hilda, Cosmetics-perfumery thesaurus. New York: CCM Information Corp., 1972. Not reviewed. le Gallienne, R. The romance of perfume. New York: Richard Hudnut, 1928. Le Gallienne has written several other The Romance of - books, as well. This is a delightful little book full of art nouveau illustrations and fanciful tales which must be read from cover to cover. This one is a flowery (pun intended) discourse on the role of scent in the art, history and psychology of man. "Perfume would seem to be one of the elements, one of the original secrets of the universe. How it gets into flowers, and certain uncouth creatures, as for instance, ambergris in the whale, or civet in the civet cat of Abyssinia, or musk once more in the Florida alligator, is a hidden process of the divine chemistry, and why it affects us as it does no philosopher has yet explained. Literally, it belongs to those invisible powers whose influence is incalculable, and as yet unknowable." Louis XV used ambergris to flavor his favorite dishes. Queen Elizabeth I used it to perfume her gloves. The Crusaders, "who will not be suspected of effeminacy," were largely responsible for the introduction of perfume in to Europe from their contact with the Arabs. Galopin, A. Le parfum de la femme et le sens olfactif dans l’amour; étude psycho-physiologique. Paris: E. Dentu, 1886. Not reviewed. Gattefossé, R. M. Formulary of perfumes and cosmetics. New York: Chemical Publishing Co., 1959. Provides a recipe for tincture of ambergris and for several modern fine perfumes and classical perfumes, including, rose attar, Russian amber cologne, Felix Cola cologne, Extracts II and III and Amber-Scented Imperial . Genders, R. A history of scent. London: Hamilton, 1972. Not reviewed. Genders, R. Perfume through the ages. New York: Putnam, 1972. Not reviewed. Gerhardt, O. Essenzen und Aromen. Kurzer Abriß über die in der Industrie der Zuckerwaren, Limonaden und Spirituosen verwendeten künstlichen und natürlichen Aromastoffe; ihre Gewinnung, Eigenschaften und Verwendung in der Praxis. Vienna: A. Hartleben, 1925. Not reviewed. The Givaudan index: Specifications of synthetics and isolates for perfumery. New York: Givaudan-Delawanna, Inc. 1949. Not reviewed. Groom, N. St. J. The perfume handbook. London: Chapman & Hall, 1992. Not reviewed. International Congress of Essential Oils, Fragrances, and Flavors (10th: 1986: Washington, D.C.), Flavors and fragrances: A world perspective: Proceedings of the 10th International Congress of Essential Oils, Fragrances, and Flavors, New York: Elsevier, 1988. Jessee, Jill Eva, Perfume album. New York: Perfume Productions Press, 1951. Not reviewed. Kennett, Frances, History of perfume. London: Harrap, 1975. Not reviewed. Lardon, F. Contribution a l’etude de l’ambreol. Paris: Moutier, Impr. Robert, 1948. Not reviewed. Morris, Edwin T. Fragrance: the story of perfume from Cleopatra to Chanel. New York: Scribner, 1984. Not reviewed. Parry, J. W. The spice handbook; spices, aromatic seeds and herbs. New York: Chemical Publishing Co., 1945. Not reviewed. Parry, J. W. The story of spices. New York: Chemical Pub. Co., 1953. Not reviewed. ________, Spices: Their morphology, histology and chemistry. New York: Chemical Pub. Co. 1962. Not reviewed. Ohloff, G. Riechstoffe und Geruchssinn. Berlin: Springer-Verlag, 1993. Not reviewed. Poucher, W. A. Perfumes, cosmetics and soaps, Vol. I: Being a dictionary of raw materials together with an account of the nomenclature of synthetics. New York: Van Nostrand, 1936. This book contains, by far, the best overall early description and review of the knowledge on the formation of ambergris, its characteristics, uses and early synthetic substitutes. The very expensive perfume Ambre Royale aux Fleurs, No. 1114 contains ambergris, as does a mbrone no. 1007, a mixture for making other scents. Poucher cites A. C. Stirling as an authority on ambergris and refers extensively to a co-authored March 17, 1934 article in Chemist and Druggist: Ambergris was an article of imperial trade in Audoghast in northwest Africa before 1,000AD. In the 10th century Ibn Haukal, an Arab trader, classed it in value with gold and black slaves and referred to its reputed aphrodisiac properties. According to Gattefossé, ambergris is formed in the gut of the sperm whale in association with the cuttlefish, Elodone moschata, found in tropical seas. The cuttlefish has been found to contain ambrein, itself which suggests that ambrein may originate in the squid, or by bacterial action in the gut of the whale, but not as a metabolic product of the whale, itself, as is often reported. The ancient Romans used the dried cuttlefish as a base for musky (moschata) fragrances. Labdanum is the only plant derived material that really closely resembles the fragrance of raw ambergris. Labdanum is derived from common bee balm, Monarda didyma, by distillation of its leaves. Spirit of ambergris (ambergris tincture) was originally prepared reducing 1½ oz. of ambergris 30 grains musk and 20 grains civet to powder in loaf sugar, to which was added the juice of 1 unripe lime. This was poured into 3 pints of pure alcohol spirits and placed in a stoppered jar. The jar was placed in the constant heat of horse manure for 21 days and the clear liquid decanted as tincture of ambergris. Poucher defines several grades and types of ambergris and notes that it imparts a velvetiness to fine and expensive perfumes. It is a good fixative for floral scents and one drop on a piece of paper can last for months in the open. The fragrance of ambergris is itself referred to as amber, amber scent or amber note in perfumery. Ambres are mixtures containing ambergris or its substitutes. Poucher, W. A. The raw materials of perfumery, 7th ed. New York: Wiley, 1974. Not reviewed. Sagarin, E. Cosmetics science and technology. New York: Interscience Publishers, 1957. Fragrance, p. 24 Nicholas of Alexandria "Myepsos" (ointment maker) mentions ambergris in his Antidotarium Magnum, written in Constantinople in the 11th century. It shows the influence of Arab medicine in the West. ________, The science and art of perfumery. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1945. The Perfumer's Zoo, pp. 61-63, 118, 179. Leo Africanus reports that the Sultan of Fez sent a tribute to an African mountain king of "fiftie men slaues & fiftie women slaues, sixteen civet-cats, one pound of civet, and a pound of amber." Of the perfume ingredient ambergris Sagarin says, "None is known better to the public; none less used by the perfumer." The use of absolute ambrein from gum labdanum dates back to Genesis in the Bible, so he says. Whalers called ambergris in the gut of sperm whales calculus. Santini de Riols, E. N. Dictionnaire des pierres et des parfums magiques, historique, symbolique, vertus thérapeutiques et occultes. Paris: P. Belfond, 1981. Not reviewed. Secondini, O. Handbook of perfumes and flavors. New York: Chemical Publishing Co., 1990. Not reviewed. Teisseire, P. J. Chemistry of fragrant substances, transl. Peter A. Cadby. New York: VCH, 1994. Not reviewed. Theimer, E. T., ed. Fragrance chemistry: the science of the sense of smell. New York: Academic Press, 1982. Not reviewed. Trueman, J. The romantic story of scent. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975. Not reviewed. van Toller, S. and G. H. Dodd, eds. Perfumery: The psychology and biology of fragrance. New York: Chapman and Hall, 1988. The Molecular Dimension in Perfumery, p. 36 There is evidence that there may be a specific odorant receptor site for ambergris and ambergris-like scents. Sea Fragrances, p. 159 There is a very useful synthetic ambergris scent made by Firmenich called Ambre 150B.SA in which the sweet, seaweed-like tones of wood and moss are emphasized. Training a Perfume Sales Artist, p. 221 The very expensive Chypre perfume, originally produced on the island of Cyprus, contains oak moss, patchouli and ambergris. Verrill, A. H. Perfumes and spices, including an account of soaps and cosmetics; the story of the history, source, preparation, and use of the spices. Boston: L. C. Page & Co., 1940. Mysterious Ambergris, pp. 110-223. Ambergris does not exist in more than one whale among thousands. Whales which contain it are as healthy as any others. A detailed list of significant ambergris finds by American whaling vessels is provided from 1864 - 1914. New Bedford ships appear to have been the most successful. The bark Splendid of Dunedin, New Zealand found in 1883, however, the largest lump of ambergris which weighed 983 lb. and was worth $250,000. He tells several whimsical tales of major finds among beachcomers. In one a pair of native Hawaiian cowboys find jetsam on a beach and rub down their ponies with it thinking it to be sponges. They are disgusted by the greasy feel of the masses and return to camp to groom their ponies where the obvious ambergris odor prompts others to get them to go back to find the lumps they used. They find only a few left behind by the tide but there is enough to set them up for life as plantation owners, themselves. The best test for ambergris was to insert a heated needle into the suspect mass. If an amber drop of molten ambrein, with its characteristic odor, appeared at the puncture site then the lump was, in fact, ambergris. Wells, F. V. and M. Billot. Perfumery technology: Art, science, industry, 2nd ed. New York: Halsted Press, 1981. Not reviewed. Winter, Ruth, A consumer's dictionary of cosmetic ingredients, rev. ed. New York: Crown, 1984. Ambergris is listed as being non-toxic. ________, The smell book: Scents, sex, and society. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1976. Not reviewed. Whales and Whaling - Andrews, R. C. Whale hunting with gun and camera. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1916. A Strange Giant of the Ocean, pp. 225-227. The production of ambergris in the sperm whale is pathological. It is never found in healthy whales. The intestines of many dead sperm whales are found to be completely clogged with it. In Asia ambergris was employed as a spice in cooking. The Turks considered it the most pleasing offering to Allah to bring with them on their life pilgrimage to Mecca. Ashley, C. W. The Yankee whaler. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1926. The Whale, p. 83. It is the most valued product of the whale, which is ironic because it only comes from "sick" whales. It is used to intensify fragrances in only the most expensive perfumes and is usually mixed with attar of roses. In the Orient ambergris was used medicinally as an aphrodisiac. Beale, T. The natural history of the sperm whale: Its anatomy and physiology, food, spermaceti, ambergris, rise and progress of the fishery, chase and capture, "cutting in," and "trying out," description of the ships, boats, men and instruments used in the attack, with an account of its favorite places of resort, to which is added, a sketch of a South-sea whaling voyage. London: Holland Press, 1839. Not reviewed. Brooks, Barbara, ed. The whole whale catalog. Waukegan, IL: Greatlakes Living Press, 1978. Not reviewed. Burton, R. The life and death of whales. New York: Universe Books, 1980. The Sperm Whalers, pp. 118, 120-121. When first brought on board it was the custom for whalers to strike a harpoon deep into the gut of a killed sperm whale and smell the tip for traces of ambergris in hopes of a quick fortune. In 1912 a 450 kg. lump of ambergris saved a Norwegian whaling company from liquidation. It sold for 23,000£ in London. Campbell, W. M. Our bountiful shore. Auckland : United Press, 1955. Chapters Harpoons ahoy! and Jetsam & Seaweed mention ambergris. Cousteau, J.-Y. The whale: Mighty monarch of the sea, transl. J. F. Bernard, New York: Doubleday, 1972. Cachalot "Chances are that cachalots would have fared better at the hands of whalers if it had not been for ambergris; for their flesh is mediocre and their oil inferior to that of baleen whales." The sperm whale (cachalot) has the longest gut of any animal in proportion to its size. The gut is 24 times the animal’s body length. In humans it is only 6 times longer. Dakin, William J. Whalemen adventures - The story of whaling in Australian waters and other South Seas related thereto, from the days of sails to modern times. Sydney, Australia: Angus & Robertson Ltd., 1934. Not reviewed. Dees, Lola T. Ambergris. U. S. Dept. Interior, Fish and Wildlife Serv., Fishery Leaflet No. 517, May, 1961. Not reviewed. Ellis, R. The book of whales. New York: Knopf, 1980. Not reviewed. ________, Men and whales. New York: Knopf, 1991. Chinese Whaling, p. 90. Before the year 1,000 the Chinese knew ambergris as lung sien hiang, "dragon’s spittle fragrance," which was supposed to come from the spittle of sea dragons sleeping on sea rocks and drooling into the ocean. American Sperm Whaling, p. 145. Along with the customary description of the substance, Ellis reminds us that it should be pronounced as am-ber-gree because the term is, after all, French [sic]. Norwegian Floating Factories, p. 356. On December 24, 1908 a "boulder" of ambergris weighing 1003 lb., the largest ever found, was brought in by the whalers of Larvik in Norway. It sold for 23,000£ and saved the company from bankruptcy. The Soviet Juggernaut, p. 417. Only 3-4% of all sperm whales killed by the Soviet whaling fleet were found to contain ambergris. The largest find by the Soviets was made by the vessel Sovietskaya Rossiya in 1967 at 595 lb. Hershkovitz, Philip, Catalog of living whales. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution (avail. GPO), 1966. Not reviewed. Jenkins, J. T. A history of the whale fisheries. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1971. The Economics of Whaling, p. 42. Ambergris is a diseased secretion of the intestines of the sperm whale worth more than its weight in gold. Martin, A. R. The illustrated encyclopedia of whales and dolphins. New York: Portland House, 1990. Not reviewed. Matthews, L. H. The whale. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968. Whale Products, p. 224. The second largest piece of ambergris ever recovered was one that weighed 926 lb. It was found in the Antarctic by the whaling ship Southern Harvester in 1953. The largest is not mentioned! McNulty, Faith, The great whales. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974. Not reviewed. Norman, J. R. and F. C. Fraser, Giant fishes: Whales and dolphins. New York: Norton & Co., 1938. Not reviewed. Sanderson, I. T. Follow the whale. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1956. Half-Light over Warm Seas, p. 113. Ambergris was first noted in history by the Chinese and appears in the writings of Pen Tsa’o from before the year 1,000AD as lung sien hiang, "dragon’s spittle perfume." It was presumed to come from the spittle of sea dragons sleeping on low sea islands. High Noon on the High Seas, p. 211. Ambergris was well known to the ancient Egyptians who used it as incense. The Arabs called it ‘anbar, the same term by which the Coptic Bible refers to the fish that swallowed Jonah. The bacterium Spirillum recti physeteris is thought responsible for the production of the pleasant odor principle of ambergris in the gut of the sperm whale. Sperm whales are notorious sufferers from colic and when they are basking on the surface quietly it is easy to hear great rumblings in their guts punctuated by monumental belches which can be heard at great distances over the sea. Scheffer, V. B. The year of the whale. New York: Scribner’s, 1969. January, p. 90. A delightfully illustrated little book full of lore. When Christopher Ash was asked to describe the smell of ambergris he said, "It always reminds me of a cool English wood in spring, and the scent you smell when you tear up the moss to uncover the dark soil underneath." Ambergris tincture was once sold at $10/oz. Slijper, E. J. Whales, transl. A. J. Pomerans. New York: Basic Books, 1962. Feeding, pp. 292-293. The West came to know ambergris through Arab traders to the Andamans in the Indian Ocean. In Europe there was great confusion over its origin until 1724 when Dudley demonstrated conclusively that it came from the gut of the sperm whale. In 1791 the House of Commons summoned Capt. Coffin, master whaler, to explain to the assembly exactly what ambergris was. Ambergris is not the result of a pathological condition of the whale but a natural concretion of the indigestible portion of its principal food, the cuttlefish. Ambergris was once worth twice its weight in gold. The Dutch East India Company possessed a piece weighing 975 lb. (420 kg). The largest piece ever removed from a sperm whale was in the Antarctic by the whaling ship Southern Harvester in 1953. The piece weighed 918 lb. and was worth 40 - 70£/oz. Tønnessen, J. N. and A. O. Johnsen, The history of modern whaling. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 1982. The Pacific, p. 112 The whaling ship Mary D. Hume, on her maiden voyage, captured her first whale which contained a lump of ambergris worth $30,000. Australia and New Zealand, p. 223. The whaling ship the Southern Harvester captured a sperm whale on December 21, 1953 which contained a lump of ambergris weighing 926 lb. The First Attempts on New and Old Grounds, p. 322. The Spanish whaling station Getares on the Falkland Islands found a whale with a 304 lb. lump of ambergris in 1927 which it sold to the Norwegians, owners of the only other whaling company in the Falklands, for Kr 400,000, considered an outrageous price (high or low is not mentioned). Watson, L. Sea guide to whales of the world. New York: Dutton, 1981, p. 173. Great Sperm Whale "During digestion, perhaps initiated by the sharp beak of a squid and encouraged by a flow of bile, a dark, sticky resinous mass builds up in the stomach of some whales. This becomes squeezed into a bolus in the intestine, where it picks up more squid beaks and detritus, growing as new strata are added to its surface, until the whole lump is excreted; it floats on the ocean surface or breaks up into smaller aromatic pieces which eventually drift ashore. This is ambergris." Zim, H. S. The great whales. Morrow, 1951 Not reviewed. PREVIOUS: Quotations NEXT: Dissertations TOP: Title Page