Ambergris (/ˈæmbərɡriːs/ or /ˈæmbərɡrɪs/;
Latin: ambra grisea;
Old French: ambre gris), 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.[1] 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.[2]
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.[3] Dogs are attracted to the smell of ambergris and are sometimes used by ambergris searchers.[4]
Etymology
The English word amber derives from the
Arabic word ʿanbar (عنبر;[5] ultimately from
Middle Persianambar,[6] also ambergris), via
Middle Latinambar and
Middle Frenchambre. The word "amber", in its sense of "ambergris", was adopted in
Middle English in the 14th century.[5]
The word "ambergris" comes from the
Old Frenchambre gris or "grey
amber".[7][8] 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.[5] 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.[9]
Formation
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.[7] Because the beaks of
giant squids have been discovered within lumps of ambergris, scientists have theorized that the substance is produced by the whale's gastrointestinal tract to ease the passage of hard, sharp objects that it may have eaten.
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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13]
Ambergris is found in lumps of various shapes and sizes, usually weighing from 15 grams (1⁄2 ounce) to 50 kilograms (110 pounds) or more.[7] 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 62 °C (144 °F) to a fatty, yellow resinous liquid; and at 100 °C (212 °F) it is volatilised into a white vapor. It is soluble in
ether, and in volatile and fixed oils.[7]
Chemical properties
Ambergris is relatively nonreactive to acid. White crystals of a
terpenoid known as
ambrein, discovered by
Leopold Ružička and Fernand Lardon in 1946,[16][17][18] 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
Ambroxide
Ambrinol
Ambroxide is now produced synthetically and used extensively in the perfume industry.[19]
Applications
Ambergris has been mostly known for its use in creating perfume and fragrance much like
musk. Perfumes based on ambergris still exist.[20]
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.[21] 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.[22] It has been used as a flavoring agent in Turkish coffee[23] and in hot chocolate in 18th century Europe.[24] The substance is considered an
aphrodisiac in some cultures.[25]
Ancient Egyptians burned ambergris as incense, while in modern
Egypt ambergris is used for scenting cigarettes.[26] The
ancient Chinese called the substance "dragon's spittle fragrance".[27] 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.
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.[28] 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.[29]
Countries where ambergris trade is illegal include:
^Panten, J. and Surburg, H. 2016. Flavors and Fragrances, 3. Aromatic and Heterocyclic Compounds. Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. 1–45.
^Ruzicka, L.; Lardon, F. (1946). "Zur Kenntnis der Triterpene. (105. Mitteilung) Über das Ambreïn, einen Bestandteil des grauen Ambra". Helvetica Chimica Acta. 29 (4): 912–921.
doi:
10.1002/hlca.19460290414.
^Brady, George Stuart; Clauser, Henry R.; Vaccari, John A. (2002). "Ambergris". Materials Handbook: An Encyclopedia for Managers, Technical Professionals, Purchasing and Production Managers, Technicians, and Supervisors. McGraw-Hill. p. 64.
ISBN978-0-07-136076-0.
Borschberg, Peter (April 2004). Pinto, Carla Alferes (ed.). "O comércio de âmbar asiático no início da época moderna (séculos XV–XVIII)" [The Asiatic Ambergris trade in the early modern period (15th to 18th century)]. Oriente (in Portuguese). 8. Lisbon: Fundação Oriente: 3–25.
montalvoeascinciasdonossotempo.blogspot, accessed 21 August 2015
Dudley, Paul (1724). "An Essay upon the Natural History of Whales, with a Particular Account of the Ambergris Found in the Sperma Ceti Whale. In a Letter to the Publisher, from the Honourable Paul Dudley, Esq; F. R. S". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. 33 (381–91): 256–69.
Bibcode:
1724RSPT...33..256D.
doi:
10.1098/rstl.1724.0053.
JSTOR103782.
S2CID186208376.
Kemp, Christopher (2012).
"The Origin of Ambergris". Floating Gold: A Natural (and Unnatural) History of Ambergris. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 8–16.
ISBN978-0-226-43036-2.