Page:Natural History (1848).djvu/123

Rh As this band is pulled off, the body revolves, until the stripping reaches the small, when it will turn no more. In the mean time, the head having been placed in an upright position, an opening is made in the front of the case, and the spermaceti dipped out with a bucket at the end of a pole. The junk, a thick mass of tough, tendinous substance, situated beneath the case, is then extracted and cut into pieces, as well as the blubber; both of these substances being rendered into oil by means of heat. The products are then stowed away in barrels in the hold.

The preparation of the crude spermaceti, when brought home, is thus performed:—"The mass is put into hair or woollen bags, and pressed between plates of iron in a screw-press, until it becomes hard and brittle; it is then broken into small pieces, and thrown into boiling water, where it melts, and the impurities are separated from it. After being cooled, and taken from the first water, it is put into a boiler of clean water, and a weak solution of potash is gradually added. This is | thrice repeated, after which the whole is poured into coolers, when the spermaceti concretes into a white semi-crystallized mass, and on being cut into small pieces exhibits a beautiful flaky appearance, so well known as belonging to the spermaceti of commerce." As in the Cachalots, the head of the true Whales is of enormous bulk as compared with the body and extremities, but it does not terminate in a