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Topics related to "spermaceti"

spermaceti
spermaceti , solid waxy substance, white, odorless, and tasteless, separated from the oils obtained from the sperm whale (see sperm oil ) and other marine mammals. A mixture of esters of fatty acids, it is composed chiefly of cetyl palmitate. Spermaceti is insoluble in water and does not putrefy. I... Read more
sperm whale
sperm whale largest of the toothed whales , Physeter catodon, found in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is also called cachalot. Male sperm whales may grow to more than 70 ft (21 m) long and females to 30 ft (9 m). Most are dark blue-black all over; a few have white undersides. The large squa... Read more
wax
wax substance secreted by glands on the abdomen of the bee and known commonly as beeswax; also various substances resembling beeswax. Waxes are mixtures comprising chiefly esters of monohydroxy alcohols, besides other esters and free fatty acids, free alcohols, and higher hydrocarbons. They differ ... Read more
whale
whale aquatic mammal of the order Cetacea, found in all oceans of the world. Members of this order vary greatly in size and include the largest animals that have ever lived. Cetaceans never leave the water, even to give birth. Although their ancestry has been much debated, DNA studies and skeletal ... Read more

Encyclopedia entries related to "spermaceti"

spermaceti
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition spermaceti , solid waxy substance, white, odorless, and tasteless, separated...of esters of fatty acids, it is composed chiefly of cetyl palmitate. Spermaceti is insoluble in water and does not putrefy. It is used mostly in ointments...
sperm whale
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition ...a ton of fine oil, known as sperm oil , and a wax called spermaceti . Sperm whaling was the foundation of the economic expansion...cent. The industries founded on ambergris, sperm oil, and spermaceti resulted in the slaughter of sperm whales almost to extinction...
Whaling Industry
Encyclopedia entry from: Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History ...and became a base for paint. By the middle of the century, spermaceti, a waxy solid that was extracted from the whale's head...sperm whale, which began around 1812. Its heads contained spermaceti and also a reservoir of oil that was known for its purity...
Jojoba Oil
Encyclopedia entry from: Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine ...jojoba oil makes it especially useful for cosmetic applications. When the United States banned the use of sperm whale oil (spermaceti wax) in 1974, the government began to fund efforts to investigate and cultivate jojoba as a replacement. Jojoba oil was...
candle
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition ...wax such as bayberry in the American colonies, candleberry in the East, and waxberry in South America were supplemented by spermaceti in the late 18th cent., by stearine c.1825, and by paraffin c.1850. Twisted strands for wicks were replaced (c...
whaling
Book article from: The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea ...caught in 1712 by a Nantucket whaler it triggered a new wave of whaling in warmer waters, for the sperm whales' waxy oil and spermaceti, used to make wax candles and other useful commodities, quickly proved more profitable than the right whale's oil. The...
Moses Brown
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of World Biography ...elder Brown's interests included not only the West Indies trade but also insurance, moneylending, and the manufacture of spermaceti candles — diversification typical of the era of merchant capitalism. On the death of his uncle in 1762, Moses...
wax
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition ...ointments, and soaps, in the processes of finishing and softening leather, and as an ingredient of some paints and varnishes; spermaceti , obtained from the sperm whale, and Chinese wax, which is deposited on certain trees in parts of Asia (especially China...
sperm oil
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition ...in the whale's head (this oil cavity helps the whale keep part of his head above water for breathing). A solid wax, spermaceti , is extracted from the oil by filtration and treatment with potassium hydroxide. The oil is an excellent lubricant, especially...

Dictionary entries related to "spermaceti"

spermaceti
Book article from: A Dictionary of Ecology spermaceti Highly vascular tissue, filled with a mixture of fatty esters...enlarged snout. A full-grown sperm whale may carry one tonne of spermaceti. The function of spermaceti is not known with certainty, but since its density changes...
sperm
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English sperm / spərm / • n. ( pl. same or sperms ) 1. short for spermatozoon . ∎  inf. semen. 2. short for sperm whale . ∎  short for spermaceti or sperm oil .
Harcourt, A. G. Vernon
Dictionary entry from: Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography ...London gas. His major contribution in the field of gas testing was to introduce the pentane lamp in place of the less reliable spermaceti candles hitherto used in brightness measurements. At the turn of the century he furthered anesthesia research by devising...
waxes
Book article from: A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition ...alcohols (fats are esters of fatty acids with glycerol), e.g. beeswax, an ester of palmitic acid with myricyl alcohol; spermaceti, palmitic acid with cetyl alcohol. Animal waxes are often esters of the steroid alcohol cholesterol .
Physeteroidea
Book article from: A Dictionary of Zoology ...comprises the families Ziphiidae (beaked and bottle-nosed whales) and Physeteridae (sperm whales), mammals capable of diving to great depths (2000 m in the case of sperm whales). The head contains a reservoir filled with spermaceti .
Physeteridae
Book article from: A Dictionary of Zoology ...A family of whales in which the head is blunt and more or less rectangular in shape, containing a reservoir filled with spermaceti . Functional teeth are present only in the lower jaw. Sperm whales feed on squid, fish, and Crustacea , diving deeply to...
sperm whale
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English sperm whale • n. a toothed whale of the family Physeteridae (esp. the very large Physeter macrocephalus ), with a massive head, typically feeding at great depths on squid, formerly valued for the spermaceti and sperm oil in its head and the ambergris in its intestines.
junk
Book article from: The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English ...xA0; Finance junk bonds. 2. inf. heroin. 3. the lump of oily fibrous tissue in a sperm whale's head, containing spermaceti. • v. [ tr. ] inf. discard or abandon unceremoniously: sort out what could be sold off and junk the rest...
Candles
Dictionary entry from: Dictionary of American History ...expensive, made from beeswax. They also used a variety of other materials, such as bear grease, deer suet, bayberry, spermaceti, and well-rendered mutton fat. Every autumn, they filled leather or tin boxes with enough candles to last through the...
Industries, Colonial
Dictionary entry from: Dictionary of American History ...Massachusetts, and villages on the eastern end of Long Island were doing a profitable business in supplying the demand for spermaceti, sperm oil, whalebone, and ambergris. After the opening of the eighteenth century, whaling expanded to a remarkable extent...

Related newspaper, magazine, and trade journal articles from HighBeam Research

Fat heads sink ships
Magazine article from: Natural History; 9/1/2002; ; 700+ words ; ...quantity of higher-quality oil-- spermaceti oil-could be ladled out of the enormous...forehead. This structure, known as the spermaceti organ, has two oil-filled chambers...has room for as much as 500 gallons of spermaceti oil. (The sperm whale's spermaceti...
Agreement Signed Between Jojoba Association and Whale Conservation Group
Newspaper article from: U.S. Newswire; 5/7/2008; 611 words ; ...whale products were banned in 1986, spermaceti from whales was widely used as an emollient...jojoba esters to be a virtual match to spermaceti. In fact, the two compounds share...high-end skin emollients. Producing spermaceti, however, requires killing whales...
Butting whales.(journal extracts)
Magazine article from: Ecos; 1/1/2003; ; 700+ words ; ...sacs within their head, known as the spermaceti sac and the junk. Various biologists have argued that the spermaceti is used in whale sonar, buoyancy...indicates that the momentum of the spermaceti organ of a large mobile sperm whale...
Recent studies by D. Mathias and co-authors add new data to acoustic research findings.
Newspaper article from: Journal of Engineering; 6/17/2009; 657 words ; ...could then be used to estimate both the spermaceti organ length and total length of the...However, acoustic estimates of spermaceti organ size, derived from standard sound...the junk is smaller than that of the spermaceti organ, in contradiction with known...
Preparation and evaluation of waxes/fat microspheres loaded with lithium carbonate for controlled release.(Research Paper)
Magazine article from: Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences; 3/1/2007; ; 700+ words ; ...such as beeswax, cetostearyl alcohol, spermaceti and cetylalcohol microspheres using...from Micro Labs, Bangalore, India. Spermaceti was generously gifted by British Drug...waxes (beeswax, cetostearyl alcohol, spermaceti) and fat (cetylalcohol) were melted...
JERSEY SHORE
Newspaper article from: The Record (Bergen County, NJ); 9/11/1994; 681 words ; ...Fall Migration Bird Walk will leave the Spermaceti Cove Visitor Center. This is one of...Drill will take place on the beach at Spermaceti Cove Visitor Center, with a reenactment...place at 8 p.m. on the beach at the Spermaceti Cove Visitor Center. Folk music will...
MARITIME MEANDERINGS
Newspaper article from: The Record (Bergen County, NJ); 6/25/1994; ; 700+ words ; ...electronics museum in Fort Monmouth and the Spermaceti Cove Station. The familiar meets the...National Recreation Area's Fort Hancock, Spermaceti Cove Station -- named after a sperm...Saving Service. The rescue station at Spermaceti Cove was built in 1894. Those rescue...
PRIZED CATCH HOLDS CENTER STAGE IN NEW MUSEUM
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 5/15/2005; ; 700+ words ; ...which includes restoration of the 1847 spermaceti candle factory as well as construction...deck overlooking Nantucket Harbor. (Spermaceti was a wax made from sperm whale oil...Sokoloff is also thrilled with the spermaceti candle factory project, which he prefers...
Whale sperm and speed.
Magazine article from: Skiing; 9/1/1995; ; 700+ words ; ...It's actually a solid waxy substance, sometimes called spermaceti, derived from the oil found in a sperm whale's head cavity...the basement of a thrift shop on Maui, he discovered four spermaceti candles. Beck next organized a race series between his Lake...
Lighting the American interior. (candle collection)
Magazine article from: The Magazine Antiques; 6/1/1998; ; 700+ words ; ...myrtleberry, and beeswax. By the mid-eighteenth century, spermaceti (made from whale off) found currency because it burned more efficiently and was therefore cheaper. Spermaceti, in turn, was supplanted by stearine (made from animal fats...