# Ambergris

**Ambra*; *ambra odorifera**

**Known today as.** A waxy substance formed in the gut of the sperm whale.

Kind: Animal

## What did Canale use it for?

With musk at the alembic; in the oil for the bewitched (chs. 6, 9).

## What does modern science say?

A perfume fixative.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **ambrein**: a tricyclic triterpene alcohol, 25–45 per cent
- **epi-coprosterol**: 30–40 per cent
- **ambroxide**: from the oxidation of ambrein, the scent

**Mechanism.** A concretion formed in the gut of the sperm whale around indigestible squid beaks, which may float at sea for years before it is found, and the best perfume fixative known; ambrein raised sexual behaviour in male rats in one study (Taha, 1995) and is itself odourless.

**Standing.** Laws on its sale vary: some countries prohibit it with all whale products, while CITES treats it as a naturally occurring waste product of the sperm whale; synthetic chemicals have replaced it in all but the most expensive perfumes.

## What lore surrounds it?

Its origin was long disputed: it was taken for hardened sea foam or the droppings of large birds, the Chinese called it “dragon’s spittle fragrance,” and in 1667 Klobius recorded eighteen theories; only when large-scale whaling began in the 1800s was the sperm whale found to be its source. Among the rumours at the death of Charles II, Macaulay records that poison had been put into “his favourite dish of eggs and ambergrease.” Melville gives it a chapter of *Moby-Dick*. And Le nard Fuschius, as Clarke reports, held that ambergris was a fake, compounded of labdanum, aloes-wood, and civet.

## Sources

- Natural History Museum, London, on ambergris.
- He, N., Yu, H., and Ye, L. (2024). Efforts toward ambergris biosynthesis. *Chem & Bio Engineering* 1: 91–98.
- Macaulay, T. B. (1848). *The History of England from the Accession of James II*, vol. 1. Project Gutenberg ebook 1468.
- Melville, H. (1851). *Moby-Dick; or, The Whale*, ch. 92, “Ambergris.” Project Gutenberg ebook 2701.
- Graber, C. (2007). “Strange but true: whale waste is extremely valuable.” *Scientific American*, 26 April 2007.
- Taha, S. A., et al. (1995). “Effect of ambrein, a major constituent of ambergris, on masculine sexual behavior in rats.” *Archives Internationales de Pharmacodynamie et de Thérapie* 329.
- Clarke, R. (2006). “The origin of ambergris.” *Latin American Journal of Aquatic Mammals* 5.

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*Ambergris.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-03. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/ambergris

Historical description, not medical advice.