# Spermaceti

**Sperma ceti*, “whale’s seed”*

**Known today as.** A white wax from the head of the sperm whale.

Kind: Animal

## What was it used for?

Resolving and softening: in pomatums to smooth the skin, in ointments for hardness of the breasts, and given inwardly against sharp humours in the breast or belly; later a base for cerates and ointments.

## What does modern science say?

Replaced by jojoba wax from the 1970s; the sperm whale is protected.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **cetyl palmitate**: the chief wax ester
- **triglycerides**: 

**Mechanism.** The wax from the sperm whale’s head, which the whale may use to control its buoyancy, to add resonance to its echolocation clicks, or both: a white, tasteless, odourless wax melting at about 50 C, used as an excipient in cerates and ointments. Jojoba esters, chemically and physically very like it, took its place, and jojoba became a common ingredient of cold cream from the 1970s.

**Dose.** A wax devoid of taste or smell.

**Standing.** Gone with the protection of the sperm whale under the International Whaling Commission moratorium; cetyl palmitate, its chief ester, is used in cosmetics as a thickener and emulsifier.

## What lore surrounds it?

The name records the old belief that it was the whale’s seed. A pure spermaceti candle of a sixth of a pound, burning 120 grains an hour, was made the standard of “candlepower” by the Metropolitan Gas Act of 1860.

## Sources

- Pomet, P. (1694). *Histoire générale des drogues* (English, *A Compleat History of Druggs*, 1712).
- Melville, H. (1851). *Moby-Dick*, “The Sperm Whale’s Head.”
- Wikipedia, “Spermaceti.”
- Wikipedia, “Candlepower.”
- Wikipedia, “Sperm whale.”
- Wikipedia, “Cetyl palmitate.”
- Wikipedia, “Cold cream.”
- Clarke, M. R. (1978). “Buoyancy control as a function of the spermaceti organ in the sperm whale.” *Journal of the Marine Biological Association* 58.

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

Historical description, not medical advice.