AMBERGRIS

a grey or blackish odorous fatty substance, volatilising as a white vapour at c. 100°, found as a morbid concretion in the intestines of the sperm whale, or in ma es from 44 oz. to 150 |b. in weight floating in tropical seas; extensively used in the East for perfumery and pharmaceutical purposes. Indre-et-Loire, France; famed for, its historic castle, where Charles VIII. was b. and d., and Abd-el-Kader imprisoned, 1848-52; also for the Huguenot conspiracy. directed against Francis IL., when 1200 of the inhabitants lost their lives; and for the ‘Edict of A.,’ 1563, by which Catherine de’ Medici made conce ions to the Protestants. Pop. 4,632.