SPERMACETI

This substance concretes or crystallizes spontaneously out of the oil of the spermaceti whalQ. It is purified first by pre ure, then by fusion and boihng with a weak alkaline ley. When melted in ma es, it concretes in crystalline plates of a silvery lustre and unctuous feel. It fuses at about 100°. It di olves in boiling alcohol; and as the solution cools it separates in brilliant scales, to which Chevreul has given the name of cetine. SPERMIDIUM. {GT.ffTmjt.cc, a seed.) A kind of small seed-ve el, resembling a seed, and more commonly called an akenium. [s. 1150]