SPERMACETI

solid wax, easily liquefied at moderate temperatures, obtained from the head cavities and from the oils of whales, porpoises, and dolphins. It is used chiefly in pomades, ointments, cosmetic creams, fine wax candles, and in textile finishing. Spermaceti was so named from the Latin sperma, sperm, and cetus, whale, in the belief that it was the coagulated semen of the whale. The great spermaceti organ in the whale's head is usually cooked together with the blubber to obtain crude sperm oil (q.v.) containing spermaceti. The spermaceti is removed by chilling, called wintering; it separates as a white, crystalline, waxy solid. Chemically, spermaceti consists principally of cetyl palmitate and other esters of fatty acids with fatty alcohols.