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From: larry@kitty.UUCP (Larry Lippman)
Newsgroups: net.bizarre
Subject: Bizarre Chemicals in Our Daily Lives
Message-ID: <312@kitty.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 11-Aug-85 18:21:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: kitty.312
Posted: Sun Aug 11 18:21:33 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 01:16:13 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, NY
Lines: 43

BIZARRE CHEMICALS IN OUR DAILY LIVES

Today's Topic: Ambergris

	When is the last time you have admired the fragrence of an expensive
perfume?  Did you ever wonder what ingredients went into that perfume?
	Perfumes generally consist of three categories of ingredients: 

1.	Fragrences which may be essential oils and/or synthetic organic
	materials.

2.	Solvents/Dilutents which are typically alcohol-based and permit the
	fragrences to exist in a homogeneous solution.

3.	Fixatives which retard the volatilization of the fragrences, and which
	further tend to *equalize* their rate of volatilization.  If it were
	not for fixatives, then multi-component fragrences with different rates
	of volatilization would result in the perfume changing odor during use. 
	One of the fixatives used in the MOST EXPENSIVE perfumes is ambergris.

	Ambergris is a waxy substance and is gray to black in color.  It melts
at about 60 deg C and almost completely volatizes with heat.  It is insoluble
in water, but is soluble in alcohol, ether, fats, and oils.  Ambergris is a
complex chemical mixture containing about 80% cholesterol, benzoic acid, fatty
oils, ketones, and paraffin oils.
	Ambergris is a wholely natural product and is quite expensive due to
its scarcity and the difficulties involved in obtaining it.
	What *is* ambergris, you ask?
	Ambergris is pure, unadulterated whale shit.  That's right: WHALE SHIT!
Ambergris is a concretion which forms in the intestine of the male sperm whale,
and is found floating on the surface of the ocean or washed up on beaches.
	So next time you sniff some *expensive* perfume, don't forget, you are
probably also smelling WHALE SHIT.

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|	Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp., Clarence, New York        |
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