SC - Ambergris?

[Alderton, Philippa]

>>  Anybody know how to extract musk? I've just run into a trapper who'll
give
>>  me all his carcasses. Ras-ma-tas, can you say, "Muskrat Stew"?
>>
>
>errr, hmmm, I never heard of extracting musk from muskrats.  I thought it
was
>extracted from musk deer, and members of the civet family.
>
>Mordonna


"Sometimes natural substitutes for musk are used, such as the scent glands
of the common American muskrat. The scent of this creature (which is not a
rat but a near relative of the beaver) has almost the identical odor of the
substance obtained from the musk-deer but it lacks the fixative qualities of
the latter." pp. 263-4, A. Hyatt Verrill, *Perfumes and Spices . . ."
(Boston: L.C. Page and Co., 1940). Castoreum, the scent glands of the
beaver, is also used, so ask your trapper friend if he gets beaver as well.

Francesco Sirene

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