I know that one of the valuable substances they provide is "spermaceti" which goes back to Middle English, and is a white wax-like substance taken from the oil in the head of the whale

Bill, I've heard more than once that this is indeed why sperm whales are so called. Spermaceti was definitely reckoned to be semen-like, and at one time may have been assumed to be semen. I'd assume there was some archaic zoological theory (cf Humours and all that) that explained why it should be found in a whale's head.

Mind you, do whale's have testes that are readily identifiable as such?

They'd have to be retractable, I'd imagine...


"Oi Moby - you're a Dick with no balls!"