30 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



F'uj. 2 represents a perpen- Fig. 2. 



dicular section of several plates 



of whalebone in their natural 



situation in the gum; their inner 



edges, or shortest terminations, 



are removed, and the cut edges 



of the plates seen from the in- 

 side of the mouth. 



The upper part shows the 



rough surface formed by the 



hairy termination of each plate 



of baleen ; the middle portion re- 

 presents the distance the plates 



of baleen are from each other ; 



and the lower part exhibits the 



white substance in which they 



grow, and the basis on which 

 they are supported. 



The baleen or whalebone, 

 forms an important article of 

 commerce. " How the ladies' 

 stays were made," gravely ob- 

 serves Anderson, " before this 

 commodious material was dis- 

 covered, history does not inform us ; probably simple 

 slips of cane, or of some tough and pliant wood, might 

 have been in use before." However this may be, this 

 substance, after its introduction into this country, very 

 soon became the principal material employed in the 

 manufacture of that injurious article of female apparel, 

 the ' stays,' and likewise the hoop-petticoat, so prevalent 

 during the greater portion of the last century ; and which 

 the immortal Pope characterizes as that 'seven-fold fence,' 



' Stiff with hoops, and arm'd with ribs of whale.' " 



