THE WHALE. 115 



ble. The quantity of brain in a human subject of 

 140 or 160 pounds weight, is, according to Haller, 

 4? pounds; in this whale, of 11,200 pounds, or se- 

 venty times the weight of a man, the brain was 

 only 3 pounds 12 ounces. According to Cuvier, the 

 brain in man varies from one thirty-first to one 

 twenty-second part of his weight;* whereas, in 

 this animal, the proportion of brain was only a three 

 thousandth part. 



The heart, which is of an oblong form, much com- 

 pressed, resembles in colour and substance, the 

 heart of an ox. The breadth of it, in this specimen, 

 was £9 inches, the height IS, the thickness 9, and 

 the weight of it 641bs. Diameter of the aorta about 

 6 inches. 



Large as the whale is in bulk, the throat is but 

 narrow. In this animal the diameter of the oesopha- 

 gus, when fully distended, was scarcely %\ inches, 

 with difficulty admitting my hand. 



The epiglottis is a beautiful valve, formed almost 

 like the termination of the proboscis of an elephant. 

 Though the larynx in the whale lias a free commu- 

 nication with the mouth, as in quadrupeds, yet the. 

 mysticetus does not appear to have any voice. In 



*Le9ons d'Anat. Comp. ii. p. 149. The proportion the 

 human brain bears to the weight of the body, appears to be, 

 on an average, less than is stated by Cuvier. According lo 

 Haller, the proportion in a man of 160lb. weight is one-for- 

 tieth; in a man of 140lbs., one-lhirty-fifth, in a child six 

 years old, one-twenty-second. 



