of the Skeleton of Balcendptera Rorqual. 217 



tympanum from its membrane to the vestibulary orifice, a 

 Eustachian tube, with a canal leading from the membrane of 

 the tympanum, and opening to the small external aperture 

 already mentioned." 



The Organ of Touch, — No portion of the whale has as 

 yet been discovered by zootomists to which this organ can 

 be referred ; yet, from the great maternal protection afforded 

 by this animal to its young, which it carries and preserves 

 under its fins, I cannot believe it to be destitute of this important 

 sense, which is found in every other known animal ; besides, 

 the habits and manners of the whale form sufficient evidence 

 in my mind of its existence, and of the great pain it endures 

 when the skin is wounded by the harpoon. 



The Emhryo Whale, — The young whale, when discovered 

 in its earliest foetal state, is generally about 1 7 in. in length, 

 and of a white colour ; but the cub when born is black, and 

 varies from 10 to 14 ft., and Baron Cuvier asserts it to be 

 20 ft., which sometimes may be the case. Generally speak- 

 ing, only one cub is produced, occasionally two, but never 

 more. When the female suckles her offspring, she throws 

 herself on one side on the surface of the water, and the young 

 whale attaches itself to her breast. They continue suckling 

 for a year, during which time they are named shortheads by 

 the sailors, and yield above 50 barrels of blubber ; at two 

 years they are called stunts, and thrive but little when weaned, 

 scarcely affording more than 20 barrels ; after this period they 

 are called skull-fish, and their age is wholly unknown. 



The Brain, — The brain of the whale is, like the eye, 

 extremely small in proportion to its enormous bulk. Cap- 

 tain Scoresby examined the brain of a whale 19 ft. long, and 

 it weighed only about 3} lbs., notwithstanding the weight of 

 the animal was near 11,200 lbs. Here the weight of the 

 brain was about ^oVo V^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^ entire body, whilst 

 that of an adult man is equal to -jV part of the whole body.* 



The Mouth, — This is generally of a serpentine form; the 

 lips are about 20 or 25 ft. long, and display, when open, a 

 cavity sufficiently large to afford a reception to a ship's 

 large jolly-boat and her crew. Duhamel-Dumonceau relates 

 that a whale captured in the bay of Sonsure, in 1726, had a 

 mouth so wide, that, when opened, two men might go in 

 without stooping. 



The Baleen or Whalebone. — Teeth, of which the jaws are 

 divested, are substituted in the upper jaw by two rows of 

 laminae, denominated baleen, erroneously denominated whale- 



* Dewhurst's Dissertation on the Component Parts of an Animal 

 Body, p. 57. 



