220 Zoology and Comparative Anatomy 



the sovereign, for the sum of 192 Flanders florins (about 

 16/. 135. 4^.). Several of these creatures have at different 

 times been killed or stranded upon the British coast. Captain 

 Scoresby has recorded several of these events. One was 

 captured on the coast of Scotland, in the year 1692. Another 

 was 52 ft. long, and had been stranded near Eyemouth, on 

 the 19th of June, 1752. Another, nearly 70 ft. in length, 

 ran ashore on the coast of Cornwall, on the 18th of June, 

 1797. Three were killed on the north-west coast of Ireland, 

 in the year 1762, and two in 1763. One or two have been 

 killed in the river Thames. Another was embayed and 

 destroyed in Balta Sound, Shetland, in the winter of 

 1817-18, some of whose remains were seen by Captain 

 Scoresby, who thus states its dimensions: — Length, 82 ft.; 

 lower jaw-bones, 21 ft. each; longest blade of the baleen or 

 whalebone, about 3 ft. Instead of hair at the inner edge and 

 point of each lamina, it had a fringe of bristly fibres, and 

 was stifFer, harder, and more horny in its texture, than the 

 same part in the common Greenland whale. The quantity 

 of oil produced from the blubber of this animal was only about 

 5 tons, of very inferior quality, some of which was extremely 

 viscid and bad. The total value of the whole, deducting all 

 expenses of extracting the oil, &c., was no more than 60/. 

 sterling. It had the usual sulci or furrows about the thorax 

 and dorsal fin. 



To return to our Rorqual : M. Herman Kessels of Ostend 

 formed the idea of preserving so valuable an acquisition in 

 zoology and comparative anatomy within the kingdom, in- 

 stead of allowing it to be made a source of mere pecuniary 

 profit. The perseverance, philanthropy, and enterprising 

 spirit of this gentleman are well known. During the incle- 

 ment winter of 1827, he contributed to the comforts, healthy 

 and happiness of thousands of the indigent of Ostend, by 

 daily distributing food, soup, and warmth among them. To 

 cover the great expenses of this benevolent act, he addressed 

 himself to the wealthy of the town to further his beneficent 

 design, which alone procured him the blessings of all who 

 who had tasted of his bounty. M. Kessels had scarcely 

 formed the idea of preparing the skeleton of this whale ere 

 it was commenced ; as he publicly purchased it for the sum of 

 6230 francs (about 259/. lis. 8d.), jointly with M. Dubar, 

 an eminent physician of Ostend, on the 1 6th of November, 

 1827. From the time the Rorqual was thrown into the har- 

 bour, considerable doubt was entertained in the minds of 

 many scientific naturalists as to what species it belonged to ; 

 some declaring it a cachalot, other? a gibbous whale,. &c. &c. 



