58 FOLLOW THE WHALE 



heavenly constellation to which the name of the dolphin had been 

 applied. For the rest, the description adheres quite strictly to ascer- 

 tained fact, with a few minor exceptions, notably that of the length 

 of time that it takes the animals to reach maturity, which, from re- 

 cent researches, seems to have been very much exaggerated. Aristotle 

 then goes on in another passage to discuss the breathing apparatus 

 of the Cetacea, saying: 



But the dolphin is equipped in the most remarkable way of 

 all animals: the dolphin and other similar aquatic animals includ- 

 ing the other cetaceans which resemble it, that is to say, the 

 whale, and all the other creatures that are furnished with a 

 blowhole. One can hardly allow that such an animal is terrestrial 

 and terrestrial only, or aquatic and aquatic only, if by terrestrial 

 we mean an animal that inhales air, and if by aquatic we mean 

 an animal that takes in water. For the fact is the dolphin per- 

 forms both these processes; he takes in water and discharges it 

 by his blowhole, and he also inhales air into his lungs; for, by 

 the way, the creature is furnished with this organ and thereby, 

 and accordingly, when caught in nets, he is quickly suffocated 

 for lack of air. He can also live for a considerable while out of 

 water, but all this while he keeps up a dull moaning sound cor- 

 responding to the noise made by air-breathing animals in gen- 

 eral; furthermore when sleeping, the animal keeps his nose above 

 water, and he does so that he may breathe the air. 



In this passage the worthy philosopher has strayed somewhat from 

 the narrow path of accuracy, for the whales do not, of course, inhale 

 water in the manner that fishes do, and their spout is only warmed 

 air, heavily charged with water vapor. Further, there is no evidence 

 that dolphins sleep with their heads out of water, though specimens 

 kept in confinement have been seen to rest for considerable periods 

 with their muzzles flush with the surface. At one time, also, there 

 was dispute as to whether they made a moaning noise, but in this 

 Aristotle seems to have been quite correct. When this Greek writer 

 comes to describe the habits, as opposed to the morphological attri- 

 butes, of these animals, however, he definitely goes awry, for reasons 

 that may be more clear if we recollect the place this animal had 

 grown to assume in the fables and religious beliefs of the Greeks. On 

 these subjects Aristotle wrote: 



