ARCTIC ZOOLOGY. 127 



employed so cautiously, and in such small quantities, that 

 no abuse of that dangerous material can be apprehended. 

 The chief reason why saw-dust is employed, is for the 

 purpose of drying up the oily effusions that incommode the 

 men in the use of the respective implements necessary to 

 effect the operations of flinching and making off. The use 

 of fir-timber dust on such occasions cleanses the hands 

 and instruments, with a ready and efficient result ; and the 

 ship boys are stationed so as to supply the demands of the 

 officers in this respect. 



The integuments of the whale are, like the animal him- 

 self, widely different from that of every other in compa- 

 rison. The epidermis is like thin parchment, flexible when 

 on the body, easily detached, wrinkled according to the 

 age of the animal, and corresponding with the organization 

 of the muscles beneath ; but, when dry, it is horny and 

 brittle, and in consistence similar to the finer lamins of 

 the whale-bone. The true skin is about an inch thick in 

 its full character, and is formed of material analogous to 

 the whale-bone, but breaks, when dry, in perpendicular 

 fissure : it is usually a deep brownish black, and, when soft, 

 strongly resembles Indian-rubber. In composition it seems 

 to differ very little from the substance that constitutes the 

 matricular bed of the whale-bone ; the white colour of the 

 latter forming the only distinction, except that its fracture 

 is shelving. The cellular tissue, or blubber, is, in its 



