500 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1963 



solids as possible. The question was whether to suspend or support. 

 Supports are mechanically simpler and also carry an illusion of greater 

 safety. The first museum whales could therefore be seen placidly 

 floating across the tops of three or four newel posts or similar devices, 

 after the manner of museum sharks. With more experience and con- 

 fidence in the structural use of steel, suspension became the preferred 

 method of installation. 



In the meantime, the influence of some of the best, illustrated works 

 on nature favored the resting over the hanging whale. In any kind of 

 graphic rendering a whale in the water becomes a whale in a void. 

 Plate 3, figure 2 illustrates the dilemma very clearly. Whether the 

 void is blue or blank makes little difference. No wonder, therefore, 

 that artists sought satisfaction for their sense of design by the use of 

 imaginary forces that nature could never duplicate. Giant whales are 

 tenderly deposited, without a scratch, high among rocks and other pic- 

 turesque objects on shore, as gracefully draped as Paisley shawls. The 

 whimsical tableau that pleased the artists and art lovers most could not 

 have been more embarrassing, humiliating, and disastrous for the poor 

 whales. But they did provide handsome pictures that anyone can be 

 glad to own, and it seems reasonable to assume that they may have 

 helped to bring about such a pleasingly casual exhibit as that shown 

 in plate 5, figure 2. 



The method used in Malmo to show a small porpoise is, unfortu- 

 nately, not equally applicable to larger whales. The reason for this is 

 in itself a demonstration of a biophysical principle of considerable in- 

 terest, which was first called to our attention by Galileo himself. 

 Other things being equal, the weight of a body is approximately com- 

 mensurate with its three-dimensional volume, while the strength of its 

 supporting tissues such as bone and muscle is related only to their two- 

 dimensional cross sections. If a body grows to eight (i.e., 2^) times 

 its original volume and weight, and all its parts remain in the same pro- 

 portion to one another as before, then the strength of the supporting 

 organs will have been multiplied only by four (i.e., 2^) and will not 

 be strong enough to sustain the increased load. This is the basic rea- 

 son why the skeleton of a large land animal is so much heavier in pro- 

 portion to its body than that of a small species. The difference becomes 

 very striking when two such skeletons are shown in illustrations of the 

 same size. Galileo quite logically felt that the mathematical relation- 

 ship between overall dimensions and the dimensions of supporting 

 parts imposes a maximum limit on the size that can be reached by any 

 animal having to resist the forces of gravity by the strength of its 

 own structure. The whales have partly circumvented the problem by 

 letting the buoyancy of the water carry most of the load and have 

 thereby become dependent upon the watery uplift to maintain the 

 streamlined shape of even the most athletic members of their tribe. 



