22. 
that I have seen, and it should not stand 
uncontradicted. 
Now, supposing that a whale could 
be deprived of all its flesh, bones, and 
garbage, and reduced to a mere skin, 
like an inflated bladder, and could by a 
superior weight be carried to a certain 
depth, perhaps Mr. Scoresby’s specula- 
tions might be correct, and the perpen- 
dicular and lateral pressure of the water 
would have the effect that he ascribes 
to it; the skin would be compressed by 
that pressure, in proportion to the depth 
that it was carried into the water. 
But how stands the case with regard 
to the whale, either dead or wounded ? 
Though an animal which requires air as 
well as water, yet his specific gravity, 
like that of all other animals, is nearly 
upon a par with the specific gravity of 
the water itself. His external skin is 
not wholly filled by atmospheric matter 
lighter than the water, but by fiesh, 
bones and other solids, nearly of the 
same weight with the water. It is, 
‘therefore, with the powers of his im- 
mense horizontal tail; given to him by 
nature for the express purpose of expe- 
ditiously sinking deep into the water, 
and as expeditiously rising to the sur- 
face, which other fish, not of the ceta- 
ceous genus, have no occasion to do, 
that he quickly goes to the bottom; 
where, after having been wounded, in- 
stead of returning to the surface, either 
to breathe, or to discharge water, as is 
most usual, he oftentimes dies. Then 
how comes it, that if this dead or 
wounded animal has sixty men of war 
laying upon his body, he will sometimes 
float to the surface of his ‘own accord: 
and if he does not, he is capable of 
being drawn up to the surface, even by 
the strength of the harpoon line, which 
is not larger than a man’s finger? For 
-Mr. Scoresby himself says, that the fish 
is sometimes suffocated or drowned, 
“and is drawn up by the line.” I want 
to know how this can be done, with a 
weight upon the fish equal to sixty men 
of war. This appears to me a flat con- 
-tradiction to Mr. Scoresby’s own doc- 
‘trine. For, if the specific gravity of the 
whale be nearly equal to that of the 
water, which is an acknowledged fact, 
not only with regard to the whale, but 
all other animals—and it must be so, 
from the nature of the thing: else how 
-could the whale rise from the deep; or 
-how could he swim ?—and if his dead 
-earcase can be drawn up 800 fathoms 
by a cord, what becomes of Mr. Scores- 
-by’s philosophy and calculation? “ How 
Remarks on Scoresby’s Voyage to the Arctic Regions. 
(Feb. 1, 
is it that a drowned man oftentimes 
rises of his own accord from the bottom, 
and floats on the surface, if there were, 
according to Mr. Scoresby’s account, 
after a proportionate ratio, a given quan- 
tity of superincumbent water resting 
upon him? - How is it that other fish 
rise from the bottom with as much faci- 
lity as they descend? for the same ob- 
servations apply to other fish as well as 
the whale. The fact is, that all bodies, 
whether of fish, amphibious’ beasts, or 
the human species, are generally a little 
heavier than water. A fat man, with 
his: clothes on, floats like a cork, unless 
he has any thing heavy about him: a 
thin man will sink. An expert swim- 
mer, when perfectly naked in the water, 
keeping himself on the surface with the 
slightest motion of his hand, often won- 
ders how the human body should sink 
at all; but he finds, that if he discon- 
tinues such motion, he will slowly and 
gradually sink. When I was a boy, I 
may justly say that I have hundreds of 
times dived to the bottom of a river, 
where I was accustomed to bathe, about 
twelve or fourteen feet, without ever 
feeling any pressure of water, or diffi- 
culty in rising again, or any other diffi- 
culty, except that of wanting to respire: 
but how was I to have started off the 
ground, and gained the surface, if Mr. 
Scoresby’s doctrine is true? How are 
the pearl-divers, though aided by a rope, 
to regain the surface ? 
Upon the whole, it appears to me, 
even from Mr. Scoresby’s own account, 
that his statement and opinion are 
founded in error and false philosophy. 
The wounded whale, then, being a 
body composed of solids and water, and 
not a stuffed skin inflated with air, let 
us see what Dr. Blair says :— 
“‘ Fluids press not only, like solids, per- 
pendicularly downwards, but also upwards, 
sideways, and in eyery direction. So that 
all the parts, at the same depth, press each 
other with equal force in every direction. 
If a bladder full of air be immersed in water, 
then the perpendicular pressure is manifest ; 
for the deeper the water in which it is im- 
mersed, the more will its bulk be contracted. 
An empty bottle being corked, and, by 
means of a weight, let down a certain depth 
into the sea, it will be broken, or the cork 
will be driven into it, by the perpendicular 
pressure. But a bottle filled with water 
may be let down to any depth without 
damage, because in this case the internal 
pressure is equal to the external.” 
This is exactly the case with the 
whale. Such parts of his body as are 
not formed of solids are filled ~with 
water, 
