388 Is the Whale a Fish, and are the [April^ 



And first, in point of authority, we have Linnaeus, Fabricius, Pallas, 

 Schreber, John Hunter, Shaw, and other modern naturahsts and phy- 

 siologists, who uniformly exclude the Whale from the list of fishes ; 

 while Willoughby, Pennant, and Bloch are to be cited upon the other 

 side. " The cetaceous animals, or Whales," says Dr. Shaw^ however 

 nearly approximated to fishes by external form, and residence in the ivaiers, 

 are in reality to be considered as aquatic mammalia ; for though, from 

 their general shape, and seeming want of feet, they appear, at first 

 view, widely removed from that class, yet we find, on examination, that 

 their whole internal structure resembles that of other mammalia, and 

 that their skeleton is formed on the same plan." "Their lungs, intestines, 

 &c." continues the same writer, " are formed on the same plan as in 

 quadrupeds. They have also ivarm blood, and, like other mammalia, 

 suckle their young. It is therefore unnecessary to add, that their true 

 arrangenient must be in the same class ; but, so strongly is the vulgar or 

 popular idea, respecting these animals, impressed on the mind, that, to this 

 hour, they are considered fish by the mass of mankind ; who, not havino- 

 either time or inclination to become scientifically acquainted xvith the objeets 

 of creation, find some difficulty in conceiving hoxv a Whale can be any 

 thing but a fish !" 



Mr. Hunter's physiological account of the Whale, printed in the 

 Philosophical Transactions, enters into a variety and minuteness of de- 

 tail which goes far beyond the present purpose ; and here, therefore, the 

 object will be, to select and abridge such passages only as may carry with 

 them the opinion of the author, and satisfy the mind of the readerj 

 that the Whale is 7iot, as to natural history, a fish. 



" This order of animals," says Mr. Hunter, " has nothing peculiar to 

 fish, except living in the same element, and being endowed with the 

 same powers of progressive motion as those fish which are intended to 

 move with a considerable velocity. Although inhabitants of the waters, 

 they belong to the same class as quadrupeds ; breathing air, being fur- 

 nished with lungs, and all other parts peculiar to the economy of that 

 class, and having warm blood ; — for, we may make this general remark, 

 that, in the diiferent classes of animals, there never is any mixture of 

 those parts which are essential to life, nor in the different modes of 

 sensation." 



On account of its inhabiting the luater, the "WTiale's external form is 

 more uniform than that of animals of the same class which live upon 

 land. The surface of the earth, on which the progressive motion of the 

 quadruped is to be performed, being various and irregular ; while the 

 mass of water is always the same. 



Mr. Hunter thinks, that the head of the Whale exceeds the proportion 

 0^ quadrupeds m size, in order the better to enable it to overcome the re- 

 sistance of the water. With a view to the mode of its progressive mo- 

 tion, the Whale is without tliat indented connection between the head 

 and body, called the 'neck; such a form producing an inequality which 

 would have been inconvenient. 



The body, behind the fins or shoulders, diminishes gradually to the 

 spreading of the tail ; out the part beyond the vent is to be considered as 

 tail, although, to appearance, it is a continuation of the body. The 

 projecting pati, or tail, contains the power that produces progres- 

 sive motion, and moves the broad termination, the motion of vs^hich 

 is similar to that of an oar in sculling a boat ; it supersedes the ne- 



