THE NARWHAL. 537 
because that well-known naturalist figured and described the animal in the Bntish 
Miscellany. His description was founded upon a specimen that was cast ashore upon the 
estate of Mr. J. Brodie, in Elginshire. The skull of this individual was preserved by 
Mr. Sowerby in his museum, and after his death it was placed by Dr. Buckland in the 
Anatomical Museum at Oxford. As it is so valuable a specimen, it has been industriously 
multiphed by means of plaster casts, which have been distributed to various scientific 
institutions. 
The length of the creature was sixteen feet, and its girth at the largest part of the 
body was eleven feet. The head is small, narrow, and pointed, and the lower jaw is 
longer, blunter, and wider than the upper jaw, so that when the mouth is closed, the 
lower jaw receives the upper. In the upper jaw there are two depressions corresponding 
with the teeth, and permitting the perfect closing of the mouth. The colour of the 
animal is black on the upper surface and grey below, and is remarkable for the pellucid 
and satin-lke character of the skin, which reflects the rays of the sun to a considerable 
distance. On reference to the illustration, the reader will notice that the body is marked 
like watered silk. This effect is produced by a vast number of white streaks immediately 
below the skin, which are dvawn irregularly over the whole body, and at a little distance 
appear as if they were made by means of some sharp instrument. 
Nothing is known of the habits of this curious animal, which is unknown to science, 
except by means of the specimen above mentioned. 
THE word NARWHAL is derived from the Gothic, signifying “ Beaked-whale,” and is a 
very appropriate term for the Sza UNIcoRN, as the animal is popularly entitled. The 
head of the Narwhal is round, and convex in front, the lower jaw being without teeth, 
and not so wide as the upper jaw. From the upper jaw of the Narwhal springs the 
curious weapon which has gained for the animal a world-wide reputation. 
In the upper jaw of the young or the female Narwhal are found two small, 
hollow tusks, imbedded in the bone, which, in the female, are generally undeveloped 
throughout the whole of the animal’s existence, but in the male Narwhal are strangely 
modified. The right tusk remains in its infantine state, excepting that the hollow 
becomes filled with bony substance ; but the left tusk rapidly increases in length, and is 
developed into a long, spiral, tapering rod of ivory, sometimes attaining to the length of 
eight or ten feet. The tusks are supposed to be formed by an excessive growth of the 
‘anine teeth, and not of the incisors, as might be supposed from the position which they 
occupy in the jaw. 
The use of this singular tusk is very obscure, for if it were intended to serve some 
very important object, such as the procuring of food, it is evident that the females would 
need its aid as much as their companions of the opposite sex, for both sexes feed on the 
same food, and inhabit the same localities, at the same time. A very plausible conjecture 
has been offered, to the effect, that the “horn” is useful in the light of an auger, with 
which the animal is enabled to bore breathing-holes through the ice-tields, whenever it 
finds itself in want of air beneath those vast frozen plains. But this theory is equally 
liable to the objection, that the females want to breathe as much as the males, and would 
stand in equal need of so indispensable an apparatus. 
That the “horn” is employed in some definite task, is evident from the fact, that its 
tip is always smooth and polished, however rough and encrusted the remainder of its 
length may be. 
The male Narwhal may perhaps use the tusk as a weapon of war, wherewith to charge 
his adversaries, as a medizeval knight was wont to charge with shield on breast and lance 
in rest; and if that be the case, the weapon is truly a terrible one. This conjecture 
derives some force from the fact, that a herd of these aquatic spearmen have been seen 
engaged in sportive pastime, crossing their ivory lances, and seeming to fence with them, 
as the white weapons clashed against each other. The play of animals, not to mention 
mankind, is almost invariably founded on the spirit of combativeness, and generally 
consists in a sham fight ; so that the Narwhal “horn” may probably be analogous to the 
tusks of boars and the horns of deer, and be given to the animal as an offensive weapon, 
