THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 371 



barrels charged with some eighty million animated forms to 

 compose a mighty mouthful. Now a pipe three inches in 

 diameter would be inadequate to pass such a volume, in the 

 time the whale devotes to swallowing. However, I must 

 forego this line of statement, as our business was with the 

 blubber and oil-bearing parts of the dead, and with the ac- 

 tion in chase and battle of the living whale. I had little op- 

 portunity to study the general anatomy of the gigantic forms 

 we so frequently carved ; and this is not a matter of especial 

 regret, as they have been described very minutely in various 

 histories of the whale. Nevertheless, the pictorial represen- 

 tations of the head of the right whale have failed to convey 

 to my mind a correct idea of the wonderful mechanism, the 

 monstrous proportions, and the admirable adaptation of the 

 parts. As in the course of our labors we shall dissect the 

 head, and cut and hoist it piecemeal, \ shall attempt, with 

 such poor art as I may possess, to convey a machinist's view 

 of the wonderful contrivance. And if successful in a degree, 

 I may excite in other minds some of the wonder and admi- 

 ration which impressed me when heaving at the ponderous 

 windlass moving the fragments. 



I shall strive to preserve the proportions, forms, and posi- 

 tions of the parts so as to convey a correct mechanical idea 

 of the structure of the whale's head and mouth. 



Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the head of the right 

 whale, with the lips closed ; the line C D, drawn through the 

 spout-holes, is the line along which the upper jaw is severed 

 from the head to secure the bone. The line A B is a line of 

 intersection, by which Fig. 2 is drawn. 



Fig. 2 is a sectional drawing of the whale's head, showing 

 the interior of the mouth, looking toward the opening of the 

 gullet : a is the upper jaw ; b b, the lips ; d, the throat; /, 

 the tongue ; g g, the bone-plates ; A, the hairy sieve ; i i, the 

 bone supporting the lower jaw. The dotted part in the 



