OF THE CETACEA. 47 



cording to the common account, first the true skin, 

 and then the lard or hlubher ; the former is repre- 

 sented as thick and strong, and the latter is held to 

 correspond with the subcutaneous fat in other ani- 

 mals. This is the view that naturalists generally, 

 influenced probably by analogy, have taken ; it is 

 the view taken by Ray, Tyson, Pennant, Hunter, 

 Scorseby, Cuvier, &c. But we believe, that accord- 

 ing to this account, the great peculiarity of the struc- 

 ture is disregarded, and the essential character, so 

 much desiderated, is overlooked. According to Pro- 

 fessor Jacob of Dublin, there is no distinction be- 

 tween the true skin and the blubber, and the whole 

 is nothing more than modified skin. But he shall 

 speak for himself, " That structure in which the 

 oil is deposited, denominated blubber, is the true 

 skin of the animal, modified certainly for the pur- 

 pose of holding this fluid oil, but still being the true 

 skin. Upon close examination it is found to con- 

 sist of an interlacement of fibres crossing each other 

 in every direction as in common skin, but more open 

 in texture, to leave room for the oil. Taking the hog 

 as an example of an animal covered with an external 

 layer of fat, we find that we can raise the true skin 

 without any difficulty, leaving a thick layer of cel- 

 lular membrane, loaded with fat, of the same nature 

 as that in the other parts of the body ; on the con- 

 trary, in the w T hale it is altogether impossible to raise 

 any layer of skin distinct from the rest of the blubber, 

 however thick it may be ; and in flensing a whale, 

 the operator removes this blubber or skin from the 



