THE "SPOUTING" OF WHALES. 263 



valve were in a condition to allow it to do so the animal 

 would soon be drowned. Every one knows the extreme 

 irritation and the horrible feeling of suffocation caused to 

 a human being, whilst eating or drinking, by a crumb or a 

 little liquid " going the wrong way " that is, being acci- 

 dentally drawn to the air-passages instead of passing to the 

 oesophagus. If water were to enter the bronchi of a whale 

 it would instantly produce similar discomfort. 



The neck of a popular error is hard to break ; but it is 

 time that one so palpable as that concerning the " spout- 

 ing" of whales should cease to be promulgated and dis- 

 seminated by fanciful illustrations of instructive books. 



