A STRANGE GIANT OF THE OCEAN 



though the whale may have reached adult size, which 

 it usually does in three or four years, the evidences 

 of youth are still present in the skeleton. 



Reasoning by analogy (which is always unsafe), I 

 have come to the conclusion that a whale's life is 

 well within one hundred years, but I must admit that 

 my argument is mainly theory and that there are but 

 few facts with which it may be supported. Until 

 recently, many naturalists held the view that whales 

 lived for hundreds of years and that they did not 

 reach adult size until long after birth. The latter 

 contention has been proved utterly wrong, but of the 

 former we have little new knowledge; neither do I 

 see how we can ever estimate a \vhale' s age with any 

 degree of accuracy. 



