VOL. XLVII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 251. 



Prodromus, under the appellation of dentaria foliis inferioribus palmatis, summis 

 simplicibus. 



This plant, which is frequently met with on the continent of the northern 

 parts of Europe, has been but lately discovered to grow in England, and that 

 only in one place ; viz. in a wood not far from Harefield in Middlesex, where it 

 was first discovered by Mr. Blackstone, an ingenious apothecary in Fleet-street. 

 This is one of those few plants omitted by the late Mr. Ray in his excellent Sy- 

 nopsis, which are to be found natives here ; and, from their great scarcity, it is 

 not wonderful that they were unobserved by that great naturalist. 



LXXl. Of a Machine for Killing Whales. By John Bond, M. D. p. 420. 



Whales being of the same structure internally with quadrupeds, must come 

 frequently to the surface of the water to breathe ; and when they expel the rare- 

 fied air from their capacious lungs, through a narrow tube, which protrudes 

 above the upper jaw, they occasion a great noise, which the fishers term the 

 blowing of the whales. This noise alarms the fishers, who are waiting for that 

 signal ; on which they furnish a boat with necessa'-y instruments, and row quietly 

 towards the whale. The harpooner, as they call him, sits rowing in the head 

 of the boat, and observes certain silent signals, which the boat-steerer gives him, 

 to inform him that he is near enough to strike the whale. Then the harpooner 

 takes the harpoon in both hands, and darts it into the whale ; which, as soon as 

 struck, plunges directly to the bottom, and moves with such prodigious velocity, 

 that the rope which follows the harpoon often cuts deep grooves in the boat, and 

 a man stands ready with an ax to cut the rope, if it does not run freely from the 

 coil. The whale being hurt by the harpoon, stays longer than usual under 

 water, till the blood, by the violent motion of the body, is collected about the 

 heart, and consequently obstructed in the head ; the nervous influx is interrupted, 

 the swimming bladder relaxed, and the whale becomes languid, and rises to the 

 top to breathe fresh air where it rests for some time, to recruit its exhausted 

 spirits ; which the fishers observing, row up and dispatch the whale with long 

 lancets. 



It appears ft"om this account, that the greatest difficulty consists in making 

 the rope fast to the whale, by means of the harpoon ; which is barbed in the 

 common form of a dart, and is generally 20 oz. weight, and about 2 feet long, 

 with a small stalk of flexible iron, and a socket at the end, about which the rope 

 is spliced with a shaft of wood put into it, so that they cannot throw it any dis- 

 tance with any degree of certainty ; therefore are never sure of darting a whale, 

 till they are within a yard, or directly above her ; and there they are so much 

 afraid of being dashed to pieces, that they often miss good opportunities, though 

 they seldom meet with any so tame. They frequently see 40 whales within 30 



kk2 



