240 PIVISIOX I. VERTEBKAL ANIMALS —CLASS 1. JIAMMALLV. 



the lialrv fVingcs of tliis min'lity net, wliich, after Ijeing properly niaslicd by 

 the toii"UC, it conveys into its stoniacii, to nourish its monstrous form. It 

 seems almost incretliblc tliat an animal so gigantic should he incapable of 

 swallowing the smallest morsel of i'ood common to the most insignificant of 

 the mammalians, and should owe its enormous hitness to such singular 

 nourishment. 



The skin of the whale also deserves attention, not only on account of its 

 curious structure, but for the singularly useful purposes which it serves. It 

 w^as formerly held that this organ and the blubber were distinct parts of the 

 body, as the skin of the hog is distinct from the layer of fat that underlies 

 it ; but this oj)inion has been proved to be incorrect. I'rofessor Jacob, of 

 Dublin, has shown that there is no distinction whatever between the outer 

 skin and the blubber, and allirms that the latter is nothing more than modi- 

 fied skin. On this important point we choose to give his statement in his 

 own words, as recorded \\\ i\\Q Dnhliii Pliil. Juurnal. "That structure in 

 which the oil is deposited, denominated blubljcr, is the true skin, modified 

 certainly for the ])iu'pose of holding this fluid oil, but still being the true 

 skin. Upon close examination, it is found to consist of an interlacement of 

 fibres crossing each other in every direction, as in the connuon skin, but more 

 open in texture, to lea\e room for the oil. Taking the hog as an example 

 of an animal covered with a layer of fat, we find that we can raise the true 

 skin without any dlHiculty, leaving a thick layer of cellular membrane, 

 loaded with fat, of the same nature as that of other parts of the body ; on 

 the contrary, in the whale it is altogether impossible to raise any layer of 

 skin distinct tinm the rest of the blubber, however thick it may be ; and 

 in ilensing a whale, the operator removes this blubber or skin from the 

 muscular parts beneath, merely dividing with his spade the connecting cellu- 

 lar membrane." 



'\^'e see here another remarkable exhiljition of the wisdom, and more 

 especially of the benevolence of tlie Creator, and of the parental care with which 

 he surrounds all his creatures, fitting them exactly for the pccidiar existence 

 which he has (irdaincd for tiicm. \\'hal(S often descend to a great depth in the 

 ocean, where the body is exposed to a pressure from the superincumljcnt wa- 

 ters, so mighty that it can seart-cly be described , but clothed in this blubber 

 hide, sometimes between one and two feet thick, soft, flexible, and elastic, like 

 India rubber, it is able to resist this tremendous jircssure, which' other- 

 wise would destroy it. Besides, the animal being warm-blooded, could not 

 exist in the cold and icy seas of the north, were it not for the protection 

 atl'orded by this thirk wrapper, which, being a bad conductor of caloric, pre- 

 serves the animal heat, and defends the body from the freezing cold without. 

 This enormous bulk of fat, weighing many tons, instead of being an 



