Dr» Johnston's Account of a Whale. 



No. III. — Some Account of a Whale stranded near Berwick-upon-Tweed. 

 By George Johnston, M. D., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, 

 Edinburgh. 



Read December 15, 1829. 



On the morning of Saturday, the 19th September, 1829, a Whale was 

 thrown on shore about two miles north of Berwick. When viewed from 

 the bank under which it lay, the resemblance to a boat, with the keel 

 upwards, was so exact and striking that the comparison was made by 

 every one of its numerous visitors ; and Wilkie, the celebrated painter, 

 who was one of them, is said to have remarked that a boat-builder might 

 read to himself a good lesson from this mighty monster of the deep. 



It lay on its back with the belly upwards, was of an oval shape, swol- 

 len and thickest near the head, whence it tapered gradually to the tail. 

 The extreme length was between 35 and 3Q feet ; the greatest circum- 

 ference 24 feet. The back, so far as could be seen, was black, smooth, 

 and somewhat glossy ; and I was informed by the person who superin- 

 tended the removal of the blubber, and whose attention was directed to 

 the point, that there was no dorsal fin, but in lieu of it an obscure pro- 

 tuberance. The blow-holes were separate, about 6 feet from the snout, 

 and each was furnished with a valve, which, in texture and shape, was 

 compared to a moistened bladder. The head was obtusely pointed ; the 

 upper jaw considerably smaller and more acute than the under, which 

 was warted with round knobs of the size of an egg, and near the end of 

 it there was a large oblong swelling, which might be a chin, and from 

 which two small grooves run forward. The gape was 10 feet in length, 

 and placed, with some regularity, along its margins were a considerable 

 number of knobs or tumours, similar to those above mentioned. The 

 mouth was filled with the whalebone, arranged in a beautifully pectinate 



