486 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



is, that all the bones have a compactness and a peculiar 

 tissue, and a kind of unctuous appearance which they owe 

 to the oily substance with which they are penetrated while 

 yet fresh. 



We shall now make a few brief observations on the 

 senses of these animals. 



We find that in all the other mammifera, the senses of 

 smell and taste are closely approximated in situation. In 

 the Baleenae on the contrary, the organ of smell is near that 

 of hearing, and the union of these two senses serves to 

 communicate to the animal the impression of many remote 

 objects. This approximation of smell and hearing, pre- 

 vents the acquisition of sensations equally precise with 

 those produced by the union of smell with taste and touch, 

 and the formation of comparisons equally certain ; but it 

 occasions more numerous, more frequent, and more varied 

 ones. These diversified and reiterated impressions, pro- 

 bably increase that inclination that the Balaense exhibit for 

 rapid evolutions, and may be one cause of their frequent 

 and remote excursions. 



The exquisite organs of smell , sight, and hearing in the Ba- 

 laense, do yet exhibit proportions of extraordinary littleness 

 in comparison with the enormous mass of the body. They 

 even seem to be instruments only appended to the body, and 

 forming no essential part thereof. But when we reflect 

 that the true relations of their dimensions must be with 

 the nature and number of the sensations they convey to the 

 animal, to its cerebrum, and entire nervous system ; when 

 we consider that if more extended, they would not concen- 

 trate these impressions more, or at least, they would trans- 

 mit them only in an isolated way; if we remember that 

 if they were in proportion to the other parts, they would be 

 little more than a simple organ of touch, and become com- 

 paratively useless for their peculiar purposes, we shall be 

 forced to confess in this, as in every other instance, the wis- 



