72 
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
This part of the hook will likewise contain a short 
description of the skeleton of the sperm whale preserved 
at Burton- Constable, which I have been enabled to 
give through the kind permission of Sir Clifford Corn* 
stable, Bart, to whom the skeleton belongs. I have also 
availed myself of an extract from Professor Jacobs, on 
the structure of the skin. These, I believe, will pretty 
nearly comprise all that is at present known on these 
subjects ; but I have good reason to hope, that before 
long I shall be enabled, with the assistance of a cele- 
brated naturalist, to produce from this interesting animal 
its entire and minute anatomy* 
OF THE SKELETON. 
a The bones alone (says Hunter) in many animals, when 
properly articulated into what is called the skeleton, 
give the general shape and character of the animal. 
Thus a quadruped is distinguished from a bird, and 
even one quadruped from another, it only requiring a skin 
to be thrown over the skeleton to make the species known ; 
but this is not so decidedly the case with this order of 
animals, for the skeleton in them does not give us the 
true shape. An immense head, a small neck, few ribs, 
and in many a short sternum, and no pelvis, with a long 
spine terminating in a point, require more than a skin 
to be laid over them to give the regular and character- 
istic form of the animal. The bones of the anterior ex~ 
tremity give no idea of the shape of a fin, the form of 
which wholly depends upon its covering. The different 
