OF THE SPERM WHALE. 
external surface, answering to the rough surface of the 
cuticle, and forming in some parts small ridges, similar 
to those on the human fingers and toes. The villi are 
soft and pliable, they float in water, and each is longer 
or shorter according to the size of the animal. In the 
spermaceti whale, they were about a quarter of an inch 
long ; in the grampus, bottle-nose, and piked whales 
much shorter; in all they are extremely vascular. The 
cutis seems to be the termination of the cellular membrane 
of the body more closely united , having smaller inter- 
stices, and becoming more compact. This alteration in 
the texture is so sudden as to make an evident dis- 
tinction between what is solely connecting membrane 
and skin, and is not evident in lean animals, for, in the 
change from fat to lean, the skin does not undergo an 
alteration equal to what takes place in the adipose mem- 
brane, although it may be observed that the skin itself is 
diminished in thickness. In fat animals the distinction 
between skin and cellular membrane is much less, the 
gradations from one to the other seeming to be slower, 
for the cells of both membrane and skin being loaded 
with fat, the whole has more the appearance of one uni- 
form substance . This uniformity of the adipose mem- 
brane is most observable in the whale, seal, hog, and the 
human species ; and is not only visible in the raw, but in 
the dressed hides, for in dressed skins the external is 
much more compact in texture than the inner surface, 
and is in common very tough. ” 
Professor Jacob, of Dublin, regarding the skin of these 
animals, states, “ that structure in which the oil is 
