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ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 
quadruped, and therefore probably amounts to more than 
that of any known animal/ 3 The temperature of the 
blood in this order of animals, according to M . Desmou- 
lins, rises as high as 104 ° .—Diet. Class . d f Hist . Nat. 
OF THE HEART AND ARTERIES. 
“ In our examination of particular parts, the size of 
which is generally regulated by that of the whole animal, 
if we have only been accustomed to see them in those 
which are small or middle-sized, we behold them with 
astonishment in animals so far exceeding the common 
bulk as the whale. Thus the heart and aorta of the 
spermaceti whale appeared prodigious, being too large to 
be contained in a wide tub, the aorta measuring a foot 
in diameter. When we consider these as applied to the 
circulation, and figure to ourselves that probably ten or 
fifteen gallons of blood are thrown out at one stroke, and 
moved with an immense velocity through a tube of a 
foot in diameter, the whole idea fills the mind with 
wonder.” 
u The diameter of the aorta” of the sperm whale, that 
was thrown on the coast of Yorkshire, says Alderson, 
u was 12|- inches; thickness of the coat of the artery 
ffr of an inch. In the sinus behind the valves the thick- 
ness was not greater than that of the pulmonary artery. 
Length of the heart, from the apex to the valves of the 
aorta, 3 feet 10 inches. The columnse carneae were very 
large, and one of the cordae ten din ae, in the tricuspid 
valve, measured 7 inches in length. Near the middle of 
