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MOBY DICK; OR 
vertical, or up and down tail. Whereas, among spouting fish the tail, 
though it may be similarly shaped, invariably assumes* a horizontal 
position. 
By the above definition of what a whale is, I do by no means exclude 
from the leviathanic brotherhood any sea creature hitherto identified 
with the whale by the best informed Nantucketers ; nor, on the other 
hand, link with it any fish hitherto authoritatively regarded as alien . 1 
Hence all the smaller, spouting, and horizontal tailed fish must be in- 
cluded in this ground-plan of Cetology. Now, then, come the grand 
divisions of the entire whale host. 
First : According to magnitude I divide the whales into three primary 
BOOKS (subdivisible into Chapters), and these shall comprehend 
them all, both small and large. 
I. The Folio Whale; II. the Octavo Whale; III. the Duo- 
decimo Whale. 
As the type of the Folio I present the Sperm Whale ; of the Octavo, 
the Grampus ; of the Duodecimo, the Porpoise. 
FOLIOS. Among these I here include the following chapters: — I. 
The Sperm Whale; II. the Right Whale; III. the Fin-Back Whale; 
IV. the Kumprbacked Whale; V. the Razor-Back Whale; VI. the 
Sulphur-Bottom Whale. 
BOOK I. ( Folio ), Chapter I. ( Sperm Whale ). — This whale, 
among the English of old vaguely known as the Trumpa whale, and 
the Physeter whale, and the Anvil-Headed whale, is the present Cacha- 
lot of the French and the Pottsfich of the Germans, and the Mac- 
rocephalus of the Long Words. He is, without doubt, the largest 
inhabitant of the globe ; the most formidable of all whales to encounter ; 
the most majestic in aspect; and lastly, by far the most valuable in 
commerce; he being the only creature from which that valuable sub- 
stance, spermaceti, is obtained. All his peculiarities will, in many 
other places, be enlarged upon. It is chiefly with his name that I now 
1 1 am aware that down to the present time, the fish styled Lamatins and 
Dugongs (Pig-fish and Sow-fish of the Coffins of Nantucket) are included by 
many naturalists among the whales. But as these pig-fish are a noisy, con- 
temptible set, mostly lurking in the mouths of rivers, and feeding on wet 
hay, and especially as they do not spout, I deny their credentials as whales; 
and have presented them with their passports to quit the Kingdom of 
Cetology. 
