341 
THE WHITE WHALE 
of ages before — the great whales should have been spouting all over the 
sea, and sprinkling and mystifying the gardens of the deep, as with so 
many sprinkling or mystifying pots ; and that for some centuries back, 
thousands of hunters should have been close by the fountain of the 
whale, watching these sprinklings and spoutings — that all this should 
be, and yet, that down to this blessed minute (fifteen and a quarter 
minutes past one o’clock v. m. of this sixteenth day of December, a. d. 
1850), it should still remain a problem, whether these spoutings are, 
after all, really water, or nothing but vapour — this is surely a note- 
worthy thing. 
Let us, then, look at this matter, along with some interesting items 
contingent. Every one knows that by the peculiar cunning of their 
gills, the finny tribes in general breathe the air which at all times is 
combined with the element in which they swim; hence, a herring or 
a cod might live a century, and never once raise his head above the 
surface. But owing to his marked internal structure which gives him 
regular lungs, like a human being’s, the whale can only live by inhaling 
the disengaged air in the open atmosphere. Wherefore the necessity 
for his periodical visits to the upper world. But he cannot in any de- 
gree breathe through his mouth, for, in his ordinary attitude, the Sperm 
Whale’s mouth is buried at least eight feet beneath the surface; and 
what is still more, his windpipe has no connection with his mouth. No, 
he breathes through his spiracle alone; and this is on the top of his 
head. 
If I say, that in any creature breathing is only a function indispen- 
sable to vitality, inasmuch as it withdraws from the air a certain ele- 
ment, which being subsequently brought into contact with the blood 
imparts to the blood its vivifying principle, I do not think I shall 
err; though I may possibly use some superfluous scientific words. 
Assume it, and it follows that if all the blood in a man could be aerated 
with one breath, he might than seal up his nostrils and not fetch another 
for a considerable time. That is to say, he would then live without 
breathing. Anomalous as it may seem, this is precisely the case 
with the whale, who systematically lives, by intervals, his full 
hour and more (when at the bottom) without drawing a single breath, 
or so much as in any way inhaling a particle of air ; for remember, he 
has no gills. How is this? Between his ribs and on each side of 
