REVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
327 
expect to find Mr. Beale enriching his next edition with a complete report of 
the u Marine Education Committee,” of the number of young Whales that receive 
the rudiments of telegraphic education, of the proficients, and of those hapless 
wretches that are wholly destitute of instruction. At present our author is of 
opinion (p. 54) that all Sperm Whales, both great and small, have some method 
of communication, though what that method is, remains shrouded in interest¬ 
ing obscurity. 
If the Sperm Whale is formidable, in size and appearance, Mr. Beale had 
abundant proof that its prey is no chicken. On one occasion the u beak” of a 
Sepia (the “ Rock Squid ” of sailors) sprang upon his bare arm, for which it 
evinced considerable affection :— 
“ A sensation of horror pervaded my whole frame when I found this monstrous animal had 
affixed itself so firmly. Its cold slimy grasp was extremely sickening, and I immediately called 
aloud to the captain, who was searching for shells at some distance, to come and release me from 
my disgusting assailant—he quickly arrived, and taking me down to the boat, during which time 
I was employed in keeping the beak from my hand, quickly released me by destroying my 
tormentor with the boat-knife, when I disengaged it by portions at a time.”—p. 68. 
At p. 77, et seq ., we are favoured with a description of the skeleton of an adult 
male Sperm Whale in the possession of Sir Clifford Constable, Bart., of Burton- 
Constable Hall, Yorkshire, but into this our limits forbid us to enter. 
It appears that in 1686 the source of spermaceti, and its value, were not 
generally known. In the seventeenth century it was extensively employed both 
in external and internal diseases; but it has been gradually losing ground fn 
public estimation as an internal remedy, since the delivery of Mr. Hunter’s 
scientific account of it in 1787, before the Royal Society (p. 128). 
The origin of the Whale-fishery is another point enveloped in considerable 
mystery; but it appears that the Americans have the honour of commencing an 
attack which eventually ripened into a general crusade, from almost every civilized 
nation, against this huge but naturally inoffensive animal. In 1771 the 
Americans were engaged with great ardour in this pursuit (p. 142); and Mr. 
Burke, in his celebrated speech on. American affairs in 1774, says that “ Neither 
the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, nor the dexterous and 
firm sagacity of English enterprise, ever carried this most perilous mode of hardy 
industry to the extent to which it has been pursued by this recent people,—a 
people who are still in the gristle, and not hardened into manhood.” 
It is to this important trade, we are informed (p. 146), that we owe the opening 
of commerce with South America, the discovery Van Diemen’s Land, and 
Australia. We further learn that while Whales are sometimes met with at no 
great distance from land, six months often elapse before a single individual is seen, 
although a constant watch is kept up from the mast-head. 
