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Thus

speak

of

the

whale

,

the

great

Cuvier

,

and

John

Hunter

,

and

Lesson

,

those

lights

of

zoology

and

anatomy

.

Nevertheless

,

though

of

real

knowledge

there

be

little

,

yet

of

books

there

are

a

plenty

;

and

so

in

some

small

degree

,

with

cetology

,

or

the

science

of

whales

.

Many

are

the

men

,

small

and

great

,

old

and

new

,

landsmen

and

seamen

,

who

have

at

large

or

in

little

,

written

of

the

whale

.

Run

over

a

few

:

--

The

Authors

of

the

Bible

;

Aristotle

;

Pliny

;

Aldrovandi

;

Sir

Thomas

Browne

;

Gesner

;

Ray

;

Linnaeus

;

Rondeletius

;

Willoughby

;

Green

;

Artedi

;

Sibbald

;

Brisson

;

Marten

;

Lacepede

;

Bonneterre

;

Desmarest

;

Baron

Cuvier

;

Frederick

Cuvier

;

John

Hunter

;

Owen

;

Scoresby

;

Beale

;

Bennett

;

J.

Ross

Browne

;

the

Author

of

Miriam

Coffin

;

Olmstead

;

and

the

Rev.

T.

Cheever

.

But

to

what

ultimate

generalizing

purpose

all

these

have

written

,

the

above

cited

extracts

will

show

.

Of

the

names

in

this

list

of

whale

authors

only

those

following

Owen

ever

saw

living

whales

;

and

but

one

of

them

was

a

real

professional

harpooneer

and

whaleman

.

I

mean

Captain

Scoresby

.

On

the

separate

subject

of

the

Greenland

or

right-whale

,

he

is

the

best

existing

authority

.

But

Scoresby

knew

nothing

and

says

nothing

of

the

great

sperm

whale

,

compared

with

which

the

Greenland

whale

is

almost

unworthy

mentioning

.

And

here

be

it

said

,

that

the

Greenland

whale

is

an

usurper

upon

the

throne

of

the

seas

.

He

is

not

even

by

any

means

the

largest

of

the

whales

.

Yet

,

owing

to

the

long

priority

of

his

claims

,

and

the

profound

ignorance

which

till

some

seventy

years

back

,

invested

the

then

fabulous

or

utterly

unknown

sperm-whale

,

and

which

ignorance

to

this

present

day

still

reigns

in

all

but

some

few

scientific

retreats

and

whale-ports

;

this

usurpation

has

been

every

way

complete

.

Reference

to

nearly

all

the

leviathanic

allusions

in

the

great

poets

of

past

days

,

will

satisfy

you

that

the

Greenland

whale

,

without

one

rival

,

was

to

them

the

monarch

of

the

seas

.

But

the

time

has

at

last

come

for

a

new

proclamation

.

This

is

Charing

Cross

;

hear

ye

!

good

people

all

--

the

Greenland

whale

is

deposed

--

the

great

sperm

whale

now

reigneth

!

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There

are

only

two

books

in

being

which

at

all

pretend

to

put

the

living

sperm

whale

before

you

,

and

at

the

same

time

,

in

the

remotest

degree

succeed

in

the

attempt

.

Those

books

are

Beale

's

and

Bennett

's

;

both

in

their

time

surgeons

to

the

English

South-Sea

whale-ships

,

and

both

exact

and

reliable

men

.

The

original

matter

touching

the

sperm

whale

to

be

found

in

their

volumes

is

necessarily

small

;

but

so

far

as

it

goes

,

it

is

of

excellent

quality

,

though

mostly

confined

to

scientific

description

.

As

yet

,

however

,

the

sperm

whale

,

scientific

or

poetic

,

lives

not

complete

in

any

literature

.

Far

above

all

other

hunted

whales

,

his

is

an

unwritten

life

.

Now

the

various

species

of

whales

need

some

sort

of

popular

comprehensive

classification

,

if

only

an

easy

outline

one

for

the

present

,

hereafter

to

be

filled

in

all-outward

its

departments

by

subsequent

laborers

.

As

no

better

man

advances

to

take

this

matter

in

hand

,

I

hereupon

offer

my

own

poor

endeavors

.

I

promise

nothing

complete

;

because

any

human

thing

supposed

to

be

complete

must

for

that

very

reason

infallibly

be

faulty

.

I

shall

not

pretend

to

a

minute

anatomical

description

of

the

various

species

,

or

--

in

this

space

at

least

--

to

much

of

any

description

.

My

object

here

is

simply

to

project

the

draught

of

a

systematization

of

cetology

.

I

am

the

architect

,

not

the

builder

.

But

it

is

a

ponderous

task

;

no

ordinary

letter-sorter

in

the

Post-Office

is

equal

to

it

.

To

grope

down

into

the

bottom

of

the

sea

after

them

;

to

have

one

's

hands

among

the

unspeakable

foundations

,

ribs

,

and

very

pelvis

of

the

world

;

this

is

a

fearful

thing

.

What

am

I

that

I

should

essay

to

hook

the

nose

of

this

leviathan

!

The

awful

tauntings

in

Job

might

well

appal

me

.

"

Will

he

(

the

leviathan

)

make

a

covenant

with

thee

?

Behold

the

hope

of

him

is

vain

!

But

I

have

swam

through

libraries

and

sailed

through

oceans

;

I

have

had

to

do

with

whales

with

these

visible

hands

;

I

am

in

earnest

;

and

I

will

try

.

There

are

some

preliminaries

to

settle

.

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First

:

The

uncertain

,

unsettled

condition

of

this

science

of

Cetology

is

in

the

very

vestibule

attested

by

the

fact

,

that

in

some

quarters

it

still

remains

a

moot

point

whether

a

whale

be

a

fish

.

In

his

System

of

Nature

,

A.

D.

1776

,

Linnaeus

declares

,

"

I

hereby

separate

the

whales

from

the

fish

.

"

But

of

my

own

knowledge

,

I

know

that

down

to

the

year

1850

,

sharks

and

shad

,

alewives

and

herring

,

against

Linnaeus

's

express

edict

,

were

still

found

dividing

the

possession

of

the

same

seas

with

the

Leviathan

.

The

grounds

upon

which

Linnaeus

would

fain

have

banished

the

whales

from

the

waters

,

he

states

as

follows

:

"

On

account

of

their

warm

bilocular

heart

,

their

lungs

,

their

moveable

eyelids

,

their

hollow

ears

,

penem

intrantem

feminam

mammis

lactantem

,

"

and

finally

,

"

ex

lege

naturae

jure

meritoque

.

"

I

submitted

all

this

to

my

friends

Simeon

Macey

and

Charley

Coffin

,

of

Nantucket

,

both

messmates

of

mine

in

a

certain

voyage

,

and

they

united

in

the

opinion

that

the

reasons

set

forth

were

altogether

insufficient

.

Charley

profanely

hinted

they

were

humbug

.

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