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- Герман Мелвилл
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- Моби Дик
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If
the
Sperm
Whale
be
physiognomically
a
Sphinx
,
to
the
phrenologist
his
brain
seems
that
geometrical
circle
which
it
is
impossible
to
square
.
In
in
full-grown
creature
the
skull
will
measure
at
least
twenty
feet
in
length
.
Unhinge
the
lower
jaw
,
and
the
side
view
of
this
skull
is
as
the
side
of
a
moderately
inclined
plane
resting
throughout
on
a
level
base
.
But
in
life
--
as
we
have
elsewhere
seen
--
this
inclined
plane
is
angularly
filled
up
,
and
almost
squared
by
the
enormous
superincumbent
mass
of
the
junk
and
sperm
.
At
the
high
end
the
skull
forms
a
crater
to
bed
that
part
of
the
mass
;
while
under
the
long
floor
of
this
crater
--
in
another
cavity
seldom
exceeding
ten
inches
in
length
and
as
many
in
depth
reposes
the
mere
handful
of
this
monster
's
brain
.
The
brain
is
at
least
twenty
feet
from
his
apparent
forehead
in
life
;
it
is
hidden
away
behind
its
vast
outworks
,
like
the
innermost
citadel
within
the
amplified
fortifications
of
Quebec
.
So
like
a
choice
casket
is
it
secreted
in
him
,
that
I
have
known
some
whalemen
who
peremptorily
deny
that
the
Sperm
Whale
has
any
other
brain
than
that
palpable
semblance
of
one
formed
by
the
cubic-yards
of
his
sperm
magazine
.
Lying
in
strange
folds
,
courses
,
and
convolutions
,
to
their
apprehensions
,
it
seems
more
in
keeping
with
the
idea
of
his
general
might
to
regard
that
mystic
part
of
him
as
the
seat
of
his
intelligence
.
It
is
plain
,
then
,
that
phrenologically
the
head
of
this
Leviathan
,
in
the
creature
's
living
intact
state
,
is
an
entire
delusion
.
As
for
his
true
brain
,
you
can
then
see
no
indications
of
it
,
nor
feel
any
.
The
whale
,
like
all
things
that
are
mighty
,
wears
a
false
brow
to
the
common
world
.
If
you
unload
his
skull
of
its
spermy
heaps
and
then
take
a
rear
view
of
its
rear
end
,
which
is
the
high
end
,
you
will
be
struck
by
its
resemblance
to
the
human
skull
,
beheld
in
the
same
situation
,
and
from
the
same
point
of
view
.
Indeed
,
place
this
reversed
skull
(
scaled
down
to
the
human
magnitude
)
among
a
plate
of
men
's
skulls
,
and
you
would
involuntarily
confound
it
with
them
;
and
remarking
the
depressions
on
one
part
of
its
summit
,
in
phrenological
phrase
you
would
say
--
This
man
had
no
self-esteem
,
and
no
veneration
.
And
by
those
negations
,
considered
along
with
the
affirmative
fact
of
his
prodigious
bulk
and
power
,
you
can
best
form
to
yourself
the
truest
,
though
not
the
most
exhilarating
conception
of
what
the
most
exalted
potency
is
.
But
if
from
the
comparative
dimensions
of
the
whale
's
proper
brain
,
you
deem
it
incapable
of
being
adequately
charted
,
then
I
have
another
idea
for
you
.
If
you
attentively
regard
almost
any
quadruped
's
spine
,
you
will
be
struck
with
the
resemblance
of
its
vertebrae
to
a
strung
necklace
of
dwarfed
skulls
,
all
bearing
rudimental
resemblance
to
the
skull
proper
.
It
is
a
German
conceit
,
that
the
vertebrae
are
absolutely
undeveloped
skulls
.
But
the
curious
external
resemblance
,
I
take
it
the
Germans
were
not
the
first
men
to
perceive
.
A
foreign
friend
once
pointed
it
out
to
me
,
in
the
skeleton
of
a
foe
he
had
slain
,
and
with
the
vertebrae
of
which
he
was
inlaying
,
in
a
sort
of
basso-relieve
,
the
beaked
prow
of
his
canoe
.
Now
,
I
consider
that
the
phrenologists
have
omitted
an
important
thing
in
not
pushing
their
investigations
from
the
cerebellum
through
the
spinal
canal
.
For
I
believe
that
much
of
a
man
's
character
will
be
found
betokened
in
his
backbone
.
I
would
rather
feel
your
spine
than
your
skull
,
whoever
you
are
.
A
thin
joist
of
a
spine
never
yet
upheld
a
full
and
noble
soul
.
I
rejoice
in
my
spine
,
as
in
the
firm
audacious
staff
of
that
flag
which
I
fling
half
out
to
the
world
.
Apply
this
spinal
branch
of
phrenology
to
the
Sperm
Whale
.
His
cranial
cavity
is
continuous
with
the
first
neck-vertebra
;
and
in
that
vertebra
the
bottom
of
the
spinal
canal
will
measure
ten
inches
across
,
being
eight
in
height
,
and
of
a
triangular
figure
with
the
base
downwards
.
As
it
passes
through
the
remaining
vertebrae
the
canal
tapers
in
size
,
but
for
a
considerable
distance
remains
of
large
capacity
.
Now
,
of
course
,
this
canal
is
filled
with
much
the
same
strangely
fibrous
substance
--
the
spinal
cord
--
as
the
brain
;
and
directly
communicates
with
the
brain
.
And
what
is
still
more
,
for
many
feet
after
emerging
from
the
brain
's
cavity
,
the
spinal
cord
remains
of
an
undecreasing
girth
,
almost
equal
to
that
of
the
brain
.
Under
all
these
circumstances
,
would
it
be
unreasonable
to
survey
and
map
out
the
whale
's
spine
phrenologically
?
For
,
viewed
in
this
light
,
the
wonderful
comparative
smallness
of
his
brain
proper
is
more
than
compensated
by
the
wonderful
comparative
magnitude
of
his
spinal
cord
But
leaving
this
hint
to
operate
as
it
may
with
the
phrenologists
,
I
would
merely
assume
the
spinal
theory
for
a
moment
,
in
reference
to
the
Sperm
Whale
's
hump
.
This
august
hump
,
if
I
mistake
not
,
rises
over
one
of
the
larger
vertebrae
,
and
is
,
therefore
,
in
some
sort
,
the
outer
convex
mould
of
it
.
From
its
relative
situation
then
,
I
should
call
this
high
hump
the
organ
of
firmness
or
indomitableness
in
the
Sperm
Whale
.
And
that
the
great
monster
is
indomitable
,
you
will
yet
have
reason
to
know
.
The
predestinated
day
arrived
,
and
we
duly
met
the
ship
Jungfrau
,
Derick
De
Deer
,
master
,
of
Bremen
.
