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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
!
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
.
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
.
