The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1890-01-17
FACTS ABOUT WHALES.
VERY LITTLE KNOWN CONCERNING
THIS LARGE ANIMAL.

in the work of investigation, perhaps
none have adopted field more peculiar
and entertaining than Professor Fred
erick w. True, of the National museum.
Professor True is young man, but he
has already spent five years of his career
as scientist in looking up one subject
whales.
"Only about eighteen species of the
fifty-six that frequent the coast of North
America are well known, and the ma
jority of these of forms which have long
been under observation. The number of
species whose habits, variations and dis
tribution are thoroughly understood is
still smaller. The life of the whale is
passed with but little of it being visible,
and it is not an approachable animal.
What is known of it's life has been OBJ
tanned at long range, and many errors
have thereby crept in. All the romance
about thrilling adventures in the capture
of the whale have had their day. 1t is
still regarded as dangerous occupation,
but nothing like what it was in the past.
You will hear no more stories of hand
harpooning and the smoking line rum
ming out over the bow, the boat towed
by a leviathan at lightning speed, and all
those details that illuminated the old
time stories of the sea. Now whales are
killed with bomb lance, fired as any
other projectile, at moderately long
range. 1t carries an explosive substance
that detonates when the lance enters the
body of the whale. That is the modern
way. The whale is generally harpooned
afterward in order to make it fast, and
unless this is attempted before the whale
is dead it is not attended with any danger.
"What are some of the popular falla-
cies in regard to whales?"
''In the first place the greatest of them
all is that the whale is fish. 1t is a
mammal with none of the characteristics
of fish, except that it exists in the wa
ter. An animal that nurses its young
and has rudimentary hind legs could
hardly correspond to a fish in any re-
spect. In almost every cut of whale
you will see the animal spouting a tre-
mendous volume of water from its blow
holes. This purely an imaginary habit
on the part of the whales. The blow
holes of the whale correspond to the
nostrils of other animals. When it comes
to the surface to breathe it expels the air
from it's lungs with a violent effort. Its
nostrils are apt to be slightly under wa
ter, and the result is, column of spray
rises in the air. This has been mistaken
in the distance by sailors for a column of
water. When whale had been har-
pooned so that its lungs had been pene-
trated it is likely that the whale spouted
blood and water through its nostrils, and
this has confirmed the original error
when the sailors observed it at close
range.
"Another popular error" continued
Professor True, sis that all whales fur
nish whalebone. The two great classif-
cations among whales are the toothed
and the whalebone varieties. The sperm
whale is toothed whale, and the right
whale is whalebone whale. The whale
bone in good sized whale is worth sew
eral hundreds of dollars. The toothed
whales really have not much use for
their teeth, as they cannot chew any
thing with them. They are merely
row of points that serve to grasp fish
or other kind of prey, and hold it until
it can work it down its throat. The
teeth are only on the lower jaw. There
are no molars among the teeth and they
cannot grind the food. Then the jaw is
not hung so that it can do anything more
than snap. The whalebone whale uses
the fringe of whalebone around the up
per jaw in lieu of teeth. 1t strikes a
school of shellfish, which abound in great
numbers in the sea, and when it gets
them in its mouth it closes it's jaws. The
water is squeezed out and the whale
swallows everything that is left"
'Have any species been exterminated?'
"From what we know it is not prob
able. For few years the right whale
disappeared totally from the North
American coast. None were stranded,
and there was no evidence that any more
were in existence. A year or two ago
one or two specimens We're seen, and now
they are reasonably plentiful again.
Whether they disappeared because they
were pursued by man or for some other
reason we cannot establish. That they
totally disappeared, however, is conclu-
sive. The fact is, that when a certain
kind of whale becomes so scarce as to be
in danger of determination it then be-
comes improbable to chase it, and the
opportunity for a renewal of the breed
is favorable"
''Do they breed rapidly?"
"Qne or two at birth is the rule. The
smaller varieties generally bear twins,
and single one at a birth is probably
the case with the greater varieties. The
infants are born pretty well able to take
care of themselves, though they are care
fully nursed by the mother until they are
swift enough to provide themselves with
food. 1t is the belief that the mother
floats on her side on the top of the water
when nursing, so that the young can
suckle with their blowholes out of water.
Whether this is true or not l do not
know"
"Do whales ever sleep?"
"That is one of the many things that
we do not know. Sperm whales have
been known to lie on the water motion
less for considerable period, but it can
only be guessed whether they are asleep
or not. A whale could not sleep under
water for any length of time. 1t has a
capacity for storing great deal of air in
the blood vessels that fill the neck and
are found well down through the body;
but at the furthest this could not last
have to come to the surface to blow. 1t
is assumed that many of the lower forms
of life never sleep, but in the case of the
4 / Al. LaI