New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-03-06


furnished with teeth instead Of a sieve The
fangs are planted along the rim OF the lower
jaw. with only pockets in the upper one contain
ing rudimentary teeth at their bottom With
his lower jaw hanging down at an oblique angle
the sperm whale is wont to swim along the bot
tom Of the ocean, letting all manner OF living
things float into its gulet Occasionally the
huge arm Of an octopus coils about the Jaw, and
the two monsters grapple in life and death
conflict at the oceans bottom. In The Cruise
OF the CachalOt' Frank T. BuIlen tells Of such
a battle which had begun in the depths OF the
sea and which ended its surface. He saw
the writing arms Of the octopus as one By one
| the gigantic jaw bit them off. the sweeping
hukes OF the whale as they thrashed the sea into
lather. and the great bulk OF the octopus's
head IS it finally sank to the bottom
II the head Of the sperm whale there is a
sort Of cistern containing the spermaceti thai
is used in many delicate toilet articles. When
first taken from the whale It is Impid. like
water. but on exposure to the air it assumes the
/ consistency Of wax. The blubber OF the Sperm
Whale contains a finer grade Of oil than that Of
! the whaleoone species and furnishes the sperm
/ oil Of commerce.
In both the sperm and the whalebone whaIef
and the other varieties allied to them there are
/ many more characteristics which would seem to
prove marine origin. Although 4 whales body
| sometimes measures seventy feet. its eye is no
| bigger than that Of an OK. Hidden away between
/ the corners Of the mouth and the hippers the
| eyes can look backward better than forward
| The great head which in some species consti-
| tutes one-third OF the body. cuts off almost all
vision forward. so that an enemy may approach
most safely r-om in front. The ear Is so small
| that its tiny orifce behind the eye hardly al,
nits ones little finger. Its nerve has shrunk anf
been absorbed. The whale Is also destitute o.
the sense Of smell. for fits nose has been con-
verted into the blowhole through which 1t expe-s
when on the surface the air from its huge lungs.
When submerged the blowhole is closed by q
valve. which at certain depths is subjected TO a
pressure fourteen times greater than that Of a
| locomotives boiler when the steam gauge regis
tiers 100 pounds
| In brains man and while are enormously dis
| similar. The brain OF Cuvier said to be tn
heaviest headed sane man of history" weighed
little over four pounds or about one-forsiath
Of his entire weight. In whale weighing Id
| tons the brain weighs only five pounds, on,
| sixty-thousandth OF its weight Although q whale
| has two thousand times as much body as man.
| it has proportionately one ffteen-hundredth part
| OF mans brains. The whale is also mentally
| inferior to the elephant. which has an eight
pound brain for i four ton body.
Further study of the whales anatomy. how
ever. discovers links which bind him to his
cousin mammals Of the land. His lungs are as
| perfectly developed those OF a hog. His flip
pers are only foreleSs which have become fin
like through ages Of adaptation to marine life.
When the bones are analysed they show the five
| digits OF the hand Of man. There are also
| tiges of hind legs buried in the body. into which
| they have shrunk through ages of disuse. The
| great hukes merely developments of the tail
| of a land animal which has been broadened and
made more powerful and ponderous from beat
| ing the water continually.
Antiquarians say that the fossils of prehistoric
whales are far smaller than the skeletons of the
| whales Of to-day and that they have increased
| in size since antediluviap days. Nevertheless,
| no one has yet been able to explain why the
/ whales forsook land for water or how they have
| grown to their present enormous proportions.