Sentence:  [T]he 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 <WSD>moot</WSD> point whether a whale be a fish. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Subject to discussion (originally at a moot); arguable, debatable, unsolved or impossible to solve.