Whalebone

“ Now, Bennie, I can count up over thirty species of whales at this moment, and there are probably several others. There are two groups of them, bone-whales and toothed whales, the first having whalebone, and the second, teeth instead."
"But, Uncle Horace, have not all whales bones?"
"Yes; but that may not mean whalebone."
"That is queer. What other kind of bones can a whale have, I should like to know? I should think they would be whalebone any way."
SIDE VIEW OF THE MOUTH.
"I put it in that way, Ben, so as to draw your attention sharply to it. Whalebone is not bone at all ”

“ Notwithstanding its colossal size, the Whalebone Whale is very harmless, living principally upon the small animals that crowd the seas to which it resorts, straining them from the surrounding water by means of its sieve-like mouth. ”

“ Then we have a clue, for each blade of whalebone grows from a horny white gum, being fed by a fleshy substance below much in the same way as our nails are, so that these blades are, as it were, a series of hardened ridges, which grow out from the soft palate, till they become frayed at the edges, and form that dense fringe which is the whale’s strainer, upon which he depends entirely for his food. ”

“ Whalebone is a horny product of the epithelium lining the mouth, and is comparable to an exaggeration of the transverse ridges which are found in the mouths of all mammals upon the palate. In non-Cetacean mammals these ridges vary in depth, and are arranged as a rule transversely, but with an oblique inclination. This is precisely how the plates of baleen are disposed in the mouth of a Whale. Each piece of "bone" is triangular in shape, the broader end being that of attachment while it narrows gradually ”

“ The interior edges are covered with a fringe of hair, and the exterior edge of every blade, excepting a few at each extremity of the series, is curved and flattened down, so as to present a smooth surface to the lips. In some whales, a curious hollow on one side, and ridge on the other, occurs in many of the central blades of whalebone, at regular intervals of 6 or 7 inches.—May not this irregularity, like the rings in the horns of the ox, which they resemble, afford an intimation of the age of the whale? ”

“ Whalebone possesses a unique combination of properties which render it peculiarly and almost exclusively suitable for several purposes. It is light, flexible, tough and fibrous, and its fibres run parallel to each other without intertwisting. ”

“ The whalebone is shorter and coarser than in any other species. In the skeleton the cervical vertebrae are free, and the first two ribs on each side expanded and united to form a large bony shield. In the humpback-whale (Megaptera longimana or boops) the head is of moderate size, the whalebone-plates are short and wide, and the cervical vertebrae free. The skin of the throat is fluted so as to form an expansible pouch; there is a low back-fin; and the flippers, which have four digits each, are extremely long, equalling about one-fourth the total length of the animal. ”

“ Whalebone varies much in colour in different species; in some it is almost jet black, in others slate colour, horn colour, yellow, or even creamy-white. In some descriptions the blades are variegated with longitudinal stripes of different hues. It differs also greatly in other respects, being short, thick, coarse, and stiff in some cases, and greatly elongated and highly elastic in those species in which it has attained its fullest development. Its function is to strain the water from the small marine molluscs, crustaceans, or fish upon which the whales subsist. ”

“ As a proof, added to so many, that the Whales are the progeny of terrestrial creatures, we have the occasional traces of external ears. [4]
Fig. 182.—Left lower jaw of foetus of Balaenoptera rostrata. Inner aspect, natural size, showing teeth. (After Julin.)
Whalebone Whales never possess permanent teeth as well as the baleen; but in the foetus are more than traces of true teeth, which, however, never arrive at maturity. The whalebone itself is described later (p. 354) . That the Whalebone Whales possess teeth while in the foetal condition was discovered so long ago as 1807. ”

“ When newly cleaned, the surface exhibits a fine play of colour. A large whale sometimes affords a ton and a half of whalebone. If the "sample blade," that is, the largest lamina in the series, weigh 7 pounds, the whole produce may be estimated at a ton; and so on in proportion. The whalebone is inserted into the crown-bone, in a sort of rabbet. All the blades in the same series are connected together by the gum, in which the thick ends are inserted. This substance, (the gum,) is white, fibrous, tender, and tasteless. It cuts like cheese. ”

“ It was lowered into the blubber-room between decks, where a couple of men were stationed to stow the blubber away. Then came the fins, and after them the upper jaw, with the whalebone attached to it. The "right" whale has no teeth like the sperm whale. In place of teeth it has the well-known substance called whalebone, which grows from the roof of its mouth in a number of broad thin plates, extending from the back of the head to the snout. ”

“ An interesting object may also be procured from whalebone by cutting long sections of the hairs of which it is composed. Down the centre of each hair we shall find a line of cells divided from one another very distinctly. And (as recommended in the “Micrographic Dictionary”) if whalebone be macerated twenty-four hours in a solution of caustic potash it will be softened, and by afterwards digesting in water, the outer part will be resolved into numerous transparent cells, which will show more plainly the structure of this curious substance. ”

“ The whalebone is covered with long hair like that of a horse, which not only preserves the tongue from being hurt, but prevents their food from being returned when they eject the water from their mouths. ”

“ The jaw opened very far back, and was nearly sixteen feet in length, the most curious part of its structure being the remarkable substance known as whalebone, masses of which appeared all along the jaws, solid at the base, and splitting into a sort of fringe at the extremity. This arrangement is for the purpose of aiding the whale in procuring its food, and separating it from the water.
The tongue was remarkably large, soft, and full of oil; the opening of the throat wonderfully small, scarcely two inches in diameter.
"Why, what can the monster eat?" exclaimed Fritz ”

“ A stage beyond, and we reach the shoveler's condition, "in which the lamellæ would be two thirds of the length of the plates of baleen," in a species of whalebone whale (Balænoptera) possessing a slight development of these organs. And from this point, the further gradations leading onward to the enormous developments seen in the Greenland whale itself, are easily enough traced. Hypothetically, therefore, the path of development is clear enough. ”

“ Opening wide its colossal mouth, a cavity often more than fifteen feet in length, and so deep from upper to lower jaw that the flexible sheets of whalebone, sometimes ten feet long, hang straight without touching its floor, it takes a great gulp of water. ”

“ They sometimes serrate the edges of two strips of whalebone and whirl them round their heads, just as boys do in England to make the same peculiar humming sound. They will dispose one piece of wood on another, as an axis, in such a manner that the wind turns it round like the arms of a windmill ”

“ As the opposite of the enormous throat of the snake, the bulky whalebone whale has the smallest throat, proportionate to its size, of any animal just large enough to admit the tiny creatures which are its food. We see in this a fine example of Nature's economy. ”

“ It is fastened on by short stitches of whalebone about 5 or 6 inches apart, leaving room enough between the two hoops to allow a lacing of fine whalebone to pass through. The coaming is put on over the edge of the skin cover, which is drawn up tight inside of the coaming and over its upper edge and fastened by a lacing of whalebone, which runs spirally round the outer hoop and through holes about one-half inch apart in the edge of the cover. ”

“ The bones serve as timber for [Pg 103] roofing their houses, and other domestic purposes; and fishing-rods of the best quality are made from the whalebone. [29]
The common whale, notwithstanding its magnitude, swims with surprising agility, and generally against the wind. The flat position of its tail enables it to ascend suddenly to the surface of the water to breathe, which it is frequently obliged to do. Whales are very harmless and timid; but, when attacked, frequently strike the boats a dangerous blow with their tails, in which their greatest strength lies. ”

“ Though the early stages by which whalebone has been modified from more simple palate structures are lost to our sight, the conditions in which it now exists in different species of whales show very marked varieties of progress, from a simple, comparatively rudimental and imperfect condition, to what is perhaps the most wonderful example of mechanical adaptation to purpose known in any organic structure. ”

“ In the Greenland Whale this whalebone hanging from the center of the jaw is sometimes twelve feet in length, and as there are from two hundred and fifty to four hundred in number, the great value of the baleen is readily seen. When the great animal opens its mouth, a row boat with its oarsmen could easily be taken in, yet the animal eats only small crustaceans, mollusks, worms and minute forms of life. ”

“ The head is unusually large, and forms about one-third of the whole body, and the inside of the mouth is about as large as a ship's cabin or a very small room. The strips of whalebone, which reach from the upper jaw to the lower one, must, therefore, be very large. ”

“ The skeleton of the whalebone whale which was cast ashore at North Berwick last year, and whose measurement so far exceeds the ordinary dimensions of animated nature as positively to require to be seen before being believed, is now in course of preparation, and we believe will be set up in such a manner as to enable scientific men to examine it with every advantage. ”

“ The ascent to the quadrupeds brings in review before us still more striking illustrations of the apparently incomplete rendering of the structures of animal life. No better instance of the "rudimentary organs" of the naturalist can be found than in the group of the whales, and more especially in the species from which we obtain the commercial whalebone and oil—the Greenland or right whale. This whale possesses no teeth in its adult state, but before birth teeth are found in the gum. ”

“ The tongue occupies a large proportion of the cavity of the mouth, and the arch formed by the whalebone. It is incapable of protrusion, being fixed from root to tip, to the fat extending between the jaw-bones.—A slight beard, consisting of a short scattered white hair, surmounts the anterior extremity of both jaws. The throat is remarkably strait.
Two paps in the female, afford the means of rearing its young. The milk of the whale resembles that of quadrupeds in its appearance. It is said to be rich and well-flavoured. ”

“ Round the body is a cord, having attached to it at the middle of the back a short strip of stiffish whalebone, by which the great awkward bird may be conveniently lowered into the water or lifted out when at work; and to this whalebone is looped a thin rein of spruce fibre, twelve feet long, and so far wanting in pliancy as to minimize the chance of entanglement. When the fishing ground is reached, the master lowers his twelve birds one by one into the stream and gathers their reins into his left hand, manipulating the latter thereafter with his right as occasion requires. ”

“ A whale is a warm-blooded, air-breathing, milk-giving animal. Its fins are hands with finger-bones, having a large number of joints; its tail is a piece of cartilage, and not a fish's fin with bones and rays; it has teeth in its gums, even if it never cuts them; and it gives suck to its little one just as much as a cow does to her calf. Nay, the whalebone whales have even the traces of hind legs entirely buried under the skin, and in the Greenland whale the hip-joint and knee-joint can be distinguished with some of their muscles, though the bones are quite hidden and useless. ”

“ The head is either rounded, massive, or has a long snout. There are no hind limbs, and only in the enormous Whalebone Whales have the rudiments of any been found. Small pelvic bones, however, are present, embedded in the flesh at the setting-on of the tail. The fore-limbs, which are ordinarily termed flippers, have the usual bones extremely broadened and flattened; the free part—equivalent to the hand—being encased in a rigid or stiff nailless membrane; and in a few instances the phalanges are exceedingly numerous, producing a long-fingered peculiarity met with in no other Mammal. ”

“ Of the intestines of the whale the Greenlanders prepare a substance which serves instead of glass for their windows. They make fishing-lines of the filaments which terminate the blades of whalebone; and in many countries, the ribs and other large bones supply the place of timber, in the construction of houses, and as fences to surround gardens and fields. The smaller bones are converted into harpoons and spears. The tendons are split into filaments, and used as cordage, and for nets of various kinds. ”