The baleen (commonly called whalebone) has been
prepared with infinite care and trouble, and will be placed in its
original section in the palate. If there be one part more remarkable
than another, it is the appearance of the baleen, or whalebone, when
occupying its natural position; the prodigious quantity (upwards of two
tons), and, at the same time, mechanical beauty connected with every
part of the unique mass, rendering it beyond the power of language to
describe, or give the slightest idea of it. The skull, or brainbone, was
divided vertically, with a view to convenience in moving the head (this
portion of the skeleton weighing eight tons). This section displayed the
cavity for containing the brain; and thus some knowledge of the sentient
and leading organ of an animal, the dimensions of whose instruments of
motion fill the mind with astonishment, will at last be obtained.
Results, unexpected, we believe, by most anatomists were arrived at. The
cavity (a cast of which will be submitted to the anatomical public) was
gauged or measured in the manner first invented and recommended by Sir
William Hamilton, and under that gentleman's immediate inspection; the
weight of the brain, estimated in this way, amounts to 54 lb.
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