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But if from the comparative dimensions of the whale’s proper brain , you deem it incapable of being adequately charted , then I have another idea for you . If you attentively regard almost any quadruped’s spine , you will be struck with the resemblance of its vertebræ to a strung necklace of dwarfed skulls , all bearing rudimental resemblance to the skull proper . It is a German conceit , that the vertebræ are absolutely undeveloped skulls . But the curious external resemblance , I take it the Germans were not the first men to perceive . A foreign friend once pointed it out to me , in the skeleton of a foe he had slain , and with the vertebræ of which he was inlaying , in a sort of basso - relievo , the beaked prow of his canoe . Now , I consider that the phrenologists have omitted an important thing in not pushing their investigations from the cerebellum through the spinal canal . For I believe that much of a man’s character will be found betokened in his backbone . I would rather feel your spine than your skull , whoever you are . A thin joist of a spine never yet upheld a full and noble soul . I rejoice in my spine , as in the firm audacious staff of that flag which I fling half out to the world . Apply this spinal branch of phrenology to the Sperm Whale . His cranial cavity is continuous with the first neck - vertebra ; and in that vertebra the bottom of the spinal canal will measure ten inches across , being eight in height , and of a triangular figure with the base downwards . As it passes through the remaining vertebræ the canal tapers in size , but for a considerable distance remains of large capacity . Now , of course , this canal is filled with much the same strangely fibrous substance — the spinal cord — as the brain ; and directly communicates with the brain . And what is still more , for many feet after emerging from the brain’s cavity , the spinal cord remains of an undecreasing girth , almost equal to that of the brain . Under all these circumstances , would it be unreasonable to survey and map out the whale’s spine phrenologically ? For , viewed in this light , the wonderful comparative smallness of his brain proper is more than compensated by the wonderful comparative magnitude of his spinal cord . But leaving this hint to operate as it may with the phrenologists , I would merely assume the spinal theory for a moment , in reference to the Sperm Whale’s hump . This august hump , if I mistake not , rises over one of the larger vertebræ , and is , therefore , in some sort , the outer convex mould of it . From its relative situation then , I should call this high hump the organ of firmness or indomitableness in the Sperm Whale . And that the great monster is indomitable , you will yet have reason to know . CHAPTER 81 . The Pequod Meets The Virgin . The predestinated day arrived , and we duly met the ship Jungfrau , Derick De Deer , master , of Bremen . At one time the greatest whaling people in the world , the Dutch and Germans are now among the least ; but here and there at very wide intervals of latitude and longitude , you still occasionally meet with their flag in the Pacific .
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