Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

Rib Basket Description

The narrator describes the whale’s vast ivory-ribbed chest, paired with the long, unbroken spine extending straight away from it, as resembling the hull of a large ship newly laid on construction stocks, with only 20 of its naked bow ribs inserted and the keel otherwise a long, disconnected timber.

Ship Hull Analogy

The narrator expands on the ship hull analogy for the whale’s rib basket and spine: the structure looks identical to a ship under construction with only its first 20 bow ribs fitted, and the keel still a disconnected long length of timber for the time being.

Rib Dimensions

The narrator details the dimensions of the whale’s ribs: there are 10 ribs per side. Starting from the neck, the first rib is nearly 6 feet long, the second through fourth grow successively longer, the fifth (middle) rib is the longest at 8 feet plus inches, and ribs shorten from there to the tenth and final rib at 5 feet plus inches. All ribs have thickness proportional to their length, and the middle ribs are the most arched.

Arsacides Beam Usage

The narrator notes that in the Arsacides region, these large whale ribs are repurposed as beams to support footpath bridges built over small streams.

Skeleton and Invested Form

The narrator reflects that the whale’s skeleton is not a perfect mold of its living, flesh-covered form: the largest middle rib, which sits at the whale’s deepest living point (at least 16 feet deep in life), measures only a little over 8 feet, so it only conveys half the true magnitude of that part of the living whale. Large portions of the whale’s flesh, muscle, blood, and bowels wrapped around the naked spine in life, the fins are only a few disordered joints in the skeleton, and the heavy, boneless tail flukes are entirely absent from the remains.

Spine Description

The narrator notes the best way to visualize the whale’s spine is to pile its bones upright on end using a crane, a slow process that once complete results in a structure that looks very much like Pompey’s Pillar.

Vertebrae Measurements

The narrator details the spine’s vertebrae: there are roughly 40 vertebrae total, which are not locked together in the skeleton, stacked like heavy masonry blocks on a Gothic spire. The largest middle vertebra is just under 3 feet wide and over 4 feet deep, while the smallest at the tapering tail end is only 2 inches wide and resembles a white billiard ball.

Cannibal Urchins and Marbles

The narrator shares that he was told even smaller tail vertebrae existed, but they were stolen and lost by the priest’s cannibal urchin children, who used them to play marbles, illustrating how the spine of even the largest living creature ultimately tapers off into a simple child’s plaything.

KAPITEL 104. The Fossil Whale.

The chapter presents an expansive meditation on the fossil whale, framing Leviathan as a subject worthy of imperial folio treatment. The narrator declares his intention to treat the whale “in an archæological, fossiliferous, and antediluvian point of view,” claiming credentials as a geologist through his experience as a stone-mason and digger of wells and cisterns. The opening emphasizes that great themes demand great expression, asserting that while no mighty book can be written on fleas, Leviathan justifies the grandest language. The narrator even purchased a huge quarto edition of Johnson’s dictionary to match the bulk of his subject.

Of the Theme

The narrator explores how writers naturally expand with their subjects, but writing of the whale produces particularly overwhelming effects. He describes his thoughts as stretching to include “the whole circle of the sciences, and all the generations of whales, and men, and mastodons, past, present, and to come.” The whale represents the supreme literary and philosophical subject—a theme so vast that merely contemplating it causes exhaustion. The narrator exclaims that such is “the virtue of a large and liberal theme” that one expands to meet its bulk, and no enduring volume can be written on minor subjects.