Toughness of the Sperm Whale’s Head Blubber
While similar in concept to how body blubber wraps a whale like rind wraps an orange, the head’s envelope differs significantly. Though not as thick as body blubber, the head’s covering possesses a “boneless toughness” that cannot be properly valued by anyone who has not handled it. The most severe harpoon or sharpest lance from the strongest human arm rebounds impotently from this surface. The narrator compares the forehead to being “paved with horses’ hoofs” and notes that no sensation lurks within it.
Ship Dock Impact Wad Comparison
The narrator invokes a maritime parallel: when two large, loaded Indiamen crowd and crush toward each other in docks, sailors do not suspend hard substances like iron or wood at the point of contact. Instead, they hold a large round wad of tow and cork, enveloped in the thickest toughest ox-hide. This wad absorbs the tremendous pressure that would otherwise snap oaken handspikes and iron crow-bars, emerging uninjured from impacts that would destroy harder materials.
Hypothesis on Whale Head Honeycomb Air Connection
The narrator proposes a hypothesis connecting the whale’s unique head structure to atmospheric pressure. Considering that ordinary fish possess a swimming bladder capable of distension or contraction, and that the Sperm Whale lacks such a provision, the narrator wonders if the mysterious “lung-celled honeycombs” within the whale’s head might have an unknown connection to outer air. This would make them susceptible to atmospheric distension and contraction, potentially contributing to the whale’s irresistible power.
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