Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

The Case as the Great Heidelburgh Tun

The Case is compared to the famous Heidelburgh Tun, a renowned wine cask. Just as that great tierce was mystically carved in front with decorative elements, the whale’s vast plaited forehead forms countless strange devices serving as emblematical adornment for this wondrous tun. The analogy emphasizes the remarkable nature of this anatomical feature.

Spermaceti Properties and Content

The Case contains by far the most precious of all the whale’s oily vintages—spermaceti. This substance exists in its most valuable state within the Case: absolutely pure, limped, and odoriferous. During the whale’s life, spermaceti remains perfectly fluid. However, upon exposure to air after death, it quickly begins to concrete, sending forth beautiful crystalline shoots similar to the formation of thin delicate ice on water.

Large Whale Spermaceti Yield

A large whale’s case typically yields approximately five hundred gallons of sperm. Due to unavoidable circumstances during extraction, however, considerable amounts are spilled, leak away, or are otherwise irrevocably lost in the precarious business of securing what is possible.

Case Inner Membrane Lining

The Heidelburgh Tun of legend was lined with fine and costly materials, yet in superlative richness, those materials could not compare to the silken pearl-colored membrane that forms the inner surface of the sperm whale’s case. This lining resembles the lining of a fine pelisse, presenting an extraordinary organic interior surface.

Heidelburgh Tun Dimensions

The Heidelburgh Tun of the sperm whale embraces the entire length of the top of the head. Since the whale’s head constitutes one-third of its total body length, and assuming an eighty-foot length for a good-sized whale, the depth of the tun measures more than twenty-six feet when hoisted lengthwise up and down against a ship’s side.