thus speak of the whale, the great cuvier, and john hunter, and lesson, those lights of zoology and anatomy. nevertheless, though of real knowledge there be little, yet of books there are a plenty; and so in some small degree, with cetology, or the science of whales. many are the men, small and great, old and new, landsmen and seamen, who have at large or in little, written of the whale. run over a few:—the authors of the bible; aristotle; pliny; aldrovandi; sir thomas browne; gesner; ray; linnæus; rondeletius; willoughby; green; artedi; sibbald; brisson; marten; lacépède; bonneterre; desmarest; baron cuvier; frederick cuvier; john hunter; owen; scoresby; beale; bennett; j. ross browne; the author of miriam coffin; olmstead; and the rev. t. cheever. but to what ultimate generalizing purpose all these have written, the above cited extracts will show.