評論
打印
The classification of the constituents of a chaos, nothing less is here essayed.
這其中包括著各式各類的人，從有權有勢的人到一般的小人物，
Listen to what the best and latest authorities have laid down.
從捕鯨界的老手到只出過幾次海的新手，從陸地上的人到真正出海的人……
No branch of Zoology is so much involved as that which is entitled Cetology, says Captain Scoresby, A.D. 1820.
涉及這個學科的人不計其數，僅是成名成家并且發表了自己著述的人名就可以羅列出一大串來。
It is not my intention, were it in my power, to enter into the inquiry as to the true method of dividing the cetacea into groups and families....
之所以會產生這樣的情況，實在是因為在所有動物學的分支中，鯨類學可以稱做是最復雜，牽扯最廣，涉及面最大的一個學科。
Utter confusion exists among the historians of this animal, says Surgeon Beale, A.D. 1839.
可是這近三十位大家中，真正見到過活鯨的人物，
Unfitness to pursue our research in the unfathomable waters.
卻只有五六分之一，其余的則是在陸地上靠解剖或其他方法得來的結論。
Impenetrable veil covering our knowledge of the cetacea. A field strewn with thorns. All these incomplete indications but serve to torture us naturalists.
不過他的發言權也僅僅局限于格陵蘭鯨和露脊鯨，關于抹香鯨他就沒有什么了解了。
