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Chapter 77 The Great Heidelburgh Tun
第七十七章 海德堡大桶
Now comes the Baling of the Case.
現在要說到汲腦窩了。
But to comprehend it aright, you must know something of the curious internal structure of the thing operated upon.
但是，要正確地了解它，必須知道一點這種要動手術的東西的內部的希奇結構。
Regarding the Sperm Whale's head as a solid oblong, you may, on an inclined plane, sideways divide it into two quoins,
你可以從斜面上把抹香鯨頭看成一個立體的長橢圓形，把它斜切成兩個楔狀片
whereof the lower is the bony structure, forming the cranium and jaws, and the upper an unctuous mass wholly free from bones;
那么，下半塊就是構成腦蓋骨和牙床骨的結構，上半塊就是完全沒有骨頭、滑膩膩的一團東西；
its broad forward end forming the expanded vertical apparent forehead of the whale.
它那寬闊的前端構成了大鯨的開闊、垂直而顯明的前額。
At the middle of the forehead horizontally subdivide this upper quoin,
在前額的正中再把這上半塊的楔狀片橫分為二，
and then you have two almost equal parts, which before were naturally divided by an internal wall of a thick tendinous substance.
那么，就成為差不多相等的兩爿，這兩爿東西，天生是由一垛內壁似的一種厚腱質的東西隔開的。
Footnote: Quoin is not a Euclidean term.
腳注：楔狀片——楔狀片不是個幾何學名稱，
It belongs to the pure nautical mathematics.
它全然是屬于海上的數學名稱，
I know not that it has been defined before.
以前是否有人解釋過這名稱，我不知道。
A quoin is a solid which differs from a wedge in having its sharp end formed by the steep inclination of one side,
楔狀片是立體的，它跟楔形不同的地方，是它的尖端系由一邊的斜傾角所形成的，
instead of the mutual tapering of both sides. end of footnote.
而不是兩邊都共同漸向尖端削小的。腳注完。
The lower subdivided part, called the junk, is one immense honeycomb of oil,
橫切下來的那下半爿，叫做腦塊，就是一只藏油的大蜂窠，
formed by the crossing and recrossing, into ten thousand infiltrated cells, of tough elastic white fibres throughout its whole extent.
里邊往復交錯，有無數互相滲透的細窩，完全是一種粗糙而有彈性的白色纖維質。
