評論
打印
Of all the pre-adamite whales yet exhumed, by far the largest is the Alabama one mentioned in the last chapter, and that was less than seventy feet in length in the skeleton. Whereas, we have already seen, that the tape-measure gives seventy-two feet for the skeleton of a large sized modern whale. And I have heard, on whalemen's authority, that Sperm Whales have been captured near a hundred feet long at the time of capture.
至于在迄今所已發掘的亞當以前的大鯨中，上一章所提到的那條亞拉巴馬鯨應該算是最大的了，可它那骷髏的長度還不滿七十英尺。反之，我們已經看到，一條現代最大的鯨，用卷尺量來，它的骷髏就有七十英尺。而且，我根據捕鯨權威家的說法，還得知在人們所捕到的抹香鯨中，在它剛被捕到的時候，身長將近一百英尺咧。
But may it not be, that while the whales of the present hour are an advance in magnitude upon those of all previous geological periods; may it not be, that since Adam's time they have degenerated?
但是，現代的大鯨，在身軀上，也許不可能超過所有先前的地質年代紀的那些鯨吧；自從亞當時代以來，它們也許不可能退化吧？
Assuredly, we must conclude so, if we are to credit the accounts of such gentlemen as Pliny, and the ancient naturalists generally. For Pliny tells us of Whales that embraced acres of living bulk, and Aldrovandus of others which measured eight hundred feet in length— Rope Walks and Thames Tunnels of Whales! And even in the days of Banks and Solander, Cooke's naturalists, we find a Danish member of the Academy of Sciences setting down certain Iceland Whales (reydan-siskur, or Wrinkled Bellies) at one hundred and twenty yards; that is, three hundred and sixty feet. And Lacepede, the French naturalist, in his elaborate history of whales, in the very beginning of his work (page 3), sets down the Right Whale at one hundred metres, three hundred and twenty-eight feet. And this work was published so late as A.D. 1825.
如果我們信任象普利尼這些先生以及古代一般博物學家們的說法，那么，無疑地，我們就必須下這樣的結論了。因為普利尼告訴我們說，鯨魚的活身軀有好幾英畝大，而阿德羅凡提（阿德羅凡提（1522—1607）——意大利博物學家。）則說，有些鯨身長達八百英尺——真是象制索廠和泰晤士河隧道（泰晤士河隧道——由羅忒希底通到瓦平，由馬克·伊·布魯奈耳爵士所設計，工程達二十年之久，至一八四三年始完工。）似的鯨！甚至在班克斯（約翰·班克斯（1743—1820）——英國博物學家。），梭蘭德（梭蘭德（1736—1782）——住在英國的瑞典生物學家。）和庫克這些博物學家的時代，我們還發現皇家科學院的一個丹麥籍院長宣稱某一種冰島鯨（列丹——西斯庫或者叫做縐腹鯨）身長達一百二十碼；這就要合到三百六十英尺了。而那位法國博物學家拉塞佩德，在他那部詳盡闡述的大鯨史上的開頭（第三頁）就宣稱露脊鯨有一百公尺，即合三百二十八英尺的身長。這部作品還是遲至一八二五年才發表的呢。
