{"id":"01KFNR89PDD84DKD3V0C0YP1EZ","cid":"bafkreiaelftjzvcd3avhirtnc7akpk6dbmqxorinuzape62byhyn6hp66y","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14570,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.759Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 25","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":14515,"text":"sunlight. Not so much thy skill, then, O hunter, as the great\r\nnecessities that strike the victory to thee!\r\n\r\nIn man, breathing is incessantly going on—one breath only serving for\r\ntwo or three pulsations; so that whatever other business he has to\r\nattend to, waking or sleeping, breathe he must, or die he will. But the\r\nSperm Whale only breathes about one seventh or Sunday of his time.\r\n\r\nIt has been said that the whale only breathes through his spout-hole;\r\nif it could truthfully be added that his spouts are mixed with water,\r\nthen I opine we should be furnished with the reason why his sense of\r\nsmell seems obliterated in him; for the only thing about him that at\r\nall answers to his nose is that identical spout-hole; and being so\r\nclogged with two elements, it could not be expected to have the power\r\nof smelling. But owing to the mystery of the spout—whether it be water\r\nor whether it be vapor—no absolute certainty can as yet be arrived at\r\non this head. Sure it is, nevertheless, that the Sperm Whale has no\r\nproper olfactories. But what does he want of them? No roses, no\r\nviolets, no Cologne-water in the sea.\r\n\r\nFurthermore, as his windpipe solely opens into the tube of his spouting\r\ncanal, and as that long canal—like the grand Erie Canal—is furnished\r\nwith a sort of locks (that open and shut) for the downward retention of\r\nair or the upward exclusion of water, therefore the whale has no voice;\r\nunless you insult him by saying, that when he so strangely rumbles, he\r\ntalks through his nose. But then again, what has the whale to say?\r\nSeldom have I known any profound being that had anything to say to this\r\nworld, unless forced to stammer out something by way of getting a\r\nliving. Oh! happy that the world is such an excellent listener!\r\n\r\nNow, the spouting canal of the Sperm Whale, chiefly intended as it is\r\nfor the conveyance of air, and for several feet laid along,\r\nhorizontally, just beneath the upper surface of his head, and a little\r\nto one side; this curious canal is very much like a gas-pipe laid down\r\nin a city on one side of a street. But the question returns whether\r\nthis gas-pipe is also a water-pipe; in other words, whether the spout\r\nof the Sperm Whale is the mere vapor of the exhaled breath, or whether\r\nthat exhaled breath is mixed with water taken in at the mouth, and\r\ndischarged through the spiracle. It is certain that the mouth\r\nindirectly communicates with the spouting canal; but it cannot be\r\nproved that this is for the purpose of discharging water through the\r\nspiracle. Because the greatest necessity for so doing would seem to be,\r\nwhen in feeding he accidentally takes in water. But the Sperm Whale’s\r\nfood is far beneath the surface, and there he cannot spout even if he\r\nwould. Besides, if you regard him very closely, and time him with your\r\nwatch, you will find that when unmolested, there is an undeviating\r\nrhyme between the periods of his jets and the ordinary periods of\r\nrespiration.\r\n\r\nBut why pester one with all this reasoning on the subject? Speak out!\r\nYou have seen him spout; then declare what the spout is; can you not\r\ntell water from air? My dear sir, in this world it is not so easy to\r\nsettle these plain things. I have ever found your plain things the\r\nknottiest of all. And as for this whale spout, you might almost stand\r\nin it, and yet be undecided as to what it is precisely.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 25"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84AAHSNQ4BFJ0ASPHB53","peer_label":"76","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84AAHSNQ4BFJ0ASPHB53","peer_label":"76","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR0H0Q791Y1SMZWEQ09FGV","peer_label":"Moby Dick","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFNR89NK0G6V63CY8EW5DH26","peer_label":"Chunk 26","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR89M0W0E6QXMT0GZ5MQF1","peer_label":"Chunk 24","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.387Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.755Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}