But owing to his marked internal structure which gives him
regular lungs, like a human being's, the whale can only live
by inhaling the disengaged air in the open atmosphere.
Wherefore the necessity for his periodical visits to the upper world.
But he cannot in any degree breathe through his mouth, for,
in his ordinary attitude, the Sperm Whale's mouth is buried
at least eight feet beneath the surface; and what is still more,
his windpipe has no connexion with his mouth. No, he breathes
through his spiracle alone; and this is on the top of his head.
If I say, that in any creature breathing is only a function
indispensable to vitality, inasmuch as it withdraws
from the air a certain element, which being subsequently
brought into contact with the blood imparts to the blood
its vivifying principle, I do not think I shall err;
though I may possibly use some superfluous scientific words.
Assume it, and it follows that if all the blood in a man could
be aerated with one breath, he might then seal up his nostrils
and not fetch another for a considerable time. That is to say,
he would then live without breathing. Anomalous as it may seem,
this is precisely the case with the whale, who systematically lives,
by intervals, his full hour and more (when at the bottom)
without drawing a single breath, or so much as in any way
inhaling a particle of air; for, remember, he has no gills.
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