"Cetaceous" Quotes from Famous Books
 ... Its long, black, enormous, mountainous body, lies on the top of the water like an island. But then sailors have been said to have gone ashore on sleeping whales, mistaking them for land. Is it illusion, or is it fear? Its length cannot be less than a thousand fathoms. What, then, is this cetaceous monster of which ...
— A Journey to the Centre of the Earth • Jules Verne
... Procopius, l. viii. 29; most probably a stranger and wanderer, as the Mediterranean does not breed whales. Balaenae quoque in nostra maria penetrant, (Plin. Hist. Natur. ix. 2.) Between the polar circle and the tropic, the cetaceous animals of the ocean grow to the length of 50, 80, or 100 feet, (Hist. des Voyages, tom. xv. p. 289. Pennant's British Zoology, vol. iii. ...
— The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Volume 4 • Edward Gibbon
... seas, the fin seen for an instant, and looking like his back, makes him appear as if he was rolling slowly on in the water—a very different movement from what he really makes, which is rapid in the extreme. While talking of cetaceous animals, to which order the porpoise belongs, I must remark on a very common error held by seaman as well as landsmen, that whales spout out water. The idea is, that the water is taken into the stomach while the whale is feeding, and ejected when he rises to the surface. This ...
— My First Voyage to Southern Seas • W.H.G. Kingston
... retired, and left Ben to his rest, By fancies cetaceous and drink well possessed, When, lo! as he lay by his partner in bed, He heard something blow through two holes ...
— The Book of Humorous Verse • Various
... geologists are agreed that, as a rule, the records of the earth's history should be read in accordance with those laws of nature which continue in force at the present day, e.g., the decomposition of fish and cetaceous animals could not now produce oil containing paraffin. Hence we can hardly believe it was possible thousands or millions of years ago, if it can be proved that any of the processes of nature with which we are familiar is ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 829, November 21, 1891 • Various |
