 as
the Case, may be regarded as the great Heidelburgh Tun of the sperm whale. And
as that famous great tierce is mystically carved in front, so the whale's vast
plaited forehead forms innumerable strange devices for emblematical adornment of
his wondrous tun. Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always replenished with
the most excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so the tun of the whale
contains by far the most precious of all his oily vintages; namely, the highly
prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure, limpid, and odoriferous state. Nor is
this precious substance found unalloyed in any other part of the creature.
Though in life it remains perfectly fluid, yet, upon exposure to the air, after
death, it soon begins to concrete; sending forth beautiful crystalline shoots,
as when the first thin delicate ice is just forming in water. A large whale's
case generally yields about five hundred gallons of sperm, though from
unavoidable circumstances, considerable of it is spilled, leaks, and dribbles
away, or is otherwise irrevocably lost in the ticklish business of securing what
you can.
    I know not with what fine and costly material the Heidelburgh Tun was coated
within, but in superlative richness that coating could not possibly have
compared with the silken pearl-coloured membrane, like the lining of a fine
pelisse, forming the inner surface of the sperm whale's case.
    It will have been seen that the Heidelburgh Tun of the sperm whale embraces
the entire length of the entire top of the head; and since - as has been
elsewhere set forth - the head embraces one-third of the whole length of the
creature, then setting that length down at eighty feet for a good-sized whale,
you have more than twenty-six feet for the depth of the tun, when it is
lengthwise hoisted up and down against a ship's side.
    As in decapitating the whale, the operator's instrument is brought close to
the spot where an entrance is subsequently forced into the spermaceti magazine;
he has, therefore, to be uncommonly heedful, lest a careless, untimely stroke
should invade the sanctuary and wastingly let out its invaluable contents. It is
this decapitated end of the head, also, which is at last elevated out of the
water, and retained in that position by the enormous cutting tackles, whose
hempen combinations, on one side, make quite a wilderness of ropes in that
quarter.
    Thus much being said, attend now, I pray you, to that marvellous and - in
this particular instance - almost fatal operation whereby the sperm whale's
great Heidelburgh
