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But in brief, they are these: lungs and warm blood; whereas, all other fish are lungless and cold blooded. Herman Melville – Moby-Dick (Chap. 32: Cetology)

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Um, yeah…it’s not a fish.

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This fundamental thing settled, the next point is, in what internal respect does the whale differ from other fish. Herman Melville – Moby-Dick (Chap. 32: Cetology)

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Well, it’s not a fish. That’s a pretty big difference.

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Be it known that, waiving all argument, I take the good old fashioned ground that the whale is a fish, and call upon holy Jonah to back me. Herman Melville – Moby-Dick (Chap. 32: Cetology)

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Welp, you’re wrong buddy. A whale just ain’t a fish.

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Bud Savoie

10 years

But while today the whale is universally denominated a mammal, scientists and fisherfolk were not so united in Melville’s day. Whales were sometimes called whale-fish. Other marine beasts no longer considered fish are the starfish, cuttlefish, shellfish, jellyfish–and the insect pest called the silverfish. For his time, Melville’s position was a tenable one. I’d cut Melville/Ishmael some slack here.

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What am I that I should essay to hook the nose of this leviathan! The awful tauntings in Job might well appal me. Herman Melville – Moby-Dick (Chap. 32: Cetology)

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In chapter 41 of The Book of Job, God uses the leviathan (whale) as a metaphor for His own power. The chapter begins, “Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?”

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draught Herman Melville – Moby-Dick (Chap. 32: Cetology)

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Alternate spelling of draft

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Bonneterre; Desmarest; Baron Cuvier; Frederick Cuvier; John Hunter; Owen; Scoresby; Beale; Bennett; J. Ross Browne; the Author of Miriam Coffin; Olmstead; and the Rev. T. Cheever. Herman Melville – Moby-Dick (Chap. 32: Cetology)

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By now you get the point…these are all funny looking dead white men who wrotesomethingsometime about whales. Of the remaining authors mentioned the most important in the context of Moby Dick are three Americans:

-Joseph C. Hart (1798-1855), wrote the popular 1834 novel Miriam Coffin, or, The Whale-Fishermen. Hart was the first person to assert that Shakespeare was not the author of the plays attributed to him, so Melville is making a joke by referring to him only as “the author of Miriam Coffin.”
-Francis Allyn Olmstead (1819-1844) wrote an account of his travels in the Sandwich Islands called Incidents of a Whaling Voyage
-Rev. Henry T. Cheever (1814-1897) was the author of several novels about whaling.

Also important is the fact that Ishmael starts repeating his sources “Baron Cuvier…Scoresby, Beale.” Melville is reminding us that Ishmael is an amateur with something to prove rather than a self-assured scholar.

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By now you get the point...these are all funny looking dead white men who wrotesomethingsometime about whales. Of the remaining authors mentioned the most important in the context of *Moby Dick* are three Americans:

-[Joseph C. Hart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_C._Hart) (1798-1855), wrote the popular 1834 novel *Miriam Coffin, or, The Whale-Fishermen.* Hart was the first person to assert that Shakespeare was not the author of the plays attributed to him, so Melville is making a joke by referring to him only as "the author of Miriam Coffin."
-[Francis Allyn Olmstead](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Allyn_Olmsted) (1819-1844) wrote an account of his travels in the Sandwich Islands called *Incidents of a Whaling Voyage*
-Rev. Henry T. Cheever (1814-1897) was the author of several novels about whaling.

Also important is the fact that Ishmael starts repeating his sources "Baron Cuvier...Scoresby, Beale." Melville is reminding us that Ishmael is an amateur with something to prove rather than a self-assured scholar.

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