Observations on the structure and oeconomy of whales / By John Hunter, Esq., F.R.S. : from the Philosophical transactions.

  • John Hunter
Date:
[1787]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the structure and oeconomy of whales / By John Hunter, Esq., F.R.S. : from the Philosophical transactions. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    45/98 page 43
    appearance of being made up of different parts placed dole together, almoft like the pavement of a ftreet. The ureter comes out at the lower end, and paffes along to the bladder, which it enters very near the urethra. The bladder is oblong, and fmall for the fize of the animal. In the female the urethra paffes along to the external fulcus or vulva, and opens juft under the clitoris, much as in the human fubjedt. Whether being inhabitants of the water makes fuch a con- ftrudlion of kidney neceffary I cannot fay; yet one muft fup- pofe it to have fome connection with fuch fituation, fince we find it almoft uniformly take place in animals inhabiting the water, whether wholly, as this tribe, or occafionally, as the Manatee, Seal, and White Bear: there is, however, the fame ftrudture in the Black Bear, which, I believe, never inhabits the water. This, perhaps, fhould be confidered in another light, as nature keeping up to a certain uniformity in the ftrudture of fimilar animals ; for the Black Bear in conftrudtion of parts is, in every other refpedt as well as this, like the White Bear. The capfulae renales are fmall for the fize of the animal, when compared to the human, as indeed they are in mod: ani¬ mals. They are flat, and of an oval figure; the right lies on the lower and pofterior part of the diaphragm fomewhat higher than the kidney ; the left is iituated lower down, by the fide of the aorta, between it and. the left kidney. They are com- poled of two fubftances ; the external having the direction of its fibres or parts towards the center ; the internal feemrng more uniform, and not having fo much of the fibrous appearance. The blood of animals of this order is, I believe, fimilar to that of quadrupeds; but I have an idea, that the red globules * are
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3