. Animal and vegetable physiology, considered with reference to natural theology. Biology; Physiology; Plant physiology; Natural theology. 102 THE VITAL FUNCTIONS. birds; being furnished, like the former, with grinding teeth at the posterior part of both the ui)per and lower jaws, but they are of a horny substance; and the mouth is terminated in front by a horny bill, greatly resembling that of the duck, or the spoon-bill. The JVfialc is furnished with a singular apparatus de- signed for filtration on a large scale. The palate has the form of a concave dome, and from its sides there descends v
. Animal and vegetable physiology, considered with reference to natural theology. Biology; Physiology; Plant physiology; Natural theology. 102 THE VITAL FUNCTIONS. birds; being furnished, like the former, with grinding teeth at the posterior part of both the ui)per and lower jaws, but they are of a horny substance; and the mouth is terminated in front by a horny bill, greatly resembling that of the duck, or the spoon-bill. The JVfialc is furnished with a singular apparatus de- signed for filtration on a large scale. The palate has the form of a concave dome, and from its sides there descends vertically into the mouth, a multitude of thin plates set pa- rallel to each other, with one of their edges directed towards the circumference, and the other towards the middle of the j)alate. These plates are known by the name of ivhalebone, and their general form and appearance, as they hang from the roof of the palate, are shown in Fig. 272, which represents only six of these ;" They are connected to the bone by means of a white ligamen- tous substance, to which they arc im- mediately attached, and from which they appear to grow: at their inner margins, the fd^rcs, of which their tex- ture is throughout composed, cease to adhere together; but being loose and detached, form a kind of fringe, calcu- lated to intercept, as in a sieve, all so- lid or even gelatinous substances that may have been admitted into the cavity of the mouth, which is exceedingly ca- pacious; for as the plates of vv'halebonc grow only from the margins of the up- per jaw, they leave a large space with- in, which, though narrow anteriorly, is wider as it extends backwards, and is capable of holding a large quantity of • In ihc Pihed Ulialc the plates of whalebone are placed very near to- gether, not being a (|uartcr of an inch asunder; and there are above three hundred plates in the outer rows on each bide of the ! h'. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page
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