পাতা:পদার্থবিদ্যাসার.djvu/১০৭

96 discharges through its nostrils the water collected while utider the water, and sometimes with such violence, that it sounds like a stormy, wind. The whale, 1lidaigh very inoffensive, has many foes that annoy it. The semale produces only one at a birth; and such is the fidelity of the male and female to each other, and of the female to her young, that they have been known to surrender their lives rather than be separated. Pup. iw what mammer is the wlale caught ? * Tut. The wilale fishers having discovered its place, approach near it, and strike it with their harpoons, to which lines are fastened; being pierced, the whale sinks into the deep, but after a short time it rises again for breath, and is again wounded by his pursuers, and at length by loss of blood, dies, and floats on the water. In this manuer, nearly 2,000 whales are antitially caught. Pup. Of what se is the whale ? Tut. It is of very considerable use; its blubber yields an enormous quantity of oil, and the whalebone is applied to various important purposes. One large whale is estimated at about £1,000 sterling. Pup. Are there amy oulier amiimals of an anomalous kind ? Tat. Yes; those called amphibious are so: they have peculiar organs of respiration, being of a mixed kind between the perfect lungs of quadrupeds and birds, and the gills or respiratory organs of fishes. Hence they can breathe in air like the former, and live in the water like the latter. Pup. Into what orders are they divided, and how are they characterized ... Tui. They are dividēd into two orders: 1st, Reptiles, as tortoises, frogs, lizards, including the cro