It is a German conceit, that the vertebrae are absolutely undeveloped skulls. But the curious external resemblance, I take it the Germans were not the first men to perceive. A foreign friend once pointed it out to me, in the skeleton of a foe he had slain, and with the vertebrae of which he was inlaying, in a sort of basso-relieve, the beaked prow of his canoe. Now, I consider that the phrenologists have omitted an important thing in not pushing their investigations from the cerebellum through the spinal canal. For I believe that much of a man's character will be found betokened in his backbone. I would rather feel your spine than your skull, whoever you are. A thin joist of a spine never yet upheld a full and noble soul. I rejoice in my spine, as in the firm audacious staff of that flag which I fling half out to the world.
据说德国人就狂妄地认为，脊骨绝对是发育不足的脑壳。但是，就外表的奇似说来，我却认为，德国人在这方面，并不是首先发现的人物。有一回，有位外国朋友就从一个被他杀死了的敌人的骷髅中，指给我看那背脊骨，他把那脊骨以一种半浮雕的式样，嵌镶在他的独木舟的尖船头上。这里，我认为骨相学家们还遗漏了一件大事，他们还没有从小脑而进一步调查研究一下脊髓管。因为，我相信一个人的性格，大都可以从他的背脊骨中找到暗示。不管你是谁，我倒要摸摸你的脊骨，而不愿意摸你的脑壳。从来就没有一根细小的支柱似的脊骨，撑得住一个完整而高贵的灵魂。我不禁为我的脊骨而大感高兴，为那使我上半身挺立起来的、坚定而旁若无人的旗杆大感高兴。
Apply this spinal branch of phrenology to the Sperm Whale. His cranial cavity is continuous with the first neck-vertebra; and in that vertebra the bottom of the spinal canal will measure ten inches across, being eight in height, and of a triangular figure with the base downwards. As it passes through the remaining vertebrae the canal tapers in size, but for a considerable distance remains of large capacity.
我们把这种骨相学的脊骨派观点应用到抹香鲸上。它那脑盖窝是跟第一根颈脊骨相连的；在那根脊骨中，把它的脊髓管的末端量起来横达十英寸，高八英寸，而且还有一个底朝下的三角形。当它通过其余的脊骨时，脊管的末梢便逐渐变细，不过，还是有相当长的一段是很粗的。