Of all the pre-adamite whales yet exhumed, by far the largest is the Alabama one mentioned in the last chapter, and that was less than seventy feet in length in the skeleton. Whereas, we have already seen, that the tape-measure gives seventy-two feet for the skeleton of a large sized modern whale. And I have heard, on whalemen's authority, that Sperm Whales have been captured near a hundred feet long at the time of capture.
至于在迄今所已发掘的亚当以前的大鲸中，上一章所提到的那条亚拉巴马鲸应该算是最大的了，可它那骷髅的长度还不满七十英尺。反之，我们已经看到，一条现代最大的鲸，用卷尺量来，它的骷髅就有七十英尺。而且，我根据捕鲸权威家的说法，还得知在人们所捕到的抹香鲸中，在它刚被捕到的时候，身长将近一百英尺咧。
But may it not be, that while the whales of the present hour are an advance in magnitude upon those of all previous geological periods; may it not be, that since Adam's time they have degenerated?
但是，现代的大鲸，在身躯上，也许不可能超过所有先前的地质年代纪的那些鲸吧；自从亚当时代以来，它们也许不可能退化吧？
Assuredly, we must conclude so, if we are to credit the accounts of such gentlemen as Pliny, and the ancient naturalists generally. For Pliny tells us of Whales that embraced acres of living bulk, and Aldrovandus of others which measured eight hundred feet in length— Rope Walks and Thames Tunnels of Whales! And even in the days of Banks and Solander, Cooke's naturalists, we find a Danish member of the Academy of Sciences setting down certain Iceland Whales (reydan-siskur, or Wrinkled Bellies) at one hundred and twenty yards; that is, three hundred and sixty feet. And Lacepede, the French naturalist, in his elaborate history of whales, in the very beginning of his work (page 3), sets down the Right Whale at one hundred metres, three hundred and twenty-eight feet. And this work was published so late as A.D. 1825.
如果我们信任象普利尼这些先生以及古代一般博物学家们的说法，那么，无疑地，我们就必须下这样的结论了。因为普利尼告诉我们说，鲸鱼的活身躯有好几英亩大，而阿德罗凡提（阿德罗凡提（1522—1607）——意大利博物学家。）则说，有些鲸身长达八百英尺——真是象制索厂和泰晤士河隧道（泰晤士河隧道——由罗忒希底通到瓦平，由马克·伊·布鲁奈耳爵士所设计，工程达二十年之久，至一八四三年始完工。）似的鲸！甚至在班克斯（约翰·班克斯（1743—1820）——英国博物学家。），梭兰德（梭兰德（1736—1782）——住在英国的瑞典生物学家。）和库克这些博物学家的时代，我们还发现皇家科学院的一个丹麦籍院长宣称某一种冰岛鲸（列丹——西斯库或者叫做绉腹鲸）身长达一百二十码；这就要合到三百六十英尺了。而那位法国博物学家拉塞佩德，在他那部详尽阐述的大鲸史上的开头（第三页）就宣称露脊鲸有一百公尺，即合三百二十八英尺的身长。这部作品还是迟至一八二五年才发表的呢。