Chapter 77 The Great Heidelburgh Tun
第七十七章 海德堡大桶
Now comes the Baling of the Case.
现在要说到汲脑窝了。
But to comprehend it aright, you must know something of the curious internal structure of the thing operated upon.
但是,要正确地了解它,必须知道一点这种要动手术的东西的内部的希奇结构。
Regarding the Sperm Whale's head as a solid oblong, you may, on an inclined plane, sideways divide it into two quoins,
你可以从斜面上把抹香鲸头看成一个立体的长椭圆形,把它斜切成两个楔状片
whereof the lower is the bony structure, forming the cranium and jaws, and the upper an unctuous mass wholly free from bones;
那么,下半块就是构成脑盖骨和牙床骨的结构,上半块就是完全没有骨头、滑腻腻的一团东西;
its broad forward end forming the expanded vertical apparent forehead of the whale.
它那宽阔的前端构成了大鲸的开阔、垂直而显明的前额。
At the middle of the forehead horizontally subdivide this upper quoin,
在前额的正中再把这上半块的楔状片横分为二,
and then you have two almost equal parts, which before were naturally divided by an internal wall of a thick tendinous substance.
那么,就成为差不多相等的两爿,这两爿东西,天生是由一垛内壁似的一种厚腱质的东西隔开的。
Footnote: Quoin is not a Euclidean term.
脚注:楔状片——楔状片不是个几何学名称,
It belongs to the pure nautical mathematics.
它全然是属于海上的数学名称,
I know not that it has been defined before.
以前是否有人解释过这名称,我不知道。
A quoin is a solid which differs from a wedge in having its sharp end formed by the steep inclination of one side,
楔状片是立体的,它跟楔形不同的地方,是它的尖端系由一边的斜倾角所形成的,
instead of the mutual tapering of both sides. end of footnote.
而不是两边都共同渐向尖端削小的。脚注完。
The lower subdivided part, called the junk, is one immense honeycomb of oil,
横切下来的那下半爿,叫做脑块,就是一只藏油的大蜂窠,
formed by the crossing and recrossing, into ten thousand infiltrated cells, of tough elastic white fibres throughout its whole extent.
里边往复交错,有无数互相渗透的细窝,完全是一种粗糙而有弹性的白色纤维质。