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But he cannot in any degree breathe through his mouth, for, in his ordinary attitude, the Sperm Whale's mouth is buried at least eight feet beneath the surface; and what is still more, his windpipe has no connexion with his mouth. No, he breathes through his spiracle alone; and this is on the top of his head.
不过，不管怎样，它是不能用嘴呼吸的，因为，按它通常的状态说来，抹香鲸的嘴巴深藏在水面之下至少有八英尺的地方，而且，它的气管跟嘴巴又毫无联系。不，它只靠那只喷水孔呼吸，而那只喷水孔却长在头顶。
If I say, that in any creature breathing is only a function indispensable to vitality, inasmuch as it withdraws from the air a certain element, which being subsequently brought into contact with the blood imparts to the blood its vivifying principle, I do not think I shall err; though I may possibly use some superfluous scientific words. Assume it, and it follows that if all the blood in a man could be aerated with one breath, he might then seal up his nostrils and not fetch another for a considerable time. That is to say, he would then live without breathing. Anomalous as it may seem, this is precisely the case with the whale, who systematically lives, by intervals, his full hour and more (when at the bottom) without drawing a single breath, or so much as in any way inhaling a particle of air; for, remember, he has no gills. How is this? Between his ribs and on each side of his spine he is supplied with a remarkable involved Cretan labyrinth of vermicelli-like vessels, which vessels, when he quits the surface, are completely distended with oxygenated blood.
如果我说，任何一种动物的呼吸就是生命的不可或缺的职能，因此，它从空气中吸收到了一种要素后，就使它跟血液接触，把它的富有生气的要素灌输给血液，我想我大概是没有说错的；虽则我也许还可以用上若干罗里罗唆的科学词汇。如果是这样，那么接着而来就是，如果一口气就能把人体的全部血液都充以空气的话，那么人类也许可以封起鼻孔，好久不需要再吸进另一口气了。这就是说，他从此可以不要呼吸而活下去。尽管这事情看来也许颇为反常，可是，大鲸就正是这般情况。大鲸在海底的时候，能够在一个多钟头的时间里不需吸一口气，或者可以说一点点气都用不着吸，而能够照常生活下去；因为，请记住，它是没有鳃的。这究竟是怎么回事呢？因为在它的肋骨间和脊骨的两边，它装备有一件特别的东西，如同克里特岛人做管状面的那种曲曲折折的器皿一般，这些器皿，当它离开水面的时候，就已经完全胀满充有氧气的血液了。
