Description
Melville's observations are not a complete scientific study, even by standards of the day. Nevertheless, because of the general lack of knowledge about whales in the middle 19th century, the taxonomy in the novel provides a glimpse of the knowledge of whales by the whaling fleet and naturalists of the era. Though 19th century science is of only historical interest, his command of the English language, or at least of its Yankee version, is unimpeachable, so his definitions cannot be dismissed lightly.
Melville somewhat famously asserts in the novel that the whale is a "spouting fish with a horizontal tail." His use of the word "fish" here, however, is not meant a denial of the mammalian characteristics of the order Cetacea, but rather simply as an ad hoc definition as an animal that dwells in the sea; however, he goes on to dismiss Linnaeus' classification as "humbug". He attempts a taxonomy of whales largely based on size, based on his assertion that other characteristics, such as the existence of a hump or baleen, make the classification too confusing. Borrowing an analogy from publishing and bookbinding, he divides whales into three "books", called the Folio Whale (largest), Octavo Whale, and the Duodecimo Whale (smaller), represented respectively by the sperm whale, the orca (which he calls the grampus), and the porpoise. Each such book is then divided into "chapters" representing a separate species.
By the current taxonomy of Cetacea, Melville's classification is inaccurate and incomplete as well, presenting only a fraction of the nearly ninety species of Cetaceans known today. In the case of some species, in particular the blue whale (which Melville calls the "sulphur-bottom whale") very little was known at the time. The classification is thus heavily weighted toward whales hunted for oil and other uses, and presents a picture of the common knowledge of whales at the time of the novel. Since Melville presents the study within a fictional context, voiced by a fictional character in the narrative, it is arguable whether or not Melville intended the classification as a serious scientific contribution. Moreover, Melville includes the larger members of the Cetaceans, as well as the porpoises (dolphins). It is quite possible that in the case of the Duodecimo whales (porpoises), Melville has unknowingly combined many disparate species into a single "chapter".
Read more about this topic: Cetology Of Moby-Dick
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