Mr. THOMAS BEALE has been professionally employed as a surgeon
in several ships engaged in the South Sea Fishery ; and his Few Observations on the Natural History of the Sperm Whale contain the substance of what he has seen and heard upon those expeditions relative to the form and habits of the creature. The tract also contains a description of the manner in which the gigantic and frequently dangerous animal is discovered, pursued, and killed—if he does not (which he does sometimes) perform that kind office for his pursuers. The execution of the pamphlet is popular rather than scientific, and in parts somewhat superficial : but it has about it the freshness of actual observation; and in the section devoted to the chase, the subject has infused into the author a little of the excitement which the original scene must create.
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