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Perrault, Claude, 1613-1688 / Memoir's for a natural history of animals : containing the anatomical descriptions of several creatures dissected by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris
(1688)
The anatomical description of a sea-calf, pp. 120-125
Page 121
/I n " A T _ QVr A I' A T I1
oJ a S x AL or S A - Li L r. 121
fo dihind as in the fore feet, and that thefe two feet thus extended as they
were, and joyned one againif the other had rather the Formrye of a Fijbe's
Tail, than that of the feet of' Animals which have any, and which they
commonly bend under the Belly. Thefe feet were like to thofe of a Dacker,
which cannot walk like other Birds, by holding their Body parallel to the
ground,but which are forc't to go upright like man.
Ariflotle fays that the feet of the Sea-Caife refemble Hands: his meaning
is that the fore-feet of this Animal, in fBead of the three parts which do
corn-
pofe the Arme of a Man, viz. tde Arme, Cubitus, and Hand, have only the
laft correspondent to the hand of Man, fo that this Part proceeds immedi-
ately from the Breall. The Sea Ox of the WeJiers Iflands, which is a k ind
of
Sea-C4afof a prodigious bignefs, is there called Manaty ; becaufe that accor-
ding to Oviedo's remarks, it has only the fore-feet, which by the Spaniards
are
in all Animals commonly called Hands. In our Subiet the Brachlium and
Cubitiu were inclofed and lockt up under the Skin which covered the I3reaft;
and therewas only the Paws which came outwards. 'T'hefe Paws thus clo-
fed and contraLcted did not feem to us fufficient to ferve the Female to
im-
brace her Young, as Oppian reports that fhe do's,when The carry's them to
Sea:
They did likewife appear,even as the hind-feet, fitter for f'viming than
walk-
ing; altho' in truth, neither the one nor the other of thefe feet could well
ferve to walk conveniently. ASlian has obferved, that the Females have
a great care of carrying and frequently recarrying their Young Ones, fome-
times into the Sea, and fometimes on Land; it is probable, that this is to
teach them to Swim, and walk, by a long Exercife, which produces a hia-
bit capable of Supplying the conveniences wh:ch Nature has denyed them.
'Tis likely that Homer calls the Sea-Calves Nepodes, by reafon it may be
faid,
that they do Swim with Feet, and walk with Fins, and not becaufe they
have no Feet, as Eujiathius explains it. Thefe Fcet had Claws which were
not fo neceffary for fwiming as they are for walking. So that it feems, that
Nature, who has made the Sea-Calf to live like the Coiftor, on Land and in
the
Water, has given Organs to each of thefe Animals to go with more or lef&
eafe, according as it has defigned them to be more generally in the one or
o-
ther of thefe Elements; for the Se.i-Calf, which is oftner in the Sea, than
on Land, walks not with fo much cafe and facility as the Caftor; and the
CJor Swims not fo eafily as the Sea-Calf, becaufe it goes into the Water
on-
lay to catch Fiff, and makes not its common refidence there.
For thef v erv Reafons. the Heart and Lunfas of the Sea-Calf have a
par-
ticular conformation, to inable this Animal to continue a long ti!ne under
Water without breathing, as fhall hereafter be explained; but tthe CeCor
rwhich flays not long in the Water, has not this particular formation of
the
Heart; at leafk we have not found it in the two oCajors which we diffeaed,
the one whereof was of Canada, the other of France.
The Head was not fhort and round, as Rondeletius describes it, and its
.NofewaslongenoughtomakeitrefembletheHeadof aCalf. ButtheEyes
were not like thofe of a Calf, which has them full, and as it were efanding
out of the Head; for thofe of our SubjeEt were hid, and as it were funk into
their Orbites,whofe upper Edge was not raifed, as it is in the Ca/f.Neverthele&
thefT\ Eyes were large, containing fifteen Lines Diameter. There was an in-
ternal Eye-lidd to cover theEye it wasdrawn pand hid in the great Can-
tb. Q_ Over
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