Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 68, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 March 1920 — Whale’s Breathing Apparatus. [ARTICLE]

Whale’s Breathing Apparatus.

An eminent naturalist says concerning the breathing apparatus of the whaler “The windpipe does not communlcate with the mouth; a hole is, as it were, bored right through the back of the head. Engineers ( would»do well to copy the action of the valve of the whale’s blow-hole; a more perfect piece of structure it Is Impossible to imagine. Day and night, asleep or awake, the whale works its breathing apparatus in such a manner that not a drop of water ever gets down Into the lungs. Again, the whale must of necessity stay a much longer period under water than seals; this alone might possibly drown it, inasmuch as the lungs can not have access to fresh air. We find that this difficulty has been anticipated and obviated by a peculiar reservoir in the venous system, which reservoir is situated at the back of the lungs.”