堅果

If the Sperm Whale be physiognomically a Sphinx, to the phrenologist his brain seems that geometrical circle which it is impossible to square. ...reposes the mere handful of this monster’s brain. The brain is at least twenty feet from his apparent forehead in life; it is hidden away behind its vast outworks, like the innermost citadel within the amplified fortifications of Quebec. ...some whalemen who peremptorily deny that the Sperm Whale has any other brain than that palpable semblance of one formed by the cubic-yards of his sperm magazine.

若說從面相學看，抹香鯨是一尊斯芬克斯；那麼對顱相學家而言，牠的腦就像「那個不可能化成方形的幾何圓（化圓為方的難題）」。成年的鯨，頭骨至少二十呎長。卸下下顎，這頭骨的側面，就像一個適度傾斜、整個擱在水平底座上的斜面。但活著時——如別處所見——這斜面被巨大的、壓在其上的（superincumbent）「junk 與腦油」團塊填成近乎方形。頭骨高的那端形成一個火山口（crater）、托著那部分團塊；而在這火山口的長底之下、在另一個極少超過十吋長、十吋深的腔裡，安臥著這巨獸「僅僅一小撮」的腦。這腦在活時離牠表面的額頭至少二十呎；它藏在牠龐大的外圍工事之後，像魁北克放大的防禦工事之內、那最內層的城堡（citadel）。它被如此珍寶匣（casket）般地藏在牠體內，以致我認識一些捕鯨人，斷然（peremptorily）否認抹香鯨還有別的腦——只承認那由立方碼的腦油倉所構成的、腦的「可觸的形似物（semblance）」。

It is plain, then, that phrenologically the head of this Leviathan, in the creature’s living intact state, is an entire delusion. As for his true brain, you can then see no indications of it, nor feel any. The whale, like all things that are mighty, wears a false brow to the common world.

那麼，顯然，從顱相學看，這巨獸活著、完整的頭，是一場徹底的騙局（delusion）。至於牠真正的腦，你既看不出它的任何跡象、也摸不到任何。鯨，像一切偉大的事物，對尋常的世界戴著一張「假額（false brow）」。

If you unload his skull of its spermy heaps and then take a rear view of its rear end... you will be struck by its resemblance to the human skull... in phrenological phrase you would say—This man had no self-esteem, and no veneration. And by those negations, considered along with the affirmative fact of his prodigious bulk and power, you can best form to yourself the truest, though not the most exhilarating conception of what the most exalted potency is.

你若把牠的頭骨卸去那些腦油堆、再從它後端（也就是高的那端）看它，你會驚訝於它與人類頭骨（在同樣位置、同樣視角下所見的）的相似。其實，把這倒置的頭骨（縮小到人的尺度）放進一盤人的頭骨裡，你會不由自主地把它跟它們混淆；而注意到它頂部某一處的凹陷，按顱相學的說法，你會說——「此人沒有自尊（self-esteem）、也沒有敬畏（veneration）」。而藉這些「否定」、連同牠龐大的身軀與威力這個「肯定的事實」一併考量，你最能為自己形成關於「最崇高的威力（potency）是什麼」的、最真實（雖然不是最令人振奮）的概念。

...If you attentively regard almost any quadruped’s spine, you will be struck with the resemblance of its vertebræ to a strung necklace of dwarfed skulls... For I believe that much of a man’s character will be found betokened in his backbone. I would rather feel your spine than your skull, whoever you are. A thin joist of a spine never yet upheld a full and noble soul. I rejoice in my spine, as in the firm audacious staff of that flag which I fling half out to the world.

但你若因鯨真正的腦相對之小、就認定它無法被恰當地圖繪，那我另有一個想法給你。你若仔細看幾乎任何四足獸的脊椎，會驚訝於牠的椎骨（vertebræ）像一串縮小頭骨穿成的項鍊，個個都跟真正的頭骨有著雛形的（rudimental）相似。有個德國人的奇想，認為椎骨絕對就是「未發育的頭骨」。但這外觀的奇異相似，我看德國人不是頭一個察覺的——一個外國朋友曾向我指出它：那是在他殺死的一個仇敵的骨架上，他正用那些椎骨、以一種淺浮雕（basso-relievo）的方式，鑲嵌他獨木舟那喙狀的船首。如今，我認為顱相學家漏掉了一件重要的事——他們沒把研究從小腦（cerebellum）一路推進到脊管。因為我相信，一個人很大一部分的性格，會在他的脊骨（backbone）裡顯露出來。無論你是誰，我寧可摸你的脊椎、而非你的頭骨。一根細擱柵似的脊椎，從不曾撐起過一個飽滿而高貴的靈魂。我為我的脊椎而喜悅，如同為那面我半舉向世界的旗、它那堅定而大膽的旗杆而喜悅。

Apply this spinal branch of phrenology to the Sperm Whale. His cranial cavity is continuous with the first neck-vertebra... the spinal cord remains of an undecreasing girth, almost equal to that of the brain. Under all these circumstances, would it be unreasonable to survey and map out the whale’s spine phrenologically? For, viewed in this light, the wonderful comparative smallness of his brain proper is more than compensated by the wonderful comparative magnitude of his spinal cord.

把這顱相學的脊椎分支應用到抹香鯨身上。牠的顱腔與第一節頸椎相連；在那節椎骨裡，脊管底部量起來十吋寬、八吋高，呈底朝下的三角形。脊管穿過其餘椎骨時雖逐漸變細（tapers），卻在相當長的一段距離內保持很大的容量。當然，這脊管裡裝著與腦大致相同的、那種奇異纖維狀的物質——脊髓——並與腦直接相通。更甚者，脊髓在從腦腔出來後好幾呎內，仍保持不減的圍粗、幾乎與腦的圍粗相等。在這一切情況下，從顱相學去勘測、繪製鯨的脊椎，難道會不合理嗎？因為，從這角度看，牠真正的腦那奇妙的相對之小，被牠脊髓那奇妙的相對之大，綽綽有餘地補償了。

But leaving this hint to operate as it may with the phrenologists, I would merely assume the spinal theory for a moment, in reference to the Sperm Whale’s hump. This august hump, if I mistake not, rises over one of the larger vertebræ... I should call this high hump the organ of firmness or indomitableness in the Sperm Whale. And that the great monster is indomitable, you will yet have reason to know.

但把這提示留給顱相學家去隨意發揮，我只想暫且假定這脊椎理論、來談一談抹香鯨的駝峰。這威嚴的（august）駝峰，若我沒弄錯，是隆起在一節較大的椎骨之上的，因而某種意義上，是那椎骨外凸的模子。那麼，從它的相對位置，我會把這高聳的駝峰，叫做抹香鯨「堅定、或不屈（indomitableness）之器官」。而這巨獸是不可征服的（indomitable）——你日後自會有理由知道。