Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
1793
Primary Source Reference:
Charles Willson Peale, Autobiography, Selected Papers, 5: 214
Additional Source Text:
In his Natural History Lecture No. 11 (1799), Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Peale wrote: "Balaena mystictus, is the Linnean name for the common whale. It is one of the largest of Animals, and has been seen from 80 to 100 feet in length.
"It cannot be expected that I should shew many specimens of this enormous Animal – however I have already some belonging to the Museum, they are too large to bring now to your view. Those large bones, one placed on each side of the entrance of the Museum, are the upper Jaw bones of the Whale. They are so large as to have rather the appearance of being ribs than as belonging to the mouth, of any animal; they measure 12 f 10 In[che]s in length, and in circumference 2 f 7 In[che]s generally of the same size, except near to the front of the mouth, where they become a little smaller and are rounded off at the end; this is a part of the Scull.
"It is easy to form an Idea of the immensity of an Animal, when this is shewn as a piece of the back bone. It is one of the vertebrae of a Whale, the others fitting to these concavities."
Notes:
The Peale Museum received various whale bones on several recorded occasions:
1. "Part of a whale skull" collected by Titian Ramsay Peale near Lewes, Del. in 1793. Charles Willson Peale, Autobiography, Selected Papers, 5: 214
2. "The scull of a Whale and one of its Vertebres." Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 25 Jan 1794
3. "Two ribs of a Whale, 12 ft. 6 in. long, and near the middle 2 ft. 6 in. in diameter," given by Dr. John Foulke. New-York Gazette, 31 Aug 1795. Foulke (1757-1796) served on the staff of Pennsylvania Hospital and was an active member of the American Philosophical Society. Franklin Papers, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-32-02-0191
4. "The Jaw bone, a Finbone and 2 Ribs of the Whale," given on 20 May 1805 by Mrs. Mary Brown. Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 6
Specimen Type:
Skeletons/skulls/bones
Peale's Common Name:
Common whale
Peale's Scientific Name:
Balaena mystictus
Current Common Name:
Bowhead whale
Current Scientific Name
Balaena mysticetus
