.. < chapter lxxvii 2  THE GREAT HEIDELBURGH TUN >

     Now comes the Baling of
the Case.  But to comprehend it aright, you must know something of the
curious internal structure of the thing operated upon.  Regarding the Sperm
whale's head as a solid oblong, you may, on an inclined plane, sideways
divide it into two quoins, whereof the lower is the bony structure, forming
the cranium and jaws, and the upper an unctuous mass wholly free from bones;

     its broad forward end forming the expanded vertical apparent forehead of the
whale.  At the middle of the forehead horizontally subdivide this upper quoin,

     and then you have two almost equal parts, which before were naturally
divided by an internal wall of a thick tendinous substance.  The lower
subdivided part, called the junk, is one immense honeycomb of oil, formed by
the crossing and re-crossing, into ten thousand infiltrated cells, of tough
elastic white fibres throughout its whole extent.  The upper part, known as
the Case, may be regarded as the great Heidelburgh Tun of the Sperm Whale.
And as that famous great tierce is mystically carved in front, so the whale's
vast plaited forehead forms innumerable strange devices for the emblematical
adornment of his wondrous tun.  Moreover, as that of Heidelburgh was always
replenished with the most excellent of the wines of the Rhenish valleys, so
the tun of the whale contains by far the most precious of all his oily
vintages; namely, the highly-prized spermaceti, in its absolutely pure,
limpid, and odoriferous state.  Nor is this precious substance found unalloyed
in any other part of the creature.  Though in life it remains perfectly fluid,

     yet, upon
.. 

exposure to the air, after death, it soon begins to concrete; sending forth
beautiful crystalline shoots, as when the first thin delicate ice is just
forming in water.  A large whale's case generally yields about five hundred
gallons of sperm, though from unavoidable circumstances, considerable of it
is spilled, leaks, and dribbles away, or is otherwise irrevocably lost in the
ticklish business of securing what you can.  I know not with what fine and
costly material the heidelburgh Tun was coated within, but in superlative
richness that coating could not possibly have compared with the silken
pearl-colored membrane, like the line of a fine pelisse, forming the inner
surface of the Sperm Whale's case.  It will have been seen that the Heidelburgh
Tun of the Sperm Whale embraces the entire length of the entire top of the
head; and since --as has been elsewhere set forth --the head embraces one third
of the whole length of the creature, then setting that length down at eighty
feet for a good sized whale, you have more than twenty-six feet for the depth
of the tun, when it is lengthwise hoisted up and down against a ship's side.
As in decapitating the whale, the operator's instrument is brought close to
the spot where an entrance is subsequently forced into the spermaceti
magazine; he has, therefore, to be uncommonly heedful, lest a careless,
untimely stroke should invade the sanctuary and wastingly let out its
invaluable contents.  It is this decapitated end of the head, also, which is at

     last elevated out of the water, and retained in that position by the
enormous cutting tackles, whose hempen combinations, on one side, make
quite a wilderness of ropes in that quarter.  Thus much being said, attend
now, I pray you, to that marvellous and --in this particular instance
--almost fatal operation whereby the Sperm Whale's great Heidelburgh Tun is
tapped.
.. 

Quoin is not a Euclidean term.  It belongs to the pure nautical mathematics.
I know not that it has been defined before.  A quoin is a solid which differs
from a wedge in having its sharp end formed by the steep inclination of one
side, instead of the mutual tapering of both sides.
..