The Whale's Eyes

The position of the whale's eyes corresponds to that of a man's ears. If your bitterest foe were walking straight towards you with dagger uplifted in broad day, you would not be able to see him any more than if he were stealing upon you from behind. In most other animals,. the eyes are so planted as imperceptibly to blend their visual power so as to produce one picture and not two. But wild the whale, these two sashes are separately inserted, making two distinct windows, but sadly impairing the view. To him, man may in effect be said to look out on the world from a sentry box with two joined sashes for his window.