Chapter 85 - The Fountain Practice Quiz — Moby-Dick; or, The Whale
by Herman Melville — tap or click to flip
Practice Quiz: Chapter 85 - The Fountain
What unsolved mystery does Ishmael address in Chapter 85?
Whether the whale's spout consists of water, vapor, or a mixture of both—a question unanswered despite six thousand years of observation.
How does the whale breathe, according to Ishmael?
Through its spiracle (blowhole) on top of its head. It has true lungs like a human and cannot breathe through its mouth.
Why can't the Sperm Whale breathe through its mouth?
Its mouth is buried at least eight feet beneath the surface, and its windpipe has no connection to its mouth.
What anatomical feature allows the whale to stay submerged for over an hour?
A "Cretan labyrinth" of vermicelli-like blood vessels between its ribs that store oxygenated blood, like a camel's stomachs store water.
How does Ishmael describe the regularity of the whale's breathing pattern?
If a whale takes seventy breaths per surfacing, it will take exactly seventy breaths every time, and will insist on completing the full count even if alarmed.
Why does the whale's need to surface expose it to danger?
The whale must rise to replenish its air supply, exposing it to hunters. At a thousand fathoms deep, it would be uncatchable.
What fraction of its time does the Sperm Whale spend breathing?
About one seventh, which Ishmael humorously calls "one seventh or Sunday of his time."
Why does Ishmael say the whale has no sense of smell?
The only thing answering to a nose is the spout-hole, and if it is clogged with both air and water, it cannot be expected to have the power of smelling.
Why does Ishmael say the whale has no voice?
The windpipe opens only into the spouting canal, not the mouth, and the canal is fitted with valve-like locks—so the whale can only "talk through his nose."
What does Ishmael compare the whale's spouting canal to?
A gas-pipe laid down in a city on one side of a street, and the grand Erie Canal (because of its valve-like locks).
Why is it difficult to determine the nature of the spout through observation?
When close enough to observe, the whale is in violent commotion with water cascading everywhere, and any moisture could be condensation or drops lodged in the spout-hole.
What physical dangers does the whale's spout pose to humans?
Contact with its outer shreds causes skin to smart from acridness; closer contact peeled skin from a man's cheek and arm; direct eye contact is said to cause blindness.
What is Ishmael's hypothesis about the spout?
That the spout is "nothing but mist," a conclusion supported partly by the whale's dignity and profundity as a creature.
To what famous figures does Ishmael compare the whale's misty spout?
Plato, Pyrrho, the Devil, Jupiter, and Dante—deep thinkers from whose heads "semi-visible steam" rises during profound thought.
What does the rainbow over the whale's vapor symbolize?
Heaven's seal of approval upon the whale's contemplative thoughts—Ishmael notes that "rainbows do not visit the clear air; they only irradiate vapor."
What is the famous philosophical statement that closes Chapter 85?
"Doubts of all things earthly, and intuitions of some things heavenly; this combination makes neither believer nor infidel, but makes a man who regards them both with equal eye."
How does the chapter connect the physical spout to epistemology?
The unknowability of whether the spout is water or vapor mirrors the broader human condition of living with uncertainty—"plain things" being the "knottiest of all."
What humorous self-deprecating observation does Ishmael make about his own head?
While writing a treatise on Eternity, he placed a mirror before him and saw steam rising from his own head after six cups of hot tea in a shingled attic on an August noon.
What does Ishmael say about the whale always carrying water on its head?
Even when swimming calmly with its sun-dried hump, the whale carries a small basin of water on its head, like a rock cavity filled with rain.
What metaphorical comparison does Ishmael draw between the whale and a camel?
The whale carries a surplus stock of oxygenated blood in its blood-vessel labyrinth, just as a camel carries a surplus supply of water in its supplementary stomachs.