As no better man advances to take this matter in hand, I hereupon offer my own poor endeavors.

I promise nothing complete; because any human thing supposed to be complete, must for that very reason infallibly be faulty.

I shall not pretend to a minute anatomical description of the various species, or--in this place at least--to much of any description.

My object here is simply to project the draught of a systematization of cetology.

I am the architect, not the builder.
But it is a ponderous task; no ordinary letter-sorter in the Post-Office is equal to it.