Incremental structures in the tissues of mammals were first described over 160 years ago and received popular attention in 1851 with the publication of Herman Melville's novel, Moby Dick.

The passage appears to anticipate the discovery of incremental structures in teeth which were eventually confirmed to indicate age at death. Ironically, the excerpt refers to the right whale, one of many toothless species of whales. The “bone” described is whalebone or baleen, the long, narrow elastic plates which strain and retain food. Baleen may have incremental structures, but unlike bones or teeth it is comprised of keratin.

The passage occurs on page 433 of Moby-Dick or, The Whale, edited by Charles Feidelson, Jr. and published in Indianapolis by Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1964.

From Moby Dick by Herman Melville:

“In the central blinds of bone, as they stand in their natural order, there are certain curious marks, curves, hollows, and ridges, whereby some whalemen calculate the creature's age, as the age of an oak by its circular rings. Though the certainty of this criterion is far from demonstrable, yet it has the savor of analogical probability.”

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