Even Melville's most disparaging critics dare not refute his powers of observation and description. His description is especially prevalent in those chapters dealing with cetology, a topic upon which scarcely anyone had attempted to write. One instance in which Ishmael describes whales with the minute, painstaking fidelity of a statistical record is his designation of an entire chapter to the measurements of the skeleton of a whale. The ribs were ten on a side. The first, to begin from the neck, was nearly six feet long; the second, third, and fourth were each successively longer, till you came to the climax of the fifth, or one of the middle ribs, which measured eight feet and some inches. These so-called digressions, contrary to the beliefs of some readers, do serve at least one purpose in the novel. Though the technical chapters seem to divert narrator and reader from the action, the actual result is quite the opposite. There is nothing on which Melville digresses that does not serve his meaning, claims one perceptive critic, while another claims that Ishmael alternations between action and cetology constantly pique the attention of the reader, keeping curiosity alive, and presenting the combined charm of surprise and alternation. The cetology lectures tend to draw the reader further into the plot by imparting uncommon knowledge which helps to diminish a sense of ignorance which could otherwise hamper a feeling of involvement. Melville’s description of bailing the case, says one expert, gives an excellent idea of the hazards to be endured once the whale was killed and secure alongside. Whaling was always a business of long handles, sharp edges, and sudden deaths for the clumsy or unwary. Melville uses these passages in order that the reader understands the events which provide the framework for Ishmael's deeper message. One of Ishmael's idiosyncrasies, however, is