An expedition, sponsored by the University of California, is about to set out to discover, by examination of certain glands, why whales are so big.

The ways of the learned to me are "Greek,"
   And professors and such amaze me.
I know, without trying, the thing they seek,
   Tho' I doubt if for that they'll praise me.

They want to discover why whales are big,
   So they sail, at the risk of sinking,
In ships with elaborate, technical rig,
   When the facts can be learned by thinking.

I can simply account for the size of a whale --
   And it doesn't seem much of a riddle --
It's because he's so long from the nose to the tail
   And in measurement round the middle.

"Den"
Sun, 4 April 1927, p7