February 6, 1885.] 



SCIENCE. 



109 



floor, are savage implements and curiosities, 

 which cannot fail to interest the visitor, espe- 

 cially as they are all explained by the curator, 

 Mr. Murphy, who has thrilling tales to tell of 

 each separate piece ; nor is the curiosity-hunter 

 the only person who is likely to be interested 

 in this museum. In its collection of tropical 

 shells, there are man}' which cannot be num- 

 bered among the commonest ; but, for the 

 naturalist, the one thing which possesses an 



Mr. Murphy describes the animal, tolls about 

 its enemy the whale-killer, its parasites and 

 other pests, explains the process of killing the 

 whale and cutting up and trying out the blub- 

 ber, illustrating his talk either with the appa- 

 ratus itself or with ingeniously made models. 

 On the other side of the room is a small jaw 

 twisted in a spiral direction, and bearing plain 

 evidences of having been injured at an earlier 

 The teeth are Ions: and somewhat 



stage. 



all-absorbing interest is the sperm-whale's jaw, 

 which extends nearly across the exhibition- 

 room. The curator, who considers this his spe- 

 cial pet, is full of enthusiasm for it, and claims 

 that it is the only full-grown jaw of a sperm- 

 whale in America. It was taken in 1865 by a 

 Nantucket whaler in the Pacific Ocean, from a 

 sperm-whale which measured eighty- seven feet 

 in length and thirty-six feet in circumference, 

 and had the enormous weight of two hundred 

 tons. The whale gave forty-five hundred gal- 

 lons of oil. The jaw itself weighs eight hun- 

 dred pounds, measures seventeen feet in length, 

 and has forty-six huge teeth. These are badly 

 worn, and prove that the animal must have 

 been very old. In connection with the jaw, 



slender, partly from the youth of the animal, 

 partly from disuse. When taken, the whale 

 was alive ; but the lower jaw was badly aborted, 

 and the animal was in a poor state. It must 

 have been in this condition for 3-ears, and have 

 lived upon what chanced to come in its way. 

 It is to be hoped that the collection ma}- al- 

 ways be well cared for, and may become more 

 than now the nucleus of a good collection of 

 the natural objects of Nantucket itself. 



THE 'COMMA BACILLUS' OF KOCH. 



Dr. Koch has himself stated in precise terms 

 the nature of the proof required in order to es- 



