ORDER OF CETACEA. 
55 
hollow surfaces, haying the angle and points very acute ; the 
bottom of this tube is joined, by means of a screw, to a narrower 
screw containing a match. This projectile can he fired with the 
charge of a heavy gun, which, when well shouldered, carries as 
far as fifteen, twenty, and even thirty fathoms. When the gun 
has been fired, the bomb which forms the projectile penetrates into 
the fleshy parts of the animal with the match, which was lighted 
by the explosion that took place when the gun went off. A few 
seconds later a dull hollow sound is heard — it is the bomb bursting 
Fig. 15.— Devisme’s Balle 
Foudroyante. 
inside the animal. The Whale makes a violent somersault, and if 
the explosion has taken place in the lung, it may die almost 
instantaneously. The employment of the bomb-lance is combined 
equally with that of the harpoon. When a Whale has been seized 
and made fast by the harpoon thrown by the hand, they replace 
the lance for killing the animal by the explosible projectile. 
Dr. Thiercelin rendered the bomb-lance still more murderous, 
by adding to it a very powerful poison — strychnine mixed with 
curare. 
After numerous experiments Dr. Thiercelin came to the conclu- 
