Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-06-09
them. These facts were removed with
the erection Of the present building
and the securing Of thetservices Of Mr..


| the erection OF the present building
| and the securing Of the services Of Mr.
| Dill.
| Very few such skeletons have been
prepared for exhibition in the mu-
seums of the United States on account
of the obvious difficulties connected
with the securing of the skeleton and
the mounting Of the same when OBJ
tanned The museum of zoology al
| Harvard and the American museum al
| New York have two each, the National
| museum at Washington, the Field Co
lumbia museum at Chicago and Iowa
| have one each. The scarcity of such
skeletons can be readily understood
when it is realized that it is only
when the whale is washed onto some
easily accessible coast or where it is
killed near the land that the enormous
| body structure can be easily pre-
| served. i
This whale was stranded on the
| New Jersey coast in the summer of
| 1897, where it was obtained by Brim-
| ley Bros. of Raleigh, N. c., who
| furnish exhibits to museums.
The skeleton was sold to the board
| of regents of Iowa university and
shipped to Iowa City as fast as it was
cleaned. It was then stored away in
| the old science hall. The skull. of the
| whale, however, was too large to en-
| ter the building and was left out Of
doors in rudely built shed. The
architects of the new science hall We're
careful to leave the entrances large
enough so that this gentleman of the
! deep might be carried to the third
| story where he is now to reign.
Under the direction of Mr. Dill the
skeleton was suspended from the CELL
| ing by means of iron rods which are
| attached to the steel rafters of the
| roof Enough space has been left
| beneath to permit a person of ordi-
nary height TO walk about and study
| the skeleton thoroughly, which is
about forty three feet in length and is
| of full grown adult whale. The
| Balaena is one of the whale bone
| whales, but the whalebone was not
purchased by the university on ac-
count of it's great cost.
The throat of the whale is small as
shown by the skeleton, but Mr. Dill
states, anent the Jonah story that
the throat of the sperm whale is
large enough to permit of the swallow
ing of a man.
During the ten years which have
elapsed since the purchase of the
skeletons several of the bones have
disappeared, but these have all been
supplied by accurate clay models
which were made by Mr.. Dill. This
shows the skill which must be pos
sessed by the competent taxidermist,
of which there are but a very few in
the United States.
Mr.. Dill has qualified himself by
course of study much more severe
than that which would qualify a man
for almost any other profession. The
expert taXidermiSt must not only
have an intimate knowledge of all
animals, but by the present methods
must be able. to make accurate and
life like clay models of them. During
the thirteen years which he has spent
in his profession Mr.. Dill has studied
and done work in connection with
many eastern colleges and museums,
including Bowdoin, Bates, University
of Maine, Harvard, Brooklyn Institute
museum, and the National museum at
Washington, d. c. He was also an
at Pratt Institute, New York, and
ly of PariSss Ssssy*fs.ztf=-
To show the. range of his work, one
of the specimens on which Mr.. Dill is
now engaged is a rock python. This
snake, which will be an exceedingly
valuable exhibit, was presented to the
university of the Metropolitan Amuse-
ment Company, which had a street
show in Iowa City last summer. 1t is
a female and died in giving birth to a
number of eggs. AS the rock python
is Of considerable value to circus ex-
hibitors, an attempt was made to
hatch the eggs by incubator, but the
attempt was unsuccessful.
This skeleton has over 1000 small
bones which Mr. Dill has cleaned sep
arately and joined to the vetebrae.
This variety Of snake reaches the larg-
est size of any, contrary to the popular
opinion, as the boa constructor is gen.
orally believed to be the largest.
The snake in the possession of the
museum is in the neighborhood of ten
feet long, although some of them
reach the length of twenty-nine feet.
The greatest length attained by the
boa constructor is fourteen feet and
the average size about ten feet.
These are hut two Of the thousand
and one things of interest and delight
to novice ana expert which this great
museum Affords, The finishing
touches are now being put on and the
the coming commencement