Tortoiseshell and the Tiirtle Fisheries. 357 



of fashion and taste. Works in this material are made 

 either by cutting them out of the shell, or by soldering 

 when softened by heat. Tortoiseshell is often veneered 

 upon a body of wood, scraped to a uniform thickness, and 

 attached by fine glue. The colours are rendered darker 

 or brighter by various coatings of coloured varnish, or of 

 metallic leaf placed under the veneer. 



Tortoiseshell is worked upon like horn, and is usually 

 softened or rendered plastic by placing in boiling water, 

 containing a handful of salt to the quart, for about an hour 

 before working ; but there is no necessity for previous 

 soaking in cold water, as with horn. In operating on the 

 shell of young tortoises, the water has to be made salter, 

 and the time of boiling should be less. Some articles are 

 made by placing in brass moulds the raspings, turnings, 

 and shreds of tortoiseshell. The moulds, to the number of 

 12 to 20, are then placed parallel in a boiler of hot water, 

 and left till the softening and pressure show that the mould 

 is filled ; they are then taken out, and the objects polished 

 and finished for sale. 



In the process of manufacture, the material, being costly, 

 is economised as much as possible. For instance, in 

 making the frames for eye-glasses, narrow strips of tortoise- 

 shell are used, in which slits are cut with a saw ; the slits 

 being subsequently, while the shell is warm, strained or 

 pulled open, until they form circular or oval apertures, by 

 the insertion of tapering triblets of the required shape- 

 The same yielding or flexible property is made use of in 

 the manufacture of boxes, a round flat disc of shell being 

 gradually forced by means of moulds into the form of a 

 circular box with upright sides. The union of two or more 

 pieces of shells may be effected by carefully scraping the 

 parts that are to overlap, so as to render them perfectly 



