io8 



HA RD IV 1 CKE 'S S CIENCE ■ G SSI P. 



after being taken out of the water, and become 

 too limp afterwards. If it is not convenient to 

 take a cast of fishes immediately, then, if fresh- 

 water fish, they should be packed in plenty of 

 damp moss, and if sea fish, in soft seaweed, and 

 kept in the dark. Before casting, fish should be 

 washed by letting the water from the tap flow over 

 them a few moments. They must not be rubbed 

 with a cloth or otherwise, as the scales are apt to 

 come off. The fish should then be laid on a smooth 



bevel away the plaster which has so run under and 

 about it as to prevent its easy extraction. But a little 

 patience and experience will suggest to the student 

 how to proceed in such cases. 



The fish having been taken out, there remains 

 its perfect mould, showing every scale and fin. The 

 mould should now be put away in a dry and warm 

 place for several days ; indeed, until it gets perfectly 

 dry. It may then be brought out on the working- 

 table, and propped up with paper or anything else, 



dM'halm 



HilMlMMWi 



Fig. 76. Brill, laid on table and enclosed in thin wooden bars ready for 

 plaster of Paris being poured over. 



table or planed board, perhaps on a newspaper is 

 best, as the lime will not then adhere to the wood. 

 It must be laid out according as the taste of the 

 operator may suggest, so that the cast of it may look 

 as like life as possible. Four ,bars of wood should 

 then be arranged, as in fig. 76, so as to include the 

 fish as in a frame. When the plaster-of-Paris is poured 

 over the fish this loose framework will prevent the 

 lime from running about. The plaster-of-Paris should 

 then be mixed, the operator judging of the quantity 

 required. At first he will undoubtedly mix too much 

 or too little, but a very short experience corrects this. 

 It is best to mix the powdered plaster under a water- 

 tap, and to have the water gently trickling whilst the 

 lime is being stirred with a wooden spoon. When it 

 has attained the consistency of thick cream, shut off 

 the water, and with all possible despatch pour the 

 mixture over the fish, and the space within the frame 

 as well. The fish need not be covered to a thickness 

 of more than half an inch. The fish, embedded in 

 its plaster covering, should then be left where it is for 

 a few hours. By this time the lime will have tho- 

 roughly set, and the entire mass can be easily turned 

 over, for the newspaper has prevented the lime ad- 

 hering to the boards. The paper is then torn off, 

 and the fish carefully extracted. This requires much 

 care ; and perhaps the operator will have to cut or 



11 '^mmi 



Fig. 77. Thorn 

 back, laid in posi- 



back, laid in posi- 

 tion for casting. 



Fig. 78. The Flounder, laid in easiest position for casting. 



with the concavity left by the fish uppermost. This 

 hollow should then be well anointed with a strong 

 and tolerably thick solution of soft soap. We have 

 found that it answered better than anything else. The 

 soap should be gently and delicately rubbed over the 

 interior of the mould with a large and dense camel's- 

 hair brush, so as not to rub off any of the sharpness 

 of the impressions left by the scales, &c. The flat 

 surface of the outside of the mould, where the liquid 

 plaster flowed within the space of the frame of wooden 

 bars, should also be equally well anointed with the 

 interior. 



