ceeded to Nairobi with the collections. Mr. Cunningham 

 returned by way of the Aberdare, to bring in the Elephant 

 and other skins that had been left on the summit of the 

 mountains, nearly four months previously." 



The elephants, with the rest of the collection, were packed 

 in Nairobi, shipped by rail to Mombasa, trans-shipped at 

 Naples, arrived at New York on January 28, 1 907 and then 

 proceeded to the Museum to await the next stage in their 

 evolution as the Museum's "trademark." 



When Akeley entered the field of taxidermy the methods 

 used were far short of ideal. As Akeley described them, 

 these methods consisted "of first treating the skin, then wir- 

 ing and wrapping the bones, which were inserted in the legs 

 of the animal while the body was hung upside down and 

 stuffed with straw until it would hold no more." The ani- 

 mal was then endowed with a pair of Raggedy Ann-type 

 eyes and popped into a display case. 



Apparently, the crudeness of the procedure did not 

 bother Akeley as much as the stiff and unlifelike result. 



The first elephant Akeley worked on was Barnum's fa- 

 mous Jumbo. In mounting Jumbo, Akeley was under the 

 direction of J. William Critchley, and the elephant was 

 mounted much after the fashion of the specimen in the 

 Museum of Natural History, Paris, which had been done 

 more than a century earlier. 



Critchley was a most proficient taxidermist "who had few 

 equals in mounting birds and few superiors with the average 

 mammal." However, before Jumbo was finished, Akeley 

 had become the dominant member of the team. 



It became apparent at this time, about 1885, that Ake- 

 ley's "superb neuromuscular organization seemed to have 



been specially designed to give plastic expression to the re- 

 factory hide of the huge quadruped, and the successful ac- 

 complishment of the task furnished the inspiration for his 

 later work in Africa, the Field Museum, and the American 

 Museum." 



It was basic to old-time taxidermy that skins be tanned 

 in a salt and alum bath, both to "set" the epidermis and to 

 dry hard, so that the skin would retain shape. Unfortu- 

 nately, specimens, particularly the larger quadrupeds, pre- 

 pared by this method soon went to pieces when exposed to 

 the changing atmosphere of museum halls. Akeley, how- 

 ever, discovered a vegetable tan that fullfilled all the necessary 

 conditions and yet permitted the hide to remain soft and 

 flexible for many days without losing any epidermis. This 

 discovery was essential to Akeley's revolutionary technique 

 of taxidermy. The Museum's pair of African elephants rep- 

 resent its first application to such large animals. 



Although Mr. Akeley described his method in detail in a 

 speech before the American Association of Museums in 

 May, 1908, no written record of his speech can be located. 

 Carl Cotton, the present Museum taxidermist, can only 

 assume, therefore, on the basis of his own professional knowl- 

 edge, that the following steps are those that Akeley must 

 have followed in the mounting of the African elephants. 



First, the elephant's skin was tanned and shaved. Akeley 

 then sculpted a life-sized clay figure following accurate and 

 detailed measurements made from the actual animal. That 

 Akeley was a talented and able sculptor was most evident 

 in this second step. Next, the skin, which was in precisely 

 numbered sections, was applied directly to the clay model 

 and carefully worked into all the musculature, curves and 





^s/' 



Porters carrying an elephant skull. Animal skins were 

 treated with salt and wrapped in matting for the journey 

 back from Mount Kenya to Nairobi. The collections went 

 by the newly completed Uganda Railway to Mombasa, 

 thence by ship to the United States. It was on the Uganda 

 Railway, a scant eight years before, that the famous man- 

 eating lions of Tsavo terrorized the construction parties, 

 killing 1 35 workmen over a nine month period and actually 

 halting construction for three months until they were killed 

 by Colonel J. H. Patterson, a contruction engineer. Years 

 later, Patterson presented the skins to Field Museum, and 

 they are now on display in Hall 22. 



Akeley relaxing at day's end. The drink is cognac. 



Page 4 JANUARY 



