KEPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 45 



plisbed souie very iiotewoitliy ]»i<'ces of work, <'sjKM-i;illy in the iiKniiit 

 iiig" of birds. 



Mr. Ij. L. l>ych('. now professor in the l^niversity of Kiinsas, also 

 passed several months here, and learned the methods whicli have 

 resulted in his excellent work upon large mammals shown in the 

 Kansas State building at the AVorld's Fair of 1S1>;>. 



Mr. William Palmer, now chief taxidermist of the Museum, also 

 received his first training during these years, and began a career which 

 has resulted in the })roducti<ui of such remarkable work as the groups 

 of Caribou, prepared especially for Chicago, which, in the judgnu'utof 

 the writer, have not been surpassed anywhere, marking as they do the 

 highest attainment in the imitation of nature, with that combination 

 of life with perfect repose which is the supreme test of merit in tax- 

 idermy. Many other men have profited by work in our laboratories, 

 and are now scattered through the country, either attached to museums 

 or in p.rivate business as taxidermists. 



The taxidermists previously attached to the Museum have produced 

 work in its way equal to that of their associates. The casts of reptiles, 

 fishes, and cetaceans made by Joseph Palmer are by universal admis- 

 sion unrivaled, and this perfection was reached under I'rof. Baird's 

 encouragement before the Society of Taxidermists began its work and 

 as early as 187(5. 



The bird work of Henry Marshall, though for the most part limited 

 to preparation of specimens for shelf installation, has not been sur- 

 passed. Mr. X. li. Wood, who came from liochester in 1888, has i)ro- 

 duced noteworthy work in groups of birds, and is especially skillful 

 in the mounting of the various breeds of domestic fowl, whic.-h he has 

 done Avith such painstaking accuracy that they may well serve as 

 fixed standards in the development of the races of poultry. His work 

 in restoring hair to skins which have become bare, is worthy of the 

 most painstaking Oriental. 



In the mounting of skeletons and anatomical preparations the high- 

 est standard of excellence has been aimed at, and it is believed that 

 there is no collection of mounted skeletons in the world which can 

 show more perfect pieces of work or a higher average grade of excel- 

 lence. Mr. Lucas, under whose direction this collection has grown up, 

 and who with his own hands prepared many of the most rennirkable 

 specimens (Pis. 32 and 33), has become curator of the department 

 of comparative anatomy, but has transmitted the technical meri^^s of 

 his methods tct ]Mr. .1. W. Scollick, whose work tipon minute osteolog- 

 ical preparations is little short of marvelous. 



It might be said that these words of commendation would be in better 

 taste coming from outside and written by one who has not been, in the 

 matter of sympathy, so closely associated with the develoi)ment of the 

 ideals of the higher taxidermy and the furthering of their accoiiii)bsh- 

 meut. This was in my mind when, a year ago. 1 re(|uestcd Dr. II. W. 



