EQUIPMENT, ARMS, AND SPECIMENS 749 



paring down, to a thinness which will allow the salt to pene- 

 trate through the dermal layer to the epidermis and preserve 

 the hair covering, must be resorted to. The salt method is 

 simple in application; its success depends chiefly upon eter- 

 nal vigilance in seeing that it reaches every part of the skin 

 in its action. 



Salt should be applied as soon after the removal of the 

 skin as is possible. Usually this cannot be done until the 

 skin reaches camp. Here it is spread out hair side down 

 and carefully fleshed, all the fatty tissue being removed, as 

 it forms an impenetrable barrier to salt. Finely pulverized 

 salt is then spread over the skin in a uniform layer about a 

 quarter of an inch thick. Skins in which the legs and neck 

 have not been slit longitudinally will need to be treated by 

 filling these members with salt, leaving the hair side turned 

 out. It is then rubbed into the skin to insure its immediate 

 action, after which the skin is tightly rolled, as smoothly as 

 its folds will allow. In this state it is allowed to remain 

 overnight, usually from twelve to twenty-four hours, so as 

 to give the salt ample time to extract the moisture. At the 

 end of this time it is unrolled, when it will be found that 

 most of the salt has been dissolved by the moisture in the 

 skin which now rests in pools of brine in the folds. This 

 liquid is then drained off and the skin covered by a fresh layer 

 of salt, after having been carefully inspected to see that no 

 spots are left where the action of the salt has not penetrated 

 and where decay is beginning to take place. Such spots may 

 usually be detected by their softness, the skin being of a 

 putty-like consistency, or by the ease with which the hair 

 may be pulled out. Inspection of this sort of each skin 

 should be continued daily for a few days until it is certain 



