THE MUSEUM'S COLLECT lOX OF LIFE CASTS 



29 



contour of head and accurate detail of feature. The accuracy of the casts 

 has steadily risen durinj;; recent years with the perfecting; of methods of 

 technifjue. Formerly the man who allowed a plaster mold of his head to 

 be taken was subjected to considerable discomfort, which resulted in a 

 cast in which the features were so distorted that it could serve only as a 

 basis from which the sculptor modeled the finished bust; but since the 

 paraffin method has been in use the cast can be gained without distress to 

 the subject, therefore the expression remains true to life and all measure- 

 ments are accurate. This removal of the necessity of doing any modeling 

 on the casts and therefore of the sculptor's temptation to con\entionalize 

 his work has been a most important factor for truth in the ethnological 

 investigations imderway. 



In addition to this largest research value of the ISIuseiun's se\'eral 

 hundred casts, lesser values are continually realized. Exhibition is of 

 course one of the immediate purposes of the casts. If it is desired to study 

 any given tribe, the exhibition hall shows not only the articles of its culture 

 but also accurate representations of the people themselves. And further- 

 more, the Museum has continual demand for duplicate casts from universi- 

 ties and colleges and other nniseums, as w^ell as from artists and various 

 private parties interested in Indian or other primitive types of man. Thus 

 the collection extends its usefulness through sale, exchange and gift. 



A large number of chiplicale easts, to serve for siiul\ , exhiijiiioii or exehaiiKO, can be 

 made from a gluo mold 



