494 PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
should yield or stretch locally and to a considerable depth without tear- 
ing. <A coarse fibrous paper of this kind can be used in case nothing» 
better is at hand, or coarse paper may be used as a backing or stiffener 
to paper of a finer quality. Coarse, thick, fibrous paper is apt to wrinkle 
and show the fibers in the surface of the plaster reproduction or cast. 
A quality of paper used by M. Désiré Charnay in Central America and 
Mexico, and which may answer for all American inscriptions (which 
are seldom carved in fine lines), may be obtained from the firm of Batalla 
and Blain, commission merchants, No. 7, Rue Joliette, Marseilles, 
France. 
What may be specified as the first grade, of the three grades of paper 
spoken of under ‘“ Materials,” is any of the thicker, coarser grades of 
paper for use on lar.e, massive inscriptions, having coarse lines and a 
rugged surface. The papér must possess sufficient malleability to en- 
able it to reach the deepest cuts or crevices. All paper should be tested 
before taking it into the field. Paper for the foregoing purposes is here 
designated, for convenience, No. 1. 
The smooth, thin, American, stereotyping paper, used for the matrices 
of our daily newspapers, is here designated No. 2. It is best for smooth 
surfaces, finer lines, and deeper cuts. 
For fine inscriptions in bronze, wood, or stone, or for plaster repro- 
ductions of hieroglyphies, &c., and for smooth unpolished surfaces and 
sharp relief figures with fine lines (without, of course, the refinement 
of hair or microscopic lines), American tissue paper may be used to form 
the inner surface of the mold. The more expensive French cream tissue 
paper, used in the best stereotyping, will of course give correspondingly 
better results. Tissue paper is here designated No. 5. 
The paste here recommended is made as follows: Mix starch in hot 
water till the solution is thick; dissolve the white glue in hot water, 
one-fourth pound to one pound of starch; pour the glue in the starch, 
stir well; put on the fire and boil. .As a preservative when large quan- 
tities are made, or in hot climates, stir in one teaspoonful of alum to 
the quart of paste. One minute after the mixture bubbles take it off. 
Plain flour or starch paste might answer, but the glue prevents the 
blistering of the molds so likely to occur in transportation. 
The hardening and water-proofing mixture is made as follows: 
* ovled: linseed oil/ordtat.oll 12 .M5es. «eee ee Cee os-00) so Dart 
Essence:of turpentine’... «p22. 2 s)s.s/sae 2s eck se So ee 1 part. 
Wellow wax... 2..2..sccheedt yet Mae 2 1 part. 
Boil, stir well, and apply boiling hot, as described hereafter. 
IV.—NOTES ON INSCRIPTIONS. 
This process will not answer tor statues or figures in bold relief. 
Before taking the mold it is well to make all notes which can possibly 
add to the anthropological value of the work. Locate the inscription 
