53S MUSEUMS. 



As there are parts of a quadruped's skin which are bound down, 

 as it were, to the bone (at the eyes, for example), it will be necessary 

 to pass a thread, with a sufficient knot at one end, through these 

 parts, and to let the end without a knot hang loose after it has been 

 drawn out at the opposite quarter. Thus, there must be a thread 

 in the extremities at the gape of the mouth, and one at the corners 

 of the eyes ; and others in different parts of the body, according to 

 the operator's judgment. By pulling these at the end which hangs 

 out, he will be enabled to depress the parts into their natural 

 shape. 



The artificial eyes must be put in on the first day of the operation, 

 and taken out and put back again every time the head of the speci- 

 men is modelled. 



When all is completed, and the skin has become perfectly dry, the 

 artist takes out the chaff or sawdust ; and he finds that the specimen 

 is quite firm enough to stand without any support from wires. He 

 cuts three sides of a square hole under the feet, to let out the chaff; 

 and when this is done, he returns the skin to its place. 



A slit must be made in the crown of the head, or under the jaws, 

 to allow him to fix the artificial eyes with a little putty or wax. The 

 slit, if properly done, will leave no mark on the fur. 



If the quadruped be stuffed in distant countries, with an intention 

 to be sent home, it may be cut up, when finished, into three or four 

 separate pieces, and this will facilitate the carriage. When dividing 

 it, the operator must take care to hold his knife so as to humour the 

 the angle which the fur forms with the skin. Thus, were I to cut a 

 preserved skin in two parts, the blade of my knife would point to the 

 head, and the haft to the tail of the animal. By attention to this, not 

 a hair of the fur will be cut during the operation. 



I will just add here (although it be a digression), that there is no 

 difficulty in making the legs and feet of eagles, turkeys, and othef 

 large birds, retain their natural size. You may go through every 

 known museum, and you will find that the legs of these, and of all 

 large birds, are dried and shrivelled, as though they belonged to the 

 mummies of ancient days. In order to give the legs of birds a 

 natural appearance, and a natural size, the skin from the very claws 

 to the top of the leg, must be separated from the bone by running a 



