CHAPTER X. 



THE DERMOPLASTIC METHOD OF MOUNTING MAMMALS. 



Here is a branch of taxidermy which partakes more or less of 

 the elements of the sculptor's art. The principles embodied in this 

 plan of mounting mammals are of the most practical kind, lacking in 

 no detail which will aid in attaining any form or attitude the artist 

 may design. 



The dermoplastic^ method involves the building of a manikin of 

 iron, wood and tow, the muscles being modeled in clay and the skin 

 perfectly fitted over the clay-covered structure. 



If the beginner is a born sculptor he will have ample opportunity 

 of displaying his powers in the construction of mammal models upon 

 these principles. Dr. Jasper has employed this method of mounting 

 large mammals since I80O. Phillipp Leopold Martin, the German tax- 

 idermist, was the first to advocate by publication the clay-covered man- 

 ikin in 1870, and again in 1876 ; it has since been very generally 

 adopted by taxidermists the world over. While the procedures require 

 longer time for their execution, and are more complicated in their 

 manipulation than others heretofore employed, the results possible to 

 be attained are far superior to any method ever adopted. The dermo- 

 plastic method is, in a word, employed in the mounting of all large 

 mammals, all short-haired and hairless quadrupeds, as for example the 

 hairless Mexican dog, pointer, bull-dog, greyhound, tapir, bears of 

 great size, deer, antelope, elk, girafife, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, 

 elephant, etc. 



Before skinning an animal which is to be mounted by this method 

 we should take full and accurate measurements of the subject as it lies 

 before us. To the beginner these are of the utmost importance, for 

 by them he must reproduce the sizes and proportions which are natu- 

 ral to the animal in life. If you would be accurate, by all means pos- 

 sess a sketch-book and make an outline drawing in pencil of the spec- 



1. This word, which best describes the particular method, is from the Greek </£r»/a, skin, and the verb 

 plasso, to form, to give form or fashion to a mass of matter capable of being modeled or moulded as plastic clay. 

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