500 TAXIDERMY. 



" The mouth must be sewed up from the inside (the skin 

 being inside out when you sew it), beginning exactly in the 

 front, and continuing the operation each way to the end of the 

 gape. When the skin is taken out of the solution, it must be 

 filled quite full of chaff or saw- dust (but I prefer chaff), not 

 minding whether the fur be wet or dry. When this has been 

 done, the skin has almost the appearance of an inflated bag, 

 quite deficient in feature and in muscular appearance. 



" There are now no obstacles either from without or from 

 within, to impede the artist's progress. The skin is perfectly 

 free from all chance of putrefaction, is quite supple, and will 

 remain so as long as required. There is no hard body inside 

 to obstruct the transit of a working iron ; there is not any- 

 thing in the shape of wires to prevent him from lengthening 

 or shortening the neck, body, thigh, and legs, according to his 

 own judgments. 



" Now we proceed to support the skin in any attitude the 

 artist may wish to place it in. 



" Join two pieces of wood in the shape of a carpenter's 

 gimlet, and of size corresponding to the size of the animal. 

 When you have nearly filled the abdomen with chaff, introduce 

 this machine, and let the shank hang down outside of the 

 skin, just as though it were a fifth leg in the centre of the body, 

 equi-distant from the fore and hind legs. This fifth leg, or 

 what may be called the shank of the gimlet, is of any suffi- 

 cient length, and is passed through a hole in the table before 

 you, and then fastened with a couple of wedges. By this 

 contrivance you can raise the animal as high as you wish, or 

 you can lower it at your pleasure, and the feet will just touch 

 the table, without requiring any wire inside to support them. 



" Everything is now ready for the artist to exercise his 

 abilities. 



"With a piece of iron, from the size of a large darning 

 needle to that of a ramrod (or larger and thicker still, if the 

 bulk of the animal require it), and shaped at one end like a 

 carpenter's pricker, he will push out every part of the skin 



