24 TAXIDERMY. 



gimblet. We fasten all the bones with an iron or 

 brass wire, which we pass through the holes already 

 bored. We twist the two ends of the wire, leaving 

 a little play between the articulations, and pursue 

 this method until the whole skeleton is mounted. 

 We then procure a flat piece of wood to place it 

 on, and keep it erect by means of two iron uprights, 

 such as we have described for the natural skele- 

 tons. % 



The links of wire above mentioned are insufficient 

 to unite all the bones of large-sized animals, such as 

 the horse, the ox, the camel, and the elephant. In 

 place of them we put two iron pegs, with a head at 

 one end and a screw at the other; each screw must have 

 a nut, and each pair of screws must be accompanied 

 by a plate of iron, narrow, and pierced at each end 

 to pass the screw through. We will now suppose 

 ourselves about to unite the bone of the thigh to 

 that of the leg of a large quadruped. We pierce a 

 hole at about two inches from its extremity, we do 

 the same with the leg bone, bring the two together, 

 and then passing one of our screws, (longer by an 

 inch than the bone is thick,) into the hole of one of 

 the above-mentioned plates, then through the bone, 



* See the drawing of one of the specimens in the Gallery 

 of Anatomy, plate 1, the wires in which are coloured red, to 

 distinguish them. I have removed the head a little too far from 

 the cervical vertebrae, to show the course of the wire which 

 joins them more clearly. 



