TAXIDERMY. 4$ 



which was to receive the skin more exact, we mo- 

 delled one half of the skinned head in plaster, as 

 well as one of the hind arid one of the fore legs* 



All these measures being taken, Lassaigne con- 

 structed a factitious body in linden or chesnut wood. 

 The reader would find the detail too long and too 

 minute if we w r ere to describe the ingenious me- 

 thods generally invented by Lassaigne, either to 

 cut the wood, or to preserve the form he had given 

 to this great mass. But to avoid all prolixity, it will 

 be sufficient to observe, that he composed this 

 wooden elephant in such a manner that all the parts 

 could be separated. He opened a pannel (it is im- 

 material on which side of the body,) and intro- 

 duced himself into the interior, by means of this 

 opening, either to diminish the thickness of the w r ood 

 or for any other purpose during its construction : 

 the head, the trunk, all was hollow, so that the 

 body, alarming at first from its supposed weight, 

 might be easily transported from one place to 

 another. * 



After taking the alum-water from the tub where 

 the skin was placed, we heated it and poured it 

 boiling on the skin ; we left it an hour and an half 



* I have seen this immense model, which is not yet moved 

 from the Menagerie to the Gallery. Its sides are not much 

 more than an inch thick ; the folds or wrinkles of the skin 

 were adjusted after a beautiful little cast belonging to M. 

 Cuvier. 



