116 TAXIDERMY. 



use a pipe of baked earth, or a tube of glass, from 

 six to seven inches long, to the end of which we 

 put a little white enamel, which we present to the 

 fire in order to blow it. This enamel forms a globe, 

 larger or smaller according as it is dilated by the 

 air we introduce. This globe being the proper 

 size, we place in the middle, and perpendicularly 

 to the point of the pipe, the quantity of enamel ne- 

 cessary to make the iris ; we incorporate the second 

 enamel with the first, by presenting it to the fire, and 

 taking care always to turn the pipe with our fin- 

 gers, that the enamel may spread equally, and the 

 iris be exactly round. If this iris is to be of several 

 colours, as for example that of man, we distribute in 

 diverging rays, several little threads of the suitable 

 enamel ; we present the eye to the fire until we 

 have incorporated the iris, after which we place 

 the pupil, heat it in the same way, and then apply 

 the glass. As it is almost impossible that the eye 

 should not sink down in the course of this oper- 

 ation, and that the air which w r e have introduced 

 should not escape, as much by the heat as by the 

 pressure which we use above, in applying the dif- 

 ferent substances ; we must take care from time to 

 time to introduce it afresh, that it may not lose its 

 form. This is, above all, necessary when we apply 

 the glass, and it is extended over the whole surface 

 of the iris. 



After having given the eye its size and form ? we 



