——— a ee a a ——— —- Ss 
THE ELEPHANT. 21 
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| measurements, on the wall of the workshop where the model 
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was constructed of its natural size. 
_ the form of a double cross, was then made in the lower side, 
other cuts were made from the left leg on both sides to the 
opposite right legs. The trunk was longitudinally opened in 
| its under side; the soles of the feet were now taken out to 
within an inch of their edge, and the nails allowed to remain 
attached to the skin—this was effected by the aid of a chisel 
_ and mallet, and was one of the most difficult operations of the 
whole. 
Several persons wrought at a time at the operation of skin- 
ning, and four days were necessary to effect it. When re- 
moved from the carcase, the skin was weighed, and found 
to be five hundred and seventy-six pounds. 
It was extended on the ground, so that the cutaneous 
muscles of the head and other parts might be cut away from 
its interior. The skin was then put into a tub, and covered 
six inches deep with water which had been saturated with 
alum. 
half the head in plaster, as also a fore and hind leg. This 
structure was made of linden-wood, and so ingeniously con- 
_ be separated. He opened a pannel on one side of the body, 
_ whereby he introduced himself into its interior, so that he 
_ might make its parts more perfect within. Even the head and 
_ proboscis were hollow, which rendered this stupendous model 
_ so light that it could be moved from one part to another with 
comparative ease. 
The model being completed, the alum water in which the skin 
had been all the time immersed, was now taken out and made 
boiling hot, and in that state poured on the skin, which was 
then allowed to soak in the warm liquor for an hour and a half, 
when it was taken out still warm and placed upon the model, 
their mortification when it was fourid that the model was rather 
The Elephant was piaced upon its back by means of | 
four-corded pulleys fastened to the platform. An incision, | 
_ the central line reaching from the mouth to the anus; the two | 
structed by M. Lassaigne, that almost the whole parts could | 
which they accomplished with some difficulty. But judge of | 
The model which was to fill the skin was made as perfect | 
as possible in its shape. To insure this, models were made of | 
