THE SKINNING AND CASTING OF A TIGER 123 



showing the half model and also other parts of the mouth, 

 etc. 



The corresponding half of the inside of the upper jaw, 

 though not so important perhaps, was copied in the same 

 manner. 



A cast in plaster of Paris was taken of the face, and the 

 head was then placed, forehead downwards, upon the table, 

 and a cast was obtained of the roof of the mouth, giving the 

 arrangement of the palatal ridges for the final modelling. 

 The tongue itself was taken out at the subsequent skinning, 

 and was posed in a natural manner on clay to give it its proper 

 curves, surrounded by a wall of clay, then cast in plaster of 

 Paris, and, when set, was turned over, trimmed, and its under 

 surface cast, thus making a mould in two halves, from which 

 the paper or pulp tongue (see following pages, and Fig. 13, 

 Plate VII.) was reproduced. 



The carcase was then handed over to the skinners, who 

 commenced by getting it upon the dissecting-bench, being 

 assisted by a rope and pulley-block screwed into a beam or 

 joist in the ceiling above. The animal having been placed 

 upon its back, an incision was made in the skin, on the central 

 line, from the throat, along the stomach, to the tail ; a cross 

 cut was then made from the chest up to the '' armpit " of each 

 of the fore limbs, extending nearly to the end of the humerus, 

 whence it followed the course of each fore limb, running 

 along just inside (so that the stitches should be hidden when 

 the animal was finished) down to each manus and splitting 

 the large central pad. At the hind limbs the cross cut was 

 made to follow the ir^ner line of the limb just inside, coming 

 through the central pad as in the others. The removal of the 

 skin was commenced by flaying it back from the fore limb on 

 one side, a rope tied to each assisting the stretching out of the 

 limbs. Both sides of the limbs were flayed back by carefully 



