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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



Independence Hall, Philadelphia, which contained Peale's Museum. 



hard work they were rewarded with grand success and were able to 

 ship to Philadelphia one skeleton that lacked principally the lower 

 jaw and the top of the head. What was lacking in this skeleton was 

 found in another from a nearby bog. The bones of the two animals 

 were not mixed. When the skeletons were set up the missing parts 

 were carved out of wood, so that there were finished two complete skele- 

 tons. " Although putting these skeletons together/' to return again 

 to the autobiography, " was a long and arduous work ; yet the novelty 

 of the subject, the producing the form, and, as it would seem a second 

 creation, was delightful; and every day's work brought forth its 

 pleasure." 



Up to this time many scattered bones and teeth of the mastodon 

 had been found in this country. They had been described as belong- 

 ing to a race of gigantic man, to the fathers of cattle, to hippopotomi, 

 etc. In a letter to Geffroy Saint-Hilaire describing his find Peale 

 states that this animal should be called the carnivorous elephant of the 

 north, but should not be confounded with the Siberian mammoth. 

 Cuvier in his memoir " Le Grand Mastodonte " writes : 



Mais pendant que nous iravaillions ainsi en Europe sur quelques fragmens 

 de cet animal, M. Peale continuait a en recueillir les os, et il avait ete assez 

 heureux pour en obtenir deux squelettes presque complets qui ont decide la 

 question pour tonjours (p. 261). 



The Museum in the State House 



In 1802 the state legislature moved to Lancaster. This left the 

 State House (Independence Hall) vacant. Peale petitioned the legis- 



