148 PRACTICAL TAXIDERMY. 



we more than saturated the water. This water was poured upon the 

 skin, and we continued to do so until the skin was covered with it 

 Gin. deep. 



To render the dimensions of the model or shape which was to receive 

 the skin more exact, we modelled one-half of the skinned head in 

 plaster, as well as one of the hind and one of the fore legs. 



All these measures being taken, Lassaigne constructed a factitious 

 body in linden wood. The reader would find the detail too long and 

 too minute if we were to describe the ingenious methods 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 suffi- 

 cient to observe that he composed this wooden elephant in such a 

 manner that all the parts could be separated. 



He opened a panel (it is immaterial on which side of the body) 

 and introduced himself into the interior by means of this opening, 

 either to diminish the thickness of the wood 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 a half in this state, after which we drew the skin out to place 

 it, quite warm, upon the shape. This was not an easy thing, but it 

 was rendered still more difi&cult by our finding the false body a little 

 too large — the skin would not entirely cover it. There was but ono 

 thing which could be done ; we could not diminish the wood without 

 destroying the proportions ; besides, the iron pins, the screws which 

 fastened the work, would have lost their hold, and we should have 

 run the risk of overturning the edifice. We then took down the skin, 

 placed it on trestles, and diminished the thickness of it by the help 

 of large knives, cutting it away in thick and long shreds from the 

 whole of the inside. This work occupied five persons for four days. 

 We weighed these shreds and they amounted to 1941b. During this 

 operation the skin had dried, and consequently lost its suppleness. 

 We put it back into a tub and covered it with soft cold water. The 

 next day we placed it afresh on the shape, and fixed it with wire 

 nails and large brads ; those which fixed the edge of the skin were 

 driven in deeply, the others only half way, to accommodate the skin 

 to all the sinuosities of the model. We drew out a great many of 

 them when the skin was sufficiently dry. 



This paring of the skin answered our purpose in two essential points : 



