EQUIPMENT, ARMS, AND SPECIMENS 749 
paring down, to a thinness which will allow the salt to pene¬ 
trate through the dermal layer to the epidermis and preserve 
the hair covering, must be resorted to. The salt method is 
simple in application; its success depends chiefly upon eter¬ 
nal vigilance in seeing that it reaches every part of the skin 
in its action. 
Salt should be applied as soon after the removal of the 
skin as is possible. Usually this cannot be done until the 
skin reaches camp. Here it is spread out hair side down 
and carefully fleshed, all the fatty tissue being removed, as 
it forms an impenetrable barrier to salt. Finely pulverized 
salt is then spread over the skin in a uniform layer about a 
quarter of an inch thick. Skins in which the legs and neck 
have not been slit longitudinally will need to be treated by 
filling these members with salt, leaving the hair side turned 
out. It is then rubbed into the skin to insure its immediate 
action, after which the skin is tightly rolled, as smoothly as 
its folds will allow. In this state it is allowed to remain 
overnight, usually from twelve to twenty-four hours, so as 
to give the salt ample time to extract the moisture. At the 
end of this time it is unrolled, when it will be found that 
most of the salt has been dissolved by the moisture in the 
skin which now rests in pools of brine in the folds. This 
liquid is then drained off and the skin covered by a fresh layer 
of salt, after having been carefully inspected to see that no 
spots are left where the action of the salt has not penetrated 
and where decay is beginning to take place. Such spots may 
usually be detected by their softness, the skin being of a 
putty-like consistency, or by the ease with which the hair 
may be pulled out. Inspection of this sort of each skin 
should be continued daily for a few days until it is certain 
