Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-10-08

and twenty of his companions killed by the Ma
costumes, a name from which our Anacostia and
AnalOstan are derived. and who lived on and
near the site of the present city of Washington
A WASHINGTON WHALE STORY.
A PLASTER CAST TAKEN FROM A LIVE SEA MON
STER-THE WORK NOW GOING ON IN A SECLUDED
CORNER OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM BUILDING
A STAR reporter strOlling through the Smith.
sonian grounds came Unexpectedly upon q
scene under the trees that transfixed him with
establishment. Just west of the towering insti-
tuition building is a modest little structure This
is the modeller's bulding-the busy workshop
out of which have come the myriads of models of
fishes. properly assorted and tagged in the cases
OF the National Museum, and the host of snakes
saiamanders and reptiles that seem to be ready
10 crawl or spring from their places on the
shelves. Nature has been faithfully copied, even
to the various tfnts Of the scales. The taxider-
mist shares the building with the mOdeller, and
IN the lower rooms bright plumaged birds,
stuffed and ready to be mounted moulds of
huge serpents, porpoise heads. and the odds and
ends of the animal and reptile world are mingled
In delightful confusion.
THE SPECTACLE
which so astOnished the reporter was under the
trees in front Of this building. dog posed on
workbench, while the chief modella. Mr. Joseph
Palmer and two Of his assistants were busy
operating on the side of the dog away from the
spectator, who wondered at the patience and
discipline Of the animal. which never moved a
muscle or stirred a foot. 1t was some minutes
before the mystery of the thing vas revealed
The dog was dead. His motioniess muscles were
St.lened IN death-but there he stood i'm a most
lhe-ilke attltude%it was a pointer dog-as
though just starting i'm the chase The modella
was engaged i'm coating the animals body with
PLASTER OF paris. The sideaway from the reporter
already had an encasing of plaster an inch thick
81 do not think ANYTHING like this was eyer done
before started it. said Mr.. Palmer pausng in
his work: ''mOulds are generally made from
stuffed animals. | worked little i'm this way
inEngand before / came to this country. but /
never had such facilities as have here 1t is
proposed to make casts of all the finer breeds of
dogs viii show you one We have made" and
dropping his brush Mr.. Palmer led the way into
his workshop.
PLASTER DOG.
There. reclining between two windows. was
the model of noble mastiff-of shape and form.
even to the delicate tendOns of the limbs SO
natural that one almost expected to see him
leap up from the ground. The hairs which had
remained i'm the mould and been transferred to
the cast aided the illusion This cast was made
by the same process which the reporter wit
messed in operation under the trees outside
The body of the dog was posed and covered
WIN piaster. When the plaster hardened
III.
This process has been brought to perfection by
MI Palmer. to whose skill a myriad of figures
IN the National Museum, startling in their life
like appearance, bear testimony. While passing
through the shop Mr.. Palmer pointed out to the
reporter the head Of a water buffalo, one of Bar
NUNS curiOsities, pOrpOise head, grampus
head. and other casts that Ornamented the walls
OF the workshop, all of themtaken from natures
own model.
A MASTER PIECE.
1.-The biggest piece of work ever ATTEMPTED
was whale" said Mr.. Palmer. ''There are
models OF whales in England. but never knew
OF cast being taken right from the whale itself.
Where did L do it? In Province Town, Mass.
The whale was run upon a dry dock. and I took
the cast there We are putting it together now.
tits small whale of it's kind" Mr.. Palmer then
requested his son, one of his assistants.
to measure the tail Of the whale. The
was lying on workbench in the shop. From
tip to tip of the two fukes or divisions it meas
ured 9 feet inches Mr.. Palmer. jr., and
another young man having been instructed to 60
to work on the whale. the reporter followed
them to the National Museum building. where
the precious cast is kept. Here i'm one cor
ner. divided OF from the rest of the great build
ing by section of board fence and
ramparts OF bOxes-with curious mysterious
urroundings,-Indian idols ancient pottery
and relics of former ages.-is the cast of the
sea monster. 1t measures IS feet in length.
The cast. which had been shipped from Province
Town, had nearly all been put together again
when visited by the reporter. One square piece
like the last block in Chinese puzzle remained
to be inserted under the mouth. The mould
represented just one side of the whale He
was about year old, said Mr.. Palmer jr ''In
the Pacific whales like these grow to be
ITO feet long. They are called Sulphur-bottOm
whales, from peculiar sulphur color left i'm
mud where they have been wallowing." The
c0rrugatlOns in the whales belly--a neat ar
rangement OF nature, allowing the surface to
expand to great extent when the fish eats
were shown in the plaster mould, as we'll as the
deep, hideous mouth. the blow hole. and the
smal nm on the back. The side fins, like the
tail, were moulded separately,
ITS DESTINY.
What was to be done with this monstrous
specimen, the reporter asked. 1t was to be cast
IN paper 'aache-that is, a section representing
One-half of the whale was to be cast. The hol- |
low paper nadcte would be filled with the bones
OF the whale-the veritable bones shipped here
from Province Town. Then the model would
be colored like nature. and suspended in mid |
ar IN one OF the wide and airy corridors of the
museum building. Approaching from one side
the visitor will see whale floating in the air as
gracefully as ever whale sported in his native
element. A view from the other side will dis
play half section of the whale, exhibiting the
MYSTERIES OF HIS ANATOMY
ana the arrangement of the bones. The re-
porter before leaving walked back to the little
building where Mr.. Palmer, the modeller, was
still at work on the stark form of the dog.
Ihat Is great undertaking." said the re- |
porter, referring to the whale
les, about the greatest I ever tried. I
worked on the extinct animals in the Crystal
Palace, in London, but then they were made
from models. There is a whale in the Alexan-
ara Paiace, London sixty feet long, but it was
MADE from model" After gossiping about
snakes. birds and dogs, and the strange things
that pass under Mr. Palmers hands, the re-
porter took his leave filled with visions of
whales floating about In the air among the lofty
arches and room aisles Of the Museum building.
Rev. ]. G. Wood, the eminent English natur-
alst in an article on "The Horse and its Owner
says in reference to bearing reins '.PeopIe see |
the horse champing its bit, fnging foam flakes