The Opelousas courier., 1891-12-12
BEASTS PUT TO ODD USES
AN INTERESTING ROOM IN THE
NATIONAL MUSEUM.
How Every Part of an Animal is UtiL
ized-Use of Hair and Feathers
What is Made of Cow Horn.

How Every Part of an Animal is Uti
ized-Use of Hair and Feathers
What is Made of Cow Horn.
One big room at the National Museum
is entirely devoted to q display of tn
uses to which animal products are put /
man. It is one of the most interestin!
and complete exhibits in the great build
ing. One finds in it a comprehensiv
picture of human civilization, for tn
advancement and perpetuation of which
the 'sbeasts that perish" are required tt
forfeit their lives and their carcasses.
There is no part of the inferior brut;
which man has not discovered a method
of utilizing proftably. Take the leln.
deer, for sample, which furnishes the
Eskimo with clothing, hal~tation, boat,
food, fuel and light. ThG human race
draws upon all creation for its dress.
For this purpose it takes the furs of some
beasts, the woven hair of others, the
feathers OF birds, the skins and scales OF
fishes and even the armor-plates of the
tortoise. The flesh beneath those out
side coverings nan uses for food, the
fats serving for oils, taliow, etc. the
bladder and intestines are employed in a
variety of familiar ways; the blood is
turned to account in refining sugar, as a
substitute for ink and as a material for
doorknobs and buttons; the bones afford
a substitute for ivory as well as fertiliz.
ing material, while ven the eXcrement
of some animals is most valuable for
fuel.
Taking the subjects to be illustrated in
natural order the exhibit described shows
first the hair of the sheep, the goat, the
horse and the pigs. There are horse
hair cloth, brushes, violin bows and hair
curled for s%tufing purposes by twisting
into ropes, w%etting it and allowing it to
dry. Products of woven wool appear
likewise, and hogs bristles in the shape
of brushes of all sorts. Similarly badg-
er's hair, made into shaving brushes Of
the finest quality; squirrels tails for
s'camel's hair" brushes, and for artists
also brushes of sable and of the hair in
side the ear of the OK; brushes of bears
hair and of skunk's hair, too. There
are military plumes made out of the tails
of horses, yaks and civets, and, finally,
there is a piece of reindeer felt in which
the coffin of the Arctic hero, De Long,
was packed.
In another set of glass cases feathers
and their uses are exhibited. There are
feathers for stufing purposes, such as
those of the goose, the turkey and the
chicken. Others, obtained from the
ostrich and thousands of species Of trop-
ical birds, are for a~dornment. Robes of
feathers are shown, all sorts of feather
fans and feathers as utilized in a kind of
p~ainting-an art in which the brilliant
plumes are laid on instead of pigments,
producing effects of the most dazzling
brilliancy. Beautiful also is a bouquet of
feathered flowers; the delicate plumage
exquisitely initiating the bloom of the
garden in form and tinting. The en-
ployment of the quilts of feathers as a
substitute for whalebone in corsets is like.
wise illustrated, as we'll as the use of the
feathers themselves in the making of fish
flies.
The uses shown for the scales and
skins of fishes are particularly interest
ing. Savages wear the hide of the gar
fish for q breastplate, and as such it
serves most admirably, inasmueh as it
will turn any knife or spear. A bullet
will pierce it, but you cannot chop
through it with a Ratchet at a blow.
Supplementary to this is worn a helmet
made from the skin of the porcupine
fish, which is covered with formidable
spines. This, when fastened upon the
head, serves most effectively to butt
with. The Eskimo make travelling boots
and whole suits of clothing out of sal
mon skin. Shark skin is employed as a
substitute for sand-paper as well as for a
durable leather to cover various articles
under the name of ttshagreen." Eel
skins serve for polishing. Fish scales
are made into artificial flowers, and the
outer coating of them, dissolved in acid,
is utilized for making Roman pearls, to
which a lining of this curious substance
gives their beauty.
1t is curious how many methods have
been found of rendering useful the VS.
cera of various animals. The intestines
of the sheep furnish the article which is
known commercially as .tcatgut." To-
bacco pouches are made from the blad-
ders Of fishes. The .'snells' to which
are attached are the intestines
of immature silk-Wor4ns long drawn out.
By the Eskimo the intestines of the seal
and walrus are split and the strips sewn
together for waterproof clothing, with
out which the untutored dweller of the
Arctic never thinks of going out in his
frail boat. Bladders, of course, are
used for drum and banjo heads.
Few people realize that a cows horn
is good for anything in particular, and
yet it is a precious orn ament which in
hands is susceptible of being
transformed into objects of the greatest
First the core is taken out Of
it and sent to the glue factory, after
the horn itself is sawed into three
These pieces are boiled in oil,
makes the material so soft that It
can be rolled out into a sheet like putty.
The sheet thus prepared is stamped,
and put through a variety of
until it cnmes out presently in
the shape of a most exquisite comb or
in very deliberately carved tortoise
It seems positively marvellous
that so unlovely a thing as a cows horn
49, ~ ta-r.e~-.. L.. ~ - -. 81