The islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1891-1899, 1895-05-30
ANIMALS IN EFFIGY.
THE FAMOUS COLLECTION OWNED BY
THE SMITHSONIAN.

THE FAMOUS COLLECTION OWNED BY
THE SMITHSONIAN.
How Casts Are Made of Rare and BULKY
Animals-Proof That the Whale Could
Have Held Jonah-Of Value to Students
and Historians.
Strewn along for a distance OF 90
yards in the rear of the Smithsonian IN
stitution are blocks of plaster Of paris OF
every imaginable shape. some of large
size and others fitted together as If to
form boxes. For the most part they look
like the refuse of workshop. Here and
there one fragment or another is seen to
resemble a part of a fish or other ami
NAL, perhaps tail, or a head Win
pair of fore f1ippers. A big slab bears the
impression of a snake, as if the creature,
having buried itself in mud for the Win
ter, had walked from its torpid state and.
crawled away. Other objects yet more
strange are faces and various parts or
human bodies apparently fossilized.
These odd looking things are molds.
The Smithsonian institution has been
collecting them for 80 years past, and
some of them have cost great deal OF
money. Quite anumber have been fetch
ed all the way from Alaska, represent
ing various animals peculiar to the re-
gions of the frozen north. If queer rep
tile or fish is found anywhere, there is
nothing better than to make cast OF 1t
in plaster of paris. By this means Its
shape is copied to perfection. and that IS
a great help for museum purposes.
When, few years ago, whale was
stranded on the New England coast, DIR.
Palmer, taxidermist of the Smithsonian
institution, was sent to make copy OF
it in papier mache This he dld-that
is to say, he made mold of the cetacean
in plaster, of which he took several bar
reIs full with him, and the papier
mache cast was produced afterward in
Washington.
Only one-half of the whale was cast,
however, representing what might be
termed the port side of the animal.
This is now hung up in the National
museum. On one side it shows the out
side of the creature and from the other
side the inside. 1t was a clergyman
who on a certain occasion not long ago
was steering some members OF his flock
through the building, and, pausing in
front of the whale, remarked, pointing
to the capacious interior, of the great
marine mammal:
"You see, my dear friends, that there
was plenty of room for JONAH"
In such ways the Smithsonian insti-
tuition has collected molds and made
casts of a great variety of animals, Of
ten sending long distances to get them.
Of reptiles alone it has secured several
hundreds, each representing typical
species, while the fishes run up to 1900
and upward. From each plaster mold
about so casts may be made, If de-
sired. This facility of multiplication
is utilized to considerable extent in
another branch of the work not re-
lating to animals at all. To schools and
to museums all over the world the
Smithsonian institution sends sets Of
typical aboriginal implements Of Amer
ica These are valuable for purposes Of
study. A mold from an actual stone ak
will furnish so facsimiles, which only
have to be painted in order to look ex-
actly like the original. If more are
wanted, another mold is easily made.
While it would not be easy to ship
whale or walrus to the Smithsonian
institution, smaller animals are readily
transported. Nearly all of the creatures
of which these molds are made are sent
to this city for that purpose. When
practicable, two living specimens are
forwarded. One serves for the mold.
The other is model for the artist Be-
fore going further it should be ex
planned that the casts are intended to
represent the animals themselves in the
museum, and they must be as lifelike
as possible. They are painted by men
who are skilled in this branch of art.
Before making mold from snake
the animal, if alive, receives dose Of
chloroform. It may or may not recover.
There have been instances where SER
penis have got over the effects Of the
chloroform two or three times in success
sion, only to be subjected to further
doses and made to serve again and
again. Perhaps an an@sthetized ophid-
ian will be coiled gracefully about the
branch of tree, and the mold will be
taken from branch and snake together,
to be subsequently painted, Of course
Or, if it were rattlesnake, it would
probably be coiled in spiral, as if ready
to strike. In the west wing of the
Smithsonian institution is beautiful
exhibit Of the rattlesnakes of the United
States. They look as if alive, though
only casts, SO we'll are they painted,
with surroundings Of heritage, etc., to
counterfeit nature
It is the same way with reptiles of
other kinds. There are ever so many
queer species of lizards in this country,
particularly in the western deserts. The
horned toad is one of these, not being in
reality toad at all, though it looks
like one. There are the edible lizards
of Death valley and others which are
able to outrun the fastest race horse
Such creatures as these are easily mold
ed, every scale in their armor being re-
produced with wonderful accuracy of
detail. With land mammals it is differ