Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-05-07
ANIMALS IN EEFIGY.
TSE FAMoUscoLLEcTIoNowNED ev
 THE SMITHSONIAN.

Animals-Proof That ltIc Whale Could
 Have Held Jonala-Or alue to Students
 and Historians.
 Strewn along fore" distance of 90
 yards in tho rear offthJ Smithsonian in
 stitu;fion arc blocksiCf plaster of paris of
 evcry1imaginablo is!la.,e. somo of large
 size aG.d others fistod together as if to
 form h1xes. For tho most part they look
 like the trefuse of a,wOTkshpp. Here and
 there one fragment CT another is seen to
 rosrmhhe part of fish or other ami
 mal, prhaps n tail, or head with a
 9ai-' if fore fiippCrs. A big slab bears the
 impression of n snake, as if the creature,
 haN Org buried itsclf in r.ad for tho win
 ter ,'had walked frOul its torI i'd state and
 c aWlcd away. Other objects yet moro
 :TTnGe arc faces and Varioas parts or
 lUman bodies apparently fosSilized
 These odd looking things arc molds
 TTlu Smithsonian inSCtation has been
 colIectinS them for ga years past, and
 iJmA of tku:n lElvI cost great deal of
 nlulley. Quite number have beon fetch
 o.l all the way from Alaska, represent
 ing various animals peculiar to the re- ] gions of the frozen north. If a queer rep tilo or fish is found anywhere, there is
 nothing better than to make a cast of it
 in plaster of paris By this means its | shape is copied to perfection. and that is
 | tSrcat help for museum purposes. | Wien, a few years ago, a whale was
 str anded on tho New England coast, Dr. | Palmer. taxidCrmist of the Smithsonian
 Institution, was sent to mako a copy ot II in papiur nachC This hu tlid-that, | a> tn say, he nalc mold of the cetacean, | ~ plaster, of which he took several bar-I ! | ,rls full with him, and the papierl ! mache cast was produced aftorward in,
 Washington.
 Only one. half of tho uWhale Was cast,
 however. representing what might be termed the port side of tho animal \ This is now hung up in the National
 museum. On one side it shows the out sido of the creature and from the other side tho inside. It was clergyman l who oa certain occasion not long ago l was steering somo members ofFhis flock
 through tho building, and. pausing in front of the whale. remarked. ypointing | to tho capacious interior of fthe great | snariIie manllnal:
 "1ou see, my dear friends. that there was plenty of room for .IonIh" lGl such ways tho Smithsonian, insti. 1 turion has collected molds and made ! casts of great variety of animals, of. r 1en sending long distances to.g get them. | of reptiles alone it has secured several | hundreds, each representing a typical | species, while the fishes ru:l Np to l, 200 1 and upward. From each plaster mold r about 50 casts may bo made, if de- sired. This facility of multiplication E is utilized to q considerable extent ill K another branch of thoy work not re. | lating to animals at all. 'To schools and | to museums all over the world tho | Smithsonian institrtion sends sets of | typical aboriginal implements of Amer | ica These are valuable for purposes of I study. A mold from an actual stone ax | will furnish 50 facsimileS, which only ! have to bU painted ill order to look eX- l actly like the original If moro arc
 wanted. another mold is easily made, l While it would not bo easy to ship a | whale or a walruS to the Smithsonian l institution, smaller animals are readily | transported. Nearly all of tho creatures [ of which these mOlds ara made arc sent to this city for that purpose. When I pTacticable two living specimens arc forwarded. One serves for the mold. l Tho other iS model for the artist Be | fore going further it should be ex- | plaincd that the casts are intended to represent the animals themselves i'll the museum, and they must be as lifelike
 as possible. They aro painted by men who are skilled in this branch of art Before making q mold from a snake l tho animal, if alive, receives doso of 1 chloroform. It may or may not recover. | There have been instances whore ser. 1 pents have got over the effects of the | chloroform two or three times in success ! sion, only to be subjected to further | doses and mado to servo again and | again. Perhaps an anRsthotizod ophid- | ian will be coilcd gracefully about tho ! branch of n tree, and the mold will bo | taken from branch and snake together, | to be subsequently, painted, of course. | Or, if 1t were a rattlesnake, it would 1 probably be Coiled in spiral, as if ready l to strike. In the west wing of the Smithsonian institution is beautiful exhibit of tho rattlesnakes of the United
 States They look as if alive, though I only casts, so we'll arc they painted, | with surroundings of herbage, etc. to l
 l It is tho same way with reptiles of l 'othor kinds. Thoro are ever so many [ queer species of lizards in this country, | particularly in tho western deserts The l horned toad is one of these, not being in | reality a toad at all, though it looks | like one, There arc the edible lizards ,1f Death valley and others which are I able 10 CutrCn tra fastest race horse. [ Such creatures as these are easily mold ! 'rd, every scA!o ln their armor being re- l proluttd with WoGItrfUl accuracy of .Ict2i! With land mammals 1t is differ l ent. for q cast of creature with fur coat can hardly bo made to look like | life. Nevertheless Dr. Palmer's collec- | ton includes casts of portions of many land mammals. For example, hanging | -on the wall of his studio in the rear of the Smithsonian institution is a plaster
 head of tapir, taken direct from the | animal When he has occasion to stuff
 q tapir, he will not be obliged to guess
 at tI;o measurements of that part of the [ beast Close hy is n cast from the head
 of 8 sea lion that was killed in tho Pa ! cific Another cast is from the tongue ! of bear. Some day the taxidermist will desire to set up stuffed bear with
 its mouth open, and there will be Q
 tongue ready There is also a calf's head
 which is very lifelike. though it would
 not make good soup Washington Star.
 Don'ts For Young Singers.
 ! Don't force your voice. To do so in-
 creases its volume at the expense of its { 0uality