Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-06-19
TAKEN THE CAST OF A WHALE.
First Attempt to Make One of the En-
 tire Body.

tire Body.
 The first attempt to get complete cast covering every part of a whales body will be made by Professor F. A. Lucas, curator of paleontology Of the National museum, who started to Newfoundland last Tuesday accompan- jed by William Palmer and J. w. Scol- ick, pTeparateuers, to get the skele- ton and cast of large tlnback whale, says the Washington Post.
 In all the specimens which one en- counters in the museums ot Europe and this country the casts have been taken of the animals lying high and dry on the beach, and in the few com- plete reproductions to be found here and there the side lacking has been built up from one cast, and filled out or altered wherever discrepancies hap -pened to exist in making two sides from one. The idea of taking an im- pression of an entire whale with the dead animal floating in the water IS entirely new, and was originated last summer by Professor Lucas when the problem came up fox discussion. The largest whale now in the museum was killed some years ago off the New foundland coast, at which time an i'm pression was obtained of one side only as the animal lay on the beach. For that reason the visitor to the museum beholds only one side of the whale, as it was impossible at the time to get nfl 1ooI Nhn cIy o nn cast for which Professor Lucas has just gone to Newfoundland will be set up at once and exhibited at the St Louis exposition.
 For some time the men who have charge of the geological department of the museum have been anxious to obtain q skeleton and cast of a speci- men of the greater finback whale in order to complete the museums collec- tion of cetaceans, but owing to the diff ffcultfes involved, the undertaking has been deferred until now
 In the first place it is extremely diff f1cult to obtain cast of a whale, while in the second, the removal of the skeleton involves deal of trying and disagreeable labor. Moreover, it y museum specimen, so that few days ago, when Professor Lucas received word from Newfoundland that the whalers were enjoying an unusually fine whaling season and were taking some very fine animals, he made all haste, to reach the scene as soon as possible.
 The scene of his labors will be at Ballaena, one of the whaling stations of the Cabot Whaling Co., on the east ern or Atlantic coast of Newfound- land It is a small village, in which are situated the try works, refneries and cutting-up wharves of the com pany, and from which point a large fleet of up-to-date whaling boats, oper- ated by steam, sail forth on their daily cruise in search of whales of the diff ferent varieties known to the northern seas.
 The whales are not f1arpooned by man standing in the bow of yawl, after the manner of old New Bed ford whalers back in 1850, but are shot with a torpedo cartridge, which ex- plodes in the region of the animals heart and which is fired from a gun made specially for that purpose and placed in the bow of the vessel For all that the methods of the Newfound- land whalers are modern, there is new ertheless nearly as much excitement in hunting and killing whales as there was half century ago. 1t requires considerable skill and nerve on the part of the gunner to shoot whale in the right spot and at the right time. AS he stands at the gun awaiting the favorable moment he must direct the pilot at the wheel as to guidance and the engineer below as to speed by hand signals, and an electrical bell which he the torpedo in the region of the1 whales heart very soon puts an end to the animal, so that in this one re- spect modern whale fishing is inferior to that of the old days in sensational developments.
 On reaching Ballaend Professor Lu- eas will proceed at once to take a cast of the first large finback that happens to be there. The cast will be taken with the real whale floating in water about 10 or 12 feet in depth. When the carcass of a whale is lying on dry land it is impossible to obtain casts of more than one side, and even then the body is so strained and out of shape that the impression obtained of the ex- posed side IS almost worthless. Again even if it were possible, to turn the body over, the under side would be in such an awkward and unnatural atti- tude as to render casting operations utterly hopeless. Tn the water, how ever the body retains its fexibility for a much longer period after death than would be the case if 1t were on land, and after the preparateuers have taken anr:dmpression of several yards at time, it is a very easy matter to roll the immense mass of flesh over, so as to expose a fresh side, by means of system of ropes running under the carcass. and secured to posts standing on opposite sides of the dead animal. A staging is erected upon these posts upon which Messrs Lucas, Palmer and Scolick will stand while