The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-30
This is A Whale.

That only made things worse for the car
penters, because visitors that were con-
cerned about the story Of Jonah insisted on
going Town into the pit TO see IL there was
room enough in the belly of the whale for a
man to board comfortably for three days,
and the carpenters were bothered more
than ever In explaining that while the out
side Of old Sulphur Bottom would be exactly
like the exterior Of the whale tina was
washed ashore at Cape Breton they could
never hope to reproduce the inside Of the
animal.
Are you going to make him with his
mou open or shut" asked a very inter-
ested old lady, who went to the museum
every day or so with a book of natural his
tory, which she consulted as she watched
the whale fstten on ironwork and lathing.
His face will be closed, " said the carpen-
ter, solemnly.
-Oh, l think that's too bad, : said the old
lady with a disappearing shake of her head
You ought to build him with his jaws wide
apart so that visitors could see whether il
is possible for whales TO swallow human
beings
Finally the authorities made 1t impos-
sible for visitors to step into the whale pit.
DAt ~ INV" z viz pin lACkC
Of looking on from a railing around the
construction work. They hung a sma IL
papier mache model Of the sulphur bottom
in the pit so that visitors could see exactly
what the big fellow would be lik e and
wouldn't ask 80 many questions.
In AVA the museum got the idea of az lib
ting a handmade whale from the Natio nal
Museum in Washington, d.. G. There ia a
fine wood and papier mache whale in the
National Museum, but it is not nearly so
perfect a piece Of work az the whale of the
museum here. The imitation whale in the
National Museum was made by T. S. Palmer
and DR.. Lucas OF the Brooklyn Institute OF
Arts and Sciences, who found the real W hale
that was washed ashore at Cape Breton
and spent a lot OF time making plaster casts
Of every section of it. DR.. Lucas's casts
we're used by the Museum of Natural His
tory.
The reproduction of the sulphur bottom
will be as exact as the skilled force Of car
penters and modellers of the museum can
make it. Every oorrugation on the skin
will be duplicated from the casts and the
papier mache skin will he stained a slaty
blue with notifies Of gray and white. Sus-
pended from piano wires in the east NAM
NAL hall, the whale will be made to look az
natural and homelike IA il in possible 10
make him. He will he 70 feet long from
the tip of his nose TO the notch in his tail
where the fukes sprout OF, and the tip Of
one fiuke will he IA feet from the tip Of the
other. The maximum diameter of the big
fellow will he IL feet and his thickness at
the iippers will be II feet.
The work was begun by making a slender
iron framework, around which circum-
ferences Of hard wood we're bolted. Then
long strips Of Eastwood obtained in Florida
were nailed lengthwise to the hard wood
circumference. The Eastwood was used
because it is very pliable. IL took months
to build up the skeleton Of the whale eX-
actly az il should be. and while the car
! penters were busy the modellers Of the
1 museum were at work on sections Of outside
TO be fitted on the framework. IL wasn't
An easy job by any means because it had
! sulphur bottom has seventy-two OF the
curious cOTrugations that run in straight
or wavy lines from underneath the lower
| Jaw along the sides and the belly and sepa-
rate models had TO he made OF only three or
four OF these corTugations at a time. Be-
sides there were the fiukes and the two
hippers. There are also models to be made
Of the ridicUlously tiny eyes and great care
had TO he taken TO make the eyes perfect.
Later the museum IL to have another
whale, a humpback this time. Small
models have been made and work will
within a few weeks. The museum
hopes to have the sulphur bottom done
by Christmas day so that il can he on ex-
hibition on December 20. when the museum
will have a number Of new things to show
! the pubic.