Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-05-07

day and said: Let me see what l can
do for these poor fellows. believe
that l can do something, anyway
Gladly did the officer consent. but the
question Immediately arose who was
to pay for such work. Luckily, Col.
Porter has a benevolent fund at his
wonderful hospital which is kept up
by gifts of money from rich friends
and grateful patients, and. aided by
this. he does many kindly action
which could hardly pass the official
auditor He said Go ahead. The
benevolent fund shall pay" And Wood
went to it.
Il spent months in experiments. he
said, before I undertook my first case
This was in December last, my patient
being Trooper Everitt. Ny masks, as
we call them. consist of plates of thin
copper silvered and then painted to
match the hue of the patients skin
They are light to wear, At like gloves,
and the men declare that they give no
discomfort whatever. Yes. they are In
tended to be removed at night exactly
like a set OF false teeth. and they are
easily cleaned with little potato juice
Most of them can be kept in place
by means of ether gum, such rs actors
use. but in cases of artificial eyes ana
noses I prefer to build them on 10
spectacles. which assist to keep them
in place and which themselves are held
firm by means OF a couple OF small
straps at the back.
I'm the beginning plaster 1nold
of the face is secured. rms Is drieo
and a clay or plasticine squeeze is
positive model of the patients dressed
wound and the surrounding healthy
tissues: this is fixed to board on
modelling stand and sitting from the
patient with the undressed wound Is
obtained Modelling now commences.
and such art the sculptor may
possess is brought to the test. Having
completed my model. ] proceed to cast
- %l,4
the wound and its surrounding struc-
lures Another sitting is had, and the
portions which are to be hidden even
tually by the metal plate are modelled
in clay or wax, the edges being blended
to the uninjured portions of the face.
thus effectively masking any trace of
wounds.
This IS once more nodded in plas
ter, and the edge of the proposed plate
being marked on the negative. cast
is obtained edges are trimmed to
marking and the model is ready to
have the artificial eye fitted to the
the requisite thickness of lids is care
fully worked down. the glass eye
placed in position and the, edges of the
lids made good with thin plaster.
The model is then taken to the
electrotyper. where an exact reproduc-
ton by galvano-plastic deposit is
made in thin virgin copper. The final
sittinss are devoted to the pigmenta-
ton of the plate. I have found a thin
coating of cream -colored bath enamel
a good preparation for fesh-color
matching Should the patient have a
shiny skin this is easily obtained by
varnish rubbed down to match it.
have tried false hair on eyelids and
eyebrows-they will not stand the
weather-and have adopted tinfoil
split with scissors and soldered into
lids for the eye. and for the eye
brows pigment applied to the modelled
forms.
Asked if he could mend" a man who
had lost his face entirely, the sculptor
replied that he thought that COM
plete mask would be quite possible
perhaps, provided that there remained
a foundation for the lips. which
would be the most difficult part. The
s25. not overeXpensive. he pointed out.
when one considers that an artificial
leg costs from 5000 to $3.50 and
artificial arm about $500. In passing.
he declared that the American made
artificial limbs were by far the best
in the world, and spoke admiringly of
the work that is being done at Roe
hampton by Americans in the way of
equipping armless and legless soldiers.
Another point about our Masks" he
added, lis that they promise to save
the government considerable sum in