e beyond the scope of the
taxidermist, and although I have found it necessary to cast in metal
for some purposes, it is so seldom needed that I do not purpose
describing what any friendly brass founder will tell the amateur in a
few minutes. The casting by amateurs at an ordinary fire is limited to
three metals--lead, tin, and zinc--or a mixture of two.

How large models in clay, etc, can be made is described by Mr.
Waterhouse Hawkins, F.G.S, etc, in his paper on the reproductions he
made of the extinct animals exhibited at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham:

"By careful study of their works I qualified myself to make
preliminary drawings, with careful measurements of the fossil bones in
our Museum of the College of Surgeons, British Museum and Geological
Society. Thus prepared, I made my sketch-models to scale, either a
sixth or twelfth of the natural size, designing such attitudes as my
long acquaintance with the recent and living forms of the animal
kingdom enabled me to adapt to the extinct species I was endeavouring
to restore.

"I caused the clay model to be built of the natural size by
measurements from the sketch model, and when it approximated to the
form, I, with my own hand in all instances, secured the anatomical
details and the characteristics of its nature.

"Some of these models contained thirty tons of clay, which had to be
supported on four legs, as their natural history characteristics would
not allow of my having recourse to any of the expedients for support
allowed to sculptors in an ordinary case. I could have no trees, nor
rocks, nor foliage to support these great bodies, which, to be
natural, must be built fairly on their four legs. In the instance of
the iguanodon, it is not less than building a house upon four columns,
as the quantities of material of which the standing iguanodon is
composed, consist of 4 iron columns, 9 ft. long by 7 in. diameter, 600
bricks, 650 5 in. half-round drain-tiles, 900 plain tiles, 38 casks of
cement, 90 casks of broken stone; making a total of 640 bushels of
artificial stone. These, with 100 ft. of iron hooping and 20 ft. of
cube inch bar constitute the bones, sinews, and muscles of this large
model, the largest of which there is any record of a casting being
made."

Other uses of plaster are also described in Chapters VI. and VII. One
of the uses of plaster in modelling is, however, to reproduce flesh,
etc. For this purpose mix plaster of Paris (best S.F.) with bo