Animal skin

“ With long-haired animals which have no stripes or spots, and on which the hair can be made to hide all seams, it is best to cut out triangular strips of skin. In the latter case it saves much time and hard labor. It certainly gives a better specimen, and if such tricks leave no visible trace upon the animal, where is the harm? I care not if a skin be slit in twenty places so long as the cuts are tightly sewn up, and are invisible to the eye of the observer. ”

“ One curious fact that has come to light is that in the latter stages of its development the skin of the young animal has a strongly marked pattern of longitudinal and transverse stripes, which disappear before hatching, giving place to the spotted skin of the adult animal. ”

“ The skin of an animal, dressed for use by some process which shall render its texture permanent in character. Untreated fresh skin is easily putrescible; dry skin is hard and horny and almost impenetrable to air. By converging a skin into leather, however, its nature is entirely changed and it is rendered practically imperishable, porous, and flexible. The skin of an animal consists of two layers: the outer or epidermis, which has no blood-vessels and is hard and horny, and the inner true skin or corium, which is made up of gelatinous fibres. ”

“ The skin has now nothing to unite it to the body, and, consequently, may be drawn off with perfect ease.
`This scientific fact has been known for many years; the Greenlanders make constant use of it; when they have killed a seal or walrus they distend the skin that they may tow the animal more easily ashore, and then remove its hide at a moment's notice.' The remaining animals were subjected to the same treatment, and, to my great joy, in a couple of days the skins were all off, and being prepared for use. ”

“ When the skin is removed from the animal, as much as possible of the adhering fat and flesh is scraped off, but in spite of this, and in spite of subsequent beaming by the fur dresser, there is always a thin layer of flesh and fatty material remaining and this must be removed so as to expose the corium, enabling the efficient action of the chemicals used in the tanning processes. ”

“ In these cases the profuse secretion of sweat, and the friction of the harness is a marked local factor in its production. It often shows a preference for the summer season, the period of shedding the coat, the heavy coated animal, the animal with white, thin or delicate skin. Youth also predisposes.
Symptoms. There is usually erection or roughness of the hair, and the formation at such points of minute papules like small peas collected in groups. The skin may feel hot, thickened, lacking in pliancy, not to be pinched up in folds, the panniculus is contracted and manipulation shows tenderness. ”

“ When your mammal is quite dry, dress the fur with a fine comb and brush, and beat it with a small piece of whalebone or a little switch, to make it stand out from the skin, full and fluffy, as in life. This end must be accomplished, no matter how long it takes.
Procure some tube colors, oil and turpentine, equal parts, and a small sable brush, with which to tint the eyelids and the end of the nose their natural color. Put a little varnish and turpentine, equal parts of each, on the toe-nails, and, in short, do everything you can that will give the specimen the look of a living animal. ”

“ The usual and time-honoured method of dressing skins, say a rabbit's skin, is — directly it is removed from the animal — to nail it on a board, and rub it in with alum four parts, and common salt one part, or plunge it in a warm solution of the same for a day or so, taking it out, nailing it on a board, letting it dry, rubbing it down with pumice stone, and plunging it again and again, and repeating the drying and pumice-stoning process until the skin becomes pliable. ”

“ Skins are dressed by spreading, scraping off the flesh, and for some purposes the hair, with a sharp piece of bone, stone, or iron attached to a short handle, and used like an adze. The skin is then smeared with the animal's brains, and rubbed or pounded by a very tedious process till it becomes soft and white, some hides being previously smoked and bleached with white clay. ”

“ To skin an animal "open", rip the skin on the belly from the point of the lower jaw to the vent, down the back of the hind legs and on the inside of the front legs across the breast to the point of the brisket. Animals that are intended only as furs may have the feet cut off, but bears, mountain lions, wolves and wolverines should have the feet skinned out to the ends of the toes, leaving the claws attached to the skin. ”

“ The hair is of nearly as much importance as the skin. A hard skin will have straight and stiff hair; it will not have a curl, but be thinly and lankly distributed equally over the surface. A proper grazing animal will have a mossy coat, not absolutely curled, but having a disposition to a graceful curl, a semifold, which presents a waving inequality; but as different from a close and straightly-laid coat, as it is from one standing off the animal at right angles, a strong symptom of disease. ”

“ Thoroughness.—The principles to be observed in skinning the body are precisely the same as those given for small mammals. Remember that it is easier to take the skin off clean and free from flesh as you cut it from the animal, and can stretch it tight with your left hand in order to shave the flesh off clean, than it will be to clean the skin after it is off. An excess of flesh left on the skin means unnecessary weight, a waste of preservatives, and longer time in curing the skin. A clean, thin skin is more easily and quickly cured and carried than one badly taken off. ”

“ It is, and except during a small part of the year, when it feeds on the root of the water-lily, which communicates a peculiar flavour to the flesh of the animal, it is said to be very palatable. It is, however, principally for its fur that it is hunted; the skin, even, is of little value, being coarser and looser in texture, and of course less applicable to general uses, than that of many other animals. ”

“ Hence arises the necessity for the animal either to clean off its body armor, or to stimulate into activity the indolent organs. And, in fact, in other ways, fishes have their own eczema, or diseases of the skin. ”

“ A common fault is the close clipping and even singeing of the hair in the hollow of the heel. The stiff, bristly ends of the hairs on one fold of the pastern continually prick the skin of the adjacent fold when the animal is in motion and not only is this irritating to the healthy skin, but it becomes incomparably more so when that is congested and tender. ”

“ Now in domesticated animals there is great variation in colouring, but not in the majority of wild species. What the causes are that operate in the painting of the skin of an animal no one can say, any more than one can say how particular spots are arranged on the petal of a flower or the wing of a butterfly. ”

“ It is not a large animal, so that a considerable number of skins would be required in order to make a covering which should overlap a structure forty-five feet in length and fifteen in breadth. Were it a solitary animal, there might be a difficulty in procuring a sufficient number of skins. But it is partly gregarious in its habits, living together in small families, seven or eight being sometimes found to inhabit a single dwelling-place. It is, therefore, sufficiently rare to make its skin valuable, and sufficiently plentiful to furnish the requisite number of skins. ”

“ If the skin is to be used as a robe, the hair is left on, and the animal's brains are rubbed into the inner side of the pelt, after the fat has been removed, and then the skin is left to dry. That softens the pelt; but traders prefer skins to be sun-dried or cold-dried. ”

“ One word more as to the importance of the skin in the animal economy, and that word a summary of its functions and principal vital attributes. The skin is a "sanitary commissioner," draining the system of its impurities; it is an energetic labourer, in that perpetual interchange of elements which in its [115] essence constitutes life; it is a regulator of the density and fluidity of the blood; it performs the office of a lung in supplying the blood with oxygen, and abstracting its carbon; it changes the crude organic elements of the blood, so as to render them capable of nutrition ”

“ The animal's legs, tail, and neck are now skinned precisely as those of a mammal would be, with the exception that each of these members is detached from the body and pulled inward in order to turn the skin wrong side out. Of course all flesh is to be removed from the animal, precisely as with a mammal, and unless the skeleton is to be preserved, the shoulder girdles and pelvis may be cut out with the flesh and thrown away. ”

“ The reader will observe the common use throughout the whole animal kingdom of the skin unmodified. Also that the special organs of the invertebrates, which number more than nine tenths of the whole, are quite limited to modifications of the skin; while those of vertebrates belong only to the alimentary canal. The description to follow will adhere to the order of the table:
Respiration by the Unmodified Skin and Food-Tract.—The general surface of the body has in all soft-skinned animals an aërating or respiratory action ”

“ This is generally the case with the formations of the epidermis, the hairs of animals, the feathers of birds, and the scales of reptiles. The translucid nature of the teguments may also be the cause of external coloration, as in men of the white race, whose delicate skin exhibits the vessels of the underlying tissues. Many invertebrates are so transparent that their internal organs may be seen. In the majority of cases, animals owe their external hues to colored granulations or pigments, which, diffused through the tissues, give tints varying with their abundance or distribution. ”

“ Having removed all flesh from the entire subject, wash it clean, and if it is not to be preserved in alcohol apply arsenical soap and alum to the skin, putting some of the latter on the outside as well as inside, and make up the skin otherwise as directed for dry skins of ordinary mammals. The neck, legs, and tail should have the right quantity of filling to prevent their shrinking and shrivelling up to the point of unsightliness. ”

“ On the light-skinned pig they can be seen as small, light pink to dark purple areas that usually become raised, are firm to the touch, and in most instances are easily palpated. In animals with dark-pigmented skin, one must rely mainly on palpation, although the weltlike lesions may be detected by observing raised areas in the hair coat. ”

“ The skin should be a clear color (yellow being preferred in the American market) and free from blotches and pin feathers; if it looks tight and drawn, the bird has probably been scalded before being plucked. The flesh should be neither flabby nor stiff, but should give evenly and gently when pressed by the finger. ”

“ I would advise every one to hold the birds in the easiest position to themselves. Be careful to keep the feathers from touching the flesh. A very good plan is to work with a small plug of cotton wool, pressing the skin from the body with it, but bear in mind that a bird's skin is very thin and delicate, not like an opossum's, which you can pull right off the body without a break. Having skinned down to the legs, take first one then the other and insert your fingers inside the skin and push it back, thus showing the second joint where it has been previously broken or disjointed. ”

“ Scent-glands, &c.—Besides the universally distributed sweat-glands connected with the hair-system, most mammals have special glands in modified portions of the skin, often involuted to form a shallow recess or a deep sac with a narrow opening, situated in various parts of the surface of the body, and secreting odorous substances, by the aid of which individuals recognize one another. These probably afford the principal means by which wild animals are able to become aware of the presence of other members of the species, even at great distances. ”

“ But from the practical point of view, as opposed to the anatomical, there are great and very important differences, such as those of texture, thickness, area, &c.; and these differences cause a great divergence in the methods of tanning used, almost necessitating a distinct tannage for nearly every class of hide or skin.
The skins of the lower animals, such as alligators, lizards, fish and snakes, differ to a large extent from those of the mammalia, chiefly in the epidermis, which is much more horny in structure and forms scales. ”

“ For very long wools, soft soap and hot water is used, and sometimes soda ash is mixed with the stale urine. A "dolly" used with the washing machine to wash clothes is a very good thing to beat the wool.
BIRD SKINNING AND STUFFING.
THIS is a favourite amusement of many ladies in the bush, some even having their own guns and special shot for for shooting the specimens they wish to secure. A beginner will do well to experiment first on something big—say, a common fowl—so as to learn to skin first,and having gained a little knowledge, she can try her hand on a small bird. ”

“ Mounting Dried Skins of Mammals.—Skins of mammals must be soaked in a strong solution of alum water, and when perfectly soft see that the parts above the lips, eyes, etc., are peeled down quite thin, and that every portion of the skin is perfectly pliable, then it should be moistened as described. ”

“ When the skin is relaxed so that wings and legs may be manipulated without breaking, squeeze water from it and follow same method given for cleaning a fresh skin. With this treatment a good dry skin will come out as soft and workable as a fresh one. Arsenic and grease burnt skins are hard to get much out of.
To make up dry bird skins for keeping to{40} mount at a future time, follow regular method of thorough skinning and cleaning. Apply dry arsenic powder to inner surfaces. Wrap skull, wing, and leg bones lightly with cotton or tow. ”