Page:The National geographic magazine, volume 1.djvu/324

 perhaps for models of mounds and subjects of like character, would hardly be applicable to small scale models with fine detail; such casts require too much surface finishing. The material known as Lincrusta-Walton seems to me to be the ideal material for this purpose. It is tougher than rubber, will take the finest detail, and its surface can be treated in any way desired. Unfortunately the manufacture of models in this material would require expensive machinery, and is outside the scope of a modeling room. Should it ever become commercially advantageous, however, casts of a model of ordinary size, in every way equal to the original, can be turned out in this material at a very small cost.

It remains to speak of the reproduction of models by process-engravings—a method that will probably receive much more attention in the future than it has in the past. It is perhaps along this line that the cheap reproduction of models will develop; but the subject is too large a one to be adequately treated here, and must be postponed until some future occasion.