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    To BE SURE , the very fact that I have tried to put these things down faithfully will bore you, and thus I shall lose everything in the end. But I should like to have you at least sense the atmosphere surrounding the early days ofthe mask, which had come into being almost unperceived by me, regardless of my ideas about it.
    First of all, the transparent substance in the skin is a type of horny albumen called ceratin, which contains very small fluorescent bodies. For the handling of the edge line I decided that I should have to make the thickness of the flange no larger, if possible, than a small wrinkle; later I hoped somehow to be able to overcome any remaining artificiality by devising a suitable beard. Moreover, even the problem of flexibility, which I foresaw as the greatest obstacle, was not at all insurmountable physiologically.
    Quite obviously the facial muscles are the basis of expression. Each muscle pulls in a fixed direction, and contraction and expansion occur along these lines. The skin tissue, which has a fixed directional mobility, lies over them, and the cellular fibers of both apparently join at approximately right angles. According to the medical books I borrowed from the Institute library, the groupings of fibers in the skin are called “Langer lines.” Fortunately, a certain type of plastic showed great flexibility when subjected to directional stress. If I didn’t begrudge the time it would take, I could resolve the problem with about this much information.
    And so I decided to begin tests, in a corner of the laboratory, on the elasticity of flat epithelial cells. Here, too, my colleagues were most tolerant. I aroused almost no suspicions and was able to make constant use of the equipment.
    However, the procurement of a model and general procedure seemed impossible to manage technically. For the model—that is, the taking of a first impression, to reproduce skin details—I should have to borrow someone else’s face, no matter how disagreeable this might be. Of course just a little skin surface with some oil and sweat glands would do. Since I would transform it in accordance with my own facial structure, I would not be walking around dangling the face ofanother. There would be no need to worry about infringing on someone else’s copyright.
    However, even if that were the case—extremely serious doubts welled up in me—wouldn’t the mask be similar to my original face after all? By basing his model on the skull structure, a skilled craftsman could reproduce a completely life-like appearance. If that were true, then it was the underlying frame that ultimately determined one’s looks. I should be absolutely incapable of leaving the face I was born with except by shaving down the bones or disregarding the anatomical basis of expression, which in itself could hardly be called expression.
    The thought confused me. After all, wouldn’t the meaning of the mask be completely negated, no matter how skillfully it was constructed, if I wore one identical to myself?
    Fortunately I remembered a friend of mine from high-school days who was specializing in paleontology. It might well be that reconstructing animals from fossils that he dug up formed a part of his work. I consulted the directory and learned that, as luck would have it, he had remained at the university. I intended to discuss the matter by telephone, but as it was some time since our graduation, he was eager to see me and suggested we meet, refusing to take no for an answer. Perhaps in resistance to my shyness over the bandages on my face, I was unable to turn him down, and I accepted. However, I was immediately tormented by regrets. How meaningless to persist in this scheme out of foolish pride. The bandage alone would be enough to excite considerable curiosity, and since the bandaged man was beginning to delve into details of modeling techniques and facial anatomy, which were not his professional specialty, I would seem like some