

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS. 
leads to other habits of observation; and many a collection com- 
menced from motives of mere curiosity, as it Increased in ex- 
tent, has of necessity led more or less to the study of compara- 
tive anatomy. The art which brought the facts together, and 
which necessarily leads to analysis, conducts insensibly to 
synthesis—to tracing effects to their cause. Even the capture 
of the animals makes the collector acquainted with the peculiar 
habits of different species. The chase makes him acquainted 
with the instinctive shifts by which animals of all kinds evade 
their pursuers. 
HINTS TO TRAVELLERS. 
An internal decay, named putrefaction, tending to sepa- 
rate, and resolve the components of the body to its elements, 
attends all animal and vegetable substances immediately after 
the vital principle ceases ; and unless this tendency to decay is 
counteracted, the form and characteristics of these bodies would 
soon become valueless, either for the investigations of science 
or as the objects of a rational curiosity. There are various 
processes by which this is accomplished. In the case of birds, 
and most animals, this is done by removing the skin and 
drying it, after purifying it by preservatives. Others, as 
serpents and smooth-skinned animals, are preserved by being 
plunged in liquids which have the power of checking this 
tendency to decomposition. 
_ Water dissolves divers parts of certain bodies, not by 
checking decomposition, but, on the contrary, by accelerating 
it im some cases. Water charged with alum acts as a preser- 
vative on skins of animal fibre, but in so weak a manner that 
it cannot be relied on for any constant results, especially when 
the skin is charged with common salt; its use is limited to 
fruits, which it will preserve for some time. The spirits of 
turpentine, sometimes employed, damages the tissues, and 
has a tendency to become thick and viscous, and should be 
avoided. Oil may preserve some animals, as mollusks and 
certain fish. Sea-salt, or muriate of sodium, presents no advan- 
tages as a preservative; it alters both the form and colour of 
objects submitted to its influence. Some fishes with very thick 
and hard skins are subjected to it with advantage; however, 
in such cases it should be frequently changed and fresh salt 
added. Employed with care, it may be used when arsenical 
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