

PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS. 
brains; 8. many files of different sizes and grains, from five 
to twelve inches long; 9. a quantity of iron wire of different 
sizes; 10. a hand-saw; 11. a small hammer and some nails of 
different sizes; 12. some flat files, needles of different sizes, 
bodkins with triangular blades; 18. pencils in horsehair and 
badger-hair, the one for spreading the arsenical soap, the other 
for smoothing the feathers; 14. thread and cotton for sewing 
up and stuffing the skins of animals; 15. three stuffing- 
wires about seven, twelve, and eighteen inches long; 16. a 
pair of caliper compasses; 17. several stilettos, or bodkins, 
varying in length, bradawls of different sizes, and a supply 
of arsenical soap or paste, which is prepared according to 
the following prescription:—To four pounds of white curd 
soap add one pound of arsenic and one ounce of camphor; 
cut the soap into thin slices and dissolve it in one pint 
of water. When melted, add the arsenic and camphor, 
stirring them well up together, and boil again until the 
substance of a thick paste is attained, and pour it into 
jars while hot. When cold tie it up carefully with bladder, 
and it will retain its qualities for years im any climate. 
A useful preservative powder is prepared as follows :— 
To four pounds of alum add one pound of arsenic and two 
ounces of the flour of sulphur; mix them well together and 
pound them in a mortar to break the lumps. The use made 
of this powder is to rub it into the skin during the process 
of skinning. The wire used in bird and animal stuffing varies 
from two sizes smaller than a pin, used for the smallest birds, 
as humming-birds; to two sizes larger than a pin, used for 
sparrows, canaries, and similar sized birds and animals. Black- 
birds, thrushes, oreoles, and others of the same size, require 
two sizes larger again; while squirrels, hares, and foxes among 
quadrupeds, and the eagle among birds, require a wire strong 
in proportion to their size.* 
With these implements all kinds of animals may be skinned 
and mounted whose size does not exceed that of the wolf. ' 
Larger animals amateurs will probably be disposed to leave to 
professional hands. 
In skinning a bird, having first provided all the articles for 
anointing the skin, a little fine tow cut short, a little cotton- 
* Arsenical soap, preservative powder, boxes containing all the requisite 
instruments, corked boxes, and apparatus for butterfly collecting, and 
glazed cases of all sizes, may be obtained in great variety at Messrs. 
Buffon & bie Naturalists, 391, Strand, London. 



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