52 Preservation of Animals, Birds, Fishes, <J-c. 



Art. VII. — Short directions for the preparation, preservation, and 

 also the transportation of Mammiferous and Amphibious Ani- 

 mals, Birds, Fishes, fyc. Issued by the Senkenberg Institution for 

 Natural History, at Frankfort on the Mayne in Germany; trans- 

 lated under the direction o/ Win. C. Woodbridge, and commu- 

 nicated by him. 



I. Preparations in Spirits of Wine, Rum, or other Spirits. 



The animal should first be cleansed from blood, and its abdomen 

 opened by an incision made somewhere near the umbilicus. The 

 cavity of the mouth should be washed, and into it as into the abdom- 

 inal cavity the spirituous liquor should be poured. In the case of lar- 

 ger animals several incisions should be made through the diaphragm, 

 so that the alcohol may be forced into the cavity of the chest. If 

 the viscera are distended with air, several incisions should be made into 

 them* in order to free them from it. When this has been done, the 

 animal is to be laid in a dish, tub or other reservoir, and the spirits to 

 be poured upon it. In case it remains in them one, two or three days, 

 it should be frequently turned over. As long as the liquid is color- 

 ed with blood, whether the quantity is small or great, it must be 

 poured off and its place supplied by fresh spirits. This must be done 

 till it is no longer colored. The animal after being thus thoroughly 

 penetrated by die spirit must be kept in an air tight vessel till it is 

 transported ; but it must be frequently inspected for the purpose of 

 seeing whether there is not need of renewing the spirits, which will 

 not be necessary unless it loses its odor. Several different animals 

 prepared in this way may be put into one common vessel to remain 

 till the time of transportation. 



In the same manner birds, amphibious animals and fishes, may be 

 prepared. It is to be observed however that the matter which is pre- 

 cipitated on the skin of these animals when in spirits should be often 

 wiped off; that the incision into the abdomen should not be large and 

 that the smaller the animal is, the less frequently need the spirits be 

 changed. Mammiferous animals should be carefully cleansed, when 

 the spirits are changed, that the blood may not collect in the hair and 

 produce putrefaction. When birds are preserved in spirit for dissec- 



* This mode relates only to the smaller animals. In the case of larger animals all 

 the internal parts should be taken immediately from the chest and abdomen ; and from 

 the largest sort the skeleton itself should be taken as will appear from what follows 



