LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 53 



and straw representative was a hideous caricature of the flesh and 

 blood original. For fourteen years, Waterton kept the subject before 

 his mind. At last the right idea dawned upon him as he lay in his 

 hammock revolving the problem which had baffled him so long. He 

 tried his scheme the next morning, and found that he had discovered 

 a method by which the bodies of animals could be represented in their 

 true shape and attitude, and the heads with their living and prevail- 

 ing expression. The ordinary plan of stuffing is to cure the skin 

 with arsenic, or some other poison. This prepared skin is puffed 

 out with cotton, moss, or straw, and propped up with wire, which 

 always produces, says Waterton, " a disagreeable stiffness, and de- 

 rangement of symmetry." His process was widely different. He 

 soaked the skin in corrosive sublimate dissolved in alcohol. The 

 mixture penetrated every pore, and being anti-putrescent, preserved 

 the skin from decay, and being poisonous, secured it from the 

 depredations of insects. As the solution kept the skin moist and 

 flexible for several days, it could all this while be moulded at will. 

 The hollows and protuberances of the animal frame, the play and 

 action of feather and limb, the physiognomy of pain or pleasure, rage 

 or mildness, could be faithfully impressed upon the skin, which once 

 more assumed the shape and gesture its wearer bore in life. Pro- 

 tected from wind, sun, and fire, the remodelled skin was dried very 

 slowly, and the corrosive sublimate caused it to stiffen without 

 shrinking, till the form and features given to it by the artist became 

 as firm set as if they had been carved in marble. This is the 

 general principle of Waterton's discovery. The details of the 

 process, and the modifications necessary in applying it to the various 

 classes of animals, quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, and insects, are 

 described by himself in the present volume. The superiority of his 

 plan is signally displayed in his own magnificent collection. The speci- 

 mens are the likeness of the creatures which God made, instead of the 

 misshapen monstrosities which usually disgrace our museums. Some 

 of his beautiful workmanship is more than half a century old, and 

 the specimens still look as natural and fresh as when first put up. 



Waterton had raised taxidermy from a sorry handicraft to an art, 

 and for this very reason his system has not been extensively adopted. 

 When he gives directions for preserving birds, he warns the learner 



