MUSEUMS. 531 



over, that it does not injure the colour of preserved birds, and furs, 

 and insects, provided they do not come in contact with the spirit of 

 turpentine. 



I have used corrosive sublimate in paste for years; I have applied 

 the solution to my hat, and to the long Indian arrows (which are 

 very subject to be eaten by the worm), with complete success ; and 

 here, in Europe, with equal success, I have applied it to ladies' 

 ostrich feathers, to camel-hair brushes, and to the lining of my car- 

 riage. The solution has been the remote cause of my discovering an 

 entirely new method of preserving specimens in natural history; and 

 which method at once shows upon what erroneous principles the old 

 method has been, and is still conducted. To conclude, the solution 

 has proved my best support ; without it, I could have done nothing. 



"Hoc solamen erat, sylvis hoc victor abibam." 



MUSEUMS. 



THESE are the times for scientific discoveries. Till lately, we went 

 fastest on a race-horse ; but now we go faster still upon a rail. In 

 our days an Italian has put many thousand pounds of English money 

 into his pocket, for imparting to Mr Bull the important secret that 

 we can have as good music with one fiddle-string as we formerly had 

 with four. Witches can now go through the air without the aid of a 

 broom-staff, by applying to Mrs Graham, the aeronautess. A piece 

 of stamped paper from Threadneedle Street is as eagerly sought after 

 as the purest gold of Peru. Vessels are now made to go both against 

 wind and tide ; a thing deemed utterly impossible in brave Commo- 

 dore Trunnion's day. It was once indispensably necessary for 

 Englishmen to wear tails (either club or pig) on the nape of the 

 neck ; Billy Pitt's discovery of the powder-tax has proved that we 

 can do without them. 



Amidst all these extraordinary movements and inventions, our 



