318 OUT OF DOORS. 



the form has been modelled in wax. Even the natural 

 elasticity of the flesh is partially preserved, and if it 

 be pinched it will give to the pressure and return to 

 the original form. Moreover, the whole organisation 

 remains so unchanged that it is still suitable for the 

 scalpel of the anatomist, and even the delicate fibres of 

 the muscles retain their organisation. Marvellous as is 

 this preparation, it is still faulty in the extremities, to 

 which the preserving fluid appears not always to find 

 free access, on account of the small diameter of the 

 capillaries. It is, however, a very great advance on all 

 former systems of embalming, and as its essential pro- 

 cesses are only the work of a few hours, it bids fair to be 

 invaluable to comparative anatomists, who can thus get 

 large and valuable specimens from distant lands 

 without the vast outlay in spirits and great con- 

 sumption of space that have hitherto been necessary. 



Take it all in all, we have at present no process of 

 taxidermy which presents so many excellencies and so 

 few defects as that which is invented and practised by 

 Mr. Waterton ; and after a careful examination of 

 almost every interesting specimen of taxidermy in the 

 kingdom, we cannot but think that a judicious combi- 

 nation of the two systems (however opposite they may 

 seem) of Mr. Waterton and Professor Sokolov would be 

 of infinite value to science, inasmuch as the whole of 

 the creature would be made available for the museum 

 or the dissecting-room. 



