348 ON PRESERVING BIRDS. 



to the depredation of insects, for they will never venture 

 to attack any substance which has received corrosive 

 sublimate. 



You are aware that corrosive sublimate is the most fatal 

 poison to insects that is known. It is antiputrescent ; so 

 is alcohol ; and they are both colourless ; of course they 

 cannot leave a stain behind them. The spirit penetrates 

 the pores of the skin with wonderful velocity, deposits 

 invisible particles of the sublimate, and flies off. The sub- 

 limate will not injure the skin, and nothing can detach it 

 from the parts where the alcohol has left it. 1 



Furs of animals, immersed in this solution, will retain 

 their pristine brightness and durability in any climate. 



Take the finest curled feather from a lady's head, dip it 

 in the solution, and shake it gently till it be dry ; you will 

 find that the spirit will fly off in a few minutes, not a curl 

 in the feather will be injured, and the sublimate will pre- 

 serve it from the depredation of the insect. 



Perhaps it may be satisfactory to add here, that, some 

 years ago, I did a bird upon this plan in Demerara. It 

 remained there two years. It w r as then conveyed to 

 England, where it stayed five months, and returned to 

 Demerara. After being four years more there, it was 

 conveyed back again through the West Indies to England, 

 where it has now been near five years, unfaded and 

 unchanged. 



On reflecting that this bird has been twice in the tem- 

 perate and torrid zone, and remained some years in the hot 

 and humid climate of Demerara, only six degrees from the 

 line, and where almost everything becomes a prey to the 



1 All the feathers require to be touched with the solution, in order that 

 they may be preserved from the depredation of the moth. The surest way 

 of proceeding is, to immerse the bird in the solution of corrosive sublimate, 

 and then dry it before you begin to dissect it. 



