MUSEUMS. 325 



during the time in which you are imparting to it the 

 form and features which it is ultimately to retain. 



These most necessary points are gained by im- 

 mersing the skin in a solution of corrosive sublimate 

 in alcohol ; and afterwards, when you are in the act 

 of restoring it to the proper form, by touching certain 

 parts of it, such as the nose, lips, and orbits, with a 

 mixture, one portion of which is salad oil, and the 

 other three are spirit of turpentine. 



Those who preserve quadrupeds for cabinets of 

 natural history seem not to be aware that, after 

 the skin of the animal has been taken off, there is a 

 necessity for some parts of it to be pared down from 

 within. These parts are chiefly the nose, the lips, 

 and the soles of the feet. Unless they be rendered 

 thin by the operation of the knife, there will be no 

 possibility of restoring to them that natural appear- 

 ance which they were seen to possess in life. The 

 inner skin of the ears, too, must be separated from 

 the outer one, until you come close to the extreme 

 edges. Nothing short of this operation can save the 

 ear from becoming a deformity. 



Every bone in the skin, to the last joint of the 

 toe, next the claw, must be taken out, in order to 

 allow the operator an opportunity of restoring the 

 skin to its former just proportions. 



The mouth must be sewed up from the inside 

 (the skin being inside out when you sew it), begin- 

 ning exactly in the front, and continuing the oper- 

 ation each way to the end of the gape. When the 

 skin is taken out of the solution, it must be filled 

 quite full of chaff or sawdust (but I prefer chaff), 

 Y 3 



