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♦ KNOW^LEDGE ♦ 



[June 1, 1886. 



The prevailing idea amongst the older biologists of _ the 

 present age seems to have been that a collection of birds' 

 skins, cm-ed, stuffed out with cotton-wool, and laid ensheathed 

 in wrappers like mummies, fulfilled all the requirements of 

 the scientific taxonomist ; they were, in the true sense of the 

 term, taxidermists, and nothing more. Gradually theterm 

 taxidermy was applied, not so much to the classification of 

 skins as to the art of curing and mounting them, and the 

 taxidermist degenerated into the pet preserver of poodles, 

 parrots, and canaries. This, however, exercised a beneficial 

 influence upon the art of skin-preserving, and in most of our 

 museums we find examples of stuflSng of rare excellence. 

 The life-like attitudes of animals first initiated by Waterton, 

 who is supposed to have latterly carried out a craze for blow- 

 ing his skins out with air, was quickly followed by others 

 who made a business of it. The highest development of the 

 art which it has been our good fortune to witness has with- 

 out doubt been only recently achieved by Saville, many of 

 whose chef-d'osuvres are now in the possession of a Mr. Chase 

 in Birmingham. To describe any of his works will be to 

 give an outline of the most successful results of this kind 

 that have hitherto been achieved. One case, which may be 

 taken as an example, consists of a group of graceful water 

 wagtails in theii- natural habitat ; the postures of the birds ai-e 

 life-like, each one having been carefully studied from nature 

 through the untiring energy of the artist : every feather, 

 rufiled or smooth, is naturally set ; the imitation glass eyes, 

 the very eyelids, beak, feet, and nails, are all covered with 

 some material which imparts to them a freshness of form 

 and colour which can scarcely be distinguished from the 

 living tissues even upon close inspection ; the general sur- 

 roundings, moreover, are all modelled after nature ; every 

 stone, every blade of grass in the case has its prototype in 

 the fields. When brought to this state of perfection, the 

 preservation of skins is at once raised to the rank of a tine 

 art, and ought to be valued accordingly ; but to the searcher 

 after the truths of nature it must be regarded as an item of 

 minor worth. 



Dried skins, dried plants, the shells of molluscs, and 

 preserved insects, are, in the present state of our knowledge 

 of animated beings, useful merely for the purposes of pro- 

 visional, specific, and varietal classification, for absolute 

 knowledge concerning the genesis and relations of the many 

 forms of life can only be gained through exhaustive experi- 

 ments in the domain of anatomy and physiology, both mega- 

 and microscopical. When the skins (fee, however, are 

 employed by artists to depict phases in the life-habits of the 

 organisms, their value to the naturalist becomes greatly 

 enhanced, and it will therefore form part of our future duty 

 to record a series of notes upon taxidermy as it is now 

 practised. 



Fossil remains afford a more extensive field for inquiry 

 than the mere dried integuments of living things, for here 

 nature very often operates as a dissector, and reveals struc- 

 tures by means of which many problems of great import- 

 ance are capable of being solved. Fossilisation is now- 

 understood to take place undei- only peculiar circumstances ; 

 the soft-bodied creatures which inhabit the waters of the 

 globe are but seldom preserved, since, upon sinking to the 

 bottom, their bodies rot away till no trace of then- former 

 existence remains; thus it is that very few aneu)ones of this 

 nature are preserved. But where the anemone develops a 

 hard skeleton that remains preserved either in the form of 

 a pseudomorph (where the original particles have been re- 

 placed by others of secondaiy derivation) or in its primiBval 

 condition, a fossil coral is the result. The shells of molluscs 

 are peihaps best suited for preservation, and are situated, 

 whilst living, in the most favourable conditions for be- 

 coming fossilised : they are thus found in abundance as 



fossils, and have been taken as the basis of classification of 

 typical formations in the geological record. Terrestrial 

 plants and animals, the latter especially, are fossilised only 

 under accidental circumstances, their bodies, submerged in 

 former lakes, decay away, to leave little beyond the internal 

 framework or skeleton ; and it is thus that nature acts as a 

 dissector, for the specimen preserved in this way affords 

 evidence of the true place in nature of many living forms 

 whose relationship is thus undeniably proved by the petrified 

 remains of their extinct missing link. The collection and 

 preservation of fossils is hence well worthy of the attention 

 of the naturalist, and we shall devote some space to the 

 consideration of this subject in the sequel. 



To pass back to living things, of greater importance than 

 the collection and preservation of skins, &c., comes the study 

 of bones, or osteology. It is the basis upon which the young 

 anatomist should found his future work, for he can never 

 understand anything of importance connected with his sub- 

 ject — the movements of the muscles,- the disposition of the 

 blood-vessels and nerves, &c. — without fii'st grasping the 

 significance of form and relations of bones. There can be 

 no doubt that the best way to become familiar with the 

 osteology of any animal is the practical one. By preparing 

 and articulating the skeleton of any one subject, a more 

 permanent knowledge of its bones will be derived than by 

 any amount of study with a skeleton prepared by others. 

 Practical osteology and articulation, followed after the 

 dii'ections which we shall give for cleansing and mounting 

 certain typical examples, wiU, we trust, stimulate students 

 to futiu'e accurate anatomical research. 



Although it is not our intention to make this a dissector's 

 guide to the anatomy of any group of animals or plants, 

 special attention will be paid to the general methods of 

 research, which are seldom, if ever, adverted to in the many 

 current text-books of anatomy and physiology. This will 

 enable our readers to follow the best plans, and to use the 

 instruments best suited to their requirements. For instance, 

 in working out the anatomy of the common earth worm, if 

 the subject is not properly prepared beforehand, carefully 

 fixed in the right position in a bed of material of the right 

 consistency, and operated upon with sco.lpels and needles of 

 particular designs, the utmost skill will not avail, and the 

 work of the dissector become a painful labour instead of an 

 interesting study. These remarks apply equally to other 

 departments of practical anatomy where special instruments 

 and processes have been invented from time to time to 

 render the work of the investigator pleasant, simple, and 

 successful. The preparation of anatomical specimens for 

 museums will here be taken as the foundation whereon 

 to build up this portion of our laboratory. 



The preservation and preparation of living things, as well 

 as of inorganic materials, presupposes that they have been 

 captured or gathered in some way or other, and in many 

 instances the naturalist is ibrced to cater for himself. Field 

 work is, indeed, one of the most important of the student's 

 duties, and although it cannot be regarded as any part of 

 his occupations within the walls of his sanctum, all nature 

 must be looked upon as his workshop, and in that sense 

 the tools which he requires for dredging, ])oud-hunting, 

 insect-capturing, stone-breaking, &c., will afford scope in 

 the sequel for a series of discourses upon excursions. 



Half a century has passed since the most important 

 addition to the natuialist's laboratory was made in the form 

 of the compound micioscope. With its assistance an evei-- 

 increasing field for research has been opened ; but the 

 biologist and geologist are here both hampered with 

 numerous difliculties, for, before the instrument am be 

 worked to its full advantage, the majority of objects requii-e 

 to be specially treated so as to reveal their characteristics. 



