2 INTRODUCTION. 



He who has attended to any branch of Natural History, 

 will best know how difficult it is to collect even the animals, 

 plants, or minerals of Britain ; because some of the indivi- 

 duals are exb-em^-y loral in their habitats. 



To insb'uct in the manner of Collecting, Cleaning, Pre- 

 paring, and Preserving* these, is the object of the following 

 Treatise. This art has been practised in a certain degree from 

 V eiy early times, but it was not till after the middle of the last 

 century, that Taxidermy, or the art of preserving objects of 

 Natural History, had reached any degree of perfection, and it 

 is still susceptible of much improvement. 



We have seen that attempts at the preservation of animal 

 substances were practised by the Egyptians in the instance of 

 Mummies and the Ibis, which they always preserved along 

 with their chiefs. But these were prepared in such a manner 

 as to produce no pleasurable sensations in examining them j 

 being remarkable only for their great antiquity. 



It is to be lamented, that even to the present day chemists 

 have not discovered means of effectually resisting the universal 

 law of decay, which, by certain fixed operations, reduces every 

 kind of organised matter to its original elements. Methods have 

 been devised of arresting for a time the progress of decay, but 

 these seem gradually to lose their effect, and ultimately be- 

 come mutilated and decomposed. Animal substances are sub- 

 ject to the ravages of thousands of minute animals. This is 

 probably brought about by the varied changes and penetrating 

 powers of the atmosphere, caused by its gases, heat and mois- 

 ture. We do not mean by this that the atmosphere creates 

 minute beings, only its influence is favourable and indispen- 

 sable to their reproduction. On unorganised substances, these 

 are found to be ever acting and destructive agents. 



To devise the means of preventing these effects is the busi- 

 ness of the Taxidermist, and upon his success the excellence 

 of his art will depend. It will, therefore, easily be imagined 

 how important and indeed indispensable to his art is a thorough 

 knowledge of chemical science, for by experimenting on pre- 

 servatives on established chemical principles, he may discover 

 the best method of averting the progress of Time's destroying 

 hand. 



Although considerable advances have been made of late 



