TAXIDERMY. 



have rendered them by excluding the use of poi- 

 sons. In this we recognise the principles of hu- 

 manity which have always characterised him; 

 we agree with him, especially, that those who 

 employ arsenic are exposed to continual danger : 

 but we must maintain the use of arsenical soap, 

 and we will point out the means of defence 

 against its fatal effects, expecting that Chemistry 

 may discover a better preservative. 



We also admit, that the alkalies adopted by 

 the Abbe Manesse are not attended with any 

 danger to those who employ them, and may pre- 

 serve birds in the manner of our author; but he 

 himself says, that in the time of a thaw, the birds 

 are covered by the damp to such a degree, that the 

 water runs along the feathers and claws. It cannot 

 be otherwise, alkalies always having a tendency to 

 attract damp ; and when they are dissolved by this 

 fluid, the salt liquor necessarily agglutinises the 

 beards of the feathers, takes from them their velvet- 

 like appearance, attracts and retains the dust ; and, 

 in dry seasons, the birds appear grey from the 

 crystallizations of alum, and other salts, which 

 fix on their feathers. It is not the same in pre- 

 paring the skins of large quadrupeds ; we do not 

 yet know any means preferable to those which the 

 Abbe indicates. But it must also be admitted, 

 that those who know the principles of the new Tax- 

 idermy, will never have the patience to employ 



