10 TAXIDERMY. 



haye, devoted himself to the practice of Taxidermy, 

 and in a short time surpassed all those who had 

 employed themselves in mounting animals, espe- 

 cially large mammifera. 



The Dutch, by fixing the animal which is moun- 

 ted in a box proportioned to its size, supersede all 

 other means of preservation. The interior of this 

 box is furnished with white paper, well pasted ; in 

 front is a groove, to receive a glass, fastened by four 

 points and closed with putty. We know that an 

 animal thus shut up would last a long time, unless 

 the living germ of its destruction be shut up with 

 it. 



The English employ the same means of preserv- 

 ing their animals, but they do not mount them so 

 well as we do. Besides, this manner of inclosing 

 them prevents a methodical arrangement in a Mu- 

 seum ; symmetrical order there finds so many dif- 

 ficulties, that the eye and science alike lose sight of 

 it. 



It seems that neither the English or the Dutch 

 have in their language any work which treats of the 

 method of mounting animals, according to system. 

 In 1801 we were not more advanced than they 

 were ; what we possessed of this kind appeared in- 

 sufficient to amateurs. Notwithstanding, many 

 derived advantage from the memoir of Mauduyt, 

 this memoir being inserted in the Encyclopedic 

 Methodique, it was not always easy to pro- 



