14 TAXIDERMY. 



It is necessary to use the oil of turpentine for 

 the exterior of large quadrupeds, and fish, first 

 because the metallic soap cannot penetrate, and, 

 secondly, because prudence does not allow us to 

 employ it, on the surface of any animal, not even 

 on the parts free from hair. * 



I have thought it indispensible to enter into some 

 details on the methods hitherto proposed and ad- 

 mitted, in order to point out the progress of Taxi- 

 dermy. We now pass to the description of our 

 own methods, and will commence by giving a list 

 of the tools and other objects with which it is neces- 

 sary to provide ourselves. We shall add to it the 

 receipt for the preservatives which we employ, and, 

 adopting M. Cuvier's divisions for the sake of order, 

 we will treat, with detail, on the means of prepar- 

 ation and preservation peculiar to certain animals, 

 for it is proper to remark that the rat, the deer, 

 and the elephant, require very different methods 

 for their preparation. 



* M. Dufresne means the exterior surface only, which is so 

 much handled in the stuffing as to make it too dangerous to 

 anoint it with this soap; and I observe, that the Artists in the 

 Zoological Laboratory at Paris, carefully bend or turn down 

 the points of the various wires, after they have inserted them, 

 (as they easily straighten them again with the fingers, if requi- 

 site) lest by pricking their fingers, the arsenic might do them 

 serious injury. M. Valenciennes however, assures me, that it 

 is indispensably necessary for the traveller to anoint the naked 

 parts of the legs of birds killed in hot climates. 



