2 INTRODUCTION. 
He who has attended to any branch of Natural History, 
will best know how. dificult it is to collect even the animals, 
plants, or minerals Of Britain ; because some of the indivi- 
duals are extremely local in their habitats. 
To instruct 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 
very 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 ; 
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 
