1904-1905.] 325 



of man's creations, but still essentially of human design in all 

 its parts, and never striving to imitate nature except in copy- 

 ing as far as man's finite intelligence can do those perfect 

 principles of design which pervade every natural production 

 to be found wherever man's knowledge extends throughout 

 the whole universe of G-od." Previous to the lecture Mr. 

 iJanna exhibited a number of alien plants, and gave a very 

 interesting description of same. 



TAXIDERMY. 



On 8th February the usual weekly meeting of the 

 Club was held in the Club-room at the Museum, College 

 Square. The President (Mr. W. J. Fennell, M.R.I.A.I.) pre- 

 sided. Mr. W. A. Green gave a practical demonstration on the 

 " Preservation of Birds," preceded by a short paper on the sub- 

 ject. In the course of his address he pointed out that primitive 

 man must have had some idea of skin preservation, probably 

 from a utilitarian rather than a scientific point of view, as 

 was evidenced by the scrapers and rude flint tools of various 

 kinds to be found on sites of early occupation. But one 

 turned to the ancient Egyptians for the first suggestion of 

 preserving an animal with any idea of retaining its natural 

 proportions. This was the process of embalming, and ex- 

 amples both of human subjects and of the lower animals can 

 be seen in any of our museums. The art of taxidermy began 

 to be practised in England towards the end of the 17th century, 

 as is proved by the Sloane collection, which in 1725 formed the 

 nucleus of the natural history collection now lodged in the 

 galleries at South Kensingi;on. Davies tells us, however, that 

 an attempt to stuff birds was made by the Hollanders early in 

 the 16th century. The birds were skinned, and the skins filled 

 with " spices of the Indies " for their preservation, after which 

 they were wired and mounted to represent life. The lecturer 

 then pointed out the high degree of excellence attained in 

 the present day, and referred to Mr. Sheals, who, if he be 

 equalled, wa^, in the lecturer's opinion, certainly not sur- 



