INTRODUCTION— ORIGIN AND PROGRESS 3 



and it is highly probable, from what we gather from old works of travel 

 or natural history, that the art is not more than some three hundred 

 years old. It was practised in England towards the end of the seven- 

 teenth century, as is proved by the Sloane collection, which in 1725 

 formed the nucleus of the collection of natural history now lodged in 

 the galleries at South Kensington.^ 



This assumption as to the three hundred years' limit 

 derives some corroboration from another statement made by 

 Dr. Shufeldt, who writes : ^ — ^^ 



Probably, as Mr. Goode informs me, the oldest museum specimen 

 in existence is a rhinoceros still preserved in the Royal Museum of 

 Vertebrates in Florence. This was for a long time a feature of the 

 Medicean Museum in Florence, and was originally mounted for the 

 museum of Ulysses Aldrovandus in Bologna. It dates from the 

 sixteenth century. 



Davie also says ' : — L/ 



It is told that the first attempt to stuff birds was when the 

 Hollanders in the early part of the sixteenth century began their 

 commercial intercourse with the East Indies. 



A nobleman brought back to Amsterdam a large collection of live 

 tropical birds and placed them in an aviary, which was heated to the 

 proper temperature by a furnace. It happened that the attendant one 

 night before retiring carelessly left the door of the furnace open, 

 thereby allowing the smoke to escape, which suffocated the birds. 

 The nobleman beholding the destruction of his large collection, which 

 was the pride of the city, began to devise means for the preservation 

 of the dead birds. To this end the best chemists of Amsterdam were 

 called in for consultation, and it was decided to skin the birds and fill 

 their skins with the spices of the Indies for their preservation. This 

 was done, and they were then wired and mounted to represent life. 

 For many years they were the hobby of the nobleman and the pride of 

 the inhabitants. 



^ Encyclofadia Britannica, gth ed., vol. xxiii. p. 89. 



' Ref. Smithsonian Institution for 1892, footnote to p. 371. 



' Methods in the Art of Taxidermy, Historical Introduction, pp. ii,, iii. 



