INTRODUCTION—ORIGIN AND PROGRESS 5 



of the "stufifer" — {empailleur, objects being formerly stuffed 

 with straw), — who was, as now, usually an uneducated person 

 working by " rule of thumb " ; hence one can sympathise with, 

 and fully endorse, the lament of Waterton, who writes : ^ — 



Twenty years have now rolled away sihce I first began to examine 

 the specimens of zoology in our museums. As the system of prepara- 

 tion is founded in error, nothing but deformity, distortion, and dispro- 

 portion, will be the result of the best intentions and utmost exertions 

 of the workman. Canova's education, taste, and genius enabled him 

 to present to the world statues so correct and beautiful that they are 

 worthy of universal admiration. Had a common stonecutter tried his 

 hand upon the block out of which these statues were sculptured, what 

 a lamentable want of symmetry and fine countenance there would have 

 been. Now, when we reflect that the preserved specimens in our 

 museums and private collections are always done upon a wrong 

 principle, and generally by low and illiterate people, whose daily bread 

 depends upon the shortness of time in which they can get through 

 their work, and whose opposition to the true way of preparing speci- 

 mens can only be surpassed by their obstinacy in adhering to the old 

 method ; can we any longer wonder at their want of success ; or hope 

 to see a single specimen produced that will be worth looking at ? 



Again, he continues : ^ — 



Were you to pay as much attention to birds as the sculptor does to 

 the human frame, you would immediately see, on entering a museum, 

 that the specimens are not well done. 



This remark will not be thought severe when you reflect that that 

 which once was a bird has probably been stretched, stuffed, stiffened, 

 and wired by the hand of a common clown. Consider likewise how 

 the plumage must have been disordered by too much stretching or 

 drying, and perhaps sullied, or at least deranged, 1^ the pressure of a 

 coarse and heavy hand — plumage which, ere hfe had fled from within 

 it, was accustomed to be touched by nothing rougher than the dew of 

 heaven, and the pure and gentle breath of air. 



1 Wanderings in South America (edited by Rev. J. G. Wood, 1893, P- 333)- 



2 Ibid., p. 335. 



