PE ALE'S MUSEUM 223 



of proper means to preserve it; with these as a nucleus, it was sug- 

 gested to Peale that he start a museum of natural history. 



The Museum 



At the age of forty-four the third period of Peale's life may be 

 said to begin. Acting on the suggestion that he form a museum of 

 natural history, he at once referred to books to discover the means to 

 preserve reptiles, quadrupeds and birds. At the end of the second 

 summer those preserved were all eaten up by dermestes and moths. 

 After a great deal of experimenting, a method was devised that fills 

 many pages of his autobiography. The basis of this method was the 

 use of arsenic and alum. Although it had a very serious effect on his 

 health for awhile, yet he was obliged to use it. " The many difficulties 

 I had encountered in this new business," said he in his autobiography, 

 " had made me often repent that I had undertaken so arduous a task, 

 yet . . . the idea of handing down to posterity a work, that if judi- 

 ciously managed might become equal to any undertaking of the like 

 kind in Europe " — this was a stimulus to his exertions. Although, by 

 the neglect of his portrait painting, he found it difficult, at times, to 

 meet the expenses not only of his family, but of taxes, ground rents 

 and other unavoidable expenses of his establishment, yet his enthu- 

 siasm, perseverance and ingenuity enabled him to conquer the difficul- 

 ties, but not without the aid of his talents as a painter. Finally, after 

 placing his museum on a self-supporting basis he retired in 1808 to 

 his country place, " Belfield," in Germantown. 



In the midst of the active period of museum development he made 

 trips when his funds were low into all the neighboring states to paint. 

 During his trips he never lost an opportunity to gather specimens or 

 further the interests of his museum. On a trip to Maryland he met 

 a Eev. Mr. Kerby who was a collector of beetles. His account, in his 

 diary, of the effect of this meeting shows the enthusiasm that was 

 instilled into his collecting. Said he: 



Some collectors, like myself, have only looked for subjects large and 

 striking to the sight, but now I declare that I find equal pleasure in seeking 

 for an acquaintance with those little animals whose life, perhaps, is spent on 

 a single leaf, or at most on a single bush. It is diverting to watch a flower as 

 you approach and see the little being watching you. It turns around a twig 

 or part of a flower to avoid your sight, and in an instant drawing in its legs 

 rolls off, sometimes falling from leaf to leaf to get a passage to the ground. 



Yesterday morning I set out to walk several miles before dinner. . . . But 

 in the first meadow I found myself examining the bushes attentively and there 

 I found so much amusement that several hours passed away before I could 

 think of leaving those bewitching animals. Looking at my watch, I found it 

 was almost dinner time, when I scarcely thought I had begun my pursuit. 



The museum grew rapidly and soon he was obliged to seek for other 

 quarters. Being a member of the Philosophical Society, some of his 



