PRESERVATIVE SOAPS, POWDERS, ETC. 



67 



fact to Ms nnmerous doctors, wlio worked, of course, in tlie dark, 

 when, by a course of antidotes taken at first, lie miglit have 

 been saved. 



Used alone, arsenical paste is worse than useless for animals, 

 causing them to "sweat" at once in certain places, and pre- 

 venting your pulling them about, as yoa must do if modelling ; 

 again, if used for fur, you seldom or never can relax by that 

 crucial test of a good preservative, i.e., — plunging in water. 



Yet one question to the advocates of arsenic. If it possesses 

 the chief advantage claimed for it, why use camphor in museums 

 under the idea that it drives away moths? Perhaps it will 

 be as well to point out secundum artem the jpros and cons 

 for the use of arsenic. 



Arsenical Paste. 



Advantages claimed. 

 A perfect dryer of animal tissue. 



Keeps all things free from attack 

 of insects. 



Easier to make and use tlian any 

 43ther preparation. 



Disadvantages. 



Will often "sweat" skins, 

 especially those of mammals, for 

 which it is useless. 



Is not of the slightest use for 

 this purpose. 



Denied. 



Gives off poisonous fumes when 

 hot. 



Deposits metallic arsenic when 

 drying. 



Gives off poisonous dust when 

 thoroughly dry. 



Causes colds, coughs, &c., which 

 turn to bronchitis, paralysis, &c. 



Having now summed up in the case of Common Sense versus 

 Arsenic, I challenge contradiction to any of my statements, 

 and ask. Why use a dangerous and inefficient preservative 

 agent, when a harmless preservative, and that quite as good 

 a worker and dryer as arsenic, will suffice ? I have invented 

 :a soap for which I claim those advantages, and as to its 

 deterrent principle re insects, I am convinced that it is quite 

 as good as the other, for is there any one thing known — com- 

 patible with clean-looking work — that will prevent the ravages 

 of the maggots in birds' skins ? I answer, No ! — if we except 

 one thing, too dangerous to handle — bichloride of mercury, 

 •of which anon. Let me whisper a little fact, and blow the 



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