338 



Taxidermy. 



the bones cleaned of flesh down to the toes j the tail may either be 

 stripped from within, or the bones and flesh removed through and 

 incision from without. The skin of the head should be detached as 

 far as the lips. The body may then be removed by cutting through 

 the neck. The skin should now be turned inside out and carefully 

 cleaned of fat and flesh, the skull should be similarly cleaned, and 

 the brain extracted, after enlarging the hole at the back of the head. 

 The skin is now to be meared (by means of a brush) with arsenical 

 soap rubbed up with water into a lather, and burnt alum in powder 

 should then be dusted over it and rubbed in along with the soap. 

 The bones of the legs should have tow, cotton, or wool wrapped 

 round them to restore them to their previous dimensions ; the 

 cheeks and sockets of the eyes may be similarly treated, and the moist 

 skin should be restored to its former condition, or with the hair 

 outside. The skin should be filled out to nearly its natural dimen- 

 sions with any suitable dry substance, and the opening in the lower 

 surface stitched up. Incisions should be made in the palms of the 

 hands and soles of the feet, if fleshy, and as much of the interior 

 (excepting the bones) removed as can be got at. These incisions as 

 well as the lips and margins of the orbits, should be brushed over 

 with a feather or brush dipped in a solution of corrosive sublimate.* 

 The object of distending the skin is to ensure its thorough drying, 

 that of using the alum is partially to tan the skin, and prevent the 

 hair from falling off. When dry the stitching may be removed, and 

 the stuffing extracted, thus reducing the bulk of the specimen. It 

 is perhaps almost needless to mention that a skin prepared in this 

 manner can afterwards be relaxed and softened to prepare.it for 

 being " set up" with the aid of wires in any attitude selected. 



* Take of white arsenic 1 lb. ; of hard white soap 1 lb. ; of carbo- 

 nate of potass | of a pound. Melt the soap in thin slices with a suffi- 

 ciency of water, in which the carbonate of potass has been dissolved, 

 over a gentle fire ; when thoroughly mixed add the arsenic and stir 

 well until the whole has been incorporated : pour it into earthenware 

 vessels, and when cold it is ready for use with water and a brush. 

 Spirits of the wine is the best solvent, but water will do, though not 

 so well, as corrosive sublimate is very sparingly soluble in water, while 

 the addition of camphor to the spirits of wine enables it to take up an 

 additional quantity of the sublimate. 



