THE YOUNG 
value for obtaining the finest polish on 
prism work, either in glass or calc spar. 
The ordinary washed crocus, used alone, 
I have found too keen, and apt to cling to 
and raise streaks on the polishing laps ; 
I, therefore, always mix it with an equal 
part of the putty-powder, which quite 
remedies the evil ; an uniform mixture is 
best obtained by stirring them together 
with water." 
Skin Preserving —II. 
{Continued.) 
THE skin is now ready for making up. 
Of course some preservative compo- 
sition is a desideratum ; and the best is 
the time-honored arsenical soap. That 
which I have used, and which answers 
perfectly, is made of one ounce of white 
arsenic to four ounces of yellow soap. 
The soap is first shredded into a pot ; and 
melted by being stood in hot water ; and 
the arsenic stirred in gradually, then 
allowed to cool ; covered, and a poison 
label affixed. But in case there are noth- 
ing but the ordinary household stores 
available, skins will keep very well, and 
for an indefinite time if the moth be kept 
from them, by curing with equal parts of 
alum and salt. This is rubbed into the 
skin extended on a board, and allowed to 
dry ; after which the superfiuous crystals 
are brushed away. This, how^ever, has 
disadvantages, owing to the hard coating 
given to the skin, but for curing skins not 
meant for further stuffing than sufficient 
to retain their form, is quite satisfactory. 
We now come to the final making up ; 
and here the materials required are again 
simple ; the preservative, tow, a needle 
and cotton, stout thread, and the scissors. 
The first step is to examine the skin, and 
remove any superfluous fat which may 
have been left attached ; and to see that 
no portions of muscle remain on the 
broken ends of the limb bones ; in doing 
which the preservative is well rubbed over 
the interior of the pouch formed by the 
skin of the legs and wings. Before re- 
turning the ends of the bones into the 
sheath, a shred of tow is wrapped round 
the end of the bone, and then formed into 
a pad as nearly as possible the size of the 
removed portion which still remains at- 
SCIENTIST. 47 
tached to the body, and the limbs will re- 
quire no further treatment. 
The whole of the skull, inside and out, 
is now treated with preservative, and the 
orbits filled with tow to as nearly as pos- 
sible the natural amount of fulness given 
by the eyes when in their place— and the 
back of the skull is replaced by a ball of 
tow rolled up tightly, so as to fit the in- 
terior and give the requisite roundness 
lost by the removal of the hinder third in 
cleaning. The head is then gently re- 
turned through the " glove finger " formed 
by the neck, and any sinking about the 
eyes rectified by inserting more scraps of 
tow through the eyelids. The neck is 
then filled by gently passing up shreds of 
tow by means of a stick, taking care not 
to overfill it, or leave lumps of tow evident 
by their undue protrusion. 
It is better, at this stage, to bring to- 
gether any small gaps in the skin caused 
by shot or accident during skinning, by 
means of the needle and cotton, avoiding 
the rumpling of plumage, which would 
be caused by including the root-ends of 
feathers in a stitch. 
There only remains now to pad the body 
to prevent undue shrinking during the 
drying stage. This may be done either 
by merely filling up with loose tow, folding 
the skin over and allowing it to dry in 
position, or by making a fresh body of 
tow to replace the natural one as nearly 
as possible ; and this latter method is, I 
think, the better. 
Taking the body, which has been kept 
as the model, a lump of tow is rolled into 
a compact ball, rather larger than the 
required size, and of the same proportions. 
The strong thread is then wound around 
it tightly, reducing it to the right size, 
and, with a little management, giving a 
pretty correct model of the contour of the 
breast, etc. If anything, when completed, 
the tow body should be smaller than the 
natural one, to allow for the unavoidable 
shrinking of the drying skin. It is then 
placed in position, and the skin of the 
breast brought together evenly across it 
by a few stitches in the edges of the bare 
streak along which the first cut was made. 
Holding the skin by the beak, the feathers 
are carefully smoothed down, and returned 
