78 
PRESERVING INSECTS. 
time to time. From that period to this, no living 
insect has been detected in the trunks. The plmn- 
age of the birds is as vivid as it was at the time I I 
§hot them ; and the moths and butterflies as splendid 
2s when in life ; but most of the other insects, ex- | 
cept some of the beetles, have faded. Thus I am | 
enabled to say, by actual experiment, that the at-- j 
mosphere of spirit of turpentine will allow neither \ 
acarus nor any insect to live in it ; and, moreover, 
that it does not injure the colour of preserved birds, 
and furs, and insects, provided they do not come in . 
contact with the spirit of turpentine. 
I have used corrosive sublimate in paste for years; \i 
I have applied the solution to my hat, and to the long 
Indian arrows (which are very subject to be eaten } 
by the worm), with complete success ; and here, in 1 
Europe, with equal success, I have applied it to la-^ J 
dies' ostrich feathers, to camel-hair brushes, and to 1 
the lining of my carriage. The solution has been | 
the remote cause of my discovering an entirely new : 
method of preserving specimens in natural history ; j 
and which method at once shows upon what erro- 1 
neous principles the old method has been, and is j 
still conducted. To conclude, the solution has 
proved my best support ; without it, I could have ; 
done nothing. 
** Hoc solamen erat, sylvis hoc victor abibam." 
