MUSEUMS. 
325 
during the time in which you are imparting to it the 
form and features which it is ultimately to retain. 
These most necessary points are gained by im- 
mersing the skin in a solution of corrosive sublimate 
in alcohol ; and afterwards, when you are in the act 
of restoring it to the proper form, by touching certain 
parts of it, such as the nose, lips, and orbits, with a 
mixture, one portion of which is salad oil, and the 
other three are spirit of turpentine. 
Those who preserve quadrupeds for cabinets of 
natural history seem not to be aware that, after 
the skin of the animal has been taken off, there is a 
necessity for some parts of it to be pared down from 
within. These parts are chiefly the nose, the lips, 
and the soles of the feet. Unless they be rendered 
thin by the operation of the knife, there will be no 
possibility of restoring to them that natural appear- 
ance which they were seen to possess in life. The 
inner skin of the ears, too, must be separated from 
the outer one, until you come close to the extreme 
edges. Nothing short of this operation can save the 
ear from becoming a deformity. 
Every bone in the skin, to the last joint of the 
toe, next the claw, must be taken out, in order to 
allow the operator an opportunity of restoring the 
skin to its former just proportions. 
The mouth must be sewed up from the inside 
(the skin being inside out when you sew it), begin- 
ning exactly in the front, and continuing the oper- 
ation each way to the end of the gape. When the 
skin is taken out of the solution, it must be filled 
quite full of chaff or sawdust (but I prefer chaff), 
y 3 
