46 
MANUAL OF TAXIDERMY. 
and the fibre of the muscles should be broken up 
as much as possible. But a small portion, at best, 
of arsenic is soluble in either water or alochol, and 
but a little in the juices of the skin, whereas in 
my dermal preservative at least three-fourths of 
that which comes in contact with a moist skin is 
absorbed, thus thoroughly preserving the speci- 
men. In the case of a greasy skin, remove as 
much fat as possible by peeling it off or gently 
scraping until all the little cells which contain the 
oil are broken up and the skin appears ; then coat 
the skin liberally with the preservative, when it 
will be found to absorb the oil. Allow this layer 
to remain a few minutes, then scrape it all off and 
coat again with a fresh supply. Continue to do 
this until all the oil that will flow out is absorbed, 
and then dust with a final coating. 
There are two chemical processes carried on 
in preserving oily skins, one of which converts the 
oil into soap, and this is in turn absorbed and 
dried. Thus the preservative which has been 
scraped from the skin can be after a time used 
again, as it has lost but a small portion of its effi- 
ciency. It might be borne in mind, however, that 
all the fat cells possible must be broken up, as 
the skin which surrounds these is, in a measure, 
