12 
THE NATURALIST’S GUIDE. 
Arsenic is the best substance that can be used in preserv- 
ing skins, and the only one necessary. Other preparations 
are no better, and often much worse. Strange as it may ap- 
pear to some, I would say avoid especially all the so-called 
arsenical soaps; they are at best but filthy preparations ; 
beside, it is a fact to which I can bear painful testimony, 
that they are — especially when applied to a greasy skin — 
poisonous in the extreme. I have been so badly poisoned, 
while working upon the skins of some fat water-birds that 
had been preserved with arsenical soap, as to be made 
seriously ill, the poison having worked into the system 
through some small wounds or scratches on my hands. 
Had pure arsenic been used in preparing the skins the 
effect would not have been as had, although grease and 
arsenic are generally a blood poison in some degree ; but 
when combined with “soap,” the effect — at least, as far as 
my experience goes — is much more injurious. 
Arsenic alone will sometimes poison slightly the wound 
with which it comes in contact, but no more than com- 
mon salt. There will be a slight festering and nothing 
more ; but, on the contrary, when combined with fat, a 
poison is generated that must be carefully guarded against. 
It sometimes works under the nails of the fingers and 
thumbs, while one is at work skinning (especially if the 
birds are fat). Kubber cots should be put upon the fingers 
or thumbs the instant the slightest wound is detected, 
whereby much pain may be avoided at a small cost. The 
cots alluded to can be procured of almost any druggist for 
ten cents each. 
Arsenic, however, cannot be used with too great care, 
as it is a deadly poison. In no case should it be left in 
the way of children. I have a drawer, wide, long, and 
shallow, in the bench at which I work upon birds, where 
my arsenic is kept safely, and it is always accessible. But 
there is probably not so much danger attending the use 
