SKELETON OF THE OSTRICH. 
PREPARING AND STUFFING ANIMALS. 
The art of preserving objects of natural history, to which, 
the name of taxidermy is sometimes given, from the Greek 
word implying the arrangement of skins, is of French origin 
and of recent date, probably not later than the present cen- 
tury ; the more ancient collections, including the celebrated 
one of Reaumur, having been only a simple collection of dried 
skins suspended on the walls of the saloon. The Germans 
appear to have been the inventors of a mode of preparing and 
setting up birds by placing feather over feather upon paper so 
as to imitate nature ; but they were very imperfect imitations, 
scarcely conveying an idea of the bird represented. In our 
day the taxidermist rivals Nature herself, studying the passions 
as well as the attitude and shape of the object he wishes to 
preserve. At the same time he has, by the use of scentless 
disinfectants, overcome much of the disagreeable smell which 
