secondly, because prudence does not allow us to employ it on the surface of any animal, not even on the parts free from hair.*

We have thought it indispensable to enter into some details on the methods hitherto proposed and admitted, in order to point out the progress of Taxidermy. We now pass to the description of our own methods, and will commence by giving a list of the tools and other objects with which it is necessary to provide ourselves. We shall add to it the receipt for the preservatives which we employ, and, adopting M. Cuvier's divisions for the sake of order, we will treat, with detail, on the means of preparation and preservation peculiar to certain animals : for it is proper to remark that the rat, the deer, and the elephant, require very different methods for their preparation.

* M. Dufresne means the exterior surface only, which is so much handled in the stuffing as to make it too dangerous to anoint it with his soap; and I observe, that the artists in the Zoological Laboratory at Paris carefully bend or turn down the points of the various wires, after they have inserted them, (as they easily straighten them again with the fingers, if requisite,) lest, by pricking their fingers, the arsenic might do them serious injury. M. Valenciennes, however, assures me that it is indispensably necessary for the traveller to anoint the naked parts of the legs of birds killed in hot climates.

Articles necessary for mounting Quadrupeds, Birds, Reptiles, Fish, &c.

1. An assortment of iron wire of all sizes.

2. Flax or tow, or, for want of it, the commonest cotton, or the ends of untwisted cords. We must never use marine plants without having well steeped them in fresh water. Without this precaution, the marine salt with which they are impregnated, and which retains so much humidity, would rot the skins that are stuffed with them.

3. A box containing scalpels, scissars with pointed blades, and two or three pointed forceps of different sizes, one of which ought to have indented extremities.

4. Two flat pincers, large and small.

5. A round pincer.

6. A cutting pincer (for the wire).

7. A hammer.

8. Two files.

9. Brushes of different sizes, for putting the drugs on the birds, smoothing the feathers, &c.

10. A collection of eyes in enamel. We find

until it has the consistence of clear broth; cover this pot with a lid of pasteboard, in the middle of which bore a hole for the handle of the brush which serves to anoint the animal.

Gum Paste.

Take half a pound of common gum-arabic, and two ounces of white sugar-candy; melt this mixture in a pot of water, then strain it through a linen or a horse-hair sieve. When it has become liquid, put a part of it into a flat preserve-pot, add a spoonful of starch or hair-powder, mix the whole well together with an iron wire or a long pin, which should always remain in the pot for that purpose. This gum serves for an infinity of uses, and never spoils. When it becomes dry add a little water to it; if you are in haste to make use of it, place the pot on warm ashes to melt it quickly, or put it into warm water or sand.

Paper Paste, gummed.

Fill a large coffee-pot with water, and unsized paper, such as is used for printing; boil it for two hours, renew the water, and boil it again for the same time. Then squeeze the paper, and pound it in a mortar until it be reduced to a very fine paste; Savoy, near Paris. At the end of this treatise we will point out the method of making them.*

Receipt for making Arsenical Soap, invented by
Bécœur, Apothecary at Metz.

Cut the soap in small slices, as thin as possible,

put them in a pot over a gentle fire, with very little water; taking care to stir it often with a wooden spatula; when it is well melted, put in the salts of tartar and powder chalk. Take it off the fire, add the arsenic, and triturate the whole gently. Lastly, put in the camphor, which must first be reduced to powder in a mortar by the help of a little spirits of wine; mix the whole well together. This paste ought then to have the consistence of flour paste. Put it into china or glazed earthen pots, taking care to place a ticket on each.

When it is to be used, put the necessary quantity into a preserve-pot, dilute it with a little cold water,

* These eyes, however, are equally well made in England, although dearer. They cost, in Paris, from two sous to thirty francs a pair.