Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/102

Rh when dissolved; to this mixture, when nearly cold, 2 lb of powdered arsenic and 5 oz. of camphor (the latter previously triturated in a mortar with spirits of wine) are added. The mixture is put away in small jars or pots for use. Like all arsenical preparations, this is exceedingly dangerous in the hands of unskilled persons, often causing shortness of breath, sores, brittleness of the nails, and other symptoms; and, as arsenic is really no protection against the attacks of insects, an efficient substitute has been invented by Browne, composed of 1 lb of white curd soap and 3 lb of whiting boiled together, to which is added, whilst hot, 1 oz. of chloride of lime, and, when cold, 1 oz. of tincture of musk. This mixture is perfectly safe to use when cold (although when hot the fumes should not be inhaled, owing to the chlorine given off), and is spoken of as doing its work efficiently. Solutions of corrosive sublimate, often recommended, are, even if efficient, dangerous in the extreme. Powders consisting of tannin, pepper, camphor, and burnt alum are sometimes used for "making skins," but they dry them too rapidly for the purposes of "mounting." Mammals are best preserved by a mixture of 1 Ib of burnt alum to lb of saltpetre; this, when intimately mixed, should be well rubbed into the skin. Fishes and reptiles, when not cast and modelled, are best preserved in rectified spirits of wine; but this, when economy is desired, can be replaced by "Möller's solution" (bichromate of potash 2 oz., sulphate of soda 1 oz., distilled water 3 pints) or by a nearly saturated solution of chloride of zinc. The cleaning of feathers and furs is performed by rubbing them lightly with wadding soaked in benzoline, afterwards dusting on plaster of Paris, which is beaten out, when dry, with a bunch of feathers.

A new school of taxidermists, with new methods, whose aim is to combine knowledge of anatomy and modelling with taxidermic technique, are now coming to the front, and the next generation will discard all processes of "stuffing" in favour of modelling. Within the limits of an article like the present it is impossible to do more than glance at the intricate processes involved in this. In the case of mammals, after the skin has been completely removed, even to the toes, a copy is made of the body, posed as in life, and from this an accurate representation of form, including delineation of muscles, &c., is built up in light materials; the model is then covered with the skin, which is damped, and pinned in to follow every depression and prominence; the study is then suffered to dry; and, models having been made, in the case of large animals, of the mucous membrane of the jaws, palate, tongue, and lips, these are truthfully reproduced in a plastic material. The ordinary glass eyes are discarded, and hollow globes, specially made, are hand-painted from nature, and are fixed in the head so as to convey the exact expression, which the pose of the body demands. Birds, if of any size, can be modelled in like manner, and fishes are treated by a nearly identical process, being finally coloured as in a "still life " painting.

To give a life-like representation, attention is also paid to artistic "mounting." By this is meant the surrounding of specimens with appropriate accessories, and it is well exemplified by the new work shown in the natural history museum at South Kensington, where, for example, birds are arranged as in a state of nature, feeding or flying to their young, sitting on their eggs, swimming in miniature pools, or preening their feathers whilst perched lovingly side by side, and surrounded by exquisitely modelled