he arsenical preparations for
preventing the attacks of insects, but the addition of tincture of
musk (a lasting perfume) has seemed to me to be a great gain. One
person wrote to me stating his opinion that the lime unduly corroded
the wires used in setting up. I believe this might happen in cases
where the mixture was used in a more fluid state than directed,
namely, as a paste of a creamy consistence. I know of no evil effects
produced.

Of course the mixture, if kept exposed, dries up in time, and is then
best wetted with a little warm water, into which a few drops of
tincture of musk have been stirred. Where there is more fat or flesh
than usual, say, on the inside of the wings, or on the leg bones, or
inside the mouth, a small quantity of carbolic acid wash (Formula No.
16) will be found useful to dilute the preservative paste. Carbolic
acid, however weak, must not be used on the thin parts of the skin of
small mammals or birds, as it dries and shrivels them up so quickly as
to seriously interfere with subsequent modelling.

Though many insects eat the skin itself, yet how is it possible to
guard against insects which attack the feathers only of birds (as the
most minute species of the little pests do) by an agent which
professedly cures the skin only? I remember once seeing the most
comical sight possible, a stuffed cock and hen entirely denuded of
feathers by thousands of a minute tines, their dry skins only left;
they were as parchment effigies of their former selves. Difficult as
the matter is, I yet hope to show both amateurs and professionals how
to considerably increase the chances of preservation. It is this:
After using the soap, and having the mammal arranged or bird stuffed
ready for "cottoning," brush over the whole of the feathers, legs,
toes, and beak, with the following preparation:

No. 5.--Waterton's Solution of Corrosive Sublimate.

To a wine-bottleful of spirits of wine add a large teaspoonful of
corrosive sublimate; in twelve hours draw it off into a clean bottle,
dip a black feather into the solution, and if, on drying, a whiteness
is left on the feather, add a little more alcohol.

Care must be taken not to handle the bird more than absolutely
necessary after this operation, for reasons which I will give below
when speaking of the following recipe, which I have extracted from a
little book professedly written by a well-known taxidermist, though I
believe he knew nothing at all about it u