been buried
were found, after many years, dry and without a trace of the effects
of putrefaction; and in the vaults of St. Michael's Church, Dublin,
the bodies are similarly preserved. In both cases putrefaction is
prevented by the constant absorption of the moisture from the
atmosphere, and through its medium from the body by the calcareous
soil in which the vaults are dug.--Penny Cyclopaedia, vol. xv, p.
477."

Having now given a brief sketch of the best-known methods of
preserving Nature's greatest handiwork--Man--I may mention that the
Egyptians also devoted their energies to the preservation of those
things more intimately connected with our theme, namely, mammals,
birds, etc. A people who knew how to preserve and arrest from decay the
carcase of so immense an animal as the hippopotamus (a mummy of which
was discovered at Thebes), or the various bulls, cows, dogs, cats,
mice, ichneumons, hawks, ibises, fishes, serpents, crocodiles, and
other sacred animals (mummies of which have been and are constantly
found), must have had some glimmerings of taxidermy; many of the
subjects are preserved in so beautiful a manner that mummied ibises,
hawks, etc, are occasionally discovered even in a good state of
preservation, and Cuvier actually found in the intestines of a mummied
ibis (Ibis religiosa, a species still found, though rarely, in Egypt)
the partly-digested skin and scales of a snake!

From this period of the world's history I can discover but few links
to the chain of Practical Taxidermy.

True it is that the Greeks, Romans, and the tribes which inhabited
ancient Britain must have had some knowledge of preserving Skins of
animals slaughtered by them in the chase, for we everywhere read of
the skins of lions, tigers, wolves, etc, being used for purposes of
necessity, as in the case of those barbarians who clothed themselves
with skins as a protection from the inclemency of the weather, and
also in the case of the luxurious Greeks and Romans, who used skins in
the adornment of their persons or homes. In fact, the conversion of
skins into leather must be of the highest antiquity, for, in the Leeds
mummy described in 1828, there was found on the bandages of the head
and face a thong composed of three straps of leather, and many of the
Egyptian divinities are represented with a lion or leopard skin as a
covering for the throne, etc.; and do we not read in many places in
Holy Writ of leather and of tanners?--a notable