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TAXIDERMY
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TAXIDERMY , the See also:art of preserving the integument, together with the scales, feathers or See also:fur, of animals. Little is known of the beginnings of the practice of the " stuffing " or setting up " of animals for See also:ornament or for scientific purposes; and it is highly probable, from what we gather from old See also:works of travel or natural See also:history, that the art is not more than some three See also:hundred years old. It was practised in See also:England towards the end of the 17th See also:century, as is proved by the See also:Sloane collection, which in 1725 formed the See also:nucleus of the collection of natural history now lodged in the galleries at See also:South See also:Kensington.
It was not until the See also:middle of last century that any See also:treatise devoted to the principles of the then little understood art was published in See also:France, R. A. F. See also:Reaumur's treatise (1749) being probably the first. This was followed at intervals by others in France and See also:Germany, until the beginning of the 19th century, when the See also:English began to move in the See also:matter, and several works were published, notably those by E. See also:Donovan,' W. Swainson,2 Capt. See also: The demands of sportsmen for the due preservation of their trophies, and the requirements of the great museums in every civilized See also:country, have rapidly transformed a crude handicraft into an elaborate art, and the finest See also:modern results, as produced by a private See also:firm like See also:Rowland See also: 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 See also:protection against the attacks of See also: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, See also:r2 oz. of chloride of lime, and, when cold, 1 oz. of See also:tincture of See also:musk. This mixture is perfectly safe to use when cold (although when hot the fumes should not be inhaled, owing to the See also: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 See also:tannin, See also:pepper, camphor, and burnt See also: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 r lb of burnt alum to 4 lb of See also:saltpetre; this, when intimately mixed, should be well rubbed into the skin. Fishes and See also:reptiles, when not See also:cast and modelled, are best preserved in rectified spirits of wine; but this, when See also:economy is desired, can be replaced by "See also:Miller's See also:solution" (bichromate of potash 2 oz., sulphate of soda r oz., distilled See also:water 3 pints) or by a nearly saturated solution of chloride of See also:zinc. The cleaning of feathers and furs is performed by rubbing them lightly with wadding soaked in benzoline, afterwards dusting on See also:plaster of See also:Paris, which is beaten out, when dry, with a bunch of feathers. The preparation and mounting of bird specimens, the objects most usually selected by the amateur, are performed in the following manner. The specimen to be operated upon should have its nostrils and See also:throat closed by plugs of See also:cotton-See also:wool or tow; both wing-bones should be broken See also:close to the body, and the bird laid upon a table on its back; and, as birds—especially white-breasted ones—should seldom, if ever, be opened on the See also:breast, an incision should be made in the skin under the wing on the See also:side most damaged, from which the thigh protrudes when pushed up slightly; this is cut through at its junction with the body, when the See also:knife is gently used to See also:separate the skin from this, until the wing-See also:bone is seen on the open side. This is then cut through by scissors, and by careful manipulation the skin is further freed from the back and breast until the See also:neck can be cut off. The other side now remains to be dealt with; from this the wing is cut by travelling downwards, the remaining See also:leg is cut away, and very careful skinning over the See also:stomach and upon the See also:lower back brings the operator to the tail, which is cut off, leaving a small portion of the bone (the coccyx) in the skin. The body now falls off, and nothing remains in the skin but the neck and See also:head. To skin these out properly without unduly stretching the integument, is a task trying to the patience, but it can be accomplished by gradually working the skin away from the back of the head forward, taking care to avoid 1 Artistic and Scientific Taxidermy and Modelling (London, 1896). 2 Taxidermy and Zoological Collecting (London, seventh edition, 1901).cutting the eyes or the eyelids, but by cautious management, to cut the membranous skin over those parts, so that the eyes are easily extracted from the orbits without bursting. The skin should be freed down nearly to the See also:beak, and then the back of the head, with neck attached, should be cut off, the brains extracted, all the flesh cleared from the See also:skull and from the bones of the wings, legs and tail, the skin painted with the preservative, and ultimately turned into its proper position. When " skins " only are to be made for the See also:cabinet, it is sufficient to fill the head and neck with chopped tow, the body with a false one made of tow, tightly packed or loose according to the See also:genius of the preparer, to sew up the skin of the stomach, and to See also:place a See also:band of See also:paper lightly pinned around the body over the breast and wings, and allow it to remain in a warm position, See also:free from dust, for several days or See also:weeks, according to the See also:size of the specimen. It should then be labelled with name, See also:sex, locality and date, and put away with See also:insect See also:powder around it. When, however, the specimen is to be " mounted," the operations should be carried up to the point of returning the skin, and then a false body of tightly wrapped tow is made upon a See also:wire pointed at its upper end. This is inserted through the incision under the wing, the pointed end going up the neck and through the skull to the outside. When the See also:imitation body rests within the skin, pointed wires are thrust through the soles of the feet, up the skin of the back of the legs, and are finally clenched in the body. Wires are also thrust into the butts of the wings, following the skin of the under See also:surface, and also clenched through into the body. A stand or See also:perch is provided, and the bird, being fixed upon this, is, after the eyes have been inserted, arranged in the most natural attitude which the skill of the taxidermist can give it. Mammals are cut along the stomach from nearly the middle to the breast, and are skinned by working out the See also:hind legs first, cutting them off under the skin at the junction of the femur with the See also:tibia, and carefully stripping the skin off the lower back and front until the tail is reached, the flesh and bones of which are pulled out of the skin, leaving the operator free to follow on up the back and See also:chest until the fore legs are reached, which are cut off in like manner. The neck and head are skinned out down to the inner edges of the lips and See also:nose, great care being exercised not to cut the See also:outer portions of the ears, the eyelids, the nose or the lips. The flesh being cleared off, and the See also:brain and eyes extracted, the skull should adhere to the skin by the inner edges of the lips. All the flesh should be trimmed from the bones of the legs. The head, being shaped, where the flesh was removed, by tow and See also:clay, is returned into the skin. A long wire of sufficient strength is tightly See also:bound with tow, making a long, narrow body, through which wires are thrust by the skin of the soles of the feet. The leg wires and bones being wrapped with tow and clay into shape, the points of the wires are pushed through the tow body and clenched. They and the body are then See also:bent into the desired position, and modelled up by the addition of more tow and clay, until the contours of the natural body are imitated, when the stomach is sewn up. A See also:board is provided upon which to See also:fix the specimen, artificial eyes are inserted, the lips, nose and eyelids fixed by means of pins or " See also:needle-points," and the specimen is then placed in a warm situation to dry. Reptiles, when small, have their skin removed by cutting away the See also:attachment of the skull to the cervical vertebrae, and by turning the decapitated See also:trunk out at the mouth by delicate manipulation. When large , they are cut along their median See also:line, and treated. in the same manner as mammals. Fishes, after being covered on their best side with paper or See also:muslin to protect the scales, are cut along the other side from the tail to the gills, and are skinned out by removing " cutlets," as large as is possible without cracking the skin, which, indeed, should be kept See also:damp during work. After being cured with a preservative, they are filled with sawdust or dry plaster of Paris, sewn up, turned over on a board, the fins pinned out, and the mouth adjusted, and, when perfectly dry, the plaster may be shaken out. The new school of taxidermists, with new methods, whose aim is to combine knowledge of See also:anatomy and modelling with taxidermic technique, has now come to the front, all processes of " stuffing " have been discarded in favour of modelling. Within the limits of an See also:article like the See also:present it is impossible to do more than glance at the intricate processes involved in this. In the See also:case of mammals, after the skin has been completely removed, even to the toes, a copy is made of the body, posed as in See also:life, and from this an accurate See also:representation of See also:form, including delineation of muscles, &c., is built up in See also:light materials, and known as the " manikin "; the See also:model is then covered with skin, which is damped, and moulded to follow every depression and prominence, the manikin, before having the skin put on it, frequently being covered completely with a thin layer of clay; the study is then suffered to dry; and, See also:models having been made, in the case of large animals, of the mucous membrane of the jaws, See also:palate, See also:tongue and lips, these are truthfully reproduced in a plastic material. The See also:ordinary See also:glass eyes are discarded, and hollow globes, specially made, are See also: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 See also:process, being finally coloured as in a " still life " See also:painting. To give a life-like representation, See also: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 work shown in the natural history museum at South Kensington, where, for example, birds are arranged as in a state of nature. The great American museums have extended a similar method to the mounting of even large mammals, whilst they have made bird See also:groups naturally still more life-like by panoramic back-grounds and See also:top and side See also:lighting of the cases. 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