m for it--First, that it dries and preserves all
flesh from decay better than anything else known; secondly, that if
the skin is well painted with arsenical soap no moth or maggot will be
found to touch it. This, then, is all is wanted--immunity from decay
and protection from insects. Now I maintain that arsenical mixtures
are not only most dangerous, but quite useless also for the purpose.

Arsenic is simply a drier of animal tissue to a certain extent, but so
are hundreds of other agents not so dangerous. It is also perfectly
useless as a scarecrow or poison to those betes noire of the
taxidermist, the larvae of the various clothes and fur eating moths of
the genus Tinea, or the larvae of Dermestes lardarius, murinus, and
other museum beetles. They simply laugh arsenic to scorn; indeed, I
believe, like the Styrian arsenic eaters, they fatten on it. I could
give many instances. Of course, when you point out to a brother
taxidermist--rival, I mean; there are no brothers in art--the fact
that somehow this arsenical paste does not work the wonders claimed
for it, he replies, "Oh! ah! yes! that specimen, I now recollect, was
done by a very careless man I employed; he never half painted the
skin."

All nonsense! Men, as well as masters, lay the "preservative" on as
thickly as they can. Verbum sap.! A great outcry is being made at the
present day as to arsenical wall papers and ladies' dresses--very
properly so; but did it never strike any taxidermist--they must read
the papers some times, even if not scientific men--that if it was
dangerous to live in a room, the paper of which contains a barely
appreciable quantity of arsenic, it was also dangerous to work all day
in a shop amid hundreds of specimens actually reeking with arsenic,
and giving it off when dry, and when handled, in the form of dust?
Painted on the skin while wet is bad enough; but what shall we say to
those--well, we will not use harsh terms--who calmly tell you that
they always use dry arsenic. Incredible as the statement may appear to
the scientist, yet it is true that I have seen a man plunge his hand
in the most matter-of-fact way into a box containing dry arsenic, and
coolly proceed to dust it on a skin. What is the consequence of this
to the user of wet or dry arsenical preparations? Coughs, colds,
chronic bronchitis, soreness of the lips and nose, ugly ulcers,
brittleness of nails, and partial or complete paralysis. I knew a man
who formerly used dry