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 until it was published.
The preparation referred to, which should be labelled "Dangerous! Not to be used!" is as follows:
No. 6. — Gardner's Preservative.
Arsenic, 6 oz.
Camphor, 1 oz.
Corrosive sublimate, 3 oz.