2338. To Preserve Fungi
Receipt of the celebrated botanist, William Withering, by which specimens of fungi may be beautifully preserved.
"Take two ounces of sulphate of copper, or blue vitriol, and reduce it to powder; pour upon it a pint of boiling water; and when cold, add half a pint of spirits of wine; cork it well, and call it 'the pickle.' To eight pints of water, add one pint and a half of spirits of wine, and call it 'the liquor.' Be provided with a number of wide-mouthed bottles of different sizes, all well fitted with corks. The fungi should be left on the table as long as possible, to allow the moisture to evaporate; they should then he placed in the pickle for three hours, or longer, if necessary; then place them in the bottles intended for their reception, and fill with the liquor. They should then be well corked and sealed, and arranged in order, with their names in front of the bottles."
Trust not the Man who Promises with an Oath.
2339. To Stuff Birds, Quadrupeds, &c.
Large animals should be carefully skinned, with the horns, skull, tail, hoofs, &c., entire. Then rub the inside of the skin thoroughly with the mixture of salt, pepper, and alum, and hang up to dry. Large birds may be treated in the same way, but should not be put into spirits.
2340. Small Birds may be preserved as follows:
Take out the entrails, open a passage to the brain, which should be scooped out through the mouth; introduce into the cavities of the skull and the whole body, some of the mixture of salt, alum, and pepper, putting some through the gullet and whole length of the neck; then hang the bird in a cool, airy place—first by the feet, that the body may be impregnated by the salt, and afterwards by a thread through the under mandible of the bill, till it appears to be free from smell; then hang it in the sun, or near a fire: after it is well dried, clean out what remains loose of the mixture, and fill the cavity of the body with wood, oakum, or any soft substance, and pack it smooth in paper.