TAXIDERMY, the art of preparing the skins of animals for the purposes of the natu ralist. The chief means employed in preparing the skin for stuffing in the case of small animals is to remove it carefully from the body, and, having cleaned away from it any adherent flesh, etc., to anoint it with arsenical soap; for the making of which there are several formula, the following being the most used: arsenic, 1 ounce; white soap, 1 ounce; carbonate of potash, 1 drain; distilled water, 6 drams; camphor, 2 drams. This keeps the skin supple, and prevents decay and the attacks of insects. The larger skins are generally prepared with a composition called preservation powder, which is made of the following ingredients: arsenic and burnt alum, each 1 lb.; powdered oak bark, 2 lbs. ; camphor lb. These substances are all reduced to a powder, mixed, and passed through a fine sieve. It requires to be carefully'kept in well-stoppered bottles or Jars, and when used, is thickly sprinkled over the flesh-side of the skin while still wet, and must be thoroughly rubbed in. Gloves should always be worn iu this process to prevent danger from the poisonous compound. Some skins are prepared with alum only, and others with the oak-bark liquor of the tanner's pits. This, in the case of very large skins, answers very well.—Besides the mere preparation of the skin, the art of taxi dermy is held to mean also the staing and mounting of them. This requires much per sonal experience, and as almost every group of animals must be treated differently, it is impossible to explain the various methods fully in this short notice. Various works have been written upon the subject.
TAY, the largest river in Scotland, draining nearly the whole of Perthshire (q.v.), and
pouring into the German ocean a greater bulk of water than any other British river, has its source in the western part of the county of Perth. The Dochart, the principal feeder of loch Tay, rises in Ben Lui, on the borders of Argyleshire, and flowing in a n.e. direc tion, is joined by the Lochy, just before the united streams enter the lake. After leav ing it, the Tay flows for some distance e.n.e., when turning southward, it passes, with a very winding course, Dunkeld (q. v.), and Perth (q.v.); mile below the latter place, it again changes its direction to e.n.e., widening at the mouth of the Earn (q.v.) into an estu ary—the firth of Tay—which varies from three-fourths of a mile to three m. in breadth, and lies mostly between the counties of Fife and Forfar, joining the German ocean about 10 m. below Dundee (q.v.). From the n. and e., the Tay receives the Lyon, the Tummel, and Garry, and the Isla; and from the w., the Almond and the Earn; its entire basin com prises an area of about 2,500 sq.miles. The salmon-fishings on the Tay and its tributaries are of considerable value. The Stormoutfield ponds for the propagation of salmon are 5 m. above Perth. The tide flows up the river to about a mile above Perth, to which place it is navigable by vessels of 100 tons; and to Newburgh, about 20 m. from its mouth, by vessels of 500 tons; the navigation up to Dundee, notwithstanding the many precautions which have been taken, is attended with very great difficulty, on account of the numerous and shifting sand-banks.