In the preservation of _birds_ by this process it was found sufficient to inject the body by the trachea, subsequently suspending the animal by the feet in order to drain it of the superabundant fluid, and then giving it a fixed position by means of wires; such preparations retain their flexibility and natural appearance for some weeks, or until desiccation commences. The powerful preservative properties of aluminous salts have been long known, and were not unfrequently resorted to by the ancients. Some remarkable instances of preservation by such a medium have accidentally occurred in our own country, among which the following may be here noticed. That distinguished officer of the American revolution, General Wayne, died thirty or forty years ago at Erie, Pennsylvania, and was buried in the vicinity of the lake; the body was not long since disinterred and removed by his son, who was astonished to find it in so perfect a state of preservation--and on examination it was discovered to have been deposited in an argillaceous soil strongly impregnated with a solution of alum. Another interesting instance occurred many years since in the State of Maine, where the body of a person, missing for several months, was discovered in a clay pit, into which it had fallen, face downwards, enveloped in moist clay; the features were recognisable, although the parts of the body exposed to the air had long decayed to a skeleton. Tho interesting and important subject of embalming, and of preserving and preparing anatomical objects, though much improved of late, is by no means exhausted. It has long been our desire to turn our attention in a special manner to such researches, and to have instituted numerous experiments, but imperative duties, and unexpected events, have interfered with such views for the present--we are not without a hope, however, that some one of our countrymen, more fortunately situated, will push his discoveries in a direction which affords so admirable a field for distinction. The investigator might even be so fortunate as to discover the lost secret of the Florentine Physician, _Segato_, for _petrifying_ animal substances! The problem is by no means an unphilosophical one, nor yet a chemical anomaly--it is only perfectly to saturate, by injection or otherwise, animal substance with the silicate of potash, or liquor of flints,--(_Verre Soluble, of Fuchs_,) and subsequently to immerse it in a weak acid solution:--the “methodus operandi,” remains to be discovered. (Consult _Dumas_, Traitè de Chimie, Vol. 2. p. 577, for an interesting chapter on “Verre Soluble.”)