Object Status:
Unlocated
Accession Date:
April 15, 1814
Primary Source Reference:
Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 72
Manesse, Denis-Joseph (1743-1820)
Notes:
This title would have been of particular interest to the Peale family because of the importance of taxidermy to the Peale Museum.
"Manesse contended that insects were attracted to bird skins by the decomposing fat left on the skins. He claimed that poisons were ineffective against the attacks of ravaging insects but that one could chemically remove the oily materials from the bird skins and thereby get at the root of the problem. The logic of Manesse's argument was valid, but unfortunately experience soon showed that the desired result was not obtained by following his long and complicated instructions." Paul Lawrence Farber, "The Development of Taxidermy and the History of Ornithology," Isis 68, 4 (Dec. 1977): 550-566, quote on 560.
William E. Hũlings (1765-1839) was a Pennsylvanian who was appointed vice consul at the port of New Orleans in 1798. James Peale painted a miniature portrait of him in 1789. Madison Papers, Founders Online, National Archives / https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-01-02-0185 ; Theodore Bolton, Early American Portrait Painters in Miniature (New York, 1921), p. 125
Title Information:
Traité sur la manière d'empailler et de conserver les animaux, les pelleteries et les laines
Imprint Information:
Paris, 1787
