Fashion Victims - Arsenic Dyes and the Victorians

[L Verge]

Speaking of taxidermy, right now I have a great horned owl sitting on my dining room table. He is roughly 130-40 years old. He sat on top of our upright piano in the family home my entire life. He was a present to my mother in 1930, on her 16th birthday, given by a very elderly lady friend of the family who said that it had been given to her (already stuffed and mounted) about 1890.

When my mother came to live with me in the 1990s, Hooty came too -- with the stipulation that Hooty would roost in the unfinished portion of my basement (behind a curtain). I have now lived with that owl for 71 years, but we are in the process of finding him a new home in a deserving nature center.

Hooty caused quite a stir two years ago when my house was broken into twice in one week. The policeman who responded to the first break-in could have cared less about searching (I had to request that he do so). The second time, however, three very nice gentlemen came, and while one dusted for fingerprints, the other two searched my entire house. While they were downstairs, I heard an "expletive," and yelled down, "Did you catch him; can I shoot him?" The response back was, "No ma'am, but we almost shot your owl!"

I have no idea who "embalmed" Hooty back in the 1800s, but he intended for Hooty to last for centuries. There's not a feather out of place; his talons are still firmly on the tree limb that is holding him; and those big, yellow eyes still stare right through you.

Harkening back to the Victorian era, there were some magnificent display cabinets constructed to hold preserved birds and other small animals in private homes.

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Returning to the discussion on what our lady ancestors did for fashion: I have seen reference to European ladies of the court having their two bottom ribs removed in order to achieve the tiny waists when corsets had done their best. I believe that it was Empress Eugenie who was the fashion plate that everyone wanted to emulate. In days lacking proper anesthesia and antibiotics, that was quite a risk to take for the sake of a tiny waist.