The ornithological cabinet of Jean-Baptiste Bécoeur and the secret of the arsenical soap

Abstract

The use of arsenical soap to reliably preserve bird skins was one of the most significant advances in the development of ornithology, but the inventor of this material never published the secret of its composition and remains largely unknown. Jean-Baptiste Bécoeur (1718–1777), pharmacist in Metz (France), had a cabinet of European birds, which was only generally described during his lifetime. The collection was sold to Duke Karl III of Zweibrücken to be incorporated in the cabinet in Karlsberg. Although specimens may have been transferred to Mannheim or Metz around 1795, none can now be recognized. Bécoeur experimented with a variety of chemicals to discover a way to stop insect attacks on the skins. Believing to have succeeded in 1743, he tried to advertise the efficacy of his method by distributing treated bird skins to the Jardin des Plantes in Paris and some influential cabinet owners. He died without publishing the recipe of the arsenical soap. It appeared again early in the nineteenth century in publications by Daudin and Dufresne, who were connected with the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris. It is argued that Bécoeur's method was guarded by François Levaillant (1753–1828), who sold the recipe together with his collection to the French government in 1797.

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