284 Queries and Answers. 



common with all your readers, if Mr. Dovaston, or any other 

 of your correspondents would give more satisfactory inform- 

 ation on the subject.- — O. Clapton, February, 1833. 



How can the Spirit in which Animal Substances are preserved 

 be best kept from evaporating P (p. 92.) — This question is 

 asked in p. 92. ; and to a certain extent answered in pages 92. 

 and 93.; but as many very important points in the closing of 

 spirit preparations are omitted, the following directions may 

 prove acceptable to many readers. To some, they may ap- 

 pear unnecessarily prolix ; but all who have put up many 

 spirit preparations know how much disappointment a failure 

 frequently occasions, and how much expense is frequently in- 

 curred from the loss of spirit by evaporation. The bottle in 

 which spirit preparations are placed, should have a lip round 

 the mouth, to which the covering may be secured ; the pre- 

 paration should never be suspended by string or thread ; if 

 it be, the thread, passing from the spirit over the lip of the 

 bottle to the open air, will soon, by acting as a siphon, carry 

 off the spirit, however perfect the covering may be in other 

 respects. The spirit in which the objects are preserved should 

 consist of equal parts of rectified alcohol and very soft water ; 

 if hard water be used, the preparation will be cloudy. The 

 spirit should be mixed several days before use, and filtered 

 through blotting paper, to separate all impurities. The parts 

 to be preserved should be suspended in as natural a situation 

 as possible, by means of fine gut, such as is attached to fishing- 

 hooks. This will not absorb the spirit, and, being transparent, 

 will not be visible in the fluid. The pieces of gut to which the 

 preparation is attached should be secured to another piece of 

 gut tied round the neck of the bottle. The lip and neck of the 

 bottle should be well covered with gum water, as thick as it 

 can be made, which, being insoluble in spirit of wine, will 

 effectually secure the bladder to the neck. A portion of 

 bladder should then be extended tightly over the top and neck 

 of the bottle, and bound firmly in its situation by coils of tape 

 wound repeatedly round the neck. Before the bladder is put 

 on it should be soaked for a day or two in water ; if it be in 

 rather a putrid state, it will answer better. The preparation 

 should now be set aside for a few days to dry, when the tape 

 may be entirely removed from the neck of the bottle; for the 

 gum will have fixed the bladder so securely, that nothing 

 further will be required ; and string round the neck disfigures 

 the appearance. A piece of sheet lead, such as is used in tea 

 chests, should be accurately cut to cover the mouth and lip of 

 the bottle ; this should be placed over the bladder with a 

 coat of thick white paint beneath, and a similar coat above it; 

 wet bladder should be extended over the lead and paint, 



