284 NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



stated that his report would be published, with illustrations, in 

 the course of a couple of months. 



Mr. Macleay called the attention of the Society to a very 

 important discovery by M. Wickersheimer, of the University of 

 Berlin. — It is a Fluid for the Preservation of Animal and 

 Vegetable Tissues, which is said to surpass anything hitherto 

 known in its power of preserving the colour, form, and elasticity 

 of specimens treated with it. The discovery has been purchased 

 by the Prussian Government, and been made public for the 

 benefit of the scientific world by the Minister for Instruction. 

 The formula for the preparation of the Fluid is as foUows : — In 

 3,000 grammes of boiling water dissolve — alum, 100 grammes; 

 common salt, 25 grammes ; saltpetre, 12 grammes ; carbonate of 

 potash, 60 grammes ; arsenious acid, 1 grammes. After cooling 

 and filtering, add to every 10 litres of the solution, 4 litres of 

 glycerine and 1 litre of methylic alcohol. There are different 

 modes of applying this fluid. Anatomical preparations that are 

 to be preserved dry, are immersed in the fluid from six to twelve 

 days, according to their size, then taken out and dried in the open 

 air. HoUow organs such as the lungs, &c., must be fiUed with 

 the Fluid, then laid in a vessel containing the same liquid, and 

 afterwards distended with air and dried. Smaller animals, such 

 as crabs, beetles, lizards, frogs, &c., if the natural colours are to 

 be preserved unchanged, are not to be dried, but put immediately 

 into the preparation. 



The same Fluid may be used for the purpose of preserving 

 human bodies during transportation, or even for more permanent 

 embalming. This very valuable discovery has already been widely 

 tested, and everywhere with the most perfect success. Professor 

 Barbeck, at a recent meeting of the Philadelphia Academy of 

 Natural Sciences, described a number of preparations which 

 showed beautifully the combined movements of the chest, larynx, 

 and other parts engaged in the mechanism of breathing. Several 

 snakes which had been treated with the Fluid more than a year 



