THE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to Research in Natural Science. 



Vol. \- 



ALBION. N. Y., OCTOBER 15, 1899 



No. 12 



_TTIE MUSEUM. 



A Monthly Magazine devoted" to Ornithology, 



Oology, Mollusca, Echinodermata, 



Mineralogy and Allied 



Sciences. 



Walter F. Webb, Editor and Manager 

 Albion, N. Y. 



Correspondence ;ind Items of interest on above top- 

 ics, a.s well as notes on the various Museums of the 

 World— views from same, discoveries relative to the 

 bandlinu and keeping; of Natural History material, 

 descriptive habits fif various species, are solicited 

 from all. 



Make articles as brief as possible and as free from 

 technical terms as the subjects will allow. All letters 

 will be promptly answered. 



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Formalin as a Preservative. 



During the past few weeks several 

 persons have written me to ask how I 

 use formalin and with what success. 

 Encouraged b}' these letters and know- 

 ing how little has been written on its 

 use, I take this opportunity of giving 

 to the readers of the Museum the re- 

 sults of my experience with formalin. 



It was in the summer of 1^95 that I 

 first began to use this preservative. I 

 was then located at Woods Holl,Mass. , 

 in the employ of a Marine Invertebrate 

 Supply Department, and in the course 

 of the summer we used over a hundred 

 pounds. From that time to the pres- 

 ent I have used formalin almost entire- 

 ly, substituting it for alcohol whenever 



possible in order to save expense. In 

 nearly every case I have found it satis- 

 factory, and having "put up" very 

 large quantities of material of all kinds 

 in formalin I feel that I can honestly 

 recommend it as a safe and thorough 

 preservative. 



I used to buy at the wholesale drug- 

 gists what was labelled a forty per 

 cent, solution of J^'ormaldehyde. This 

 was and is considered the same thing 

 as one hundred per cent. Formalin 

 and is mixed on a one hundred per 

 cent, basis. Very recently I purchased 

 some of the same make and I noticed 

 that the label had been changed to 

 read just Formaldehyde, this of course 

 being identical with Formalin or For- 

 mol. In the report of the Department 

 of Agriculture for 1896, I find the fol- 

 lowing sentence which applies to this: 

 "Commercially, we find formaldehyde 

 in the market as a 40 per cent, solution 

 of the gas in water or wood alcohol 

 under the trade names of formalin and 

 formol." I mention these facts so as 

 to avoid any confusion which might 

 occur to a buyer unacquainted with 

 the nomenclature, so to speak, of For- 

 malin. 



For nearly all purposes a three per 

 cent, solution of Formalin is strong 

 enough. This can be mi.xed by scale, 

 with a graduate glass or simply by 

 measure. Either way the results 

 should be the same — thirty-two parts 

 of water to one part of formalin. We 

 will say that a pound of Formalin costs 

 fifty-five cents, which is, I believe, the 

 retail price at the present time. A 

 pound of formalin is very near a pint 

 and, when diluted to a three per cent, 

 solution, makes thirty-three pints or 

 over four gallons. How much cheaper 

 than alcohol, which costs fcommer- 



