378 H, Goadby on the Presei^vation of Animal Substances. 



Art. XXXIX. — On the Preservation of Animal Substances ; 

 by Henry Goadby, M.D., F.L.S., formerly Dissector of Mi- 

 nute Anatomy to the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 



In the preserving fluids that I use, and which are known by 

 ' my name, the following ingredients occur, viz.: rock salt, alum, 

 corrosive sublimate, and the white oxyd of arsenic, or arsenious 

 acid. 



These materials are never all employed at one time, and they 

 should be used judiciously, to prevent the contingency of destroy- 

 ing^ rather than preserving specimens of Natural History. 



To this end, I think it desirable to describe the propertiPS of 

 the materials respectively before giving the necessary formuIa3 for 

 the fluids. 



Rock (or bay) salt is very preservative, and will maintain the 

 characteristics of all tissues unimpaired, better than any other 

 agent with which I am acquainted, provided the strength be 

 well regulated; and I make much greater use of the purely sa- 

 line, or B fluid, than of any other. 



Alum possesses very important conservative properties; it is 

 astringent^ coagulates albumen to some extent, rendering trans- 

 parent tissues opake in proportion to the volume of alum brought 

 in contact with thera; but it destroys the carbonate of lime, con- 

 verting it into the insoluble sulphate. The akuiiinous, or A, 2, 

 fluidj however, is a very valuable composition; and to it I owe 

 many important preparations, which may be found both in my 

 own possession, and in the Hunterian Museum of the Royal Col- 

 lege of Surgeons, of England, and which could never have been 

 made without its assistance. 



Alum combines with animal tissues so perfectly, that it cannot 

 be dissolved out of them by long continued maceration in water. 

 Whenever it is considered necessary to use the aluminous fluids 

 either to give form, and support, to an animal, or any part of an 



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or to render diaphanous animals or tissues opake enough to be 

 visible, the excess of alum should be washed away w4th water, 

 and the animal or whatever it be, with few exceptions, removed 

 from the aluminous, and preserved permanently in the B fluid. 

 It should be borne constantly in mind that the effect of fresh 

 volumes of the aluminous fluid should be cautiously watched, 

 lest the alum produce mischievous results; but with care, it may 

 even be used to the full extent of its valuable properties on the 

 «oft parts of an animal enclosed in a shell of carbonate o( lim^j 

 or otherwise possessing that earth, for the muscular, nervous, and 

 other soft tissues, will be much sooner affected by the action ot 

 the alum than the denser tissues containing earthy matter. I' 



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