386 H, Goadhy on the Preservation of Animal Substances. 



great expansion of the fluid (the B especially) in sadden increase 

 of temperature, may cause the breakage of the top glass ; then cut 

 a cork to fit the small hole tightly, insert itj pare it off level with 

 the surface, place upon it a piece of solid marine glue made to 

 adhere to the cork by means of the point of the hot iron, and 

 cover it with another disc of glass of about the size of a ten 

 cent piecCj and the preparation is finished. ■ 



It is a good practice to prepare the portion of thread that is to 

 come outside of the jar, the cork, and even the surfaces of glass 

 to be coated, with a liquid solution of the marine glue, which 

 may be made by dissolving a piece of glue in an excess of white- 

 wood Naphtha. 



Should a stopper become fixed in the neck of a bottle by the 

 crystallization of the salt, it may be easily removed by dissolv- 

 ing the salt by water, and gently tapping the cross piece of the 

 stopper at its extreme ends, {never across its shortest diameter^) 

 with a door key. If the cross piece come ofl", make it, and the 

 remainder of the stopper that is in the neck of the bottle hot 

 with the iron, apply marine glue, and cement them together^ 

 when cold, renew your operations, — the stopper is stronger now 

 than before, will easily come out, and last longer than one not 

 broken. To keep the fluids in stoppered bottles and to prevent 

 the possibility of the salt crystallizing on the outside of the stop- 

 per, the marine glue may be advantageously employed ; or a ce- 

 ment, proposed by Prof. Olmsted, of Yale CollegCj and made by 

 melting resin and lard together by the application of heat, and 

 intimately mixing them. The respective quantities of the mate- 

 rials will depend on whether the cement is required to become 

 hard, or not. If the former, the resin must be in excess; if the 

 latter, use more lard. For the purpose that I indicate above, it 

 should be stiffs and ropy; remaining just soft enough in hot 

 weather, to spread with a palette knife. 



As a final remark I would say, that the preservation of animals, 

 either in alcoholic, or my fluids, is greatly facilitated by employ- 

 ing, in the first stages of the process, a large volume of fluid. 



Crowding animals together in a hmited space, and with only a 

 small quantity of fluid, is a fruitful source of injury and loss of 

 the majority, if not of all the specimens: when, however, the 

 preservation is completely eff^ected, the specimens may be packed 

 very closely together, in a small Vessel, and as much fluid of re- 

 quired strength as will occupy the interstices is amply sufiicient 

 for transportation, or stores, and will last for years, especially if the 

 fluid be kept in, by running some marine glue round the stopper 

 and neck of the bottle with a hot iron, or by using the resinous 

 cement. 



In another paper I propose to treat of the modes of making 

 preparations. 



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