52 TAXIDERMY AND MODELLING 



liquid, lying in it, however, from fifteen to sixty minutes, 

 according to size, but treated afterwards with the usual 

 strengths of alcohol. 



40. — Chromic and Picric Acid (Lo Bianco, p. 443) 



Chromic acid (i per cent.) . . -I Equal 



Kleinenberg's liquid (Formula 36) . . J parts 



Anemonia sulcata {Anthea cereus) is said by Lo Bianco (p. 

 448) to be the most easy to prepare. After being well ex- 

 tended in running water, it is killed by the above mixture in 

 equal volume to the water in which it rests. Only sufficient 

 water is left in the vessel to just cover the anemone, and the 

 mixture is rapidly thrown in. After five or ten minutes, when 

 the animal is dead, its base is detached from the vessel, and 

 it is then transported into one containing chromic acid at \ 

 per cent. In this it is suspended by its base from one or 

 more hooks, and its tentacles naturally disposed. In half an 

 hour it is placed in weak alcohol, followed as usual up to 

 70 per cent., in which it should be displayed in a proper 

 manner. 



Potassium Bichromate. — As Mr. Lee justly observes (p. 48), 

 this is one of the most important of all hardening agents. In 

 effect it is much slower than chromic acid, but there is no com- 

 parison in the manner in which it toughens the tissues, without 

 rendering them brittle, under prolonged reaction. For work 

 such as is detailed in The Microtomist's Vade-Mecum,- weak 

 solutions of from 2 to 5 per cent, are usually employed, these 

 being gradually increased from one strength to the other ; and 

 the hardening of a sheep's eye, spinal cord, and brain take 

 respectively three weeks, three to six weeks, and from three to 

 six months. 



The best-known and most generally used solution is that 

 classical reagent known as — 



