1870.] 19 [Dwight. 



Kockwell, C. F. Lyman, Wm. Norton Bullard and Arthur W. 

 Willard of Boston, were elected Resident Members. 



Dr. Thomas Dwight, Jr., exhibited some flexible dissections 

 prepared by him, and made the following remarks on the 

 preservation of anatomical specimens : — 



It has always been a great objection to the dried dissections which 

 abound in anatomical museums and are much used for instruction, 

 that they give by no means a true idea of the parts. The branches 

 of the arteries and nerves are there, but their relations to the neigh- 

 boring parts are lost, and the muscles so shrunken as for the most 

 part to be unrecognizable. In short, such preparations are carica- 

 tures, not representations of nature. In May, 1869, I saw in the 

 Musee Orfila, at Paris, some admirable preparations of extremities 

 bearing the label " Procede de Brissaud et Lascowski," in which the 

 muscles, instead of being shrivelled cords, were of natural shape and 

 size, flexible, and in some cases quite red. Motion in the joints was 

 almost perfect, and the arteries and nerves bore their original rela- 

 tions to the other structures. 



I declined Dr. Lascowski' s offer to sell me the secret by which 

 they were prepared, and have endeavored to discover it. With the 

 exception of the color, the results have been very satisfactory, as 

 shown by many specimens, some over a year old. One part of car- 

 bolic acid to five of glycerine preserved the shape and flexibility 

 admirably, but the color was very dark. Perhaps the best prepara- 

 tion is one of a forearm and hand, dissected to show the muscles, 

 arteries and nerves. This was preserved by a mixture made by 

 throwing an excess of two parts chloride of sodium and one of ni- 

 trate of potash, into six parts of glycerine and one of alcohol. This 

 preparation has the disadvantage that there is danger of mould if 

 the specimen be at all exposed to damp, which is not the case when 

 carbolic acid has been used. Preserved specimens of this nature will 

 probably be of great value in the study of Comparative Myology. 



In a paper read at the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Medi- 

 cal Society, in 1870, I have given a more minute account of the 

 process and of the various mixtures employed. 



Dr. J. B. S. Jackson spoke of the importance, in an educa- 

 tional point of view, of these flexible preparations, and 



