[Nhcoll-l] Transferring specimens from 70% alcohol into water for scientific drawing, and back again....

[John E Simmons]

I would not allow this unless the illustrator can make a really, really
good case for doing so. Any solution you use other than ethanol will
contaminate the specimen (you will most likely not be able to get all of
the other chemicals out of the specimen).

Why does the illustrator want to move the specimens to water?  It would be
better if the illustrator kept the specimens in alcohol and worked in a
properly ventilated space.

--John


John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
simmons.johne at gmail.com
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
and
Instructor, Museum Studies
School of Library and Information Science
Kent State University
and
Lecturer in Art
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania

On Mon, Aug 3, 2015 at 10:46 AM, Esther Dondorp <esther.dondorp at naturalis.nl
> wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> We have a project for which our scientific illustrator needs to draw
> salamanders/frogs from the spirit collection. The specimens are stored in
> 70% alcohol (some of them probably have been fixed in formalin before but I
> am not sure) and during the drawing process they take them out of the jar
> and submerge them in water. This can take hours. I think this is not good
> for the specimens and will damage them eventually, also because after that
> we put them into 70% alcohol again. This will be quite a shock to the
> tissue I guess. But because they always did it like this, I started
> doubting myself. What do you think?
>
> Would there be some other substance to put the specimens in during the
> drawing process that would be less damaging for the specimens and also not
> intoxicate the illustrator? Or maybe we could use a lower percentage of
> alcohol?
>
> Many thanks, any comment on this appreciated.
>
> Esther Dondorp
>
> Collection manager Reptiles and Amphibians,  Naturalis
>
>
>
>
>
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