[Nhcoll-l] Rehydrating a formalin specimen

Wed Aug 5 11:56:50 EDT 2015

I will endorse anything suggested by Simon Moore or John Simmons. They are museum gurus.

Randy

On Aug 1, 2015 3:55 AM, Simon Moore <couteaufin at btinternet.com> wrote:
Hi Mare,

A although I haven’t yet tried the Singer technique for rehydration but (in theory) it should work well.  You might have to try it out first as bracteal cells can be prone to uneven rehydration and might lead to detachments just after the process

The usual preservative for plant materiaL is Copenhagen mixture:

Copenhagen mixture: IMS/ethanol (76), distilled water (18), glycerol (5).  Make sure that this is compounded at least 24 hours before use as the mixture evolves many tiny air bubbles during the mixing!

FAA is used more for plant histology these days and to be used more frequently, as a fixative, back in the 60’s and 70’s but became superseded by Kew mixture later on as the latter is more user friendly.

With all good wishes, Simon.

Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR
Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian,
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On 31 Jul 2015, at 19:00, Mare Nazaire <mnazaire at rsabg.org<mailto:mnazaire at rsabg.org>> wrote:

I too have a very similar issue, but with plant specimens. We have a number of fluid preserved specimens of plants that are quite old and rather brittle, and have been desiccated for quite some time. Can Singer's technique also work for desiccated plant specimens?

Similarly, for old collections of fluid preserved plant specimens that need to be "topped off" - what concentration of ethyl alcohol is recommended? I am guessing that these have been preserved in FAA, but some specimens are decades old, and I am not certain as to what was used back then to preserve specimens.

Thanks in advance,
~Mare

On Fri, Jul 31, 2015 at 8:50 AM, David Dyer <DDyer at ohiohistory.org<mailto:DDyer at ohiohistory.org>> wrote:

We’re working with a county historical society that has an old vertebrate specimen, and the fluid that it was preserved in has long-since evaporated.  The specimen is from 1881 and has been on exhibit for about 30 years. They think it was in formaldehyde (formalin). The curator agrees that it should now be taken off exhibit, and have asked us to advise on how to preserve. Is it OK to rehydrate in ethyl alcohol (70%) or are there other steps that are recommended?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Dave

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Mare Nazaire, Ph.D.
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