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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt">Hi all,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt;color:#212121">I have a question about how to mitigate formalin on museum study skins (bird and mammal specimens). As background, administrators at Brigham Young University Hawaii decided to close the small
natural history museum associated with their university and as a result, vertebrate research specimens have been dispersed to other institutions. BYU Provo received ~1,700 mammal specimens including ~500 skins and 1,200 skull/skeleton only preparations as
well as ~4,000 bird specimens. Unfortunately, the “fumigant” used in the Steel Fixture cases was powdered formalin. Apparently formalin powder was used this way for decades. The powder was removed from the museum cases prior to shipment from Hawaii to Utah.
However, the wooden trays, specimen boxes and of course, the specimens themselves are permeated with the stuff. I can replace the wooden drawers with metal ones and put the skulls/skeletons in new containers. I am also considering soaking all the skeletal
material in water to get rid of residual formalin. I can also cleanse the inside of the metal cases.</span><span style="font-size:18.0pt"> However, I am not sure how to deal with the museum study skins themselves. Any advice would be appreciated.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt">Thanks in advance,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt">Duke<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt">_______________________<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt">Duke S. Rogers<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt">Emeritus Professor of Biology<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt">Emeritus Curator of Mammals<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:18.0pt"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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