[Nhcoll-l] Serventy's fluid reference

[John E Simmons]

Simon,
One possibility--in volume I of Biological Museum Methods (1985, by George
Hangay and Michael Dingley from the Australian Museum in Sydney) on page
368, iFormula 7: Preserving mixture" is described as "This mixture is used
to inject unskinned parts of taxidermy specimens." The recipe is:
alcohol 250 mL
carbolic acid 25 g
formalin 25mL
glycerine 25 mL

--John

John E. Simmons
Writer and Museum Consultant
Museologica
*and*
Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima


On Fri, Aug 22, 2025 at 5:35 AM Simon Moore <couteaufin at btinternet.com>
wrote:

> I am enquiring to see if anyone (particularly from W. Australia) who might
> have heard of an ornithologist named Dominic L. Serventy and who devised a
> fluid preservative, containing formaldehyde, glycerine, alcohol and water
> (not unlike Kew mixture for plants) but his recipe was for preserving
> colour in feathers.
> I’m searching for a reference where he published about this fluid,
> probably between c. 1920 and 1960?
>
> With all good wishes, Simon
>
> Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR
> Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian.
>
> www.natural-history-conservation.com
>
>
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