Two improved methods of mounting museum specimens / by C. W. Rowntree.

  • Rowntree, C. W.
Date:
[1907]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Two improved methods of mounting museum specimens / by C. W. Rowntree. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    It is desirable that the specimen should not be washed or compressed prior to its immersion, in order to preserve as far as possible, the blood upon the presence of which so much of the ultimate appearance of the specimen depends. Any blood, etc., adhering to the outside of the specimen and spoiling its appearance can be removed readily, and with less damage later on when it is coagulated. As in all methods in which formalin is used, the period for which the specimen should be left in the first solution depends upon its size ; for anything up to the size of the kidney, 48 hours will be sufficient to harden and fix it throughout. Larger specimens should be left in a correspond- ingly longer time, but it is well to make it as short as possible, as the longer the specimen is in the formalin solution the more difiicult is it to get the colour back a^ain. When it is judged that the specimen is thoroughly fixed, it is transferred to a 50 per cent, solution of Methylated Spirit, which must be free from Naphtha. This continues the harden- ing, and washes out the formalin and salts, which occasionally, when not thoroughly removed, crystallize out on the surface of the specimen. After remaining in this solution for from 12 to 24 hours, the specimen is transferred to pure Naphtha free Methylated Spirit, in which the original colours of the specimen will return. In about 4 to 6 hours the best result will have been attained and the specimen is then placed in the following solution, in which it may remain without harm for several davs :—'■ Sodium Acetate - - - grms. 20 Glycerine- - - . . ccs. 500 Water - - _ . . g^s. 500 _ The specimen at first floats in this solution owing to the spirit with which it is impregnated, and in order to ensure complete immersion, it is necessary to weight it for the first few hours until all the spirit has been displaced. From this last solution the specimen in the course of 2 or 3 days is placed in pure glycerine, where it remains for a similar period when It IS ready for permanent mounting in parafiin.