There is also a test kit for determining if a specimen has arsenic (the Merck Quant test kit) that is a fairly good indicator of both presence and concentration. It's very useful for chemistry-phobes. You will need access to a fume hood. Arsenic has been so commonly used in both study skins and taxidermy that I suspect its presence by default if a biological-origin specimen has not been fumigated and is *not* being devoured by insects. Age alone won't tell you anything. Many preparators and taxidermists cherished their arsenical soap recipes and used them well into the '50s and '60s in this century. If arsenic is present, we enclose the specimen and red-tag it. We do not get rid of it; we just try to create barriers to direct handling and contact as well as an immediate visual warning. Mercury, DDT, lindane, and a host of other compounds have routinely been used in the not-so-distant past as pesticides on museum objects, too. These were very often not documented. The older the specimen, the more likely it is that it was prepared at a time when aggressive chemical strategies were used. This doesn't mean that you have to get rid of everything: you do have to be wary of specimens which are older, which have no written preparation or treatment history, and/or which are showing signs of powdery or crystalline deposits on the surface (in taxidermy mounts, check any bare skin areas and the surfaces of glass eyes). Wear gloves and a respirator if you are working with known problem specimens. And, VERY importantly, don't put older specimens into education collections or discovery rooms without checking them for contamination! We use the storage volume published by SPNHC as a guide for constructing enclosures for the storage of valuable but contaminated specimens. Sally Shelton Director, Collections Care and Conservation ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | San Diego Natural History Museum | | P. O. Box 1390 | | San Diego, California 92112 USA | | phone (619) 232-3821; FAX (619) 232-0248 | | email [log in to unmask] | | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------