Arsenic

John Gavin <johnnywyoming [at] hotmail__com> writes

>The museum has been offered a rare Wyoming Mountain sheep mount. How
>or where can I get a kit (or other tool) to check for arsenic. If
>arsenic is present can it be removed?

John Gavin inquired about the identification of arsenic on natural
history mounts.  Beside the Conserv-O-gram that was mentioned by
another responder, an earlier and more complete article was
published in the Leather Conservation News Volume 2, Number Two,
Spring 1986..

It is entitled "Arsenic in Natural History Collections" by Catherine
A. Hawks and Stephen L. Williams.  It describes the modified Gutzeit
test for arsenic.  I have put together my own kit that I have used
in the lab for many years to screen historic natural history
specimens.  One has to be careful to sample more than one area of a
mount as the distribution of the pesticide dust varies. Taxidermists
and museum curators tended to rub down the internal surfaces of the
skin and just dust the exterior hairs.

If you are interested in obtaining an off-print of the article,
contact me directly.  Hope this helps,

Paul S. Storch
Senior Objects Conservator/Section Head/Internal Unit Preparation
Specialist Daniels Objects Conservation Laboratory (DOCL)
B-109.1, Minnesota History Center
345 Kellogg Blvd. West
St. Paul, MN  55102-1906
651-297-5774
Fax: 651-297-2967


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 15:81
                   Distributed: Tuesday, June 4, 2002
                       Message Id: cdl-15-81-004
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