REFERENCES

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Blackshaw, S. M., and V. D.Daniels.1978. Selecting safe materials for use in display and storage of antiquities. ICOM Committee for Conservation preprints, Fifth Triennial Meeting, Zagreb, 23/2/1–9.

Brimblecombe, P.1990. The composition of museum atmospheres. Atmospheric Environment24B: 1–8.

British Standards Institution. 1987. Formaldehyde in textiles: Method for determination of “free” formaldehyde. BS6806, part 2. British Standards Institution.

Daniels, V. D., and S.Ward.1982. A rapid test for the detection of substances which will tarnish silver. Studies in Conservation27: 58–60.

Evans, U. R.1937. Metallic corrosion, passivity, and protection. London: E. Arnold and Co. 387.

Feigl, F.1954. Spot tests 2: Organic applications. Amsterdam: Elsevier. 95–96.

Green, L. R., and D.Thickett.1993. Modern metals in museum collections. In Saving the twentieth century: The conservation of modern materials, ed.D.Grattan.Ottawa: Canadian Conservation Institute. 261–89.

Hatchfield, P., and J.Carpenter.1987. Formaldehyde: How great is the danger to museum collections?Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Art Museums.

Oddy, W. A.1973. An unexpected danger in display. Museums Journal73: 27–28.

Oddy, W. A.1975. The corrosion of metals on display. In Conservation in archaeology and the applied arts, ed.N. S.Brommelle and P.Smith.London: International Institute for Conservation. 235–37.

Sparkes, A. J.1986. The effects of surface coatings on formaldehyde emission. Preprints of Scottish Society for Conservation and Restoration/Museum of Antiquities Symposium on Environmental Monitoring and Control. 78–87.

Uhlig, H.1948. The conservation handbook. London: Chapman and Hall. 219.

West, P. W., and B.Sen.1956. Spectrophotometric determination of traces of formaldehyde. Journal of Analytical Chemistry153: 12–18.

Williams, R. S.1986. The Beilstein test. Canadian Conservation Institute Notes17:1.

SOURCES OF MATERIALS

Sigma Chemicals Co. Ltd., Fancy Rd., Poole, Dorset BH17 7BR, England

Merck Ltd., Merck House, Poole, Dorset BH15 1TD, England

reaction dish (fig. 1) is no longer manufactured in the United Kingdom and has to be made specially.

AUTHOR INFORMATION

JINPING ZHANG received an honors degree in microbiology from Shandong University, China, in 1982. He is technical director of Shishong Decorating Materials, Ltd., and he worked in the Conservation Laboratory of the Museum of Chinese Revolution, Beijing, until 1992. From October 1989 to August 1990 he was an intern in the British Museum Department of Conservation, where he undertook the initial work on the iodide-iodate test under the guidance of Vincent Daniels. After his return to China, he began to develop the chromotropic acid test for use in conservation (at the same time as work on this test was independently in progress at the British Museum). He is currently working on second-generation acrylic adhesives and on nonsolvent resin systems, for which he has filed patent applications. Address: No. 6, Suite 1, No. 8 Gong Yuan West St., Jian Guo Men Nei St., Beijing, 100005, PR China.

DAVID THICKETT received an honors degree in natural sciences from Cambridge University in 1988. He carried out research for two years in the ceramics industry and joined the Conservation Research Section of the British Museum Department of Conservation in 1990. He conducts testing of materials for storage and display purposes. His current research includes consolidants for degraded amber and methods of removal of polyethylene glycol wax from stone.Address: Department of Conservation, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, England.

LORNA GREEN received an honors degree in chemistry from London University in 1984. After one year of academic research, she joined the Conservation Research Section of the British Museum Department of Conservation. She has a continuing interest in problems associated with display and storage materials and other environmental concerns. At present, she is conducting research on the storage of iron. Address: Department of Conservation, British Museum, London WC1B 3DG, England.