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From the American Journal of Science and Arts, 2nd Series, Vol. XVIlI.—July, 1854.
On a mode  of giving permanent flexibility tojbrittle specimens
                   in Botany and Zoologi
    By Prof. J. W.  Bailey
U. S. Military Academy, West Point, N. Y
A
   The excessive  fragility in  the  dry state, of many plants, and
 particularly of  those  which  secrete carbonate of lime  is well
 known to botanists.  There is no  herbarium in existence in
 which the specimens of Amphiroa, Jania,  Corallina,  Halimeda,
 Liagora, Chara, &c. are not in a more or less mutilated con-
 dition, which becomes worse every time  the plants are examined.
 In studying a large collection of the stony Algae I was led to re-
 mark their perfect flexibility while moist, which passed to great
 brittleness when dry, and it occurred to  me that if they could be
 kept permanently  moist they would remain permanently flexible.
 I  then remembered that General Totten, of the U. S. Engineers,
 had mentioned to  me, some years ago, his success in preventing
 the  cracking and  peeling  off of the  epidermis of various shells,
 by impregnating them with chlorid of calcium.   I also remem-
 bered  Boucherie's experiments with the same substance in giving
 flexibility to wood.   The  principle  that a substance which is
flexible when moist, will remain permanently moist, and therefore
permanently flexible, when impregnated with a deliquescent salt,
 is so obviously true that it needed  no experiments to convince me
 of its applicability to the  fragile plants above mentioned, and to
 many other specimens in  natural history.  But as practical diffi-
 culties often occur in the  application of correct principles, I have
 tested  the process  by numerous experiments in which chlorid of
 calcium  was employed to give flexibility  to  various  vegetable
 and  animal products, and the results have fully equalled my ex-
 pectations.  My specimens of Amphiroa, Jania, Corallina,  &c.
 after being impregnated  with  this salt, and  then  exposed for
 months to the air, can be handled  as freely as  if just taken from
 the water, and they permanently retain almost the utmost degree
 of pliability they are capable of receiving.  Species of dry, crisp
 and  brittle Lichens when  treated  in  the same way became soft, 
2   On giving flexibility to Botanical and Zoological specimens.

elastic, and flexible, so as  to bear very rough handling with per-
fect impunity.   Many  of  the common Algas which shrink much-
in drying, and therefore assume a very unnatural appearance, and
besides are apt either to become cracked or torn, or to wrinkle up
the paper to which they  adhere, retain  after  immersion in this
salt, nearly their normal degree of distention, and preserve a much
more natural appearance  than when  dried in  the  usual  way.
Many dried specimens of plants  whose leaves,  flowers or  fruit,
drop oft* almost at a touch from specimens in my herbarium, be-
came permanently pliable  when  immersed for a short  time in a
solution of chlorid  of calcium, and could then at any  time be
handled freely,  while their appearance was in  no degree  injured.
   In the animal kingdom, the results obtained  in restoring per-
manent  flexibility to  dry  and  brittle  specimens of Crustaceans,
Insects,  Gorgonias,  Sponges, &c. were equally satisfactory, and
have convinced me that almost every naturalist will, in his own
department, find many useful applications for this process.
   The mode of application which I  have employed is to immerse
the dry specimen for some time in a neutral  saturated solution of
chlorid of calcium, (which any one  can make for himself by sat-
urating chlom-hydric acid  with marble,) and then after  the speci-
men has become sufficiently softened to bend easily,  remove it
and let it drain  in the open air.   In  some cases where  the speci-
mens do not imbibe the salt  readily, it is well  to soften them in
warm water before immersion  in  the  salt.  A speedy impregna-
tion will  then take place, after which the specimens,  if plants,
may be subjected to moderate  pressure in the usual way, and re-
stored to the  herbarium, while other  specimens may be  kept on
shelves or in any way usually employed for similar objects, and
all will for any  length  of  time retain  sufficient  moisture to pre-
vent brittleness.   The salt being neutral, no fear need  be appre-
hended of its injuring color or texture, while its antiseptic prop-
erties will aid in the preservation  of matters liable  to decay.