Abstract
CAN any of your readers help me in the following case? I am a shell-collector, and my minute and delicate species (Diplommatina and such like) are kept in glass tubes. I have lately observed that some of the tubes in the cabinets were becoming opaque; a milky efflorescence seemed clouding the inside surface. I found the same thing in a box containing about 100 that I had placed on one side. I then opened a box of 500 which had never been unpacked since they were received, some four years ago. All these are more or less affected! I then opened a third box, from another maker, and in this 500 I observed many beginning to be affected. What can be the reason? Each of these tubes is tightly corked, and I see the glass under the cork is not affected. I have tried various means to restore the clearness without avail. I have boiled some, and roasted some in the sun, steeped others in alcohol, oil, &c.; nothing seems to do any good. Can any of your scientific readers divine the cause, and suggest a remedy?
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LAYARD, E. A Shell-Collector's Difficulty. Nature 38, 566 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/038566a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/038566a0
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