Common salt, 0.25 pint.
Water, 2 to 4 galls.
The following, taken from the "Year Book of Pharmacy for 1880," appears to be a very efficient formula; like all the rest of such formulae, it contains a certain percentage of arsenious acid:
A new Preserving Fluid. — The Prussian Secretary of State for Education has caused the publication of the following compound and method of its application, discovered by Wickersheimer, the Preparator of the Anatomical Museum of the University of Berlin, who had at first patented the compound, but was induced to renounce his patent claims.
No. 12. — Wickersheimer's Preserving Liquid, No. 1.
In 3000 parts of boiling water dissolve 100 of alum, 25 of sodium chloride, 12 of potassium nitrate, 60 of potassa, and 10 of arsenious acid, let cool and filter. To every 10 litres of the filtrate add 4 litres of glycerine and 1 litre of methylic alcohol. [Footnote: A gram = 15.444 grains troy; a litre = a little more than 11 pints.]
Its application differs with the special objects to be preserved. In general, the objects must be impregnated with it. If the objects are to be preserved dry, they are soaked in the liquid from six to twelve days, and afterwards dried in the air.
Ligaments, muscles, and other animal objects remain perfectly soft and movable. Hollow organs, as lungs and intestines, should be filled with the liquid previous to immersion in it; after being taken out, and before drying, it is advisable to inflate them with air. Injecting the liquid into a corpse will preserve the latter completely, and the muscular tissue will always retain the natural colour of fresh corpses. To preserve the outward appearance of the latter, they should be well impregnated externally and enclosed in air-tight oases; this is only necessary to preserve the exact original appearance; if it is not done, the body will keep equally well if thoroughly injected, but the exterior will gradually become somewhat dry and dark coloured. Plants may likewise be preserved by this liquid. [Footnote: So expensive a preparation is, I think, sufficiently well replaced by salt, corrosive sublimate, and distilled water (see Formula No. 27). M. Decandolle exhibited, some years since, a branch of a coffee tree which had been perfectly preserved for fifty years. It was then pointed out that the efficacy of such solutions (saline) depended on their being boiled and applied to the plants hot (not boiling).]
The following is a modification of the above, useful for comparison as to relative strengths for injection and immersion:
No. 13. — Wickersheimer's Preserving Liquids, Nos. 2 and 3.