Fig. 43.—The Cyanide Bottle.
A cyanide bottle can be purchased ready for use at the cost of a shilling or thereabouts; but if you are old enough to be trusted with deadly poisons, you may buy the 'cyanide' of a chemist who knows you well and is satisfied as to your intentions, and then prepare your own. Every entomologist should know how to do this, for the poison loses its power after some time, and it is not always convenient to leave your bottle in the hands of a chemist or a 'naturalist' to have it recharged. This will cost you more than it would to do it yourself, but that is nothing compared with the annoyance that may result when, the night before an anticipated butterfly hunt, you are calmly told that 'your bottle will be ready in a few days.' You can charge it yourself in a few minutes if you can manage to keep a small supply of 'cyanide' in stock, and it is ready for use very shortly after.
Here is the modus operandi.—Purchase an ounce or two of the cyanide of potassium, and immediately put it into a stoppered or well-corked bottle. Label it at once, not only with the name, but also with the word Poison in very large and conspicuous letters. This dangerous chemical is often sold in sticks that look much like certain 'sugar sticks' I was acquainted with in my younger days; but whether this is or is not the case with your
cyanide, see that the bottle is kept quite out of the reach of the inquisitive and sugar-loving juveniles of the house.
The quantity above mentioned is more than you will require for the first 'charge,' but you will soon experience the convenience of having a supply always at hand for recharging when your cyanide bottle fails to do its work expeditiously, or when an accident calls for the somewhat sudden appearance of a new one.
Now procure a bottle for your work. Its mouth must be wide enough to take the largest insect you hope to catch, and the widest part of the bottle need not be much larger. Get a perfectly sound cork to fit it tightly; and, to insure the more perfect exclusion of air, paint over the top of the cork with melted paraffin wax.
Dissolve a few drams of the cyanide in a little water, using a glass rod to stir up the mixture till the solid has all disappeared; and be careful that neither the solid nor the solution touches the skin if it should be in the slightest degree scratched or broken. Now sprinkle plaster of Paris into the solution, a little at a time, and stir all the while. As soon as the mixture begins to set, pour it into your bottle as cleanly as you can—that is, without touching the sides—and press it down with the flat end of a stick if it is not level. Now cork it, and put the bottle away in a cool place till required for use.
This is, I think, the best way of charging the bottle; but there are two other common methods that may, perhaps, be regarded as a little more simple. One is this: put a few small lumps of the 'cyanide' into your bottle, and then cover them with a stiff mixture of plaster of Paris and water, and press down as before. The other plan is to cover the 'cyanide' with a few thicknesses of blotting paper, cut just a little larger than the inside of the bottle. The first of these two methods is fairly satisfactory, but I have always found that the charge, when made in this way, has a tendency to become wet and pasty, in which condition it will spoil the wings of the insects. The other is very objectionable, especially for field work, for the blotting paper fails to keep its place while you are on the chase. If the plaster is used, the mixing must be done quickly and without hesitation, or the mixture will become solid before you can press it into your bottle.