Marcus Coltro wrote:

> But is rubbing alcohol toxic? Does it make any damage on shells after a long time? Is some places it
> is much easier to find than ethanol, thus my question.

* my impression is that isopropyl sold as rubbing alcohol may have
goodness-knows-what added to it. But you can buy pure isopropyl from
pharmacies in gallon quantities. The really bad reputation of isopropyl
came from a post-WWII idea that it could be used at concentrations as
low as 40%, which was cheaper, but proved not to be true -- specimens
stored at those concentration stayed soft (and I imagine shells
dissolved -- my experience was on the Vertebrate side), but that was
because they were disintegrating, and so the strength of isopropyl had
to be ramped up to the same 70-80% used with ethanol. At this
concentrations there was no cost advantage, and the tissues became
harder, so the only remaining advantage of isopropyl is that you don't
have to have a government permit to buy it without paying the beverage
taxes on ethanol. This can be a significant consideration for big
specimens, though it doesn't make much difference for small specimens.

fred.
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             Bishops Mills Natural History Centre
           Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
        RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
     on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
       (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca
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