Aydin wrote,
> Glycerol would prevent the periostracum from drying. Glycerol is also
water soluble, so it can be washed off if necessary. However, glycerol
absorbs water from the air & may cause the periostracum to get loose. But
then again, maybe not.

Gum tragacanth presents a similar problem, as it can expand as it absorbs
water from the air. As a food ingredient (used among other things to thicken
soup), gum tragacanth is safe to handle. But, by the same token, it tends to
get moldy. Under the microscope, the mold may look like balls of fiber
(fungal hyphae).

My micropaleo professor used to add a bit of formalin to his gum tragacanth
to prevent mold. We used the gum to attach microfossils to paper slides that
were then covered by slips of glass. However, even though the gum is
water-soluble, we found it almost impossible to remove all the gum from the
microfossils, and some micropaleontologists prefer to leave the fossils
loose inside covered slides.

Andrew K. Rindsberg
Geological Survey of Alabama

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