Rehousing the Molluscan Collections at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia

在G. Rosenberg博士的指导下，费城自然科学院（Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia）获得了一笔拨款，用于重新安置美国最古老、规模第二大的软体动物藏品。软体动物是仅次于节肢动物的最多样化的动物门，有超过10万种，在陆地、淡水和海洋栖息地都很丰富。收集的标本记录了世界各地软体动物物种的多样性和分布，并通过其外壳中含有的化学物质提供了环境变化的直接记录。该藏品包括约45万件已编目的物品，包含约800万件标本，其中最主要的是来自热带印度洋-太平洋和西大西洋的浅水海洋软体动物，以及世界各地的淡水和陆地软体动物，其中包括许多现在受到威胁、濒危或灭绝的物种。该收藏包括来自400多名研究人员的12,000多件模式标本。类型是用来命名物种的标本；它们是确认物种身份的比较标准。藏品中的标本受到当前储藏柜木质内部散发的酸蒸气的威胁。木材和其他形式的纤维素，如棉花、纸板和纸，会释放出乙酸和甲酸。这些酸与贝壳表面发生反应，特别是在高湿度的条件下，将碳酸钙基质转化为醋酸钙和甲酸钙的白色晶体。这种破坏性的过程被称为拜恩氏病。拜恩氏病使贝壳的特征变得模糊和消失，如果不加以控制，可能会完全破坏标本。醋酸钙和甲酸钙是吸湿性的，这意味着它们从空气中吸收水分，这会加速疾病的进程。另一个威胁是玻璃病，这种疾病会影响保存大多数小样本的小瓶。用苏打和碳酸钾玻璃制成的旧瓶中的氧化钠和氧化钾也具有吸湿性。当玻璃从空气中吸收水和二氧化碳时，就会形成碳酸钠和碳酸钾，这两种物质都具有极强的吸湿性。持续的反应使玻璃变弱，并使玻璃变暗。碳酸盐溶液会导致骨膜变质，结合壳基质中的蛋白质，并且任何尸体在壳内都保持干燥。这种干燥的遗骸可能对DNA分析有用，需要保存。为了防止拜恩氏病和玻璃病，这些藏品将被重新安置在现代档案材料中。243个木质内部橱柜将被钢制橱柜取代，里面有铝制抽屉，32万个旧玻璃小瓶换成硼硅酸盐小瓶，棉花和软木塞换成聚乙烯塞，39万个无酸等价物的纸板托盘。这项工作的影响将是保存这些收藏品，以供未来的研究和教育。世界各地的科学家都在使用这个收藏。10年来，共出借标本445件，共4.7万件，确认利用馆藏资源的科学论文440多篇。在同一时期，一些研究生和博士后接受了他们的部分培训，与ANSP的软体动物馆长一起工作，超过1500人参观了收藏，其中包括358名专业研究人员，88名做论文研究的研究生，以及1000多名参与幕后参观的普通公众。标本也在博物馆的地板上展出，并借给当地学校教学。

A grant has been awarded to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia under the direction of Dr. G. Rosenberg to rehouse the mollusk collection, which are the oldest and second largest in the United States. Mollusks comprise the most diverse animal phylum after the arthropods, with more than 100,000 species, and are abundant in terrestrial, freshwater and marine habitats. Specimens in the collection document the diversity and distribution of mollusk species throughout the world and provide direct records of environmental change via chemicals incorporated in their shells. The collection consists of about 450,000 catalogued lots containing about 8 million specimens, with greatest strength in shallow-water marine mollusks from the tropical Indo-Pacific and Western Atlantic and worldwide freshwater and land mollusks, including many species now threatened, endangered or extinct. The collection contains 12,000 lots of type specimens from more than 400 researchers. Types are the specimens used in the naming of species; they serve as standards of comparison for confirming species identities. Specimens in the collection are threatened by acid vapors given off by the wooden interiors of the current storage cabinets. Wood and other forms of cellulose such as cotton, cardboard, and paper give off acetic and formic acid. These acids react with the surfaces of the shells, especially in conditions of high humidity, converting the calcium carbonate matrix to white crystals of calcium acetate and calcium formate. This destructive process is called Byne's disease. Byne's disease obscures and obliterates features of the shells and if left unchecked can completely destroy specimens. Calcium acetate and calcium formate are hygroscopic, meaning that they absorb moisture from air, which accelerates the process of the disease. Another threat is glass disease, a condition that affects the vials in which most of the smaller specimens are stored. Sodium and potassium oxides in older vials made of soda and potash glass are also hygroscopic. As the glass absorbs water and carbon dioxide from air, sodium and potassium carbonates form, both of which are extremely hygroscopic. The continuing reaction weakens and clouds the glass. The carbonate solution can cause deterioration of the periostracum, binding proteins within the shell matrix, and any body remains dried within the shells. Such dried remains are potentially useful for DNA analysis and need to be preserved. To safeguard against Byne's and glass disease, the collection will be rehoused in modern archival materials. The 243 wooden-interior cabinets will be replaced with steel cabinets containing aluminum drawers, 320,000 old glass vials with borosilicate vials, cotton and cork stoppers with polyethylene stoppers, and 390,000 cardboard trays with acid-free equivalents. The impact of this work will be to preserve the collection for future research and education. The collection is used by scientists throughout the world. In the past 10 years, 445 loans totaling 47,000 specimens have been made, and more than 440 scientific articles have acknowledged use of collection resources. In that same period, several graduate students and post-doctoral students have received part of their training working with ANSP's curators of mollusks, and more than 1500 people have visited the collection, including 358 professional researchers, 88 graduate students doing thesis research, and more than 1000 members of the general public who participated in behind-the-scenes tours. Specimens are also exhibited on the floor of the museum and are loaned to local schools for teaching.