Although the podium building is inconspicuous, its interior decoration and facilities are more upscale than those of the main building. In order to ensure that the interior is cool, it not only has thickened exterior wall insulation like the main building, but also specially installed an underground air energy circulation refrigeration system. Whether it is
Whether it's hot summer or "cold winter", the temperature here can always be maintained at a suitable state.
To facilitate keeping clean, the walls and floors are paved with ceramic tiles, and a small ammonia-refrigerated cold storage is installed in the basement to freeze and refrigerate certain specimens.
Sonia showed her pass to the guard at the entrance, and then went to the locker room to change into a white coat, a hat, a mask, and a pair of indoor loafers. This was to prevent the infection of bacteria or viruses carried by the specimen.
There is no exhibition hall in the podium, all are warehouses and workshops of different sizes connected by corridors. Sonia felt a chill as soon as she walked in. Unlike the busy exhibition hall, there were almost no people here.
She came to a specimen library on the first floor, where specimens "pending review" that had been transferred from various places were placed.
Several "apprentices" were busy working around the table in the specimen library. Specimens wrapped in paper bags filled the floor and shelves.
"Teacher Suo!" As soon as she entered, one of her "apprentices" came over to greet her, "You are here. There are too many specimens to be decided - we can't even make up our minds."
"Hello, Dawen."
This female "apprentice" is named Ju Wenjing. With Sonia's Chinese proficiency, it is a bit difficult for her to correctly read "Ju" and "Jing", so she simplified it and called her the simplest "Da Wen".
Because she had another female apprentice named Ju Wenyi, she was called "Xiao Wen".
Naturally, they didn't call her Sonia or the more lengthy Sonia Lili Sharpe, but simply called her "Teacher Suo".
There were also several apprentices of other senators present. One of the apprentices made Sonia's heart beat faster when she saw it - she had never seen such a handsome man. A beautiful boy from the Caucasus mountains, his name was Asavi Om.
Xi Yang and Cui Yunhong should just call Cui Xi if they find it difficult to speak.
Cui Xi came to Lingao almost at the same time as Sonia. As soon as he appeared, he caused a sensation among the elders. The effect was probably no less than that of Sonia back then. Even the male elders had to admit the handsomeness of this young man. It is said that Zhang Daochang
Later, when I heard about this, I also showed a look of unwillingness.
Although Cui Yunhong loved him very much, his social status was quite embarrassing. After careful consideration, Cui Yunhong decided to send him to study natural history painting, so that he could at least establish certain connections in the exploration department. So Cui Xi became
Valentina's classmate.
Cui Xi himself was not embarrassed by his identity, but was actually a little happy. Later, people learned that he had been spotted by slave traders and was going to be castrated as a eunuch and sold to the nobles of Ottoman Turkey. Now Asavi Aum
At least Xiyang can still exist in the form of a man. When he grows a beard and his figure is not so handsome, the master will naturally release him - according to the custom of many countries in the Middle East, the male pet of a big shot has
It is very likely that you will be promoted to a prominent position such as general or minister.
At this moment, this Caucasian boy was sitting in front of several glass jars, using a sketchbook to draw something carefully. This boy had a good talent for painting. Trini praised him greatly and thought that if he could cultivate it well, he could do it.
Become a professional artist.
Sonia followed Ju Wenjing to the table, where several specimens were placed. Even though she was wearing a mask, a putrid smell still hit her nostrils.
All taxidermied specimens transferred here must be stored in an ammonia refrigeration cold storage at minus 20 degrees in the basement for 72 hours of ultra-low temperature cooling before entering the specimen library to kill bugs and eggs that may be present on the specimens and curb the spread of bacteria.
bred and then sent here for testing.
At this moment, the closest thing to her was the specimen of a python. This was a smaller python, about two meters long, lying recumbently on a tree trunk. There were obvious signs of decay on the python skin, and it was even worse in many places.
There were large and small holes eaten by insects, and the straw used as filler was exposed from these and turned black.
Sonia picked up a bamboo probing stick and poked the specimen gently. A hole was immediately made in the python skin. She shook her head: "It's useless." She stamped "Destroy" on the card.
red seal.
The next item was a mustelid. Sonia could tell at a glance that it was the Hainan Green Weasel, which is unique to Hainan Island. She was also present when it was collected in Wanning. At that time, she was still worried about collecting this new subspecies unique to Hainan Island.
Very happy.
However, there were a lot of mold plaques on this Hainan Green Weasel specimen. In some places, the hair had completely fallen off, and the skin also showed signs of cracking. It was obviously poorly preserved. Sonia sighed, because the Hainan Green Weasel was very
It is rare and only lives in large forests. To collect it, you have to go deep into the mountainous areas in the heart of Hainan Island.
At present, there are still certain risks in entering the mountainous areas of Hainan Island. In the past, every time the expedition team entered the mountainous areas, they were escorted by the Limiao and Miao Mountain Troops. It can be said that they mobilized troops and mobilized a large number of people.
The green weasel has a cautious and hidden habit and is good at climbing trees. It is the species of the southern weasel family that likes to climb trees the most. The population is not large and is rarely encountered during inspections. You have to try your luck to collect it.
She changed to a bamboo probing stick and tested it. She felt that the skin was well preserved and still had elasticity. No signs of decay were found. As long as the mold stains could be removed, it was still possible to repair it. It was better to save and repair it as much as possible. After all,
It’s not easy to collect even once.
"Keep this one, it should be okay if you repair it again."
The next specimen was a giant: a swordfish. This was a swordfish caught by the navy's fishing team from Sanya a few years ago. The specimen was about 4.5 meters long. Wang Luobin, who was in Sanya at the time, realized that this swordfish could be used as a specimen, so he
The fish skin and fins were completely peeled off and then stored in ice cubes and sent to Lingao to make specimens.
This specimen is generally complete and has no mold spots, but it is full of dust. The fish skin is cracked, broken and peeled off visible to the naked eye, and the fish bones are poked out in some places. However, when touched, it is found that the fish skin is generally intact.
, and there are no signs of rot or insect infestation. The fish can continue to be displayed after simple repairs.
"This fish has the least problem." Sonia said to her apprentice as she looked around. "Most specimens that have been stored for too long will have similar problems. The reason is simply that the skin is affected by changes in dryness and humidity in the environment.
Repeated shrinkage and expansion will eventually lead to the skin being cracked and damaged. The texture of the skin of the taxidermied specimen will become thin and brittle. After drying, the tensile force of the skin of the specimen becomes larger, lacking the toughness of the living animal skin, and will occur after repeated dry and wet changes.
Cracks, fractures, shedding, etc., cause the skin to deform, lose color, and overflow the filling. Look here -" she pointed to a cracked place in the fish skin with a probing stick, "there is obvious deformation here. First there is deformation,
Then come the cracks. If repaired as soon as possible, these cracks can quickly expand and cause further insect infestation or mold."
Da Wen and Xiao Wen nodded together.
"...So it is the easiest for us to repair it - as long as the skin is not weathered or rotten, it can still be repaired. We will repair this swordfish together in a moment."
The overall condition of the taxidermied specimens was not ideal, which was also expected by Sonia. She had visited both the herbarium in Fangcaodi and the herbarium of the exploration team, and the conditions were very poor. Something was definitely wrong.
The situation of soaked specimens is better than not. Although there was no formalin in the early years, the specimens of small animals, plants and insects soaked in high-concentration alcohol at that time were generally in good condition, and most of them did not decay and fall apart. The only problem is
The alcohol in early specimens has begun to turn yellow and turbid, and theoretically needs to be replaced.
As for dried and wax specimens, the situation is all kinds of strange. There are some that are well preserved, with flowers and leaves intact in color, and some that are dry and shriveled, turning into pieces when touched. There are also some that have become moldy and deteriorated. Some are in whole boxes.
Although the packaging of the insect specimens was intact and even the sealing wax was not damaged, the inside was already broken and falling apart.
The best preserved ones are the bones and preserved specimens sent from Bairen General Hospital. On the one hand, the doctors are more rigorous when making specimens and would rather not make them if the conditions are not met; on the other hand, their preservation conditions
It's much better than Fangcaodi.
For the "apprentices", it was mostly their first time to observe various parts and skeletons of the human body at close range. The visual and conceptual impact was naturally very strong, and some timid people did not even dare to look at it at first.
It was only with the encouragement of the elders that I dared to approach.
In comparison, Sonia is more accustomed to this kind of collection - this kind of collection is very common in Europe. In particular, various "abnormal fetuses" or soaked specimens or skeletons of deformed people can often be sold at high prices and are regarded by collectors as a kind of treasure.
Show off "wealth".
However, the Australians are obviously not too interested in collecting "abnormal" things. Most of the items handed over are preserved specimens of human organs or diseased tissues.
These specimens are well-made and soaked in high-purity alcohol or formalin. Most of them are in good preservation condition, and only a few have tissue dispersion or liquid discoloration, so they can be ignored for the time being.
While reading, Sonia stamped the card, dictating the relevant information and comments and writing down notes. She estimated that about half of the damaged specimens could be repaired, but the staff at the Natural History Museum were too
If there is less, if the elders don't come to help, only she and two "apprentices" can do it, then she doesn't know how long it will take to repair it. There are still a bunch of animal specimens waiting to be made in the basement.