1) Correction, read "or an e-book" for "on an e-book." 2) I am pretty sure I heard this on public radio while driving home two or more years ago. The specific topic was second thoughts on an initiative by some libraries to put books on microfilm, then purge the originals from their collection (as a space saving project). Could not tell you the name of the speaker, but he had been an advocate of purging hard copies, and the vinegar incident helped him rethink it. 3) The vinegar idea sounds strange enough that the researcher may have thought it up after sniffing enough mold spores, and actually ended up believing it. -----Original Message----- From: Greg Newby <gbnewby@pglaf.org> Sent: Oct 15, 2004 2:51 PM To: Project Gutenberg Volunteer Discussion <gutvol-d@lists.pglaf.org> Subject: Re: [gutvol-d] I'm sorry but I don't get it... On Fri, Oct 15, 2004 at 11:05:22AM -0700, Joel A. Erickson wrote:
From: "Dennis McCarthy":
I once heard a researcher talk about a man he found smelling manuscripts in a library. A conversation started where the man explained he was trying to trace diseases in European towns. A vinegar spray was apparently used at one time as an attempted disinfectant when papers where transfered between infected and uninfected areas. You shall never get a reproduced smell from microfilm, a page scan, on an e-book.
Is that "on an e-book" intended to be "or an e-book." If so, I'm not so sure about never being able to reproduce the smell. Not that I'm particularly keen on smelling books, but I've heard of working prototypes of scent devices activated digitally.
I do not know if there is an online source for this story, but have seen a printed copy and believe it is legimate. The story is that old books can develop mold or fungus. Sometimes this can be very light, and it might be between the pages (not just on the cover). Any preservation librarian can verify this fact. The interesting part is that the molds or fungi (or spores) have demonstrated psychoactive properties. In short, sniffing old books can get you high and/or cause hallucination. -- Greg _______________________________________________ gutvol-d mailing list gutvol-d@lists.pglaf.org http://lists.pglaf.org/listinfo.cgi/gutvol-d --------------------------- Dennis McCarthy nihil_obstat@mindspring.com