GENMSC-L Archives

From: "" <>
Subject: Re: Shaving Creme & Tombstones
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 1996 20:00:57 -0500

(Edward Shaw) writes:

>I sincerely hope that those who discourage the use of shaving cream to gently
cleanse the surface of tombstones
>haven't forgotten the very purpose of tombstones in the first place ... to
identify and commemorate those interned.
>Of my ancestral lines, a number of very ancient and lichen-infested stones
were made ... at least ... readable. And,
>what's more, the stone is likely to last so very much longer. The acid rains
falling today upon the ancient stones
>are doing far more damage. Would that there were teams of volunteers out to
cleanse away the acidic compounds
>periodically. Understand now, no one advocates teams of well-intentioned but
untrained scrubbers and raspers who
>well might do damage. Instead, get some professional advice from an
experienced chemist or archaeologist. The
>information upon those stones is not of so much interest to the general
passerby as to the decendants therefrom.

That is JUST where the warning against the use of shaving cream came from
- an experienced geologist with a chemical background. His point was
that the use of shaving cream is not all that gentle to the stone.

PEter Zavon
Penfield, NY

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