They were an elite class, well educated and wealthy. If you are thinking that the specimens brought back to New England by ordinary sailors would have escaped this fate, bear in mind that most of these objects were exposed to the acid fumes of wood-burning heaters and open fireplaces typical of the period. I favor the use of the many available systems of linking, acrylic-base, plastic drawers, sold under tradenames like Lucite, Plexiglass and Perspex. These variable cabinet components are available worldwide. In any specific system, the drawer units have a constant depth, but vary greatly in width and height, based on multiples of a specific factor.
Thin separators are available to compartmentalize each drawer, as are nameplates for the front face.
All climates in which the hot and wet seasons coincide. This type of shell erosion prompted the previous paper on the subject. These devices are usually quite reasonable in cost and available in the areas where this dew effect exists. The only problem is that the built-in switch turns the device on when the air temperature starts to rise, and off before it drops to the minimum, so the cycle will operate several hours earlier than is optimum for our purpose. To overcome this, you may have to bypass this switch and use an ordinary external timer, set to start about 1600 and to run for three or four hours.