Byne was convinced that butyric acid was present together with calcium acetate in the affected shells, although he never really described the methods he used in the so-called "extensive chemical tests" he claimed to have applied to these specimens.
The true nature of the "disease" was partially clarified in 1934, when the British government chemist John Ralph Nicholls explained that oak cabinets at the Natural History Museum in London were giving off acetic acid fumes, which were attacking the shells stored in them [REF].