[Nhcoll-l] Identification of preservation fluid

Tue Oct 20 12:28:02 EDT 2015

The only way to reliably determine what preservative fluid was used for the
specimen is to have a sample analyzed by a chemist. You might try
contacting an area college or university chemistry department to ask if a
student could take this on as a project.

I would not eliminate formaldehyde as a possibility--the fluid is most
likely to be ethanol, but could also be isopropanol, formaldehyde, or a
more complex mixture of chemicals. It is not likely (but it is possible) to
be an ethylene glycol based solution--glycols usually become cloudy over
time. It is far more likely to be denatured alcohol or a denatured
alcohol-based mixture.

Another option would be to drill a small hole in the top of the cube,
siphon out all of the fluid, and replace it with 70% alcohol, or remove the
specimen entirely from the cube and rehouse it in a good glass container in
alcohol.  As Dries van Dam and his associates demonstrated some years ago,
plexiglas containers will always loose fluid over time:

van Dam, A.J., J.P. M. van der Ploeg, G.J. M. Koper and D. Bedeaux. 2000.
The warping and cracking of Plexiglas™ specimen containers. *Collection
Forum* 14(1-2):47-56.

--John

John E. Simmons
Museologica
128 E. Burnside Street
Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
simmons.johne at gmail.com
303-681-5708
www.museologica.com
and
Adjunct Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
University Park, Pennsylvania
and
Instructor, Museum Studies
School of Library and Information Science
Kent State University
and
Lecturer in Art
Juniata College
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania

On Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 12:09 PM, David Dyer <DDyer at ohiohistory.org> wrote:

> I’ve read the interesting discussions on this list about how to
> distinguish formalin from ethyl alcohol solutions, but what is the best way
> to distinguish an unknown fluid? We’re working with a local science museum
> to help them preserve a specimen of a human heart. It’s in a square, sealed
> plexiglass container, so I’m guessing it’s a relatively recent specimen
> (thus probably not in formalin?). About one-third of the liquid has
> evaporated and the heart is beginning to be exposed to the air. I’ve seen
> photos of other heart specimens in similar containers, so I’m suspecting
> that they may have been produced by a commercial company for exhibits and
> teaching. Is it possible that the fluid could be one of the proprietary
> preservatives, such as ethylene glycol? Any way to distinguish between
> these and alcohol/formalin (other than the “sniff test”!)? Thanks for any
> advice!
>
>
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> ==========================================================
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