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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Hi Megan,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I like Dries’ idea of using floatation of a piece of paper for distinguishing ethanol rich solutions from more water-based solutions – seems very elegant. Still, this test does may not exactly respond to the question you put forward. The test method you adopt may depend on how you want a solution that is (for example) 3% formalin and 50% ethanol to be identified. The paper sinking test would (I suspect) lead to this being identified as an ethanol solution. If you would prefer this to be identified as a formalin solution then you need to employ a test based on the positive identification of formaldehyde.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>As Elizabeth says, a problem for distinguishing ethanol from formalin solutions is that residual formalin from fixation will make many ethanol solutions test positive for formaldehyde if sensitive tests are applied. Don McAllister and I developed a test strip for distinguishing formalin from ethanol solutions that we deliberately made less sensitive to avoid that problem.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>It has been published as:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Robert Waller and D.E. McAllister. A spot test for distinguishing formalin from alcohol solutions. Proceedings of the 1985 Workshop on the Care and Maintenance of Natural History Collections, J. Waddington and D.M. Rudkin, Eds., 93 99, 1986.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><u><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>and</span></u><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> Curator 30(3), 240-249, 1987.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Rob<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <a href="mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu">nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu</a> [<a href="mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu">mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Dietrich, Elizabeth<br><b>Sent:</b> March 6, 2014 9:32 AM<br><b>To:</b> 'Best, Megan'; <br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Nhcoll-l] Telling formalin from ethanol<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Something to keep in mind-</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Based on our sampling, by chemical analysis, of fluids in tanks of preserved animals, if the animals were fixed or previously preserved in formalin there will always be a significant amount present in the alcohol. By significant, I don’t mean by quantity but as a hazard. I would caution against doing much sniff testing.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'> </span><o:p></o:p></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> <a href="mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu">nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu</a> [<a href="mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu">mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Best, Megan<br><b>Sent:</b> Thursday, March 06, 2014 9:03 AM<br><b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu">nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu</a><br><b>Subject:</b> [Nhcoll-l] Telling formalin from ethanol</span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p><p><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Hello all,</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>I’ve been benefitting from the conversations on this listserv for some time now,</span><span lang=EN-CA> </span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>really fascinating and useful stuff.</span><span lang=EN-CA> </span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> I manage a research collection, mostly of marine invertebrates, and I have a question:</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Is there an easy way to tell if</span><span lang=EN-CA> </span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>a fixative is formalin or ethanol? </span><span lang=EN-CA> </span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Aside from the smell test!</span><span lang=EN-CA> </span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> I’m looking to organise</span><span lang=EN-CA> </span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>hundreds of jars from various benthic surveys, and we want to switch out anything that’s in formalin to ethanol. The formalin is buffered so I don’t think a pH difference would be a strong indicator. Any ideas/advice would be appreciated.</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>-Megan</span><o:p></o:p></p><p><b><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:green'>Megan Best</span></b><span lang=EN-CA style='font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><br><span style='color:green'>Invertebrate Taxonomy</span><br></span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:green'>tel: 902.426.2791 email: <a href="mailto:megan.best@dfo-mpo.gc.ca">megan.best@dfo-mpo.gc.ca</a></span><span lang=EN-CA><br></span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:green'>Ocean and Ecosystem Sciences Division | Division des sciences de l'écosystème et de la mer</span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><br><span style='color:green'>Department of Fisheries and Oceans | Ministère des Pêches et Oceans</span></span><span lang=EN-CA><br></span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:green'>Government of Canada | Government du Canada</span><span lang=EN-CA><br></span><span lang=EN-CA style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:green'>Bedford Institute of Oceanography | Institut Océanographique de Bedford</span><o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>