<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">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. <br><br>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.<br><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">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:<br>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:0.5in"><font size="2"><span>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.
<i>Collection Forum</i> 14(1-2):47-56. </span></font></p><font size="2">
</font><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)">--John<br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">John E. Simmons<br>Museologica<br>128 E. Burnside Street<br>Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010<br><a href="mailto:simmons.johne@gmail.com" target="_blank">simmons.johne@gmail.com</a><br>303-681-5708<br><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.museologica.com&d=AwMFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=brRklH32nSwCVHIuySxJT2TKgUAT8EURHcxLxyCqOu0&s=cE-vHqmsrBXcgq55GfMMrL1K5GgQkzzKejZakMmWqAg&e=" target="_blank">www.museologica.com</a><br>and<br>Adjunct Curator of Collections<br>Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery<br>Penn State University<br>University Park, Pennsylvania<br>and<br>Instructor, Museum Studies<br>School of Library and Information Science<br>Kent State University<br>and<br>Lecturer in Art<br>Juniata College<br>Huntingdon, Pennsylvania<br></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Oct 20, 2015 at 12:09 PM, David Dyer <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:DDyer@ohiohistory.org" target="_blank">DDyer@ohiohistory.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal">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!<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Dave<u></u><u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">==========================================================<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>David L. Dyer / Curator of Natural History</b>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Ohio History Connection / 800 East 17<sup>th</sup> Ave. Columbus, Ohio 43211
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