<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">Simon Moore can correct me if I am
wrong, but my guess is that the “triple fix” refers to what was commonly known
as FAA, an attempt to make a “universal fixative” or a “universal killing and
fixing agent.” <span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">There were many variations of the
formula promoted by botanists and zoologists, each involving differing amounts
of formaldehyde, acetic acid, and alcohol. The idea was that you could use this
solution to fix and preserve tissues at the same time in the field, and some
authors even recommended using it as a long-term fixative. However, Dempster (1960:69)
cautioned that chemically, it does not work, because “the fixing reagents in a
mixture do not penetrate the tissue <i>en masse</i>, but… each reagent
penetrates tissue in a characteristic sequence.” FAA was mentioned in at least
one edition of the Kew <i>The Herbarium Handbook</i> with the warning that it “makes
specimens brittle” (Forman and Bridson 1989:72)<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">The exact formulas varied from one
author to another. A fairly typical mixture was 6.5 cc formaldehyde, 2.5 cc
glacial acetic acid, and 100 cc of 50% alcohol; another version of FAA was 90
parts ethanol, 5 parts glacial acetic acid, and 5 parts formalin. In the UK, it
was typically formaldehyde, industrial methylated spirit (which is a form of
denatured ethanol), and acetic acid.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">I have listed as many variations
of the formula as I could find in Table 1 of <i>Fluid Preservation: A Comprehensive
Reference</i> (2014), along with a reference to their publication.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>
</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span>[Dempster, W. T. 1960. Rates of penetration of fixing fluids. <i>American
Journal of Anatomy, </i>107:59–72]</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:normal;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span><br><i><span></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">--John</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><br><span></span></p>
</div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">John E. Simmons<br>Writer and Museum Consultant</span></font></div><div dir="ltr"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">Museologica<br><i>and</i><br>Associate Curator of Collections<br>Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery<br>Penn State University<br><i>and</i><br>Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia<br>Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima</span></font><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Jan 20, 2023 at 11:13 AM Claire Smith <<a href="mailto:c.e.smith@pgr.reading.ac.uk">c.e.smith@pgr.reading.ac.uk</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div class="msg-242569607006548727">
<div style="overflow-wrap: break-word;" lang="EN-GB">
<div class="m_-242569607006548727WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal">Hi everyone, <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One of our students has come across a fluid specimen in our teaching collection that is preserved in “Triple Fix” – does anybody know what that is?
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Many thanks for your help, <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Claire <u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">*******<span><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Claire Smith </b>(she/her)<b><u></u><u></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Graduate Teaching Assistant & PhD Candidate, Cole Museum of Zoology</b>
<br>
<span style="color:rgb(0,112,192)"><a href="mailto:c.e.smith@pgr.reading.ac.uk" target="_blank">c.e.smith@pgr.reading.ac.uk</a>
<br>
<a href="mailto:claire.smith@reading.ac.uk" target="_blank">claire.smith@reading.ac.uk</a> <br>
<a href="http://www.twitter.com/wetconservatrix" target="_blank">www.twitter.com/wetconservatrix</a></span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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