[Nhcoll-l] Information about fluid collections

[Simon Moore]

Hi Juliette,

No problem about getting in touch.

You mention re-packing a collection.  Is this collection to be moved or stored or did you mean that is needs to be moved into safer fluids?  The latter is indicative of a move for museums with such collections to be rid of fluids that are flammable and/or toxic.

There are various concerns about this as the condition of the specimens is what should be the real issue here.  As you are based at LeHavre I am assuming that you should have many marine organisms in fluids?  For many such organisms a move to Kaiserling III will be fine but you have to bear in mind that the osmotic pressure of KIII is considerably different to that of ethanol, even formalin.  For delicate organisms (medusae, siphonophores) this changeover has to be carried out very carefully or you will end up with air bubbles inside them that appear when binary/tertiary azeotropes are used - miscible fluids of different specific gravities.  You also need to bear in mind that Kaiserling’s technique was devised mainly for anatomy specimens as the preservative is good for maintaining the colour of blood and organs that filter it (liver, kidney).  I have successfully colour-preserved marine organisms that were freshly collected and using the 3 stage technique - fixation, colour enhancement and preservation.
All of this may sound rather negative but I am just warning you to be careful with the changeover.  I would also post the enquiry onto the conservation forum: nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu <mailto:nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu> to see if anyone else is doing this and to see if they have any concerns.

The formula for the Kaiserling method is: Kaiserling I (fixative): 40% formaldehyde (400) [tlv 3], potassium acetate (50 g), potas­sium nitrate (30 g), distilled water (1000).
Kaiserling II (enhancer/colour restorer): 80-90% ethanol. Use until colour returns if it has chemically ‘faded’ in fixative – may be minutes for smaller specimens. Some like to add some potassium hydrosulphite if being stored for more than a few days.

Kaiserling III (preservative): Potassium acetate (200g), glycerol (300), distilled water (900).


With all good wishes, Simon.

Simon Moore MIScT, RSci, FLS, ACR
Conservator of Natural Sciences and Cutlery Historian,
www.natural-history-conservation.com 




> On 16 Aug 2017, at 10:37, Galpin Juliette <juliette.galpin at lehavre.fr> wrote:
> 
> Hello, 
>  
> My name is Juliette Galpin and I’m in charge of all the scientific collection in the Natural History Museum of Le Havre, in France.
> I’m following the advice of Judith White, in Natural History Museum, who told me to get in touch with you. Hope you won’t mind.
>  
> We have a collection which is maintained in fluids, and we want to repack it. The specimens are currently in liquid as Alcool, Ethanol and a bit of Formol. And we wish to recondition it in Kaiserling III, which is a mixture of glycerin and acetate of potassium without any formol. I don’t know if you know, or use, this liquid.
> I’ve found some of your papers about collections in fluids, but there is few literature about Kaiserling precisely, and I don’t really know how to create this liquid correctly.
> Do you know this product, or someone who might know and use it, or maybe know the process to adapt the specimens to their new conservation fluid ?
>  
> Thank you very much for your answer and all the help you can provide me,
>  
> Regards.
> Juliette Galpin
> <image001.jpg>
> Juliette GALPIN
> In charge of Natural history Collections
> Natural history Museum
> Ville du Havre
> juliette.galpin at lehavre.fr <mailto:juliette.galpin at lehavre.fr>
> Tél. : 02 35 54 75 89 / 02.32.74.79.90

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