[Nhcoll-l] Information about fluid collections

Wed Aug 16 10:52:47 EDT 2017

Juliette,
You have asked a very interesting question. I agree with the responses from
my colleagues concerning the caution about osmotic pressure and the kinds
of specimens involved. Could you please tell us (1) what kinds of specimens
are in the collection (marine invertebrates or vertebrates, fresh water or
terrestrial invertebrates or vertebrates?) and (2) the reason why you are
considering changing the preserving to Kaiserling? Kaiserling has been
mostly used for anatomical specimens in an attempt to preserve the color of
the tissues, and as far as I know it has not been used on a very wide
variety of natural history specimens.

Sincerely,
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

On Wed, Aug 16, 2017 at 9:09 AM, Dirk Neumann <dirk.neumann at zsm.mwn.de>
wrote:

> Dear Simon,
> dear Galpin,
>
> the baseline for changing the holding fluid is: Do not change, unless
> there is a good reason to do so.
>
> From a collection care point of view, fire protection or toxicity problems
> - for me - would not be a proper reason if in the long run the new
> condition would harm the integrity of the specimen.
>
> Also, because of the acidity, I would refrain of changing the fluid unless
> there is a real good reason to do so (maybe part of the collection, or
> specific specimens from a lot containing several specimens for a specific
> research purpose).
>
> Btw:
> Mahoney (1973) Laboratory Techniques in Zoology gives the following
> recipes (Pick-Judah formula)
> (Simon, please comment if this wouldn't make sense)
>
> KI (fixative)
> Potassium acetate      42.5g
> Potassium nitrate        22.5g
> Distilled water               1.6 L
> 40% formalin solution 400ml (full strength)
>
> Salt are dissolved in hot water, formalin is added to the cooled solution
>
> KII (colour reviver)
> EtOH      96 %
>
> KIII (perservative)
> Sodium      acetate      36.0g
> Distilled water          120.0ml
> Camphor                      5.0ml (4% EtOH solution)
> Glycerol                        72ml
>
> (The solution is made by adding the ingredients in the order given. At
> first, the camphor is thrown out of solution but redissolves on allowing
> the solution to stand)
>
> All the best
> Dirk
>
>
>
> Am 16.08.2017 um 13:19 schrieb 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 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
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.natural-2Dhistory-2Dconservation.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=cjytLXgP8ixuoHflwc-poQ&r=LpYc_Z_iN1KRw0hheb3x6-8MJUMu482qfHowpGYJqwc&m=MxsNB9i59J38j_fgIMI_hJkw5F2sMUmH0Nl7mDt2jiY&s=Q68m7UHxI0JOb8NE7fTQh74O6YrzMiczUotWcxiwwDk&e=>
>
>
>
>
>
> 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
> Tél. : 02 35 54 75 89 / 02.32.74.79.90
>
>
>
>
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