[Nhcoll-l] Information about fluid collections

[Peter Rauch]

Hi Juliette,

I know nothing about what possibilities/options exist for transferring your
collection. Others have provided many suggestions.  But what is common
among their responses is that they too do not know the full character and
magnitude of the problem you may be faced with.

Below is the only information I've been able to glean from your two emails
describing the (portion of the?) collection that is in liquid which may
need some manner of conditioning at some point before, during, and/or after
moving it to new storage facility, itself hitherto of undescribed
construction and features.

"Many organisms"? What about number of containers --hundreds, thousands,
more? How many containers of each type of organism; each type of fluid
perservative? What's the ratio of fluid volumes to specimen volumes (e.g.,
lots of fluid for a specimen, or are specimens packed tightly into the
containers with not much preservative fluid)?

Why are the fluids evaporating? (E.g., will the containers themselves need
to be changed even if you weren't to replace the preservative fluids in
them, entailing perhaps even more handling of the specimens? I assume that
the "new storage" you indicate is referring to a new facility/building, and
not new specimen containers.)

"Many marine specimens", but in proportion relative to the kinds of
preservatives each kind is preserved in, are most containers "Alcool",
"Ethanol" (and, are you making a distinction between alcool and ethanol)?

But then you also indicate that you do not know in what fluids the
specimens are currently preserved.

Does the " compulsory from our guardianship and funders " condition really
require "no evaporation of products", or does it require that any such
evaporations be safely management (e.g., captured, disposed of)? Does it
really require "no flammable or toxic products allowed", or does it require
that such products be managed with some practicable degree of safety?

What might be useful answers for a few containers, may be useless for a
very large number of containers. Ditto with respect to the absolute and
relative numbers of each type of organisms being preserved.

Peter

[Excerpts of emails from J. Galpin]

"I’m in charge of all the scientific collection in the Natural History
Museum of Le Havre, in France.

"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.

"Actually, the collection needs to be moved into safer fluids, for its own
conservation (the fluids are evaporating), and because it will be moved to
a new storage, that need to match new standards (no flammable or toxic
products allowed, no evaporation of products, keeping the possibility of
studying DNA, etc.).

"... we have many marine organisms like fishes, shellfishes, cnidarians,
sponges, ascidians, and so on... But we also have mammals, reptilians and
amphibians for instance.

"And we don’t know in which fluid the collections are currently preserved,
neither the way they were fixed.


[Full text of emails from J. Galpin]

>
>
> On 18 Aug 2017, at 08:50, Galpin Juliette <juliette.galpin at lehavre.fr>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi Everybody,
>
>
>
> Thank you all for answering me so quickly !
>
>
>
> Actually, the collection needs to be moved into safer fluids, for its own
> conservation (the fluids are evaporating), and because it will be moved to
> a new storage, that need to match new standards (no flammable or toxic
> products allowed, no evaporation of products, keeping the possibility of
> studying DNA, etc.). It is compulsory from our guardianship and funders of
> our new storage location. And Kaiserling seemed like a good idea, because
> it matches all these constraints. But I completely understand all the
> reservations you have regarding this operation and the harm it could do to
> specimens. That is why I need all the help possible to do this operation,
> keeping the risks to a minimum.
>
>
>
> Simon, you assumed well, we have many marine organisms like fishes,
> shellfishes, cnidarians, sponges, ascidians, and so on... But we also have
> mammals, reptilians and amphibians for instance. Will Kaiserling be fine
> for these specimens too ? Do they need more precautions ?
>
>
>
> How could I do to avoid having these bubbles due to changing in osmotic
> pressure ? I don’t know how to measure this osmotic pressure and watch out
> for its changeover… And we don’t know in which fluid the collections are
> currently preserved, neither the way they were fixed.
>
>
>
> Could you help me set the better process to do this changeover with all
> precautions needed please ? For a changeover into ethanol, I’ve seen that
> the specimens must have been adapted to their new fluid by successive baths
> of ethanol at different concentrations. Do I have to follow the same
> process with Kaiserling ?
>
>
>
> I will only use the preservative fluid, because all the specimens have
> already been fixed (I guess).
>
> For the formula of the preservative solution, I’ve found that it is 900g
> Potassium acetate ; 6L Water ; 3,6L glycerol ; and some thymol. What are
> the good proportions for the mixture then ?! Thank for the recipe and the
> way to do it, but is it the same with thymol than with camphor ?
>
>
>
> Again, thank you very much to all of you for helping me to implement this
> delicate operation.
>
> Kind regards.
>
>
>
> Juliette Galpin
>
>
>
> 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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