[Nhcoll-l] Use of denatured ethanol for short term storage of molecular samples

Fri Apr 19 23:01:46 EDT 2019

There are lots of stories, few confirmed. Rum on board ship was very
valuable as the sailors had a rum allotment by navy regulations, so I doubt
that it was used for preservation of human bodies very often (particularly
given the navy custom of burial at sea). The case of Lord Nelson was
unusual enough that the attending surgeon who did the preservation wrote a
book about it, which is online:
https://archive.org/details/authenticnarrati00beat/page/n5

According to press reports at the time, people were amazed at how good the
admiral looked at the funeral, probably because they were not used to
seeing bodies preserved in alcohol (due to the expense of the alcohol, it
was rare).

The surgeon used brandy because it had a higher alcohol content than rum,
and was criticized in the British press for not using rum which was widely
thought to be a superior preservative (it was not, it was merely more
common and less expensive). There are several claims that "tapping the
admiral" and other phrases derived from the preservation of Lord Nelson,
but I have never seen a reliable source that says the phrases were used. I
expect they were, as the story sounds reasonable.

One of the factors that allowed Nelson to be preserved was that he was not
a very large person and fit easily into the barrel. A guard was mounted on
the deck, either out of respect of the admiral or to keep the sailors from
trying to tap the keg, or both (depends on who's story you read). There is
also a story that the body turned over one night in the barrel due to the
formation of gas in the intestines, which were not well preserved, and that
a rumor went around the ship that the admiral was alive inside the barrel.
But the only reliable account of the whole thing we have is Beatty's book,
which is worth reading:
https://archive.org/details/authenticnarrati00beat/page/62

Its a great story any way you look at it!

John E. Simmons
Writer and Museum Consultant
Museologica
*and*
Associate Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
*and*
Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima

On Fri, Apr 19, 2019 at 10:38 PM Callomon,Paul <prc44 at drexel.edu> wrote:

> Many senior but dead Royal Naval officers were pickled in rum for the trip
> home, and many arrived in bad shape as the lower ranks had surreptitiously
> siphoned it off and replaced it with water. I believe there was actually a
> term for this.
>
>
> PC
>
>
>
> *Paul Callomon*
> *Collection Manager, Malacology and General Invertebrates*
> ------------------------------
> *Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, Philadelphia*
> *callomon at ansp.org <callomon at ansp.org> Tel 215-405-5096 - Fax 215-299-1170*
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Nhcoll-l <nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu> on behalf of John E
> Simmons <simmons.johne at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* Friday, April 19, 2019 10:07 PM
> *To:* Peter H Wimberger
> *Cc:* nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Use of denatured ethanol for short term storage
> of molecular samples
>
>
> *Caution: This message came from outside of Drexel.* *Do not click links
> or attachments* unless you *expected* this email.
> You can preserve things in almost any strong liquor. Historically, rum was
> often used and somewhat more famously, Admiral Lord Nelson was preserved in
> brandy after he was killed at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. I have used
> aguardiente for preserveration several times in Latin America.
>
> Particularly for DNA samples, buy the purest, strongest alcohol you can.
> Everclear sold in the US is good. Depending on which state you buy it in,
> it may be as high as 190 proof (95%), 151 proof (75.5%), or 120 proof
> (670%). As far as I have been able to determine, it does not have any
> additives to it (it is distilled from grain). Avoid anything with coloring
> in it and gin (which is loaded with botanical ingredients) if possible. If
> you can't get Everclear, get a grain-based vodka without any flavoring in
> it. If using low proof (below 190) with a low ratio of fluid-to-tissue, I
> recommend changing for fresh liquor after 24 hr as it will be diluted by
> the water extracted from the tissues.
>
> --John
>
> John E. Simmons
> Writer and Museum Consultant
> Museologica
> *and*
> Associate Curator of Collections
> Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
> Penn State University
> *and*
> Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
> Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima
>
>
> On Fri, Apr 19, 2019 at 7:51 PM Peter H Wimberger <
> pwimberger at pugetsound.edu> wrote:
>
> I agree with Dean.  Have used absinthe for mussels as well – it was
> expensive, but I was in a pinch, and it was the highest proof around.
> Transferred to 95% EtOH when back in the lab after a few days and DNA
> extraction, PCR and sequencing worked fine.  Absinthe arguably should be
> worse for the DNA than Everclear, but it worked.
>
> PW
>
>
>
> *From:* Nhcoll-l [mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces at mailman.yale.edu] *On Behalf Of
> *Dean Pentcheff
> *Sent:* Friday, April 19, 2019 11:50 AM
> *To:* Nick Cairns <nacairns at gmail.com>; nhcoll-l at mailman.yale.edu
> *Subject:* Re: [Nhcoll-l] Use of denatured ethanol for short term storage
> of molecular samples
>
>
>
> We have had excellent results on Sanger sequencing (haven't tried genomic)
> using Everclear (high-proof drinking alcohol). Specimens were preserved in
> Everclear, then transferred to 95% ethanol a few days later. These were
> small freshwater crustaceans (aquatic isopods).
>
>
>
> I'd be more inclined to go towards drinkable alcohol rather than denatured
> alcohol — if it's safe for human consumption, there probably isn't too much
> bioactive chemistry going on (other than the ethanol itself).
>
>
>
> -Dean
> --
> Dean Pentcheff
> pentcheff at gmail.com
>
> dpentche at nhm.org
> https://research.nhm.org/disco
> <https://nam01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fresearch.nhm.org%2Fdisco&data=02%7C01%7Cprc44%40drexel.edu%7C5c07b2c0bc2f464a802408d6c53513b0%7C3664e6fa47bd45a696708c4f080f8ca6%7C0%7C0%7C636913229103443517&sdata=ynE9Dhi8MJ34OrtummJ3ypLvotGgU4X2Iio856dZj08%3D&reserved=0>
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>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Apr 18, 2019 at 2:04 PM Nick Cairns <nacairns at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> I'm seeking guidance on reagents. I'm trying to collect chorus frogs from
> across western Canada (whole and toe clips). These samples will be likely
> be extracted using phenol/chloroform then ethanol (EtOH) precipitation to
> tidy them up. Downstream they'll be used for mtDNA (Sanger) and genomic
> (ddRAD) protocols. The issue is, I am currently in rural Saskatchewan and
> only have denatured EtOH (Fisherbrand Histoprep 95%) available to me.  I
> understand that the additives in some denatured EtOH can cause issues
> downstream but has anyone ever used it for short term storage then replaced
> it later with anhydrous to remove the additives? Can these additives be
> reduced from the tissues after the fact?
>
> Any insights would be most welcome.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Nick
>
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