We drop the specimens into acetone to fix the inked margins instantly and
neatly. 
Jeff Silverman

----------
> From: RUSS ALLISON <Allison@cardiff.ac.uk>
> To: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
> Subject: Re: Silver Nitrate for Margins -Reply
> Date: Monday, August 16, 1999 3:50 AM
> 
> You can dry the Indian ink by touching with tissue/blotting paper; 
> you do not have to leave the specimen sitting around to dry!
> 
> Let me re-phrase my question "What does acetic acod/vinegar/Bouin's 
> fluid do?
> 
> Any of you ever spoken to an "ink scientist"?  You would be VERY 
> surprised how much there is to know about inks (Indian ink is a 
> subject on its own)
> 
> In the past, we have been interested in the particle size of Indian 
> ink.  Those guys not only know (and make inks of different particle 
> size), they also vary the liquid in which the particles are 
> suspended, so that the suspensoid has different characteristics, 
> including drying time, spread, density, etc.  They are useful friends 
> in forensics also.  We needed to assess the size of gaps between 
> adjacent biological/non-biological structures and used variously 
> sized Indian inks to do so.  We sill do when looking at dental 
> restorations.
> 
> So back to my question - why vinegar, etc on inked margins?  OK, I 
> know why, but what is the rationale?  Is it fixing the suspensoid 
> phase of the ink?  Is the suspensoid necessarily a protein?
> 
> Still puzzled in Wales
> Russ Allison, Wales