I am sure that an analytical chemist would be able to "fingerprint" (for 
want of a better term) the dye for you. As I recall, I used to run thin 
layer chromatography on a lot of my dyes in order to check batch similarity etc.
But this was many years ago and I'm very rusty now.
  





>ok....so this discussion now begs the question....why on earth did the J of
>Histo publish this paper in the first place?  i have come to trust in the
>journal to publish papers that are scientifically sound and appropriate to
>use in a clinical or research setting....and i don't believe this procedure
>is (particularly after reading posts from dick dapson and john kiernan).  as
>dick pointed out....i certainly wouldn't want to be the poor soul going
>before the judge in the malpractice case!
>
>carrie
>
>
>
>
Christine Lee,
Senior Scientific officer,
Veterinary Pathology and Anatomy,
University of Queensland.
C.lee@mailbox.uq.edu.au