[Histonet] Methyl salicylate/glycerin

[John Kiernan]

Methyl salicylate is not miscible with glycerol.
Both liquids are miscible with ethanol, so pass
the specimens through a few changes of 100%
alcohol in transit from meth sal to glycerol.

If your environmental health and safety people
think meth sal is hazardous, they should be able
to give you expert advice about avoiding the
supposed risks. Meth sal is also called oil
of wintergreen; its MSDS sheet
(http://sargentwelch.com/pdf/msds/sch94614.pdf)
does not indicate any notable dangers. The smell,
though quite pleasant, can be annoying if you're
around the stuff for a long time. Benzyl benzoate
is an almost odourless solvent that is optically 
similar to meth sal. (The slightly higher
refractive index of benz benz makes it slightly
superior to meth sal for examining whole specimens;
both solvents give much better transparency than
glycerol.)

John Kiernan
London, Canada.
____________________________________________
Trisha Emry wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> We have some specimens that have been clearing in Methyl salicylate.  We
> would like to transfer them to storage in glycerin.  Are there anti-fungal
> additives that are needed for that purpose?
> 
> The methyl salicylate is considered a hazard by our environmental health and
> safety people.  Are there tricks to cleaning up things that have been used
> in it.  Or a way to make it safer to handle?
> 
> Thanks and Happy 2005!
> 
> Trisha
> U. of Washington
> 
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