>From:    Edward Lipinski <[log in to unmask]>
>Divide 1 qt (liter) of pure distilled water into two clean, very clean
>vessels, preferably glass vessels....
>Pour off into sterile vial 3 or 4 ounces (milliliters) of fluid from vessel
>1, seal vial, attach label No. 1, and refrigerate.
 
First, 3 or 4 ounces is not the same as 3 or 4 ml (milliliters).
 
Second, why on earth would you want to dilute either your control or your
experimental sample in 500 ml of water?  Seems to me that you should try to
get your sample as concentrated as possible and then let the lab dilute it
if they feel it's necessary.  That way, if the experiment turns up no
evidence of blood in the ferret sample, no one could say that the absence
of blood in the experimental (ferret) sample was due to error in collection
because you took microscopic amounts of weeks-old dried blood and diluted it
in half a liter of water and then gave only part of that half-liter to the
lab.  If someone is going to do this, they want a good solid answer, not a
questionable one.  But then, I'm not a forensic scientist, just a research
assistant with some common sense, so maybe there's a good reason to dilute
out your samples that much before handing them over to the lab.  Somehow I
doubt it.
 
Karen (feeling argumentative tonight)
 
Karen
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"...and over our heads will fly the Blue Bird,
singing of beautiful and impossible things.
Of things that are lovely and that never happen.
Of things that are not, and that should be."
                                  -- Oscar Wilde
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If you love ferrets, check out:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~crassi/index.html
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[Posted in FML issue 2256]