X-Message-Number: 3121
Date: 12 Sep 94 13:45:52 EDT
From: yvan Bozzonetti <>
Subject: SCI.CRYONICS Darwin/Ettinger's water problem

	There has been an exchange between M. Darwin and R. Ettinger about 
the water quality used in perfusion (+ some more problems).
	I have encountered a similar question with silvering astronomical 
mirrors. I have some large mirrors mounted on glass foam, a product very 
hard to outgas in a conventional aluminizing bell. So, I was constrained to 
use an open air silvering process for these mirrors. The main problem to 
get a good reflecting surface is to wash out any dust or chemical impurity. 
The laboratory selling the basic chemicals for the process recommends the 
use of distilled water; In a first trial with commercial "distilled water", 
there was many traces spotted on the surface, even at the naked eye 
inspection level.
	I don't know the situation in the U.S. but in France "distilled 
water" is not a deposited norm. Here, if the word milk is printed on a 
bottle, it cannot contains anything else than pure milk, without additive. 
The same holds for apple juice and so on. On the contrairy, distilled water 
can be anything and is indeed anything. It is simply tape water passed on 
deionising system just able to remove Ca++ ions. There is anything in this 
water, from minerals, disolved gas to trace hydrocarbures and dust.
	My solution is to put this water at the bottom of a clean fridge 
fitted with bands of hydrophyl cotoon dripping in the batch. Evaporation 
gives a frost of truly distilled water recovered in the defrost cycle. The 
water is boilled in a micro wave hoven before use to remove any gas in 
solution. There are neverthless some defects in the silvering, everything 
would be conduced under a plastic bell to suppress dust and there would be 
two fridges for a two steps process.
	I don't know how this cheap water compares with a medical grade 
product, but it is far better than the supermarket one. I find sad to think 
amateur astronomers are better served than cryonics patients, even if this 
is a minor problem in the face of some others.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=3121