Originally posted by Iconoclast
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Still, a long post from Martin Fido dating to 26 May 2001 (quoting a 1995 letter from Alec Voller) does seem to suggest that Eastaugh conducting a solubility test or the equivalent of a solubility test and used a solvent. But which solvent? And when was the test?
"The second letter, addressed to Shirley Harrison on 1st February 1995 is perhaps the most valuable of the three. It reports the results of Mr Voller’s own attempts to extract and identify nigrosine from a sample of Pre-1992 Formulation Diamine Ink that had been allowed to rest on paper for one week before being tested with various solvents, including those used by Dr Eastaugh and the Leeds laboratory. And the results?
“The results are absolutely negative. The ink has proved totally solvent resistant and no detectable trace of nigrosine has been extracted. This suggests three possibilities:
“1) I am doing something wrong.
2) The dyestuff extracted from the diary ink by Dr Eastaugh et al was not nigrosine (and I regard this as being at least possible), in which case the diary inl is not Diamine MS.
3) The dysetuff extracted by Dr Eastaugh et al was nigrosine but rather different from the nigrosine used by Diamine Inks (more about this later), in which case once again the diary ink is not Diamine MS.”
I don't think there is much point in proceeding further until we can get the date of Eastaugh's solubility test (assuming he conducted one, which he apparently did) and finding out what solvent he used.
Why does Voller say he used the same solvent used by Dr. Eastaugh, but not the pyridine used by Baxendale? Or did Dr. E also use pyridine (which is recommended in many forensic handbooks?) Or did Martin mean Baxendale and miswrote?
Baxendale observations that the diary's ink dissolved easily and flowed freely might be called 'subjective,' but only barely so--how else could he describe it? He was obviously contrasting the ink's behavior in comparison to the older exemplars. That's not subjective--not really. He doesn't appear to have used a stopwatch, but the difference was dramatic.
And B's most damning observation is not subjective at all: only a slight amount of ink residue was left on the paper. This is in stark contrast to what Leeds reported two years and four months later.
Ciao.
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