Re: Oh yeah, speaking of Aqua Regia !!! Off Topic

OK, Judy, here is a warning!

CAUTION! MIXING AQUA REGIA MAY RESULT IN THE LOSS OF ANY GOLD FILLINGS LEFT
IN YOUR MOUTH, WEDDING BANDS, GOLD BODY JEWELRY ATTACHED TO THE MOST INTIMATE
OF BODY PARTS & THE EARLY DEMISE OF YOUR LUCKY UNDERWEAR, THE DISSOLUTION OF
THE GOLDEN FLEECE & POSSIBLY EVEN THE DISSOLUTION OF THE GOLDEN
FLEAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a more serious note. Judy, I wouldn't even pretend to know what occurred
between you and Dick Sullivan and I am not at all writing in his defense—and I
am not interested in knowing—that is between you and Dick. I have met both
you and Dick in person and enjoyed my visit with each of you. You have made a
lot of good contributions to this list and I would hope that you would keep
doing so. I don't think that your post below is one of your better
contributions—but that's just my opinion and I am not really interested in a lengthy
exchange arguing the point with you on this list. I would speculate that this
kind of post either prevents people from contributing to the list or causes
them unsubscribe. Not being a Listmeister myself (and God protect those brave
souls that are) feel free to delete this post, which I have noted as being "Off
Topic." I would prefer anyone who would like to comment regarding this post
(mine) do so to me directly off list rather than continue to add to the "list
noise."

Best Wishes,
Mark Nelson
Purchase the eBook & PDN System for Your Own Custom Digital Negative Workflow
@
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www.MarkINelsonPhoto.com

In a message dated 10/9/05 2:09:52 PM, jseigel@panix.com writes:

>
> On Sat, 8 Oct 2005, davidhatton wrote:
>
> > Quoting Dennis Fielding from his article in PF #4
> >
> > "Normally Aqua Regia is made from 3 parts HCL (Hydrochloric Acid)
> > to 1 part HNO3 (Nitric Acid). I had only 50% solution HCL however so I
> opted
> > for a 6 to 1 Aqua Regia solution, ie 60 ml HCL to 10 ml HNO3........"
> >
> > Apparently home-made Aqua Regia caused quite a stink (pardon the pun) on
> this
> > board some years ago.
>
> Actually, I've been recalling that, and am simply ASTOUNDED that
> Richard-the-lion-hearted Sullivan has not dashed in to warn about the
> perils of making Aqua Regia at home, as he did starting June 18, 1999 on
> the alt-photo list, and for an adamant ETERNITY thereafter.
>
> I will suggest a "theory" about the change in heart in a moment, but first
> a few quotes. The proximate cause was Liam's article about making your own
> gold chloride in P-F #3. Sullivan began with a full bore assault, subject
> line -- "Home made gold chloride -- dumb dumb dumb" about the dangers of--
> are you ready?... AQUA REGIA as "beyond the pale...totally
> irresponsible..."  No matter the MANY warnings in the article, folks might
> "misinterpret 'good ventilation' to mean an open window in the kitchen."
>
> And then proceeded, in typical sleight of mouth, to accuse LIAM of doing
> this in *his* kitchen, inventing extras to suit along the way for YEARS,
> about aqua regia as "deadly as cyanide gas", could cause "serious lung
> damage" "dead bodies" and "a runaway reaction... room filling up with
> brown deadly fumes...running down the countertop and cabinet fronts and
> eating through the linoleum [even] following the plumbing pipes into the
> apartment below..."
>
> PLUS ... "If it were my journal I would send an immediate letter warning
> subscribers of the danger... a dangerous invitation to get someone
> seriously hurt or maimed." Not just a *legal* issue (I could get sued,
> also baloney -- even if the information were FALSE I couldn't get sued, or
> think of the fun we'd have with Intelligent Design -- though that's not
> this e-mail)... but a "MORAL issue" !!
>
> Sullivan said he'd "help out ... by publishing a warning about the article
> on [his] web site."  By June 22 he called it "a matter of ethics, plain
> old ethics. I'm only wanting to protect someone from walking into harm's
> way. [A] warning should be sent to subscribers [but] I don't have the
> subscriber list available." [Editor's Post Script: "Duh"!]
>
> No insertion of fact soothed this hypo-zeal for public safety...THEN !
> Not Liam's citation of actual chemists' characterizations of aqua regia,
> not his personal experience, not the actual warnings in the actual REAL
> article, not even examples of equally or more dangerous substances listed
> WITHOUT warnings in such places as, if you could believe, the Bostick &
> Sullivan catalog (!!!) could stay this courier in his zeal.
>
> So what happened NOW ?  Not a single warning -- is the fellow asleep at
> the switch?  OK, here's a theory: When, about June 30, 1998, I declined
> (offlist) to let Sullivan take subscriptions for the brand new
> Post-Factory on his website (despite his weeks of sweet-talking
> salesmanship), which may have suggested it wouldn't be a Bostick &
> Sullivan subsidiary after all, he began the very next day by various
> extreme means (as a review of the archive of the time should show if it
> hasn't been excised to protect the guilty) to drive me off the list and
> discredit Post-Factory, plus, if you could believe myself, as continued
> onlist and off when an opportunity could be found or invented (STILL
> filtering back from "the field"). By Issue #3 it was probably also clear
> that P-F's "Sources & Services" listed many sources at half B&S price.
>
> But the "Gold Flap" episode was so full of info, real & false, I felt it
> should be preserved for posterity, which I did in P-F #4, in excerpts
> titled "The Gold Flap, quote, Quote, QUOTE!"along with equally interesting
> related matter such as Dallas Simpson's poetic "Beauty from Poison" and
> Sandy King's "Mystery and Science of Pyro" (including, I believe, the
> first appearance in print of Hydrocat, or at least the first under that
> name, since I suggested it), plus Cor Breukel and Dennis Fielding on their
> practically boring successes making their own gold chloride with Aqua
> Regia, plus history, science, and Dave Barry, American genius.
>
> But did I mention that Sullivan sold gold chloride at B&S -- actually I
> don't remember that for SURE, but $30 a gram comes to mind.  When Janet
> Neuhauser did gold toning in Issue #7, she was getting it from Englehard
> about 8 grams for $8/gram (tho "$30 shipping charge will make me look
> elsewhere next time").
>
> Which, interesting as all this is in itself, shows how strange it is that
> current talk of Aqua Regia draws NOT ONE WARNING !!!  However, because I
> am such a public spirited and ETHICAL person, I'm going to give the
> warnings from the original article (as soon as I've given my
> post-operative hand -- the doctors acted like it was a head transplant --
> maybe it was!) a rest.
>
> cheers,
>
> Judy
>
Received on Mon Oct 10 00:06:10 2005