The Microscope – Volume 68, First Quarter 2020
IN THIS ISSUE
On the cover
A curved, wispy rosette crystal resulting from a microcrystal test for the drug alprazolam, using a reagent of gold chloride with concentrated hydrochloric acid. See New Microcrystal Tests for Controlled Drugs, Diverted Pharmaceuticals, and Bath Salts (Synthetic Cathinones), page 17. (Photomicrograph courtesy of McCrone Research Institute)
Editorial | COVID-19 and The Microscope Journal
Gary J. LaughlinThe Microscope 68:1, p. ii, 2020https://doi.org/10.59082/HJVD4724
Excerpt: As you are aware, the COVID-19 pandemic and its socioeconomic impact have caused disruptions in many business operations, especially those of not-for-profits, independent research and higher-learning institutions, and publishers like McCrone Research Institute. Many people, including the staff of Microscope Publications, have been working remotely under government stay-at-home orders. This situation has drastically affected the publishing workflow of The Microscope journal, and distribution of Vol. 68, No. 1 (2020) has been severely delayed. We apologize for this disruption but are pleased to present this issue to you as an online edition.
Thermally Modified Calcium Oxalate Phytoliths as Markers for Biomass Fire Sources
Russ Crutcher and Heidie Crutcher
The Microscope 68:1, pp. 3–16, 2020https://doi.org/10.59082/QIMK8305
Abstract: Calcium oxalate phytoliths are present in more than 217 different families of plants. They concentrate in the bark and leaves, which are also the parts of plants that are consumed in wildfires and contain the highest ash content. Phytoliths have a variety of shapes, forms, or crystal habits based on the plant part where they occur and the genetics of the plant. The shape of the phytoliths are retained even after exposure to high temperature that changes their chemical composition and alters the optical properties of the phytolith. Thermally modified calcium oxalate phytoliths indicate the types of plants (and plant parts) that have burned, as well as the type of temperature transition and intensity of the combustion, making the presence or absence of thermally modified phytoliths useful for identifying debris from the smoke of specific wildfires and combustion sources.
Abstract: Calcium oxalate phytoliths are present in more than 217 different families of plants. They concentrate in the bark and leaves, which are also the parts of plants that are consumed in wildfires and contain the highest ash content. Phytoliths have a variety of shapes, forms, or crystal habits based on the plant part where they occur and the genetics of the plant. The shape of the phytoliths are retained even after exposure to high temperature that changes their chemical composition and alters the optical properties of the phytolith. Thermally modified calcium oxalate phytoliths indicate the types of plants (and plant parts) that have burned, as well as the type of temperature transition and intensity of the combustion, making the presence or absence of thermally modified phytoliths useful for identifying debris from the smoke of specific wildfires and combustion sources.
New Microcrystal Tests for Controlled Drugs, Diverted Pharmaceuticals, and Bath Salts (Synthetic Cathinones)
Sebastian B. Sparenga, Gary J. Laughlin, Meggan B. King, and Dean GolemisThe Microscope 68:1, pp. 17–32, 2020
https://doi.org/10.59082/XZXS8181
Abstract: Beginning with this issue, The Microscope is publishing selected monographs from McCrone Research Institute’s recently completed research, New Microcrystal Tests for Controlled Drugs, Diverted Pharmaceuticals, and Bath Salts (Synthetic Cathinones), which contains newly developed microcrystal tests and reagents with 9 additional drugs: alprazolam, butylone, MDPV, 4-MEC, mephedrone, methylone, alpha-PVP, tramadol, and zolpidem. This installment includes an updated introduction from McCrone Research Institute’s first drug compendium research, McCrone Research Institute’s A Modern Compendium of Microcrystal Tests for Illicit Drugs and Diverted Pharmaceuticals (4th revision: September 13, 2021), followed by monographs for these drugs and reagents:
• alprazolam: gold bromide with hydrochloric acid• alprazolam: gold bromide with sulfuric acid and acetic acid• butylone: palladium chloride with hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid• butylone: platinum bromide with sulfuric acidAdditional monographs will be published in future issues of The Microscope.
Critical Focus | Science, What Science?
Brian J. FordThe Microscope 68:1, pp. 33–45, 2020
https://doi.org/10.59082/WEOL6496
Excerpt: There was a time when science was everywhere, probing for truth, exposing hidden facts, and clarifying reality. That is (roughly) what I do in my day job, and it is the guiding principle behind this column. But it opened the door to exploitation, and people would sometimes appropriate the principle to suit themselves. They saw it as a way to patronize and confuse people with complex terms, as a means to claim large grants for small projects, and — above all — as a way of keeping the public firmly in their place. This is what I call “Nonscience.” It is a racket. And it is bigger now than ever before.
Obituary | F. Donald Bloss 1920 – 2020
Dean Golemis
The Microscope 68:1, pp. 46–47, 2020
https://doi.org/10.59082/EYTQ2655
Excerpt: Donald Bloss, widely regarded as the father of modern optical mineralogy, died on April 22, 2020, just over a month before his 100th birthday, in Blacksburg, VA. A prolific author, esteemed instructor, and innovator of the detent spindle stage for the polarized light microscope, Dr. Bloss inspired generations of mineralogists, geologists, and microscopists. Dr. Bloss was a longtime professor in the department of geosciences at Virginia Tech University and is renowned for his extensive research in optical mineralogy and crystallography. His three textbooks — An Introduction to the Methods of Optical Crystallography (1961), Crystallography and Crystal Chemistry (1971), and Optical Crystallography Simplified, The Spindle Stage: Principles and Practice (1981) — are regarded as classics in their field and are still used by researchers and students today.
Afterimage | Dehydroacetic Acid
Mel Pollinger, New York Microscopical Society
The Microscope 68:1, p. 48, 2020
Dehydroacetic acid, quickly melted under a coverslip and slow cooled for 2 hours under a 3 oz. brass weight; Rheinberg illumination and polarized light. (Courtesy of the NYMS Newsletter, October 2019)
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