Fred,

Great job. This kind of work is very important. Someone earlier
suggested that unless you were to use a statistically valid sample you
couldn't draw any conclusions. Not true. Statistics is the last, if
even necessssary, step in a scientific proof. Observation, evaluation,
analysis, and preliminary experiments are the first steps.

Regardless of what Dave Smith claims I doubt (though I surely could be
wrong) that even the purest alcohol would reach a saturation
equilibrium in 2 hours. If it didn't that might explain the small
difference. I wish I could think of some way to hold the control
unchanged while soaking the experimental piece for a week. If I can I
think of a reasonable method I will repeat this with something like
apple or lilac that splits like crazy. I will post if I do.

Thanks for your effort.
Larry