231 



On Stained Sections of Animal Tissues, and How to 



Prepare Them. 



By J. W. Groves. 



{Read May 23rd, 1879.) 



The staining of tissues by the more simple tingeing agents, as 

 carmine, logwood, and the aniline dyes, &c, is so easy, that it has 

 always been a matter of marvel to me, that of the thousands of 

 slides one sees (I refer now only to those of stained animal prepara- 

 tions), scarcely any are ever stained so as to show the structures to 

 their best advantage ; indeed, most of them are utterly useless. 



The causes of this failure in producing good and useful stains are 

 several, and in many cases may be due even to the condition of the 

 material when it first comes into our hands ; therefore, though this 

 paper is nominally devoted to stains and staining, I shall treat of 



1. Material. 



2. Methods of preserving and of hardening it. 



3. Cutting of the sections. 



4. Tingeing agents. 



5. Method of staining : and 



6. Suggest a few points to which sufficient attention is not 

 generally given in the mounting of the sections, after all the other 

 processes have been satisfactorily completed. 



The Material. 



This, in all cases, should be as fresh as possible, and I am con- 

 fident that much of the want of success in staining is due, not so 

 much to inattention to the details of the staining process itself, as 

 to a want of care in having the material quite fresh. 



It should always be borne in mind that, though for the knowledge 

 of human histology it is advisable to study it from tissues obtained 

 from the human subject, still it is so difficult to procure these in 

 good condition — to many people even an impossibility — that for 

 general purposes it is far better to utilize similar structures or organs 



