528 



SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



Phosphomolybdic Acid as Fixative.*— B. Rawitz praises the virtues 

 of phosphomolybdic acid for fixing tissues. Phosphomolybdic acid in 

 solution (Kahlbauni) 40 c.cm., alcohol (03-95 p.c.) 50 c.cm., acetic 

 acid 10 c.cm. The solution should be prepared fresh each time, though 

 the alcoholic solution of the acid may be kept in stock and the acetic 

 acid added just before use. The objects should be left in the fixative 

 for 24 hours, and then transferred to up-graded alcohols from 

 70-100 p.c. Paraffin sections made in the usual way from the 

 hardened material must be further treated for from 2 to 24 hours by 

 immersing them in water to which an aliquot part (5 to lo drops) of 

 a 5 p.c. solution of calcium acetate has been added. They are then 

 repeatedly washed in distilled water and afterwards stained. 



Demonstrating the Organic Constituents of Enamel.t— L. Fleisch- 

 mann imbeds small slices of enamel with the adjacent dentine in 

 celloidin, and then, after the usual manipulation, decalcifies in 5 p.c. 

 nitric acid. The slice is found to be decalcified when the celloidin 

 becomes clear. It may afterwards be sectioned and stained in the usual 

 way. Safranin is recommended. 



Wash-bottle for Microscopical Purpose. J — R. Krause has devised a 

 bottle for washing microscopical preparations, the construction of which 



is- intended to obviate the running dry 

 or overflowing arising from variations 

 in pressure of the water supply. As will 

 be seen from the illustration (fig. 93), 

 the inflow siphon has three elbows, the 

 top of one being a little higher than the 

 angle of the outflow siphon, the inside 

 leg of which almost touches the bottom 

 of the bottle, the interval being a mere 

 capillary cleft. 



Demonstrating the Kinoplasmatic 

 Fig. 93. Connecting Threads between the Nu- 



cleus and the Chromatophores.§ — 

 B. Lidforss made thin handcut sections of the tissue and exposed them 

 for from 5 to 15 seconds to the vapour of 2 p.c. osmic acid. The 

 sections were then transferred to up-graded alcohols at intervals of 

 about 2 to 5 minutes until absolute was reached ; in this they were 

 kept for 12 to 24 hours. "When quite hard the sections were retrans- 

 f erred to water and afterwards stained. The stain mostly used was 

 Zimmermann's fuchsin-iodin-green or fuchsin-methyl- green. Renault's 

 hamiatoxylin-eosin occasionally gave good results. 



* Zeitscbr. wiss. Mikrosk., xxv. (1909) pp. 385-96 (1 pi.). 

 t Tom. cit., pp. 316-18. 



% Zeiisckr. wiss. Mikrosk., xxv. (1909) pp. 300-2 ( 1 fig.). 

 § Acta Univ. Lundensis, iv. (1908) pp. 8-11 (4 pis.). 



