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and remarked that no doubt this microscope was a very perfect thing in its 

 way. and made a great sensation when it was first brought out, but for his 

 own part he could conceive of nothing more painful than to use it if one 

 had a stiff neck — perhaps, however, their ancestors were not subject to 

 stiff necks. 



A paper by Dr. Frances Elizabeth Hoggan, " On a New Method of Stain- 

 ing Histological Specimens," was read by the Secretary. 



The Chairman said that he believed this was the first occasion on which 

 they had had a paper written by a lady, and their thanks were due to Dr. 

 Hoggan for her short and carefully written communication. He had seen 

 the specimens which had been alluded to, and thought that this method of 

 staining gave the sections such a clear, definite outline, that it had a great 

 advantage over the blue or yellow stains often used ; and it had the further 

 advantage that the materials could be purchased at any druggist's. He 

 thought, however, that there were other things which would stain as well, and 

 he should not like, therefore, to recommend that this new method should be 

 adopted to the exclusion of the others. 



Mr. Chas. Stewart, in reply to a question from the Chairman, said that, 

 having had the opportunity of seeing the specimens, he thought they showed 

 the features fairly well, but he did not see that there were better results 

 obtained than with silver. There might be an advantage in the case of some 

 special tissues, but he did not see himself that there was any special advan- 

 tage in those which had been exhibited. 



The Chairman enquired if Mr. Stewart thought there was any danger of 

 the staining undergoing a change after a little time. 



Mr. C. Stewart said he had never heard of the method before, and it was 

 so difficult to prophecy in such cases, that he should rather not speculate 

 upon any probable future chemical decompositions which might take place. 



Mr. Newton said he had only just had the opportunity of seeing the 

 specimens, and could therefore not say much about them. There was one 

 point which he thought should be borne in mind, and that was that they 

 never could tell what staining methods would do until they tried them. He 

 did not think, so far as his observation went, that this method was better 

 than the others, but he thought they ought to feel very much obliged to Dr. 

 Hoggan for communicating the process, because as they never knew when 

 a method would fail them, they should put this one upon their lists, and no 

 doubt they would find some instances in which it might be of great service. 



Mr. Ingpen said there was a little hint about mounting, communicated 

 orally, which he though worth mentioning. One or two of these specimens 

 were mounted in glycerine, without any preparation at all. Dr. George 

 Hoggan simply pressed the cover down with a clip, dropped a little warm 

 sealing-wax upon it, and ran a hot wire round the edge to smooth it, finish, 

 ing it off with some solution of wax in spirits of wine. Another of 

 these preparations was also mounted in glycerine in the same way, but merely 

 confined by copal varnish. Dr. Hoggan said that copal varnish would resist 

 glycerine, and this, he thought, was a hint worth remembering. 



The Chairman thought the idea with regard to the sealing-wax varnish, 



