[ 282 



Staina an^ StaininG, 



as applieb in tbe ]£i*amination ot Bnimal 

 ant) IDeaetable Structnres nn^er tbe /IDicroscope'' 



By Peter Wyatt Squire, F.L.S. 



Introduction. 



1AM glad to have the opportunity of giving my first lecture on 

 " Staining " in this theatre, as I owe my initiation into his- 

 tology to two veterans of this Society. My first tuition in 

 cutting sections was from Mr. Thomas Greenish, and it was 

 through Professor Bentley that I entered the Biological Labora- 

 tory at King's College. About three years ago I thought it would 

 be useful, both to physicians and pharmacists, if a few of the 

 more general methods and formulse for microscopic work were 

 inserted in the Companmi. But on reference to the various 

 standard works on microscopical technique, it was found that the 

 whole subject was in a semi-chaotic condition : — Different formula; 

 under the same name, the same formula under different names, 

 varied with printers' errors, wrong copying, and mistranslations. 



Even when a formula could be traced back to an authentic 

 source it was sometimes worded in such a vague, compound-it-as- 

 you-please fashion, as to be little more than a suggestion. 

 Examples of this will be noticed later on. This rendered neces- 

 sary a considerable amount of experiment — partly chemical, partly 

 microscopical — with a view of getting the most effective staining 

 solution in its most permanent form. 



As the work involved a more intimate knowledge of animal 

 histology and pathology than I personally possessed, I was fortu- 

 nate in obtaining the assistance of Mr. F. J. Warwick, M.B. 

 (Cantab.), formerly Demonstrator of Bacteriology at King's Coll. 



Some of the results have been already published, and it is in 

 reference to these and to a few more recent developments that, at 

 the invitation of your President and committee, I will now speak. 



* Read before the rharmaceutical Society of Great Britain at an evening 

 meeting in London, Wednesday, Februarys, 1893. From The Pharmaceutical 

 Journal^ by kind permission of the Editor. 



