Introduction 



jOiC/^^ 



Scope of the Book 



This work consists of two parts. Part I 

 (Chapters 1-16) is a treatise on the art of 

 making microscope sUdes from biological 

 specimens. Part II (Chapters 17-28) is a 

 classified list of the formulas and tech- 

 niques used in this art. 



Arrangement of Part I 



Each chapter deals with a specific type 

 of microscope shde and is divided into two 

 parts. The first part discusses problems in- 

 volved in the preparation of such a sUde 

 and the general methods by which these 

 problems have been overcome. The second 

 part is devoted to one or more specific ex- 

 amples which describe in detail the appli- 

 cation of the general methods to the 

 production of an actual slide. The few 

 literature references in Part I are confined 

 to places where the author is describing a 

 method of which he lacks personal experi- 

 ence, or where he is giving opinions at 

 variance with his own. 



Arrangement of Part II 



The chapters in Part II are devoted to 

 specific types of formulas and give, where 

 necessary, the techniques by which these 

 formulas are used. Each chapter is sub- 

 divided decimally in accordance with a 

 scheme given in full at the beginning of 

 the chapter and explained in the first para- 

 graph of the chapter. Every formula or 

 technique is thus identified by a number 

 which is used, together with two or three 

 letters identifying the chapter, in all cross 

 references. Thus: 



DS 11.122 Mayer 1891 



identifies a specific alum-hematoxylin of 

 Mayer (he published five other alum- 

 hematoxylin formulas) in any of the fifty 



places that reference is made to it. The 

 formula is given only once and then in as- 

 sociation with all the other alum-hema- 

 toxylin (DS 11.122) formulas in the book. 

 These decimal reference numbers are 

 added to the page numbers all through, 

 thus making it easy to run down a given 

 type of formula or technique. 



Pet Names 



Some biologists have a pernicious habit 

 of omitting literature references and using 

 what Conn 1938 (20540b, 13:121) in a 

 well-organized attack on them, calls "pet 

 names." In cases where these pet names — 

 such as paracarmine or B 15 — have be- 

 come embedded in the folklore of micro- 

 technique, the present author puts them 

 in italics, immediately after the decimal 

 reference, thus: 



DS 11.22 Mayer 1892 paracarmine — compl. 



script. 



The appended conipl. script, indicates 

 that the word has occurred in a "great 

 many writings." When only the originator 

 of the technique appears to have used the 

 pet name it is referred to with auct. Pet 

 names should never be used in scientific 

 writing but such sloppy scholarship as is 

 inherent in a reference to "Bouin's Fluid" 

 is almost worse. Bouin is the originator of 

 many fixatives of which one happens to be 

 popular at the moment; quite another was 

 popular twenty years ago, when a casual 

 reference to Bouin's Fluid meant a mer- 

 curic formaldehyde mixture. 



Method of Giving Literature References 



The author indicates, after every for- 

 mula or technique, the source from which 

 he is quoting. The form used varies accord- 

 ing to the type of source; and an example of 

 each will be given. 



