INTRODUCTION 



Citing Latin alphabet names from 

 Cyrillic alphabet originals has involved 

 even more uncertainty. Russian writers 

 not only omit references but also follow 

 varying rules of transliteration, some tak- 

 ing a phonetic and others a Hteral ap- 

 proach. The name Huygens, for example, 

 can be transliterated into a Cyrillic form 

 which can then be phonetically trans- 

 literated in German as Geugantz. Thus 

 Roskin 1946 attributes to an individual 

 whose name may be transliterated Shteve, 

 Sleeve, Stieve, or Stive a fixative which re- 

 sembles, but is not identical with, the 

 formula attributed, also without refer- 

 ence, to Stieve by Romeis 1948. The 

 author has given the one as Stieve test. 

 1946 Roskin — and the other as Stieve 

 test. 1948 Romeis. Faulty scholarship can 

 certainly increase the confusion originated 

 by the architects of the Tower of Babel. 



Names of Dyes 



The author has, with one exception, 

 changed the names of all dyes to accord 

 with the synonym preferred by Conn 1946 

 (Conn, H. J. Biological Stains 5th ed. 

 Geneva, N. Y., Biotech, 1946). The author 

 prefers, however, to use the name magenta, 

 rather than basic fuchsin, to describe the 

 mixture of magenta 0, magenta I* ma- 

 genta II now sold as basic fuchsin. There 

 is no discussion of the chemistry and 

 synonymy of dyes in the present work; 

 reference should be made to Conn (op. cit.) . 

 The author has not given certification 

 numbers or dye content in formulas, since 

 they are available for so few. 



Names of Reagents Other than Dyes 



The author has in almost all cases fol- 

 lowed the usage preferred by The Merck 

 Index 6th ed. Rahway, N. J., Merck, 1952. 

 The terms chromic acid, osmic acid, and 

 picric acid, though technicallj^ incorrect, 

 are so universal in biological literature 

 that they have been retained. Similarly 

 the terms alcohol and absolute alcohol (ab- 

 breviated in the formulas to ale. and abs. 

 ale.) have been used in place of ethanol. 



Chemical names used are those custom- 

 arily found on the label of the reagent 

 bottle and are not accompanied by chem- 

 ical formulas, or otherwise qualified, unless 



the reagent is found equally commonly in 

 several forms. Thus copper suZ/aie indicates 

 the usual reagent CUSO4.5H2O. On the 

 rare occasions when reference is made to 

 the anhydrous salt, it is referred to as 

 copper sulfate, anhydr. In any case of 

 doubt, reference should be made to the 

 Merck Index. 



Proprietary Compounds 



Proprietary compounds of known com- 

 position, such as amidol and salvarsan have 

 been referred to by the name preferred in 

 the Merck Index. Proprietary compounds 

 of secret composition have no place in con- 

 temporary science and have been ignored. 

 It is fantastic that purveyors of reagents 

 should be permitted to sell nostrums of 

 secret composition, thus indicating a con- 

 tempt for technicians equal to that shown 

 by medicine men for the yokels they 

 gypped with snake oil. The author would 

 make it very plain that he does not extend 

 this attitude to "brands" of mixtures or 

 reagents selected for technicians' use. 

 Every maker of microscope slides is in- 

 debted to those firms which select and 

 blend materials specially for his use. 



Quantities and Measures 



The abbreviations ml. and Gm. have 

 been omitted. It is to be presumed that all 

 liquids will be measured in millihters and 

 all sohds in grams. Formulas have been 

 adjusted to give a rational total (usually 

 100) in terms of standard ingredients, no 

 matter how the original was presented. 

 This has been wearisome labor applied to 

 thousands of formulas. It is doubtless con- 

 venient to make up a solution by adding 

 fifteen drops of a 2.5% solution of this to 

 30 drops of a 1.25% solution of that and 

 then to dilute to 15 milliliters wdth 30% 

 alcohol. As a published instruction, how- 

 ever, it does not commend itself to 

 writers of textbooks struggUng to avoid 

 duplication. 



Index 



The last section of the book is a single- 

 alphabet, fully expanded, index, alphabet- 

 ized according to the rules of the American 

 Library Association (Beetle, 1949, op. cit.). 

 These terms may require explanation. 



