1860 Journal of Applied Microscopy 



great activity. This movement continues for as much as four hours after draw- 

 ing the blood. Movement may last in the leucocytes for 24 hours after removal. 

 The degree of activity depends on temperature. Movement may be seen at the 

 ordinary room temperature, it is very active at blood heat, and more so at 40°C. 

 Concentration of the salt is important. A greater per cent, impairs movement; 

 weaker solutions to .4 per cent, are favorable, but lower cause swelling. Little 

 or much di-sodium phosphate causes slower movement; too little NaPOg causes 

 a destruction of the plates, too much causes them to remain in a state of contrac- 

 tion. Fixation may be accomplished by the fumes of osmic acid or the direct 

 application of osmic acid (1 per cent.) or Flemming's solution. The fluid is allowed 

 to flow in from an edge and the process watched under the microscope for 3 to 5 

 minutes. Then the cover is lifted and stain used. Any anilin dye gives good 

 results, but hsematoxylin alone or with eosin is best for permanency. This process 

 shows the blood plates to contain a nucleus that contains chromatin, sometimes in 

 the form of a skein. This shows best after using Flemming's solution and methy- 

 len blue or Heidenhain's iron haematoxylin. This demonstration of nucleated 

 blood plates, hitherto not obtainable, depends entirely on the duration of fixation. 

 Over fixation prevents staining; cover-glass preparations as usually over fixed 

 since good preservation of the hemaglobin requires more fixation than preserva- 

 tion of nuclei. Hence smear preparations heated for 2 hours at 120° are useless 

 for blood plates. Preparations made as follows show these : fixation in 96 per 

 cent, alcohol 1 to 2 minutes, air dried ; then 5 per cent, formalin solution 3 to 5 

 minutes (this solution should be old and have stood in the light several weeks) ; 

 washing in water without previous drying. Stain with Ehrlich's or Delafield's 

 haematoxylin. The nuclei of the plates are now clearly blue ; double staining 

 with eosin shows a protoplasmic zone. Methylen blue and other anilin dyes 

 stain deeply. In agar preparations the nuclei are still more apparent since the 

 protoplasm is more expanded. No salt other than the metaphosphate gives these 

 results ; not ortho - nor pyrophosphate nor the salts of phosphoric and meta- 

 phosphoric acids. Some of the salts, as disodium phosphate, caused a precipita- 

 tion of calcium salts so that NaoHPO^ was first used and followed by 1 per cent. 

 NaPO^. This prevents the precipitation. The destruction of blood plates is not, 

 however, thus prevented. The dependence of life-processes on salts cf phos- 

 phoric acid is most clearly shown in that satisfactory agar is soon rendered unus- 

 able by boiUng, and the plates quickly break up. Part of the metaphosphates 

 become orthophosphates on boiling. a. m. c. 



Gurwitsch, A. Ein schnelles Verfahren des The author, after much use of Heiden- 



Eisenhematoxylinfarbung. Zeitschr. f. wiss. , • , • ^„ i,^^.,*,,,,,,!;,, .^<^fK^^ Uoo 

 ,,•, f -1 -r x IS ^^. .^^^ ham s iron hematoxylm method, nas 



Mikros. u. f. mikros. Techn. io: 291-292, •' ' 



1902. devised a way to shorten the time of 



procedure from 36 hours to 10 minutes. Many control tests demonstrated the 

 accuracy of the results. Sections are fastened to the slide as usual, either with 

 water or albumen, and paraffin removed. Sections are passed through the alcohols 

 to water and then put in a large quantity of 2'-^ per cent, of iron mordant and 

 set in the steam of an open water bath, where they are kept till the first bubbles 

 rise, showing the beginning precipitation of the mordant. A rapid wash in water 

 is followed by a similar procedure with the stain. On pouring the stain 

 onto the sections in the steam they become black immediately. To obtain 

 an intense stain it is desirable to keep the sections, with additions of stain, 

 in the steam till the color has thickened on the edges and to add fresh 

 color for a second time. Differentiation is accomplished at the ordinary 

 temperature. There is neither alteration of tissue nor other injury to fear. The 

 differentiation of difficult structures is as complete as with the longer time of 

 staining. a. m. c. 



