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H 1Rapt& nDctho& of firiuQ an^ Staining 

 BIoot)^]filni6. 



By G. Lovell Gulland, M.A„ B.Sc, M.D., F.R.C.P.E., etc.* 



THE method by which permanent microscopical preparations 

 of blood are made is generally that devised by Ehrlich or 

 one of the numerous modifications. These methods all 

 involve the preliminary drying of the blood-film on the cover- 

 glass. The haematoxylin of the red corpuscles is then fixed, either 

 by prolonged heating to between iio° to 120^ C. as in the original 

 method, or by treating the dried film with alcohol and ether, cor- 

 rosive sublimate, or some other fixative. The process, in any case, 

 is long and troublesome. Muir's method, t in which the films are 

 fixed without drying by dropping them into a saturated solution of 

 sublimate, was a great advance, inasmuch as it gives a much more 

 accurate fixation of leucocyte structure than can ever be obtained 

 by drying, while the red corpuscles, though they often show a 

 certain amount of shrinkage, are less deformed than by Ehrlich's 

 method. But the process is a long one if it is carried out as 

 advocated by Muir, whilst if, in the attempt to shorten it, the 

 washing out of the sublimate is not thoroughly done, crystals are 

 apt to appear in the finished preparation. 



It has been my aim, therefore, for some time past, to discover 

 a method which should give an accurate fixation, which should be 

 as rapid as possible, and which should yet be sufficiently flexible to 

 prevent preparations being spoilt by even considerable deviations 

 from the exact method. The last point is essential if the method 

 is to be of use to practitioners who are not specially skilled in 

 microscopical technique. I trust that this will be the case, for I 

 am convinced that many interesting blood-cases go unrecorded for 

 want of an easy way of staining and preserving blood-films. 



In its most rapid form the process is as follows : — A small drop 

 of blood, drawn in the usual way, is taken upon the centre of the 

 cover-glass held with forceps, and distributed evenly between that 



*From the British Medical Journal. 

 ■\Journ. of Anal, and Physiol., Vol. xxvi., 1892. 



