l886.] NKW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 67 



MISCELLANEA. 



Cartilage. — An excellent source for hyaline cartilage is an 

 end of one of the long bones of Necturus. The larynx of the 

 cat also furnishes good material. Sections may be made free- 

 hand of the fresh material as follows : Remove most of the 

 soft parts covering the cartilage, wrap it in newspaper or other 

 strong paper, and grasp it by the thumb and index of the left 

 hand so that it projects slightly above the nail of the thumb 

 and index. Wet the cartilage well with salt solution, and wet 

 the razor or section knife with the same. Grasp the razor 

 firmly, rest the blade on the nail of the thumb or index ; move 

 the razor forward across the tissue with a drawing cut, making 

 each section with a single sweep of the knife. Make several 

 sections, and transfer them to a dish of picric acid solution. 

 They should be left in this half a day or more. They may then 

 be washed with water and mounted in glycerin or glycerin jelly. 

 If it is desired, the sections may be stained with alum carmine 

 after soaking in water till the picric acid is removed. Stained 

 sections may be mounted in balsam, but glycerin or glycerin 

 jelly is preferable. As it is sometimes impossible or undesir- 

 able to make sections of fresh cartilage, the cartilage in small 

 pieces may be kept in the picric acid for a few days, and then 

 in 75 to 80 per cent, alcohol, until one is ready to make the 

 sections. In that case the sections are transferred to water or 

 35 per cent, alcohol as they are cut, and the razor and tissue are 

 wet with the 35 per cent, alcohol, with salt solution or with 

 water. The sections must not be allowed to dry in any case. 

 It is difficult for the inexperienced to make free-hand sections 

 of sufficient thinness and evenness, hence the cartilage may be 

 cut in the microtome as follows : Fill the well of the microtome 

 nearly full of melted imbedding mass; dry one end of the car- 

 tilage with filter paper, and insert it into the melted mass so 

 that the other end of the cartilage is about on a level with the 

 top of the microtome. To prevent drying, place a small mass 

 of absorbent cotton, wet with salt solution, over the exposed 

 end of the cartilage. Cool the imbedding mass as soon as pos- 

 sible by the use of snow, ice or cold water. Wet the razor with 

 salt solution and make the sections as rapidly as possible, using 

 a drawing cut as in free-hand sections. — Notes on Histological 

 Methods, by Simon H. Gage. 



