J OURN AL 



OF THE 



NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY 



Vol. IX. APEIL, 1893. No. 2. 



SUGGESTIONS IN MICROSCOPICAL TECHNIQUE. 



BY ALEXIS A. JULIEN, PH.D. 

 iRead January 20ih, 1893.) 



In microscopical investigation of organic structures, success 

 largely depends, sometimes entirely, on their approximately perfect 

 preservation in the form of mounted preparations. In the living or- 

 ganism or a freshly cut slice of tissue, details of the utmost impor- 

 tance may be entirely invisible, which could, however, be clearly 

 brought out only by skilful staining, by patient experiment in 

 search of the most suitable medium for mounting, or by long-con- 

 tinued study under varied methods of illumination or with per- 

 sistent efforts at resolution, to which only a suitably and perma- 

 nently mounted object could be subjected. The main object, 

 then, in perfection of permanent mounts, must be, not beauty, 

 nor even the permanent preservation of an interesting object, but, 

 above all, the retention and revelation of its true structure. Un- 

 fortunately this has not been the prevailing opinion in all labora- 

 tories of investigation ; students are often found to have been 

 encouraged or permitted to content themselves, and save time, with 

 some hurried and careless method or step, at a point short of 

 a perfectly completed mount. 



The way in which a microscopist finishes, or even merely labels a 

 mount, may often indicate his degree of care and skill in the preced- 



