PKOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 49 



wood, and then with picric acid, showed the yellow centres of the 

 " birds' nests," described by Mr. Baber, while the surrounding jiarts 

 were tinted by the haematoxylin. Had only used carmine and picric 

 acid as separate solutions, but by this means had seen yellow channels 

 of communication from one " bird's nest " to another. 



Mr. Kesteven asked if aniline dyes were permanent. 



Mr. Atkinson found that crystallized magenta, when first used for 

 staining sections, became blue, and then after a time disappeared ; 

 but mounting in ^ per cent, of corrosive sublimate prevented this. 



Mr. Scbafer had given up carmine because of its too brilliant 

 colour, and always used logwood, which he found selective in pro- 

 perty. Thought osmic acid better than picro-carmine for nerve 

 tissues ; and remarked that Dr. Sharpey had long ago used magenta 

 for staining the axis cylinders of nerves. 



Mr. Miller had found a solution of carmine and a 4 per cent, 

 solution of picric, and in alcohol and water especially, good for spleen 

 and unstriped muscular fibres. He preferred carmine to logwood. 



Mr. Groves, except in the case of nerve structures, preferred 

 logwood to carmine. The double staining of logwood and gold 

 chloride was good for nerves and nuclei, and especially, for such 

 structures as frog's bladder. 



Mr. Golding Bird mentioned Dr. Moxon's use of Stevens' writing 

 fluid for staining nerve structures, and mentioned a fact communi- 

 cated to him by Dr. Malassez of Paris, that aniline dissolved in spirit 

 was especially good for studying ossification of cartilage ; for it stained 

 the cartilage, but not the newly-formed bone ; while an aqueous solu- 

 tion of aniline stained the cavaliculi and not the bone substance, but 

 was not permanent like the alcoholic solution. 



The President, in proposing a vote of thanks to the authors of the 

 papers, and which was duly accorded, remarked that more investiga- 

 ticm was required on the subject of staining fluids, and recommended 

 it as an object of special study, that would certainly be productive of 

 useful results. 



Mr. W. B. Kesteven then read a paper upon " Miliary Sclerosis." 

 The subject of this paper was a form of grey degeneration occurring 

 in the brain and spinal cord, and designated by Drs. Batty, Tuke, and 

 Eutherford, " Miliary Sclerosis." The author showed examples of this 

 lesion by sections and drawings. The change, he stated, is associated 

 with a wide range of diseases of the nervous centres. He enumerated 

 as many as twenty morbid conditions in which he had met with the 

 so-called miliary sclerosis. The essential characters of this lesion 

 Mr, Kesteven showed to consist in the absence, in circumscribed 

 patches of the normal nerve tissue, and its replacement by an altered 

 and degenerate state of the neuroglia. The spots vary in size from 

 ■gJyth inch to ^^^o*^ inch in diameter. Their physical characters 

 were described in detail, and the author then proceeded to discuss the 

 question of how this change was connected with previous symptoms, 

 and whether it is possible that they could be the result of mere post- 

 mortem changes. These questions, he submitted, were as yet un- 

 answered. Judging from the great diversity of pathological con- 



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