1894 THE MICROSCOPE. 11 



185,— How shall I stain muscle to show the Trichina ivell and hoiv 

 shall I mount it f — E. P. 



Any carmine stain will color muscle deeply and the Trichina 

 lightly or not at all. The fresh material should be hardened in 

 alcohol or otherwise, like any other pathological material ; the 

 sections cut, stained and mounted in balsam. Trichinous mus- 

 cle shows well when mounted in Farrants' solution or in glyc- 

 erine. Unstained, teased, trichinous muscle mounted in glycer- 

 ine, makes a typical mount. Use well hardened material or the 

 glycerine will macerate the trichina? in time. 



186. — How shall I treat specimens of ham or pork to preserve them 

 so sections can be cut by freezing, paraffin or celloidin process f—E. P. 



Soak the material in water to extract the salt, then harden in 

 several grades of alcohol up to 95 per cent, and preserve in the 

 latter grade until cuK 



187.—/ have read that nerve tissue for microscopic study should 

 not he placed in nine chloride or in alcohol. — Why f — Medicine. 



Probably a mistaken notion that zinc chloride would inju- 

 riously affect the corpora amylacea sometimes observed in brain 

 and cord specimens. These corpora amylacea are quite different 

 from the real starch bodies found in vegetable tissue. Zinc 

 chloride would not oft(>n be used on nerve tissue, but alcohol is 

 indispensable, 'lire so called corpora amylacea seems to be pres- 

 ent in normal as well as pathological specimens and are prob- 

 ably of no importance. 



PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS, 



ByL. A. WILLSON, 



CLEVELAND, OHIO. 



Section Cutting.— It is almost trite to remark that first rate 

 sections can be cut with a razor. While first cla.^s microtomes 

 are a great luxury, a good sh irp razor will answer all the pur- 

 poses of study and investigation. Nearly all the great and im- 

 portant discoveries in tissues were made before the advent of 

 microtomes. In cutting with a razor the amateur will do well 

 to be content with very small sections. A very small piece of 

 homogeneous tissue will exhibit all that a large section can. 



