ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 



627 



Apparatus for Staining simultaneously numerous Microscopical 

 Sections.* — X. P. Tischutkin describes with a wealth of detail an 

 apparatus which he has devised for the simultaneous treatment of 

 numerous microscopical sections, and of fine histological objects such as 

 embryos, ova, etc. 



The apparatus (fig. 73) consists of a couple of tubes, both having 

 wide lips at their upper ends. The outer tube E has a circular aper- 

 ture in its bottom, the diameter of the aperture being less than that 

 of the tube J. Between the lower end of J 

 and the bottom of E is interposed a circular 

 piece of mica. Around the neck of the inner 

 tube J is a caoutchouc ring, which fits tightly 

 and accurately into the outer tube E. The 

 sections are placed in the inner tube, and the 

 whole apparatus is immersed in the desired 

 fluid. The fluid then finds its way into the 

 inner tube, and never rises in the outer tube 

 above ■ 5-1 cm. The fluid can be removed 

 by tilting up the mica disk with a needle. 

 The apparatus is stated to have given satis- 

 faction. 



Ruthenium-red as Test for Pectin.f — 

 F. Tobler, after alluding to the properties 

 of ammoniacal ruthenium sescpii-chloride as 

 as a staining reagent for pectic substances,! 

 acknowledges its value in that capacity, but 

 shows that as a microchemical test for pectin, 

 its virtues have been over-rated, inasmuch 

 as it is capable of dyeing other substances 

 than pectin and its derivatives. 



New Method of Staining Diphtheria 

 Bacilli.§ — P. Galesescu finds that films of 

 B. diphtheria can be easily stained so as to 

 give a positive reaction in at least 80 p.c. of 

 cases by the following method. Films from 

 blood-serum cultures are stained for 1 minute 

 with 1 p.c. gentian-violet solution, and then, 

 after washing in water, are treated for 1 

 minute with an aqueous solution of Bismarck 

 brown (0*2 p.c). 



Staining Blood and Bacteria with Eosin-Methylen-Blue.|| — 

 0. Spiegel recommends the solution suggested by May and Griinwald for 

 staining blood-films. He finds that the solution also answers well for 

 bacteria of all sorts. It is made by mixing 1 litre of 1 per thousand 



Fig. 73. 



* Zeitschr. wiss. Mikrosk., xxiii. (1906) pp. 45-58 (1 fig.). 



t Tom. cit., pp. 182-6. 



$ See this Journal, 1893, p. 563. 



§ Zeitschr. wiss. Mikrosk., xxiii. (1906) pp. 67-9. 



II Centralbl. Bakt., lte Abt. Orig., xl. (1906) pp. 430-1. 



