1896.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 357 



is little research that he may properly wish to make that 

 cannot be comprehended in this creed. There is 

 truth the knowledg-e of which is a curse — not a blessing-. 



JUCROSCOPIOAL MANIPULATION. 



Preparing Malarial Blood-Films. — The following-method 

 of preparing films of malarial blood will be appreciated by 

 those who have practical experience of the ordinary meth- 

 ods of making cover-glass films. Besides ease and rapid- 

 ity the method has other and obvious advantages. 



A nurse is instructed to cleanse with spirits of wine or 

 ether as many microscope slips as are likely to be required, 

 and to place them, arranged in one or more rows, on the 

 table near the patient. Three or four oblong slips of very 

 fine clean tissue paper, one and one-half by five-eights 

 inch, are also prepared. The patient's finger is cleansed, 

 and pricked in the usual way. A droplet of blood about 

 one-sixteenth inch in diameter is then expressed from the 

 puncture and taken up, by touching- it with one of the pa- 

 pers, the blood being supplied about one-half inch from 

 the end of the paper. The charged surface of the paper 

 is then placed upon a glass slip rather towards one end. 

 In a second or two the blood will have run out in a thin 

 film between paper and slip. When this has taken place — 

 not before — the paper is drawn along- the surface of the 

 glass. The same paper, without recharging-, is placed in 

 a similar way on a second slip, on a third, on a fourth, and 

 so on. When exhausted, the paper is recharged from the 

 finger as many times as may be found necessary. In this 

 way fifty or one hundred exquisitely fine films may be pre- 

 pared in five or six minutes. Labels are then attached, 

 and the slides stored away to await convenience. Before 

 proceeding to stain, the blood is fixed in a little absolute 

 alcohol on the films. The slides are then dried, and stained 

 by the borax (five per cent.) methylene blue (one-half per 

 cent.), a few drops of the solution being applied for about 

 half a minute. After washing and drying, cover-glass 



