1892.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURKAL. 0)9 



as well as in the spaces between the shavings of the cloth, where they 

 have floated out in the fluid. One can examine it without a cover, or 

 it mav be preserved a long time uncovered, but if desirable to cover 

 make a drv mount. The eosine staining does not bear much washing 

 on account of the floating ofl'of the objects. 1 therefore use very dilute 

 eosine, i grain to i ounce, or even i grain to 4 ounces. This stains 

 enough, and needs no washing. Stains made with gentian violet 

 should be mounted in Farrant's medium : the violet shows plainly 

 at first but soon fades out ; those mounted in balsam are very pale but 

 plain. Woolen garments sectioned with a razor, stained in eosine, and 

 mounted in balsam exhibit very nicely the zooids on the woolen fibres ; 

 the fibres of wool seem to clear up enough to show the objects lying 

 closelv on the hairs of the wool in great numbers. If mounted in Far- 

 rant's medium it appears equally well. 



Advice not to wash the suspected spot is in a certain sense a good 

 one, but if the washing is properly done it may be efticient. Place a 

 few drops of a normal saline solution, or in its absence a little water, 

 in a small dish, moisten the spot from the opposite side by laying it in 

 the solution a minute, lay it away a short time (10 or 15 minutes), not 

 allowing it to dry, insert it on the slide, and moisten it a little more by 

 dipping the end of the finger in the solution and gently tapping the 

 cloth a few times on the slide with the ball of the finger ; dry and ex- 

 amine ; this method sometimes gives excellent results. If we wring the 

 moistened spot so as to let fall a few drops of turbid fluid on the slide, 

 it might from the appearance suggest promising results, but when we 

 come to examine it the objects are obscured too much by the vast amount 

 of debris. Dry and examine as before, or after drying stain with the 

 eosine as above. This method demonstrates the zooids a long time 

 after drying. Many of them may be tailless, but a great many can be 

 seen in perfect form. 



If the eosine solution is too strong the debris, saline precipitate, and 

 dirt on the slide will be too deeply stained, and thus interfere with the 

 examination. In this case careful washing by flowing over the slide a 

 little water is often an improvement if done after the stain has dried. 



If the garment has been handled much, so that the surface has been 

 worn ofl", the razor sectioning must be resorted to to get the forms that 

 have lodged deep in the meshes of the cloth, and it is better to use both 

 methods, trying each on a separate piece of the suspected spot. 



Elegant prepai"ations have been made by moistening the cloth with 

 chloride of sodium, 2 grains ; phosphate of soda, 1 grain ; water, i 

 ounce ; to which add carbolic acid, i drop, to preserve the solution. 

 Transfer to the slide as above directed. After drying, stain with eosine, 

 I g. to the ounce. After this is dry, dip the slide carefully (mount up) 

 just under the surface of a dish of water. Drain oft' quickly and allow 

 this to dry. This removes the stain diflused all over the slide, but allows 

 it to remain in the zooids, which now stand out in bold relief under a 

 dry -t objective and i-inch eye-piece, the heads deeply stained, and 

 the tails in many unbroken. Of course there is a good deal of debris 

 that is also finely stained and scattered all about over the slide in every 

 field, but he who understands what he is looking for will readily defer- 

 entiate between the " dirt" and the organisms. 



