MODE OF CUTTING SECTIONS. 147 



piece of tissue, a section as thin as possible is made, 

 and removed on the razor blade without bringing 

 away more of the wax-mass than can be helped. 

 The section, if it seems thin enough, is floated off 

 into the dish of spirit, and another and another are 

 made in the same manner. No difficulty will be 

 experienced in getting rid of any wax that may be 

 still adherent to the sections ; a touch with a needle 

 is generally sufficient. 



The attainment of dexterity in cutting thin sections in 

 this manner with the free hand that is to say, without 

 the aid of any special instrument is in great measure, as 

 may well be supposed, a matter of practice. However, 

 one or two hints drawn from experience may not be 

 superfluous. 



In the first place the razor must be always kept very 

 sharp: this is the main secret of thin sections. It should 

 also, at the moment of cutting, always have a flood of 

 spirit upon the upper surface. The object of this is to 

 keep the section free as it is being made, otherwise it is 

 apt to adhere to the razor and to become broken. Then, 

 in cutting, the razor must not simply be pushed forward 

 over the tissue, but drawn over it with a movement from 

 heel to point ; but at the same time the whole section 

 must be completed with one such sweep, for a to-and- 

 fro movement inevitably produces ridges upon the sur- 

 face of the section. Except in the case of injected pre- 

 parations, the sections can hardly be cut too thin ; as a 

 rule, those sections only are worth keeping, which can 

 barely be seen as they are being cut. It must not be 

 forgotten that they will appear considerably thicker after 

 they are stained. 



Two or three sufficiently thin sections having been 

 in this way obtained, the embedded tissue may be 

 put aside in spirit for the present, in case any more 

 should subsequently he required. 



The sections have, in the tirst place, to be stained. 

 This is best effected, in the case of the sections of 

 artery, by immersing them in the ordinary logwood 

 alum solution for a few minutes. They are then 

 put into water for a second or two, to wash away 



