STAINING METHODS. 27 



STAINING METHODS. 



H^MATOXYLLtf STAINING PROCESS. 



You will require for future work a needle like Fig. 13, several 

 saucers, preferably of white ware; a few watch-glasseslarge, odd 

 sizes are usually cheaply obtainable at the jewellers; half a dozen 

 glass salt-cellars small ones known as "individual salts;" and a 

 two-ounce, shallow, covered porcelain box, such as druggists use 

 for ointments, dentifrices, etc. 



Place on the work-table (best located so as to be lighted from your 

 side and not from the front) in order, as in Fig.. 14. 



1. A wa/ch-glass, containing say fl. 3 ij. of haematoxylin fluid. 



2. Saucer, filled with water. 



3. Salt-cellar, filled with alcohol. 



4. The covered porcelain box, containing about an ounce of oil of 

 cloves.* 



FIG. 13. NEEDLE FOR^LIFTING SECTIONS, ETC. 



Select a section from some one of your stock bottles, lifting it out 

 with the needle, and place it in the haema. solution. The section 

 having been taken from alcohol and transferred to an aqueous staining 

 fluid, will twirl about on the surface of the latter, inasmuch as cur- 

 rents are formed by the union of the water and the spirit. 



"How long shall I let the section remain in the haema. ?" The 

 only answer I can give is, " Until properly stained! " Nothing but 

 experience will give you any more definite information. Much de- 

 pends upon some peculiar property in the tissues: some stain rapidly, 

 others stain very slowly. The strength of the dye is another deter- 

 mining factor. Usually with the haema. formula, as given, from six 

 to ten minutes will suffice. 



Place the needle under the section (if the fluid be so opaque as to 

 hide the tissue, place the watch-glass over a piece of white paper or 

 a bit of mirror), and gently lift it out; drain off the adhering drop of 

 dye on the edge of the glass, and drop into the saucer of water. Here 

 we can judge as to the color, and we, perhaps, find it to be of a light 



* The oil of Bergamot must be used for clarifying sections which have been 

 infiltrated with collodion, as the clove oil is a solvent of the pyroxyline. 



