62 PRESERVING AND PREPARING PATHOLOGICAL SPECIMENS. 



vation of fresh tissue. They not only do not harden and preserve the 

 tissue elements, but they especially glycerin render them almost use- 

 less for microscopic examination. 



The not uncommon practice of wrapping a specimen in a cloth soaked 

 in alcohol or carbolic acid, and permitting it to remain in this for hours 

 or days, is of no use whatever in preserving specimens of which micro- 

 scopic examinations are to be made. Almost equally useless is the too 

 common practice of placing a specimen in a bottle which it nearly fills, 

 and pouring a little preservative fluid around it. Not only should the 

 proper fluids be used, but these should be abundant, and the specimen 

 so prepared and arranged that they may come into direct contact with it. 



