CONNECTIVE TISSUE. 413 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



SOME OTHER HISTOLOG1CAL METHODS. 

 Connective Tissues. 



786. Connective Tissue. S. MAYEE (Sitzb. k. Akad. Wiss., 

 Ixxxv, 1882, p. 69) recommends, for staining fresh tissue, a 

 solution of 1 gramme of " Violet B" (Bindschedler and 

 Busch, Bale) in 300 c.c. of 0'5 per cent, salt solution. In this 

 liquid connective-tissue cells stain rapidly and energetically. 

 Elastic fibres and smooth muscle also stain, but of different 

 tints. 



FREEBORN (Amer. Mon. Mic. Journ., 1888, p. 231 ; Journ. Roy. Mic. 

 Soc., 1889, p. 305) recommends (for sections) picro-nigrosin, made by mix- 

 ing 5 c.c. of 1 per cent, aqueous solution of nigrosin with 45 c.c. of aqueous 

 solution of picric acid. Stain for three to five minutes, wash with water, and 

 mount in balsam. Connective-tissue fibres bright blue, nuclei blackish, all 

 the rest greenish yellow. Sections may be after-stained for five or six 

 minutes in a mixture of 1 c.c. of saturated alcoholic solution of eosin and 49 

 c.c. of alcohol. The results are as before, except that the yellow colour is 

 replaced by red. 



For RANVIER'S method of artificial oedemata for the study 

 of areolar tissue, see his Traite, p. 329. 



For FLEMMING'S observations on the development of connective-tissue 

 fibrils, see Festschr. R. Virchow gewidmet, &c., 1, 1891, p. 215 ; Zeit. f. 

 wiss. Mik, ix, 2, 1892, p. 225. 



For PIANESE'S very complicated double stain with carmine and picro- 

 nigrosin, see Journ. Hoy. Mic. Soc., 1892, p. 292. 



Note also the EHRLICH-BIONDI stain, 259. 



787. Fat. DEKHUYSEN (see FLEMMING, in Zeit. f. wiss. Mik., 1889, 

 pp. 39, 178) has discovered that fat that has been stained black by treat- 

 ment with chromo-aceto-osmic acid (not with pure osmium) is dissolved in 

 the course of a few hours in turpentine. It is dissolved also in xylol, ether, 

 and kreasote. Flemming finds that very good demonstration preparations 

 may be made by treating fatty tissue with chromo-aceto-osmic acid, staining 

 with safranin or gentian, and then treating for a few hours with turpentine 

 until all the fat is dissolved. The optical hindrance caused by the high 



