172 SERIAL SECTION MOUNTING. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



SERIAL SECTION MOUNTING. 



313. Choice of a Method. All the following methods are ex- 

 cellent, if properly carried out. I recommend for general 

 work the following : For paraffin sections that have been 

 already stained, Schallibaum's collodion. For paraffin sec- 

 tions that are to be stained on the slide, Mayer's albumen. 

 For collodion objects, one of the forms of Summers' ether- 

 vapour process. For very large collodion sections, Weigert's 

 process. 



Methods for Paraffin Sections. 



314. Gaule's Xylol Method. (Arch. f. Anat. u. Phys.) (Phys. 

 Abth.), 1881, p. 156). A slide is moistened with alcohol, the 

 sections are arranged on it by means of a camel-hair brush, 

 also moistened with alcohol ; the slide is slightly warmed so 

 as to cause the sections to stick to the slide ; a cover is put on, 

 and a solution of Canada balsam in xylol (equal parts of each) 

 run underneath it. If the sections are not thicker than T V* n 

 mm., they will be clear at once, and nothing remains but to 

 refill the cell day by day as the xylol evaporates, in order to 

 have a perfect mount. If, however, the sections are thicker 

 than -y^th mm., they will contain more paraffin than the xylol 

 balsam can dissolve. In that case, the excess of paraffin must 

 be removed by means of a drop of pure xylol (the sections 

 being first melted on to the slide as before), and the mount is 

 completed by means of xylol balsam. 



Both the moistening with alcohol, and the heating, are 

 necessary for the attachment of the sections to the slide ; the 

 effect is not obtainable by means of one of these manoeuvres 

 alone. 



