90 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[May, 



6. Hartig. Entwickelungsgeschichte 



des Pflanzen keims. Leipzig, 



1858. 

 In this great work Hartig repeats 

 many of the statements in his earlier 

 articles. He grew algai, chara, hya- 

 cinths and other plants for weeks in 

 carmine without staining them. Only 

 after death was the solution absorbed. 

 He considers carmine indispensable 

 for his work, and describes the method 

 of preparation. He used other dyes, 

 as iodine. This essay induced Dip- 

 pel in ' Das Mikroskop ' to consider 

 Hartig the inventor of staining, and he 

 does not seem to have known of the 

 earlier work. Hartig has also been 

 much praised by other botanists for 

 his services in introducing staining, 

 but he is not known in zoology or 

 medicine. 



7. Gerlach. Mikroskopische Studien 



aus dem Gebiet der menschlichen 

 Morphologie. Erlangen, 1858. 

 Four years previously Gerlach per- 

 ceived that in preparations injected 

 with ammoniacal carmine, where the 

 color diffused through the walls of 

 vessels, that the nucleus was more 

 deeply stained than the cells and in- 

 tercellular substance. He then treat- 

 ed nerve sections with concentrated 

 carmine solutions without good suc- 

 cess ; the elements were not well dif- 

 ferentiated. Accidentally having left 

 over night a portion of brain in a very 

 dilute solution, a better result was ob- 

 tained. 



8. Gerlach. Ueber die Einwirkung 



von Farbstoffe auf lebende Ge- 

 webe. Wiss. Mitth. d. Phys.- 

 m e d . Soc. Erlangen. 1858, 



. P- 5- 

 Gerlach describes his efforts to dye 



living animal tissues, which did not 

 succeed. Dead tissue gradually with- 

 drew all the color from very dilute 

 carmine, the nuclei and nucleoli ab- 

 sorbing the most, the cells less, and 

 the intermediate substance least. It 

 could not be washed out. A peculiar 

 affinity seemed to exist between the 

 dye and elementary parts, of the phys- 

 ical reasons for which we are yet ig- 



norant. (Neither of the above articles 

 contain anything more than Hartig 

 had already shown with respect to 

 plants.) 



9. Maschke. Figmentlosung a 1 s 



Reagenz bei mikroskopisch- 

 physiologischen Untersuchun- 

 gen. Botan.Zeit.,No.3. 1859: 

 Journ. f. prakt. Chemie, Ixxvi, 



^859' P- 37- 

 Maschke knew of Gerlach's work, 

 not of Hai-tig's. He criticised the 

 theory of staining, and described nu- 

 merous experiments. He used car- 

 mine especially, but also other sub- 

 stances, as indigo. He stated there 

 are two groups of organic bodies, one 

 whose members belong to the clas,s 

 of proteids, as horn, albumen, gela- 

 tin, which unite readily with dyes, 

 while the members of the other group 

 or the varieties of cellulose, amylums, 

 sugar and gum do not take colors. 

 At the close of his essay he strongly 

 recommends staining. He says : ' In 

 the future staining solutions will be 

 as indispensable as the iodine test, 

 and both in microscopic work will 

 be held of equal value with the scal- 

 pel.' This interesting essay has never 

 been properly esteemed. 



10. Maschke. Ueber einige Meta- 



morphosen in den Zellen der 

 reifenden Frucht von Solanum 

 nigrum. Botan. Zeit. 1859, 

 No. 22 f. 

 Description of the investigation 



made in 1857 ^^ w^hich he employed 



carmine. 



11. Thiersch. Injecting fluids of 



Thiersch and W. Muller. 



Schultze's Archiv f. Mikr. 



Anat. 1865, p. 149. 

 a. Carmine i, liq. ammon. caust. i, 

 aq. dist. 3. Mix one volume of this 

 solution with 8 of oxalic acid (1.22 

 of water.) To this mixture add 12 

 of absolute alcohol, and filter. The 

 addition of more oxalic acid to the 

 filtrate gives an orange red, while ex- 

 cess of ammonia turns it violet. This 

 fluid tinges cells deeply in a few sec- 

 onds. Diluted with 70 or 80% spirit 

 of wine it colors more slowly. The 



