368 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [Dec 



fades it, is very noticeable in the tonsil of dog which was 

 next submitted. In the mucous cells near this gland the 

 nuclei, removed as far as possible from the lumen, are 

 brought out with unequalled clearness. The structure of 

 the blood vessels is also brought out with great distinct- 

 ness, and the diiferentiation throughout is very marked. 



Quite as striking a contrast between picro-carmine Aid 

 picro-fuchsin is noticed in a section of the pyloric stomach 

 of a kitten. The stain with picro-carmine is not only 

 more dififerential,but the unstriped muscle of the stomach 

 and blood vessels is brought out much better by the 

 picro-carmine. During the summer picro-carmine was 

 tried with good results on sections of the fallopian tube 

 of a mare. It has been used with greatest success on tis- 

 sues which present a mucous surface, and while these suc- 

 cesses have been noted, an equal number of failures were 

 encountered, so no claim is made for picro-carmine as a 

 "pan" stain. It seems particularly unauited for tissues 

 that stain with diflBcult. Ranvier's picro-carmine was 

 used in most of these experiments, but Bizzozero's was 

 used with equal success. Mayer's recent formula was 

 used in the histological laboratory at Cornell last year 

 with results quite as good as those from Ranvier's. 



In the summary, then, we find picro-carmine,in the cases 

 noted, gives, with hematoxylin, a more ditferential stain 

 than picro-fuchsin, and shows the characteristic alkaline 

 reaction with hematoxylin, bringing out the hematoxylin 

 as a beautiful sharp blue, while the acid picro-fuchsin 

 tends to fade it. Two hours is, in general, the best time 

 for picro-carmine. There is no danger of overstaining. 

 Stohr in his text book of Histology directs that develop- 

 ing bone be stained with hematoxylin and then with picro- 

 carmine. 



Alum Carmine. — During the summer it was my privi- 

 lege to prepare some slides of liver of guinea pig to show 

 Anthrax bacilli. I attempted to get a contrast stain and 



