1890.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 11 



BIOLOGICAL NOTES. 



By Prof. J- H. PILLSBURY, 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 



Vegetable Preparations.— Plant tissues which usually turn dark 

 in alcohol may be prevented from doing so, according to the Botanical 

 Gazette, by adding to the alcohol two per cent, of hydrochloric acid, 

 without interfering at all with the quality of the tissues for microscopic 

 study. 



Vaccinium vitis-idaea. — This interesting little plant, called the 

 '■ low bush cranberry " in its abundant and native habitat in northern 

 Canada, is reported by J. M. Macoun, in Forest and Stream, as pro- 

 ducing fruit of a flavor much more agreeable than when growing far- 

 ther south. " Throughout the whole of northern Canada, hunters and 

 trappers, as well as the native Indians, have frequently to depend upon 

 it for food when game and fish are scarce." Many migratory birds sub- 

 sist largely upon it at certain seasons of the year, while the black bear 

 finds its flavor agreeable to his semi-fruit-loving taste and scratches up 

 large areas of the vines in search for the fruit. 



Inoculation for Rabies. — No fewer than i,Sio patients bitten by 

 dogs were treated at the Pasteur Institute during the year ending Oct. 

 31. There were thirteen deaths. — JS'ature. 



Has anv one ascertained the number of deaths occurring from the 

 bites of dogs when no treatment save such as would be given to ordinary 

 wounds has been used? 



Dwarf Trees. — At the Royal Botanical Society of London a dwarf 

 Japanese Thuja obtusa said to be 130 years old and only about two 

 feet high was exhibited. The society's garden is said to contain sev- 

 eral specimens of the common oak between forty and fifty 3ears old, 

 yet only ten or twelve inches in height. These are interesting illustra- 

 tions of the possible modifications of plants under peculiar environ- 

 ments or subjected to unusual artificial conditions. 



Staining Paraffin Sections.— Those who have used the parafiin 

 imbedding method for serial sections have doubtless wished for some 

 simplification of the process of staining. This may be done, according 

 to Dr. Kiikenthal, by dissolving the coloring matter in absolute alcohol 

 and dropping the solution into turpentine until the desired depth of 

 color is secured. Sections fixed to the slide with the collodion are 

 kept in the oven until the clove oil has completely evaporated, the par- 

 affin dissolved in turpentine as usual and the slide brought into the dye. 

 The staining is quickly eflected. Over-staining may be corrected by 

 placing the slide for a short time in a mixture of acid-free absolute 

 alcohol and turpentine (equal parts). Turbidity of the coloring fluid 

 may be corrected by adding a drop or two of alcohol. Meyer's car- 

 mine, methyl green, methyl blue, gentian violet, safranin, Bismarck 

 brown, eosin, fuchsin, tropeolin, and malachite green may be used in 

 the above ways. — Botanical Gazette. 



Circulation of Fluids in Plants. — By the use of sulphate of iron 

 solution {\ to J|| per cent, solution), and subsequent treatment of the 

 tissues of the plant with a solution of pure cyanide of potassium, Bo- 

 korny (see Biologischer Centralblatt, ix, 2S9) has determined the 

 course of the circulation of the fluids of plants. The fibro-vascular 



