SEPTEMBER 24, 1897. ] 
macher’s combined water albumen method, 
a combination, with certain improvements, 
of the methods of Gaule and Mayer. These 
are then placed in the drying oven at a 
temperature of 37° C. for from 12 to 24 hours, 
until all the water is evaporated, the par- 
affin and section haying, during the evap- 
oration of the water, straightened out per- 
fectly. The slide is now gently warmed 
until the paraffin, which has a melting 
point of 45° C., begins to melt, when it is 
thrust into kerosene, which in ten min- 
utes completes the removal of the paraffin. 
The excess of kerosene is wiped off, the slide 
washed with a few drops of alcohol and 
then placed in a dish of alcohol; from this 
dish of alcohol the stain is proceeded with as 
usual. If the tissue has been hardened in 
corrosive sublimate it is necessary to carry 
the cemented section through diluted tinc- 
ture of iodine to remove the mercurial salt ; 
this is followed by washing in alcohol when 
the section is ready for staining. The 
stains are conveniently kept in large salt- 
mouthed bottles into which the slides are 
placed for staining, mordanting, dehydra- 
ting and clearing. It is usual for the stu- 
dent to take from 5 to 10slides through the 
various solutions, at one time, and, in so 
doing, he not uncommonly scratches the 
section off of oneslide by rubbing it against 
another. This difficulty arises, no matter 
whether the method of Gaule, Suchannek’s 
modification of Gaule’s method, Gulland’s 
modification of Gaule’s method, or, what is 
better, Heidenhain’s water method, be used. 
Eyen using any of the collodion methods 
does not permit us to escape this danger. 
In order to overcome this, the writer sought 
very carefully through the dishes which 
have been designed by various workers, but 
failed to find anything which was ideally 
available. True, Ranvier has designed a 
rack upon which a number of slides may 
be supported, but this is entirely too cum- 
bersome for general laboratory use, and 
SCIENCE. 
ATT 
besides involves a large amount of fluid, 
which makes it an expensive luxury. With 
these points in view, I have devised a dish 
which is expected to overcome some of the 
above difficulties. 
The inside measurements of the dish are 
34 inches in height, 1 inch square at the 
bottom, 12 inches square—three inches 
from the bottom, and 1} inches in diameter 
at the top, which is round and closed by 
means of a ground, grooved, Stender cover, 
which, of course, fits air-tight. In order to 
render the dish stable, the base is the 
broadest and heaviest part, measuring 
nearly 24 inches in diameter. Extending 
upward from the bottom of the inside of the 
dish, on two opposite sides, are eight ribs, 
four on each side, forming between them 
three grooves sufficiently wide to admit, in 
each groove, two slides of ordinary thick- 
ness. There can, also, be placed in the out- 
side groove, between the outside ribs on 
each side and the inside of the dish two 
slides. This gives the dish, for ordinary 
purposes, convenient and not crowded, ac- 
commodation for eight slides standing on 
end; or, if the sections be not large and the 
slides not thick, four slides may be placed 
outside of the ribs, two on each side back 
to back. 
An ordinary Stender dish requires about 
120 ce. of fluid to immerse a slide suf- 
ficiently to cover a section cemented to its 
center. The above dish requires less than 
4 of that amount to secure an equivalent 
degree of immersion. Of course, these 
dishes vary slightly in their capacity, as all 
pressed glassware does; such a variation, 
however, does not amount to more than 
from 10 to 15 ce. 
Where, for reasons of economy, or other- 
wise, it may be desirable to close the top of 
the dish by means of a cork or rubber 
stopper, the expense may be materially re- 
duced. When closed by means of a glass 
cover, as described above, and shown in the 
