106 Transactions of the Boijal MiGrosGoj>ical Society. 
question, and trust that the publication of my own results may, 
whilst it tends to prove that at least some advance has been made 
in the right direction, also serve as a stimulus and encouragement to 
the prosecution of what certainly is a praiseworthy object. Dr. Batty 
Tuke certainly has the merit of first applying the process of staining 
to fresh brain, but the method employed by him differs in many very 
essential points from the process which I have here to recommend. 
I cannot undertake to express any opinion on the merits of his 
process as I have not myself adopted it, but I have been told that 
it occasionally yields very good results. The aniline black which is 
so valuable an adjunct in staining the nerve-cells was not employed 
by Dr. Batty Tuke, attention having been directed to this reagent 
by Mr. Sankey last year. 
Another more recent mode has been adopted by Mr. H. E. 0. 
Sankey, and deserves special attention, as by its aid the most 
beautiful preparations may be obtained. His process, briefly 
described in the pages of the ' Lancet,' was afterwards made the 
subject of an able paper in West Eiding Asylum Eeportsfor 1875. 
Some months ago I described in the ' Medical Times and 
Grazette ' a rough and ready method for examining the brain during 
an ordinary post-mortem, by which method the varied histological 
constituents may be well differentiated and morbid textural changes 
at once detected. The difficulty of obtaining a fair film by this 
measure may be objected to by some, but as the process almost 
entirely depends upon manipulative dexterity, any practised micro- 
scopist will find no impediment in his way. The method, however, 
which I have now to describe is developed out of the sum total of 
my experiments, and as it invariably presents us with a beautifully 
delicate film independent of any special amount of manipulative 
skill, it offers peculiar advantages to the most inexperienced worker. 
For facility of description I will arrange the subject under three 
heads embracing three stages of the process, as "follows :—l. The 
preparatory stage. 2. Staining and differentiation. 3. Permanent 
mounting. 
First, or Preparatori/ Stage. — The convolution of which the 
structure is to be examined is stripped of its membranes and a 
portion excised of a bulk sufficient for convenient manipulation. It 
is held between the thumb and second finger of the left hand, the 
index finger being utilized as a support and guide for the blade. 
One of the larger razor section-knives 6 to 7 inches long by 1 to 
IJ inch in breadth will be found most convenient for making 
these sections. The upper surface of the blade should be deeply 
concave and kept deluged with spirit. A clean sweeping cut should 
now be made perpendicularly to the cortical layers down through 
the white matter, passing from without inwards so as to expose a 
perfectly smooth even surface. Thin vertical sections of the cortex 
