110 Transactions of the Boyal Microscopical Society/. 
hardening has proceeded sufficiently far for section cutting, it will 
be found that a very perfect and beautiful staining of all the layers 
of the cortex has been acquired, and the sections have simply to be 
washed, dehydrated, and mounted by Clarke's method. It will 
probably occur to the reader that if Miiller's fluid does not interfere 
with the staining by carmine or aniline, a further simplification of 
my method of fresh-brain examination would be possible by carrying 
on the staining simultaneously with the preparation of the film, and 
so reducing the two stages to one. That this is possible I allow, 
but since the method I have described yields the best results, I have 
no hesitation in recommending it above all others for trial. The 
process of fresh-brain preparation can scarcely be called a crushing 
of the cortex, as I have heard it designated — this term decidedly 
originates a wrong impression. The neurogKa basis of the brain is 
of a very resilient character, and it is really surprising tq what an 
extent its structure may be subjected to pressure without rupture 
and tearing of the nerve-cells and processes. If we assume with 
Gerlach that one of its essential constituents is purely elastic fibre, 
as seen in the neuroglia of the cord, this explains its peculiar 
immunity from injury under such rough usage, and the result is 
seen to be equivalent to the most delicate teasing of tissue, the 
processes being gradually unravelled from their dense networks, and 
the structural elements universally displayed to the best advantage. 
The accompanying Plate may serve to illustrate the appearance of 
the larger and smaller pyramidal cells of the cortex as obtained by 
this process. The sections (Plate CXLIX.) are from different por- 
tions of the ascending frontal gyrus, and are magnified 55 and 
210 diameters respectively by an inch and a quarter-inch objective 
of Smith and Beck with No. 1 eye-piece. 
