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SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
enough to receive them, and are then covered with the following 
solution: — Chloral, in crystals, 1 oz., dissolve in 5 oz. of distilled 
water ; alcohol, 1 J oz. ; glycerin, 1 J dr. ; rock salt, 15 gr. ; saltpetre, 
30 gr. Dilute the glycerin, salt, and saltpetre in the alcohol, and when 
well mixed add to the chloral solution. Shake well till thoroughly 
incorporated, filter, and it is ready for use. The liquid, if properly and 
carefully made should be bright and sparkling. Larvae, spiders, &c., 
when prepared according to the above formula, are really beautiful 
objects, and can be examined with a low power of the Microscope. If 
wanted for dissection, they can be removed from the tube and be 
returned to it without any difficulty. I have thousands of specimens of 
soft-bodied animals now preserved in this solution, as fresh as the day I 
collected them. 
If the objects are required for immediate anatomical examination 
they can be preserved for an indefinite time, and brought to the dis- 
secting table as fresh and flaccid as possible, by omitting the alcoholic 
bath. 
I have always by me a jar filled with the above-mentioned fluid, in 
which I place specimens I intend for dissection and minute micro- 
scopical examination. This jar is always very carefully corked, as the 
preparation deteriorates when allowed to evaporate. 
The preserving of small objects in these tubes of pure white flint 
glass is far preferable to the building of glass cells, which are often 
leaky and easily get out of order. When very small objects are 
required I make a slight difference in the solution, but only long 
practice can give the precise methods for each article, as different 
specimens require different manipulation. 
Goadby’s solution makes fine preparations, but in time the corrosive 
sublimate in it produces white deposit on the specimen and spoils it. 
All solutions containing much glycerin are apt to affect calcareous 
substances when present. 
Among many of the freshwater and marine Algae I have succeeded 
in preserving specimens, to my perfect satisfaction, in the following 
solution : — Distilled water, 1 oz. ; rock salt, 2 gr. ; alum, calcined, 1 gr. ; 
carbolic acid, 1 drop. 
Some specimens of Algae, now twelve years in this solution, are as 
fresh and bright as when first prepared. 
Chloride of zinc solution is very useful, and has proved satisfactory 
in the preservation of animal tissues ; it must be made of varying 
strengths, according to the softness of the parts to be preserved. It is 
recommended to use twenty to twenty-five grains of the fused chloride 
to one ounce of distilled water, and ten drops of phenic acid added to it. 
This is a capital solution for the larvae of insects, and if stored in an 
air-tight tube or cell, will keep perfectly for years without deterioration.” 
Bachmann, O. — Leitfaden zur Anfertigung mikroskopischer Dauerpraparate. 
(Instructions for making permanent microscopic preparations.) 
Munchen und Leipzig, 1890. 
Loewenthal, N. — Zur Frage fiber die Anwendung von Terpentinol in der 
histologischen Technik. (On the uso of turpentine-oil in histological work.) 
Centralbl. f. Physiol. , XXV. (1889) 2 pp. 
