ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
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organisms. Stain for 15 minutes in alum-haematoxylin, wash in water, 
and then stain with very dilute phenol fuchsia (1 part Ziehl’s solution 
with about 20 parts of distilled water) for 30 minutes to 24 hours. After 
this, decolorise and dehydrate for 15 seconds to 1 minute in alcohol, 
then 95 per cent, spirit followed by absolute alcohol, xylol, and balsam. 
Method of Treating Bacteria difficult of Staining.* * * § — M. L. Dubois 
adopted the following procedure when dealing with bacteria difficult of 
staining. To 10 ccm. of a 25 per cent, solution of tannin, a solution of 
ferrous sulphate was added until the liquid was of a black colour. The 
mixture was heated to 50°, and the cover-glass films immersed therein 
for 25 minutes. The cover-glass was next transferred without being 
washed to a 1 per cent, solution of potash. After 15 minutes the film 
was washed, and finally hot-stained with anilin-oil fuchsin solution, and 
the preparation examined in water. 
Rapid Staining of Tuberculous Sputum.f — Dr. N. P. Andrejew re- 
commends the following method for staining tuberculous sputum. The 
cover-glass films are first stained in the usual way with the phenol- 
fuchsin solution, and are then treated with the following mixture : — 
(1) hot 10 per cent, potassium chlorate solution, 100 ccm. ; (2) acid 
green (Griibler) 1 grm. ; (3) 25 per cent, pure sulphuric acid 15 ccm. 
The mixture, after having been well shaken and filtered, forms a dark 
green fluid in which the stained cover-glass is immersed until the fi lm 
becomes of a green or bluish-green hue (about 1 minute). After this 
the cover-glass is thoroughly washed with tap-water, and then dried on 
blotting-paper. It may be examined at once, or mounted in the usual 
way. 
The chief advantages claimed by the author for this method are that, 
as green is the complementary colour to red, the red stained objects are 
better seen, and also that only two solutions are required. 
Intra-Vitam Staining4 — Herr A. M. Przesmycki has made a long 
series of experiments on intra-vitam staining, and has improved the 
methods. His general results are thus summed up : — Different organ- 
isms react differently, the various organs differ in their receptivity, even 
in the same animal ; different parts of the same organs may be differen- 
tiated ; the parts coloured intra vitam lose their colour after death, or 
when the organism is placed in fresh water without any pigment ; the 
method makes it possible to show certain details which are not demon- 
strable in any other way. 
(5) Mounting-, including Slides, Preservative Fluids, &c. 
Preserving Sea-Anemones.§ — N. Kholodkovsky recommends douch- 
ing sea-anemones (in a little sea-water) with 40 per cent, formol 
diluted ten times with fresh water. The animals die uncontracted, and 
the colours remain for at least two weeks, when the author — somewhat 
prematurely perhaps — communicated his recipe. 
* Comptes Rendus, cxxv. (1897) p. 791. 
f Centralbl. Bakt. u. Par., l te Abt., xxii. (1897) pp. 593-7. 
+ Biol. Centralbl., xvii. (1897) p. 353. 
§ Bull. Soc. Zool. France, xxii. (1897) p. 161. 
