490 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
and 9 cm. broad, the heat being applied at one end of the plate by a 
gas or spirit lamp. 
The part of the plate to be used for fixation is the area lying between 
the zones where water boils and where it assumes the spheroidal state. 
The time required is from half to one minute. The films are stained 
with Ehrlich’s triple stain for 5, 6, or 7 minutes. After having been 
washed with water, they are dried and mounted in balsam. 
Staining the Envelope of Milk-Globules.* * * § — Mr. W. Narramore 
states that by staining milk with eosin and with picrocarmin, he found 
that the structure surrounding the fat-globules became stained, and that 
without doubt the much debated membrane of the fat-globule was 
present. At the same time, this was not universally the case, as a large 
number showed no trace of a covering. The author remarks that Storch, 
a Danish investigator, has also succeeded by means of picrocarmin in 
staining the suspected envelope, which is more condensed or viscous 
towards its inner side, and more watery on its outer side. 
Under the Microscope the fat-globules, colourless in themselves, are 
seen to be surrounded by a narrow faint red border. 
Staining the “ Vacuole-Granules ” in Yeast-Cells.f — Herr E. Kiister 
states that the “vacuole-granules” of yeast-cells, by immersing a sample 
of cake-yeast in a thin aqueous solution of neutral red, 1 to 5000 or 
1 to 10,000, are sufficiently stained in a few minutes. The granules are 
stab ed dark red, the rest of the cell remaining uncoloured. If the action 
of the stain be prolonged, the vacuoles, by absorbing more and more of 
the pigment, eventually become non-transparent, and look like dark red 
balls lying in the colourless plasma. 
Double-Stain for Gums.J — M. L. Lutz recommends the following 
formulae respectively for (1) a hydro-alcoholic solution of red extract 
of Cassella, and (2) a hydro-alcoholic solution of acid green J E E E 
(Poirrier) : — (1) Rouge de Cassella 0*25 grm., 90 per cent, alcohol 
20 grm., distilled water 30 grm. ; (2) Acid green J E E E (Poirrier) 
0*10 grm., 90 per cent, alcohol 20 grm., distilled water 30 grm. He 
uses them for the double staining of sections of roots or root-stocks 
containing gums. 
(5) Mounting-, including- Slides, Preservative Fluids, &c. 
Method of Preserving Culture Media.§— Mr. F. T. Bioletti pre- 
serves culture media by means of the following simple device, which 
merely consists in the use of a second plug of antiseptic cotton. The 
test-tubes are cleaned and plugged in the ordinary way, except that the 
plug is only half the usual length. After having been sterilised and 
filled, the plug is pushed in to half an inch below the top of the tube, 
and a plug of antiseptic cotton is put over it. The tubes are steri- 
lised in the usual way, and may then be covered with a rubber cap or be 
put in a closed vessel to prevent evaporation. The antiseptic cotton is 
* Rep. Liverpool Micr. Soc., 1898, pp. 23-4. 
t Biol. Centralbl., xviii. (1898) p. 306. 
X Bot. Gazette, xxv. (1898) p. 280. 
§ Jouvn. Applied Microscopy, i. (1898) pp. 72-3. 
