ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
085 
with 50 per cent, alcohol, and filtered again. Sections, after a few 
minutes’ immersion, are washed in 60-70 per cent, alcohol, drained, and 
mounted in glycerin or Farrants’ medium. Fat is stained a carmin-red, 
but the colour is a golden-yellow if the particles be small. 
Micro chemical Staining of Cell-walls.* * * § — M. J. Chalon records the 
results of a new series of experiments made on the following vegetable 
tissues : — pine, willow, Cordyline , mistletoe, Dracaena , agave, hemp, 
cotton, rose, maize. All the material was first treated with eau de javelle 
to destroy the starch and cell-contents, the cell-wall being the only part 
experimented on. The single stains used were, haematoxylin, benzo- 
azurine, magdala-red, benzo-purpurin,naphthol-black, coralline, methylen- 
blue, orseille. 
The double stains were, campeachy and fuchsin, fuchsin and methylen- 
blue ; alum-carmin and methylen-blue or iodine-green ; carmin, cam- 
peachy and methyl-green ; prussian-blue and safranin ; campeachy and 
benzo-purpurin, anilin-blue and magenta. 
These double stains were tried on palm, iris, pineapple, ketinie, 
maize, Cordyline , mistletoe, willow. 
Further experiments and the conclusions are promised later. 
New and Rapid Method for Double Staining Blood. f — Dr. R. 
Garcia fixes and stains blood in the following way. A drop of blood and 
a drop of sterilised bouillon are mixed together on a cover -glass. When 
the mixture is dry, the cover-glass is placed on a slide and the film fixed 
by heating the slide over a flame. This takes scarcely a minute. For 
staining the author employs cosin and methylen-blue in simple solution ; 
the stains are used successively, the superfluous fluid being washed off 
each time with water, after which the preparation is mounted in balsam. 
The whole process takes about 5 minutes. 
It is preferable to use the eosin before the methylen-blue ; and in 
order to make the bouillon more durable, a few drops of formol may be 
added. 
Neutral Red for Staining Hsemoglobigenous Granules. — Dr. E. 
Giglio-Tos demonstrates the hsemoglobigenous granules in the erythro- 
cytes of certain animals — lamprey, fowl embryo, frog, guinea-pig, &c. — 
by means of a saturated solution of neutral red in 0 • 8 per cent, sodium 
chloride. 
A drop of the staining solution and a drop of the blood are mixed 
together on a slide, and a cover-glass imposed. In 5-10 minutes the 
preparation may be examined. 
Modification of Van Ermengem’s Method of Staining Elagella.§ — 
Dr. J. W. W. Stephens has obtained beautiful results from a modifica- 
tion of Van Ermengem’s method, || which consists in using ‘Margin, ” one 
of the many compounds of silver and albumen, instead of nitrate of silver. 
The usual procedure is followed, the silver bath being a 2 per cent, 
largin solution which contains about 0*2 per cent, of silver. The film 
may be passed from silver to gallic acid three or four times, or oftener. 
* Bull. Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique, xxxvii. (1898) pt. ii. pp. 12-29. 
t Cionica Medic.-Quir. Habana, xxiii. No. 23. See Zeitsclir. f. wiss. Mikr., xv, 
(1898) pp. 236-7. X Zeitsclir. f. wiss. Mikr., xv. (1898) pp. 166-71. 
§ Lancet, 1898, ii. p. 874. || Cf. this Journal, 1894, p. 405. 
