534 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
Staining Reactions of Sputum.* * * § — Dr. A. Schmidt finds that the 
fluid or fundamental substance of sputum assumes different colours, 
according to its origin. While the cell elements always stain uniformly, 
the red corpuscles are orange-red, the protoplasm of other cell elements 
is red-yiolet, the nuclei are blue-green, the eosinophilous cells brick-red. 
The method for staining the fundamental substance is as follows : — Put 
a piece of sputum about the size of a pea in a test-tube. Half fill the 
tube with a 2J per cent, alcoholic solution of sublimate, shake until 
the sputum is broken up into fine lumps ; then allow to stand for 2 or 
3 minutes. Decant off the fluid and wash the lumps with distilled water, 
after which stain with Ehrlich-Biondi solution for 5-6 minutes. Excess 
of colour is next removed by washing again in distilled water. The 
whole procedure does not last more than a quarter of an hour. By this 
procedure pneumonic sputum rich in albumen is stained red ; mucous 
sputum a greenish blue ; the greener the sputum, the greater the quan- 
tity of mucus. The serous sputum of pleurisy is of a red-violet. 
Purulent sputum, rich in leucocytes, is also red- violet. Sanious sputum 
is of an orange-red, owing to the presence of haemoglobin. 
New Procedure for Staining Gonococcus.']* — Dr. Lanz dries the 
secretion on cover-glasses in the usual way. The covers are then 
placed for 1/2 to 2 minutes in 20 per cent, trichloracetic acid. 
Having been washed in water, the film surface is treated for 5 minutes 
with methylen-blue solution (30 ccm. water, 1-2 drops of 5 per cent. 
KHO solution, saturated alcoholic solution of methylen-blue until the 
mixture assumes a dark-blue hue). They are again washed, then dried 
and mounted in balsam. By this procedure the gonococci stand out in 
bold relief from the cells, which have been rendered transparent by 
the trichloracetic acid. The preparations may be contrast-stained with 
Bismarck-brown (1/4— 1/2 minute) after the methylen-blue. 
Bleaching Animals and Sections fixed with Osmic Mixtures.^:— 
Dr. D. Carazzi finds that the inconveniences of the chlorine or the 
peroxide-of-hydrogen mixtures are not to be found in his peroxide-of- 
sodium method. The compound has the formula Na 2 0 2 , and is a 
yellowish powder ; when put into water it is alkaline, caustic soda being 
formed. If, however, the water be mixed with acid, the soda combines 
with the acid ; mineral acids must not be used, but tartaric or acetic. 
Ten-per-cent, solution of acid is put in a vessel for animals and in a test- 
tube for microscopical sections ; add a small quantity of peroxide and 
slowly add 70 per cent, alcohol to the surface of the water; put the 
objects into the alcohol; the oxygen escapes from the water, rises 
quickly, dissolves slowly in the alcohol and bleaches the specimen. 
C 5) Mounting-, including- Slides, Preservative Fluids, &c- 
Mounting Small Objects in Cells.§ — Mr. W. Patten mounts a large 
number of objects under one cover, in perfect order and in any desired 
* Berlin Klin. Wochenschr., 1893. See Bull. Soc. Beige de Microscopie, xx. 
(1893-4) pp. 182-3. 
f Deutsch. Med.. Wochenschr., 1894, No. 9. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. 
Parasitenk., xv. (1894) p. 776. % Zool. Anzeig., xvii. (1894) p. 135. 
§ Amer. Natural., xxviii. (1894) p. 362. 
