ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 
665 
Differential Stain for Goblet-cells.* — Mr. C. Thom recommends 
that sections should be stained first in Mayer’s hsematein for 15-30 
minutes, washed in 70 per cent, alcohol, and then stained on the slide 
in a solution of Bismarck brown in 70 per cent, alcohol for a very short 
time. The mucus-containing cells pick up the brown, all the other 
cells are stained with hsematein. 
Method of obtaining a Black Reaction in certain Tissue Ele- 
ments of the Central Nervous System.f — Dr. W. F. Robertson obtains 
a black reaction with sections of central nervous system, by immersing 
pieces of tissue in a solution composed of 5 per cent, of formalin to a 
1 per cent, solution of platinum bichloride. The bottle should not be 
too tightly corked, as air must not be excluded. In from 1 to 3 months 
the piece of tissue begins to blacken. The immersion is continued 
for some weeks longer, and during this period the bottle should be 
more tightly corked, and if necessary the solution renewed. 
When ready for examination the piece is soaked in dextrin solution 
for some hours, then sectioned, and mounted in balsam in the usual way. 
The chief structural features revealed by this method are : — (1) fibres 
in the wall of intracerebral and medullary vessels ; (2) primitive fibrils 
of the protoplasm of the nerves; (3) certain granules in the nucleus 
of the nerve-cell ; (4) special cell elements. 
(5) Mounting 1 , including Slides, Preservative Fluids, &c. 
Method of Mounting Eungi in Glycerin.^ — Mr. A. Lundie meets 
the difficulty of expelling the air and properly teasing out the filaments 
when mounting fungi like Eurotium , &c., in the following ingenious 
manner. A piece of Eurotium is placed on a slide, wetted with chloro- 
form, strong glycerin added, and a cover-glass imposed. By heating 
the preparation over a Bunsen flame the chloroform is made to boil and 
so drive off the last traces of air. The bubbles of chloroform vapour, 
in passing out, scatter the hyphse and tease out tbe preparation, with- 
out breaking it up as is done when needles are used. 
Fixation after Methyl-blue.§ — Prof. A. S. Dogiel finds that in 
using Bethe’s || method of fixation, it is not only unnecessary but dis- 
tinctly hurtful to add hydrochloric acid to the solution of acid am- 
monium molybdate, and it is also unnecessary to add peroxide of 
hydrogen, or to cool the molybdate while the preparations remain in 
it. His modified formula runs as follows: — Place the sections in a 
5-10 per cent, solution of acid ammonium molybdate for 12-18 hours 
at a temperature of 17° to 19° C. ; wash in distilled water for half an 
hour, dehydrate, clear, and mount. 
(6) Miscellaneous. 
Flask for Preserving Fluid and Semifluid Nutrient Media.f — 
Dr. L. Heydenreich has given up cotton-wool as stopping for flasks, 
* Journ. Applied Microscopy, ii. (1899) p. 497. 
f Scottish Med. and Surg. Journ., iv. (1899) pp. 23-30 (2 pis.). 
x Trans, and Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinburgh, xxi. (1899) p. 159. 
§ Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool., lxvi. (1899) pp. 361-4. 
|| Arch. f. Mikr. Anat., xliv. (1895); Anat. Anzeig., xii. (1896). 
•([ Zeitschr. f. wiss. Mikr., xvi. (1899) pp. 149-56 (5 figs.). 
