690 
SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
1 per cent, solution of osmic acid, may be used instead of the cyanin, but 
the results are not so good. 
New Application of Safranin.* — Dr. P. Kaufmann says that he has 
obtained surprising results with the following solution, which stains 
both the tissue and the micro-organisms, though of different colours, 
the nuclei being red and the bacteria and fibrin blue. After the 
preparations have been stained for two to eighteen minutes, they are 
treated as in Gram’s method with the iodo-potassic iodide. The solu- 
tion, which does not keep very long, and should therefore be freshly 
made, is composed of the following : — Alcohol 98-100 per cent., 2 grms. ; 
anilin oil, 0*5; aq, destil,, 30*0; gentian-violet, 0*25; safranin, 
1 • 25. Or the last three ingredients may be formulated thus : — 
25 ccm. of aqueous 5 per cent, solution of safranin, 5 ccm. of aqueous 
5 per cent, solution of gentian-violet, the anilin-oil and alcohol being 
afterwards added. 
New Syringe for Hypodermic Injection, f — M. Strauss has, by a 
simple modification of the plug of an ordinary Pravaz syringe rendered 
its cavity sterilizable by steam, dry air, or boiling. The plug is made 
of compressed elder-pith, and in case it should become too slack, the 
metal discs are screwed on to the piston rod, so that the intervening 
pith may be tightened up. 
Colonrability of Tubercle Bacilli.}:— M. G. Roux thinks that the 
reason why tubercle bacilli frequently fail to stain or exhibit such dif- 
ferences in appearance when they are stained is to be sought for in the 
degeneration of the anilin-oil used as mordant or in the method adopted. 
After obtaining a perfectly pure and recently made anilin-oil, the pre- 
parations of sputum showed numerous deeply-stained bacilli, while those 
stained with a solution made of old dark-coloured anilin-oil showed 
scarcely any at all. The author also notes that with Hermann’s method 
the bacilli appear thicker and more numerous than when stained by the 
anilin-oil or carbolic acid solutions. 
Phospho-Molybdic Acid Hsematoxylin.§ — Dr. F. B. Mallory 
recommends as a useful stain in the study of nerve-tissue a mixture of 
1 part 10 per cent, solution of phospho-molybdic acid, 1 part of 
haematoxylin crystals, 6-10 parts of chloral hydrate, and water to 100. 
Expose to sunlight for a week and filter before using. Discharge 
excess of stain, which acts in from ten minutes to an hour, with 40-50 per 
cent, alcohol, changing twice or thrice. Dehydrate and mount as usual. 
If the solution does not stain deeply, add more haematoxylin. 
Methods of Differential Nucleolar Staining.|| — Mr. Gustav Mann 
says : — “ As far as I am able to ascertain, Guignard % was the first to 
describe a differential nucleolar stain by a certain mixture of methyl- 
green and fuchsin, but he does not specify any proportion of admixture, 
* Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., ix. (1891) pp. 717 -8. 
•f Le Bulletin Med., 1891, p. 89. See Ceutraibl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasitenk., ix. 
(1891) p. 737. 
\ La Province Med., 1891, No. 4, p. 37. See Centralbl. f. Bakteriol. u. Parasi- 
tenk., ix. (1891) pp. 678-9. § Anat. Anzeig., vi. (1891) pp. 375-6. 
|| Trans, and Proc. Bot. Soc. Edinb., xix. (1891) pp. 46-8. 
f Ann. Sci. Nat., ser. 6, xx. p. 318. 
