Section-Cutting: A Practical Guide to the Preparation and Mounting of Sections for the Microscope, Special Prominence Being given to the Subject of Animal SectionsMarsh, Sylvester
Science
Section-Cutting: A Practical Guide to the Preparation and Mounting of Sections for the Microscope, Special Prominence Being given to the Subject of Animal Sections
Marsh, Sylvester
Microscopy; Microscopy -- Technique
solution of chloride of lime (1/4 oz. to a pint of water) until they
become thoroughly bleached. They must then be soaked in a solution of
hyposulphite of soda (one drachm to four ounces of water) for an hour,
and after being washed for some hours, in several changes of water, are
to be transferred for a short time to methylated spirit. Some red
staining fluid is now to be prepared by dissolving half a grain of
Magenta crystals in one ounce of methylated spirit. A little of this
solution being poured into a small vessel of white porcelain (§ 14), the
sections are to be immersed in the dye for about thirty minutes. They
are now to be removed, and after _rapid_ rinsing in methylated spirit to
remove all superfluous colour, they must be placed in a blue staining
fluid made by dissolving half a grain of aniline blue in one drachm of
distilled water, adding ten minims of dilute nitric acid and afterwards
sufficient methylated spirit to make two fluid ounces. The sections must
be permitted to remain in this solution for a very short time only, one
to three minutes being generally sufficient, for as the action of the
dye is very energetic, it will, if too long exposure be allowed,
completely obliterate the previous coloration by the magenta. After
being again _rapidly_ rinsed in methylated spirit, as much of this as
possible must be drained off, and the sections put into oil of
_cajeput_, whence, in an hour, they may be transferred to spirits of
turpentine, and after a short soaking, mounted in balsam.
Footnote 18:
See a paper by Mr. Styles in the “Pharmaceutical Journal,” also
“Monthly Microscopical Journal” for August, 1875. [For a very
exhaustive paper on this subject by the late Dr. Beatty, of Baltimore,
Md., see “American Journal of Microscopy” for June, 1876.
If the student will carefully carry out the above process, his trouble
will be amply repaid by the beautiful results obtained, for by its means
he may, with ease, prepare for himself a series of slides of such value
as to constitute a worthy addition to his cabinet.
The preceding list by no means represents all the objects, sections of
which will be found interesting to the microscopic student. Such was not
its purpose—had it been so, the enumeration might have been prolonged
almost indefinitely. The end in view was to bring under the notice of
the reader only those substances the cutting of which is accompanied by
difficulty; and even of this class the space at our disposal has been so
limited that we have been unwillingly compelled to pass over many, and
dwell only on such as possess a typical character.
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NOTES.
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NOTE A., Page 14.
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