Cellulose, as it occurs in plant life, presents a variety of physical properties: sometimes it is soft, as in young plants, and again quite dense in older structures. This fact accounts for the varying results obtained when cellulose is subjected to the action of staining fluids, and whether the cellulose occurs in a nearly pure form, as in cotton fibre, or in the modified form of lignine or woody-fibre. Stains which readily attack young tissue have little or no effect upon it in its maturer form. It is of much importance, then, in the staining of fibres, as well as sections for the microscope, that the cellulose should take the stain uniformly. The staining of tissues may be effected in four ways. First, when the stain has sufficient affinity for the tissue to be retained by it without the intervention of any outside agent. Second, when the stain and mordant are mixed and applied to the tissue in one solution. These two are the simplest and easiest methods of staining. Third, when the tissue is first immersed in the staining liquid and then transferred to some other liquid which shall fix the colour upon the tissue. Fourth, when the tissue is first impregnated with the mordant, or fixing agent, and then immersed in the stain. The last method is the one usually followed in commercial works, and it is to be recommended in the staining of microscopical preparations which do not readily take the stain. _Nuclear Stains._--As in both vegetable and animal sections it is generally the nuclei which form the landmarks of the structure, so the most important class of reagents which are used in any of the branches of microscopical work are the “nuclear stains.” There are several of these stains, the most important of which is the hæmatoxylin, and when proper solutions are used the results are very satisfactory. Many formulæ have been given, but there are three only reliable, Delafield’s, Kleinenberg’s, and Ehrlich’s, in all of which alum is present as an ingredient; the idea being that the alumina forms with the colouring matter an insoluble lake, and so acts as a mordant. In _Delafield’s_ solutions a large proportion of alum to hæmatoxylin is used, and methylic alcohol (wood-spirit in the place of rectified spirit). For _Kleinenberg’s_ solution many different formulæ exist. Squire’s improved formulæ for both stains is given in the Appendix, “_Formulæ and Methods_.” Hæmatoxylin solutions stain the nuclei violet, and in order to change this into blue, the sections should be transferred to water taken from the house supply, not distilled water; but as the alkalinity of the water varies in different localities, a better and more uniform result is obtained by using a weak solution of bicarbonate of sodium (half a grain to the ounce).