Any exuded balsam may be washed away with benzole and a soft camel’s hair brush; then dry the slide with an old piece of linen cloth, and apply a ring of cement or Japanner’s gold size. Other methods for staining and mounting will be found to answer quite as well—that of Beneke’s is a useful one for staining connective tissue.
Fig. 237.—Mode of placing Glass Cover on Object.
For staining connective tissue a modification of Weigert’s method of staining fibrine is resorted to. Portions of tissue that have been fixed in alcohol having been embedded in paraffin and cut, the sections are detached and placed on glass slides, and stained for ten or twenty minutes with gentian violet, ten parts, well shaken with water 100 parts; filter, and add five to ten parts of a concentrated alcoholic gentian violet solution. Afterwards treat for one minute with lugol solution, of a port wine tint, dry with filter paper and decolourise with aniline xylol (aniline oil two parts and xylol three parts). Decolourisation having been stopped at the right point (judged from experience) mount the sections in xylol balsam. The fibres of the connective tissue should appear stained of various shades of violet.
Double Staining nucleated blood corpuscles. Two kinds of staining agents are required. Stain A: dissolve five grammes of rosin in half an ounce of distilled water, and add half an ounce of rectified alcohol. Stain B: dissolve five grammes of methyl green in an ounce of distilled water. Place a drop of frog’s blood on a glass slide, and with the edge of another slide spread it evenly over the centre of the slip, and put it away to dry; when quite dry flood the slide with stain A for three minutes, and wash with water, now flood the slide with Stain B for five minutes, wash again with water, and allow the slide to dry. Apply a drop of the prepared Canada balsam and a cover-glass.
Fig. 238.—Shadbolt’s Turn-table.
The blood of such mammals as are non-nucleated should be treated in a slightly different way. Spread a drop or two of blood on a slide and dry it quickly; then put the slide on Shadbolt’s turn-table ([Fig. 238]) and run a ring of cement around it; allow this time to dry, and then apply a second coating, and before this becomes quite dry place on it a clean glass cover, and press it down gently with one of the fine needles ([Fig. 229]), until firmly adherent.
Epithelium.—Remove from the mouth of a frog by scraping some squamous epithelium; the columnar must be taken from the stomach; place it in glycerine, or Farrant’s solution on the slide; apply a cover-glass, and with the point of the needle press it down until the epithelium cells are separated and spread evenly over the slide. Set this aside for a day or two, then wash away any of the medium which may have escaped; dry the slide, and run a ring of cement around the edges, on the turn-table. Portions of the intestine of a rabbit or other animal may be treated in the same way. If it is wished to make permanent specimens of such structures, the intestine must be hardened in a two per cent. solution of bichromate of potash for a couple of days, then washed until all colour is discharged, and removed to a solution of picro-carmine for twenty-four hours, after which allow the stain to drain away, when it will be ready for mounting.
By the aid of the handy little spring clip ([Fig. 239]), objects of delicacy when mounted may be left to dry and harden for any length of time.