The microtomist's vade-mecum : a handbook of the methods of microscopic anatomy / by Arthur Bolles Lee.

Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The microtomist's vade-mecum : a handbook of the methods of microscopic anatomy / by Arthur Bolles Lee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    gradually 1 per cent, solution of hydroclilorate of cocain in water. After five minutes, tlie animals are somewhat numbed, and half a cubic centimetre of the solution is added, and the tentacles are caused to contract by irritating them with a needle. Ten minutes later the animals should be found to be dead in a state of extension. ’ This method is stated to succeed with Bryozoa, Hydra, and certain worms. 16. Morphia, Curare, Strychnin, Prussic Acid, and other para- lysing drugs have also been employed. 17. Carbonic Acid Gas has been recommended (by Fol, Zool. Anz., 128, 1885, p. 698). The water containing the animals should be saturated with the gas. The method is stated to succeed with most Coelenterata and Echinodermata, but not with Molluscs or Fishes. 18. Asphyxiation may be sometimes successfully practised. Terrestrial Gastropods are best killed for dissection by put- ting them into a jar quite full of water that has been deprived of its air by boiling, and hermetically closed. After from twelve to twenty-four hours the animals are generally found dead and extended. The effect is obtained someAvhat quicker if a little tobacco be added to the water. 19. Poisoning by small doses of some fixing agent is some- times a good method. Salvatore lo Bianco employs the following method for preserving Ascidioe in an extended state. A 1 per cent, solution of chromic acid acidulated with acetic acid is poured on to the surface of the water containing the animals, and allowed to diffuse slowly through it. The opera- tion takes four or five days (v. Garbini, Manuale per la Tech- nica Mod. del Microscopio, p. 168). Osmic acid, or Kleinenberg’s solution, is sometimes em- ployed in the same way. I have seen Medusie killed in a satisfactory manner by means of crystals of corrosive sublimate added to the water containing them. 20. Marine Animals are sometimes successfully killed by simply putting them into fresh water. 21. Warm Water will sometimes serve to immobilise and even kill both marine and fresh-water organisms.