Imbedding in elder pith, for cutting sections / by C.H. Golding Bird.

  • Cuthbert Hilton Golding-Bird
Date:
[between 1880 and 1889?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Imbedding in elder pith, for cutting sections / by C.H. Golding Bird. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    TOL. XT.—NEW SEE.] /£_ Imbedding in Elder Pith, for Cutting Sections. By C. H. Golding Bird, B.A., M.B., Lond., F.R.C.S.E., Hon: Secretary to the Medical Microscopical Society.1 Some time ago a paper was read before this Society explaining the modus operand! of section cutting after imbedding in wax; and taken as a whole, there is nothing in that process that is objectionable, nor is there anything wanting to allow of its being as perfect a method as possible of attaining the end for which it was designed. It is, therefore, not as a rival that I bring before your notice the process in elder pith—one known, perhaps, to some of you, though not generally adopted in this country; yet it pos- sesses certain advantages over the one in wax, and especially so where it is a question not only of imbedding, but of using a microtome as well. If held simply in the fingers without instrumental aid, pith will yield sections in most cases equal to those obtained by the more complicated wax method, and at a cost of far less time and trouble. In the histological laboratory of Prof. Ranvier, at the College de France, Paris, pith is the only imbedding medium employed for all varieties of tissue, and transverse sections of spinal cord obtained through its means I recollect as peculiarly good. The principle on which it depends is simplv the swelling of the parenchymatous tissue of the dried pith in the pre- sence of moisture, so that if placed dry in a rigid tube, as that of the microtome, with the tissue to be cut let into its centre, the addition of a little water will in the course of a few minutes so cause the pith-cells to expand, that the specimen becomes immovably fixed. Sections are then very readily cut. Any microtome may be used for this purpose; but, as a rule, the English instruments have so large a bore that a great expenditure of pith is involved : hence I prefer the smaller instrument known as Ranvier’s microtome, the one alone used in the College de France.2 It carries tubes of three different sizes, and is intended to be held in the left hand of the operator, and not to be fastened to the table; and though, perhaps, a little more practice and manipulative skill are required, it has the advantage of so far yielding to the razor that the brass top need never be cut, while with a 1 Read before the Medical Microscopical Society, June 19, 1874. 2 This instrument is made by Verick, of Paris. The three tubes have the following diameters: 19 mm., 16 mm., 12 mm.