Rabbit cerebellum

Polarised light micrograph of a section of rabbit cerebellum. This Victorian slide mount was made by Professor Karl Thiersch in Leipzig in the 1860s. Blood vessels were injected with dye (carmine; black) before fixing and sectioning the tissue in order to visualise even the finest capillaries whilst leaving the rest of the brain tissue almost transparent. This was a newly developed technique at that time. Composite of 74 individual images stitched together. Horizontal width of image is 20 mm.