BILBERRY JUICE                89

of water; or for a few hours in a solution of 1  30 or 1  50.
Mount in balsam.
For spinal cord.
108a. Bilberry Juice (Lavdowsky's method ').-Fresh berries
of Vaccinium myrtillus (the common bilberry or wbortleberry)
should be well washed in water and the juice expressed and
mixed with two vols. of distilled water to which " some " 90
per cent. alcohol has been added. It is then heated for a
short time and filtered warm. For use, a small quantity
should be diluted with two or three vols. of distilled water.
The stain gives a red colour with fresh neutral objects, or
lilac when the acid of the fluid is neutralised by an alkali or
neutral salt. The latter is the more durable. The stain may
be followed by eosin to procure a double stain.
It stains well the nuclei of all cells, and shows karyokinetic
figures " very plainly."
The reporter of the 'Journ. Roy. Mic. Soc.' criticises the
publication of this stain (which he considers to be probably
useless) as an instance of " the modern fashion of recommend-
ing every conceivable substance which by any chance will
furnish a stain." I consider the criticism unfortunate. A
stain that is capable of showing karyokinetic figures plainly
in fresh objects is certainly not useless, and it appears impro-
bable that so accomplished an histologist as Lavdowsky should
take trouble to recommend a useless process.
'Arch. Mik. Anat.,' xxiii (1884), pp. 506-8. 'Journ. Roy. Mic. Soc.'
(N.S.), iv (1884), p. 652.