A NEW METHOD OF PRESERVING NORMAL AND PATHOLOGIC BRAIN TISSUE

Abstract

The gross specimens of normal and pathologic brain tissue employed for teaching and demonstration have certain disadvantages. They are usually preserved in solutions of formaldehyde or alcohol. A number of persons are so susceptible to the action of the former chemical that they cannot handle the material without gloves, while the rapid drying of the specimens preserved in the latter makes their close examination by any large number of persons at a time impracticable. In fact, the usual procedure is to view such specimens in the jars in which they are kept and to hand about the jars at meetings or in classrooms. The method perfected in the Neurological Laboratories of Columbia University obviates these disadvantages. The preparations are dry, and they possess certain esthetic qualities, so that instead of arousing in the examiner a sense of aversion they do the opposite—they arouse his sense of curiosity. The slight translucency