Gum Dammar

Abstract

IN a valuable article in the current number of the “Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science” the Radcliffe Travelling Fellow alludes to the general favour with which Prof. Stricker and other eminent German workers, regard Gum Dammar as a substitute for Canada Balsam as a medium for the preservation and preparation of histological specimens. Mr. Mosely further points out an unfortunate mistranslation in the Sydenham Society's English edition of Strieker's work, in which Dammar firniss is translated Canada Balsam, and regrets that good Dammar firniss (Anglice dammar varnish) cannot be obtained in England, though the gum itself is sufficiently common. It so happens that I have made use of various home-made preparations of Dammar in preference to balsam for some time past. I have found that it not only is a substitute for the latter “torment to beginners,” but that it possesses many advantages over balsam, e.g. it is easier to use, sets more rapidly, and is above all clearer, more perfectly transparent, and more dense. Perhaps many of your microscopical readers will be glad to learn that a very good “dammar varnish” is made and sent out in a suitable form by Mr. Walter White, of Monmouth, to whom I am indebted for my knowledge of some valuable formulæ for its preparation.