Abstract
This modification consists in heating suspected blood in a tightly plugged or sealed tube. Heating is best carried out by immersing the tube in boiling water. The reagents are those usually employed, i. e., sodium chloride and glacial acetic acid. Heating is continued for fifteen minutes, at the end of which time the tubes are removed from the water bath and allowed to cool slowly at room temperature. After cooling, the tubes are broken open and the liquid poured into a watch glass or small evaporation dish and concentrated over the water bath. When the volume of the liquid has thus been reduced to a few drops, it is poured on a glass slide and covered with a cover glass. If sodium chloride crystals appear under the microscope a drop of water will dissolve them and leave the observation of the hemin crystals unobstructed. The treatment with the hot glacial acetic acid in the closed tube completely decolorizes the material on which the stain occurs. Heating in the closed tube keeps the condition of temperature and strength of reagents constant. This method appears to yield larger crystals than those obtained by the old method.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.