[Histonet] Grocott's Stain...not my day today

[Kathleen Roberts]

Well, I decided to try looking into the borax first, in part because I 
found out that the person who made it up for me used boric acid rather 
than sodium tetraborate  (we didn't have any of that, hence the boric 
acid).  So I got the sodium tetraborate from Sigma (cat no. 221732) this 
morning, and went to make up the 5% borax solution....

it won't go into solution.  :::sigh:::

There is nothing in the AFIP protocol about making it up, other than "5g 
borax in 100 ml distilled water".  Any ideas or suggestions?  I tried 
heating it a little bit, but it didn't budge.  Should I try to shift the 
pH?  Return this stuff and get one of the decahydrates?  (If you do a 
search for "Borax" on Sigma's web site, you get a whole slew of items.)

Thanks in advance for any and all advice.  :o)

Feeling like I am losing my touch-
Kathleen Roberts
Neurotoxicology Labs
Rutgers University