[Histonet] Re: bunsen burner at the embedding center

[jeff lowen]

yet here we are......how much of what they tell us is hyperbole?

> Date: Fri, 20 Sep 2013 14:50:24 +0000
> From: mucram11 <@t> comcast.net
> To: rsrichmond <@t> gmail.com
> Subject: Re: [Histonet] Re: bunsen burner at the embedding center
> CC: histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu
> 
> 
> 
> I actually knew the person you are speaking of and it was his favorite trick.  We should be careful these younger people are using gloves for everything now to protect themselves.  W hen I started in Histology even the pathologists cleaned the paraffin off their hands with xylene and encouraged everyone to do the same .  We used so many things that are now not even allowed to be open on this planet and did know how dangerous or serious the possible issues could be over time.  
> 
> 
> Pam Marcum 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bob Richmond" <rsrichmond <@t> gmail.com> 
> To: "Histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu" <histonet <@t> lists.utsouthwestern.edu> 
> Sent: Friday, September 20, 2013 9:35:55 AM 
> Subject: [Histonet] Re: bunsen burner at the embedding center 
> 
> I distinctly remember when I was a resident at Johns Hopkins in the late 
> 1960s that the histotechs would smoke while staining and coverslipping 
> without much ventilation. When I suggested to the chief technologist (who 
> later died of smoking related disease at 65, but at least he hadn't set 
> himself afire) that this wasn't such a good idea, he responded by stubbing 
> out a lighted cigarette in a Stender dish full of xylene (apparently you 
> can do this trick with gasoline also, but don't try it at home please). 
> 
> Buffering formalin was prohibited back then, and they removed the formalin 
> pigment by passing the sections through a concentrated solution (20 or 30%) 
> of picric acid in acetone. I'm glad he didn't try the cigarette trick in 
> THAT Stender dish. 
> 
> Fast-forward nearly half a century, and in the three labs I'm working in 
> I'm still grossing formalin-fixed tissue with minimal ventilation, but at 
> least people aren't allowed to smoke in the lab any more. 
> 
> Bob Richmond 
> Samurai Pathologist 
> Maryville TN 
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