THE SUPRAVITAL STAINING OF VACCINE BODIES

Vaccine bodies in living corneal cells may be specifically stained by the addition of a small quantity of brilliant cresyl blue 2 B to the physiological salt solution in which they are being observed. Their appearance by this method (Figs. 3 to 17) corresponds with that seen in fixed preparations (Figs. 22 to 42). Both lines of study reveal the existence of traces of similar material in unvaccinated corneal cells. As this increases in amount during the reaction, it behaves like an integral, cytoplasmic constituent of fluid consistency and shows no evidence of being endowed with any measure of independent vitality. The low grade of structural differentiation which it does exhibit, in living cells as well as in fixed tissues, is not suggestive of the presence within it of independent microorganisms. The material differs radically in its morphology and microchemical reactions from the granules observed by MacCallum and Oppenheimer in vaccine lymph.