László G. Kömüves, Ph.D. [hope all those accents and umlauts get through AOL 
for Mac] at COR Therapeutics in South San Francisco CA asks for the old Johns 
Hopkins eosin mixture, which I posted on this list several years ago.

Bob Richmond
Samurai Pathologist
Knoxville TN
*********************
JOHNS HOPKINS EOSIN MIXTURE

PURPOSE:  To describe the rather well-known but poorly documented eosin 
mixture used at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the 1960's and 70's.

PREPARATION:

Mix together

Eosin Y (C.I. 45380)      3.6 g
Phloxine B (C.I. 45410)      1.5 g
Biebrich scarlet (C.I. 26905 )   0.3 g
absolute alcohol    150   mL
distilled water   120   mL

Shake or stir with a magnetic stirrer to dissolve, then add 450 mL more of 
distilled water.

STAIN: About 3 minutes for a routine H & E stain. Frozen sections are stained 
almost instantaneously. Dehydrate without returning to water, clear, and 
mount.

RESULT: This eosin mixture gives an extremely bright eosin stain, not to 
every pathologist's taste. Myelin sheaths are very clearly demonstrated after 
routine fixation.

REFERENCES:

Donald Myers, chief histotechnologist, Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins 
Hospital, about 1968. [He died in the early 1990's.] He may have invented 
this stain mixture, which has probably never been formally published. 
Procedure written by Robert S. Richmond, M.D., F.C.A.P.