> >     Perhaps there's an earlier description of this 
> fixative, by someone
> >     with an unpronounceable 5-syllable Russian name. I 
> haven't checked
> >     exhaustively and don't intend to. 
> 
>  Is that Tellyesniczky's fixative? (essentially formol/ 
> acetic/ alcohol)

IMHO Tellyesniczky is a Polish name, but I found a Kalman Tellyesniczky in
an Hungarian Journal, former head of the department of Anatomy at the
Semmelweis-Medical-School in Budapest (http://anatomia.sote.hu/indexe.htm).

Tellyesniczky Kálmán (orvos, anatómus, egyetemi tanár, tanszékvezető;
képzőművészeti anatómus, ma is használatos szövettani fix=E1ló szer
előállítója; Tellyesniczky János vízépítő mérnök =F6ccse; öngyilkos lett)
1868-1932.

For all of us who can read fluently Hungarian, 
BTW the recipe:

Telly's fixative solution
Tellyesniczky/Fekete

100 ml 70% ethanol
5 ml glacial acetic acid
10 ml 37-40% formalin

Those Americans tend to abbreviate anything... even names.

Another, very similar, is Gendre's fixative

80 ml 90% ethanol, saturated with picric acid
15 ml 37-40% formalin
5 ml glacial acetic acid

Hih