I can confirm that glass coverslip manufacturers do use coverslips with a
dusting of fine glass particles to prevent their sticking to-gether.  I
obtained this information some time ago from the manufacturers themselves.

Jim.

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At 19:14 15/08/99 -0500, Gary W. Gill wrote:
>Jennifer:
>
>	Never heard that explanation before.  The "fine dust" is said to be
>produced by action of moisture on glass, which produces hydrochloric acid,
>and which etches glass.  It was for this reason that Clay-Adams introduced
>hermetically sealed cover glass cases with enclosed silica gel.  The latter
>finds its way today into individual boxes of cover glasses with teeny tiny
>silica gel bags.
>
>	Richard-Allan introduced the cleanest cover glasses around in the 1970s by
>cutting and packing them in environmentally clean rooms: positive pressure
>rooms, temperature and humidity controlled, HEPA filtered air, technicians
>in special suits, etc.  I don't know whether their cover glasses are
>manufactured in the same fashion today.
>
>	Larry Barnickel, an early Richard-Allan salesman, told me that one of the
>tricks of the trade years ago was for a salesman to go into a lab, spot a
>competitor's cover glass, pick up an ounce AFTER WETTING HIS THUMB AND
>FOREFINGER, allowing the moisture to wick between the cover glasses to
>cement them together, and then throw the mass on the countertop exclaiming
>how dirty they were!
>
>Gary W. Gill
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: MacDonald, Jennifer [mailto:jmacdonald@sach.org]
>Sent: July 26, 1999 10:47 AM
>To: histonet@Pathology.swmed.edu; 'Gayle Callis'
>Subject: RE: Inquiry on clean coverslips needed
>
>
>A few years ago I was told that fine glass dust is used to keep the
>coverglass from sticking to each other.  This was for automatic
>coverslipping instruments.
>
>
>
>
>