Dear lone voice in the wilderness,
hey Ian why break with tradition?
We have also tended to add thymol (when we remembered). The eosin still seems
to be able to grow some things even with thymol added. We have then just
filtered and had no problems during staining. Thymol does make the eosin smell
a little better but then probably Chanel #5 would also, although a tad more
expensive.
I feel  that if you are using the solution within a few weeks that it probably
doesn't make much difference.
If my wife is reading this ...  I was just joking about adding the Chanel #5.
Barry

Ian Montgomery wrote:

> Just Curious. Was making up a batch of eosin this morning and as I added
> the crystal of thymol to prevent growth of bugs etc. (well, that was what I
> was taught  when I was a boy so I've always done it that way) I wondered,
> does anybody else do this or am I a lone voice in the wilderness.
> Ian.
>
> Dr. Ian Montgomery,
> West Medical Building,
> University of Glasgow,
> Glasgow,
> G12 8QQ,
> Scotland.
> Tel: 0141 339 8855 Extn. 6602.
> Fax: 0141 330 4100.
> e-mail: ian.montgomery@bio.gla.ac.uk