Bruce,

If this is a temporary setup for staining and coverslipping, the room
itself probably does not have adequate ventilation. It was not set up for
this. See if some temporary arrangemnts can be made for ventilation.

Also in many of the labs that I have worked there has to be so many air
exchanges per minute to help with the ordor of Xylene and other chemicals.

If you switch to a Xylene Substitute you will still have ordors that bother
others, also, with Xylene Substitues you also have to adjust your timing
and other things to achieve the same results. These results may never be
the same as Xylene. If you have any questions feel free to contact me. Best
of luck!!

Mari Ann Mailhiot BA HT ASCP
Applications Specialist
Leica Microsystems
847 317 7267