Unfortunately senior administrators would rather have their salaries than
for us to have good books!!! One of the reasons Histonet is so valuable!!!
Thanks again Herb and Linda. J:>)
Joyce Weems
Pathology Manager
Saint Joseph's Hospital of Atlanta


	-----Original Message-----
	From:	J. A. Kiernan [SMTP:jkiernan@julian.uwo.ca]
	Sent:	Wednesday, February 16, 2000 2:03 AM
	To:	AndreaH@imclone.com
	Cc:	HistoNet Server
	Subject:	Formaldehyde, Authority, and Re: FLT-1/FLK-1 ISH

	On Tue, 15 Feb 2000 AndreaH@imclone.com wrote:

	> I thought there was little or no difference between 4%
paraformaldehyde and
	> 10% neutral buffered formalin.  Will a chemist step in and resolve
my
	> confusion??

	  I'm not a chemist, but know enough to assure you that you
	  are entirely correct in your thoughts about formaldehyde.
	  
	  All this has been the subject of dozens of HistoNet
	  communications.  Now the archives are again available
	  on the web, there's no point re-quoting the textbooks
	  yet another time.

	  The Archives are very good - well indexed etc - but
	  we must remember that this informal exchange of
	  questions and answers is not the font of eternal
	  wisdom. The only reliable sources of information are
	  peer-reviewed journals and textbooks (which cite the
	  journals, and also are quite severely vetted by their
	  publishers before being taken on as commercial risks).

	  Every lab doing histology should have a shelf full of
	  big textbooks (10 X $100 = $1000) and two or three
	  journals (@ $100 to 200 per year each: Max. $600 per
	  year). Total expenditure is $1000 statim and a few 
	  hundred a year thereafter. This is well below 1% of
	  the salary of some worthless senior administrator ...
	  (Perhaps I'd better say no more, having made the point.)

	 John A. Kiernan,
	 Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology,
	 The University of Western Ontario,
	 LONDON,  Canada  N6A 5C1