>Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 01:33:18 -0500 (EST)
>From: "J. A. Kiernan" <jkiernan@julian.uwo.ca>
>Subject: Re: fighting bacteria in smears
>To: Gayle Callis <uvsgc@msu.oscs.montana.edu>
>Cc: histonet@pathology.swmed.edu
>
>On Fri, 11 Jan 1980, Gayle Callis wrote:
>
>> ... dark ages, we always fixed smears for Gram stain
>> using heat, flamed the back of the slide in order to
>> fix the bacteria ...
>
>  As 5th-year medical students in 1964-65 we enthusiastically
>  fought the Good Fight, sadistically slow-cooking the
>  Enemy on a slide and humanely incinerating their colonies
>  on a platinum wire loop in the flame of a Bunsen.
>
>  Medical students these days get no such heady delights
>  as part of their education. Unless they pay extra in fees
>  to be sent to Darkest Africa for 3 weeks, they don't even
>  find out how to test for protein in urine by boiling it in
>  a test tube, adding some acetic acid and holding the tube
>  up in front of a dark background. I could go on & on, but
>  won't.
>
> John A. Kiernan,
> Department of Anatomy & Cell Biology,
> The University of Western Ontario,
> LONDON,  Canada  N6A 5C1
>
>

	Medical students, they had it easy. What about the poor technician.
Haematology. - 'Montgomery, role up your sleeve'.
Reproduction. - 'Montgomery, take this test-tube and don't come back until
it's full.'
Subject for demonstration during lectures. - 'Montgomery, no tight
clothing, good, come with me.'
E.M. - 'Montgomery, we need section manipulators, start plucking the hairs
from your nose.'
	I could go on and on and on. Human rights, let me tell you, when I
was a
boy the technician had no rights, we knew our place.
Ian.