Dear Don,
it is both easy and cheap to make your own, and you can eliminate the
traditional chloral hydrate and do it even cheaper. Recipe follows:-
Haematoxylin (Certified or Certistain) 2g
Sodium Iodate 0.2g
Glacial Acetic Acid 15-20ml (depending on degree of progressive staining
required.)
Glycerol 300ml
Aluminum Sulphate 17.5g (or Potash of alum 25g)
Method dissolve alum in about 500ml water and then dissolve Haematoxylin,
(use  stirrer).
Add acetic acid and allow to mix.
Warm glycerol (Glycerine) in microwave so will pour easily, then add to
solution. Make up solution volume to 1 Litre with water.
When mixed, (even refraction) add Sodium Iodate last and leave to mix for at
least five -ten minutes.
Filter into well capped bottle and store in dark.
Stable for 2-5 years.
Staining time for frozen tissue, about 40-60secs, and about 2-4 minutes for
paraffin sections.
No chloral hydrate, cheap and easy to make, and totally non-toxic.
Regards Mike Rentsch (Downunder)
-----Original Message-----
From: RNAhybrid@aol.com <RNAhybrid@aol.com>
To: histonet@Pathology.swmed.edu <histonet@Pathology.swmed.edu>
Date: Tuesday, 29 June 1999 10:39
Subject: Mayer's Haematolylin


>Would someone recommend a Mayer's Haematolylin for use in frozen tissue
>(human skin) IHC counterstaining.   Donald Rudikoff, Mt Sinai, Dept of
>Dermatology
>
>