On Thu, 28 Sep 2000, Jennifer Englin wrote:

> I read you response to the fatty tissue.  What is the recipe 
> for Lillies fixative ... 

  Lillie described several fixatives. The one most widely
  used is a phosphate-buffered formaldehyde solution in which
  the net osmotic pressure of solutes other than HCHO is
  slightly greater than that of mammalian extracellular fluid.
  Abbreviations like NBF are often used for such liquids.

  My humble opinion is that Lillie's best all-round fixative
  was his formalin-calcium acetate, which combines being 
  extremely easy to make (formalin, calcium acetate and water)
  with improved preservation of phospholipids (because of the
  Ca ions).

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