SELECTIVE "STAINING" FOR ELECTRON MICROGRAPHY : THE EFFECTS OF HEAVY METAL SALTS ON INDIVIDUAL BACTERIAL CELLS

The physical basis of contrast and image formation in electron micrography is considered in relation to the possibility of recording selective chemical effects on cell components. A technology of selective microchemical analysis, equivalent to differential staining, is suggested as practicable in electron micrography. Electron pictures of bacteria after exposure to salts of heavy metals have shown the bacterial inner protoplasm, but not the cell walls, to be selectively darkened; shrinkage, coagulation, or escape of protoplasm from the injured cells may result and be recorded in the electron micrographs. Recording of the action of germicidal agents on individual bacterial cells is indicated as one promising field of application of microchemical analysis with the aid of the electron microscope.