Improvement of the butyl methacrylate-paraffin embedment.

The excellent butyl methacrylate-paraffin method as an embedment for light microscopy has been technically improved. More uniform and reproducible polymerization has been obtained by using a vacuum oven to degas the polymerizing mixture and to replace the air with nitrogen at 650 Torr. The amount of benzoyl peroxide required must be determined for each batch of butyl methacrylate. A teflon lined, reusable metal mold and a method of one-step blocking of tissues in preparation for sectioning are also described.