34— X-RAY AND ELECTRON MICROSCOPE STUDIES OF THE STAINING OF KERATIN BY SILVER

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Abstract
The X-ray diffraction of reduced Lincoln wool fibres containing silver taken up from silver nitrate solution is almost entirely confined to angles less than approximately 6° from the main beam. An analysis ofthe meridional reflections, whose spacings represent the 3rd to 10th orders of 198Å, by constructing a one-dimensional Patterson function, indicates that there is a probable periodicity of 25Å along the fibre axis. Silver, like osmium, is successful in showing up the microfibrillar texture in electron micrographs of thin transverse sections; and in fibres disintegrated by grinding in lithium bromide solution, microfibrillar sheets are observed in which the silver-stained matrix between the microfibrils has a pseudo-globular appearance. Both silver and mercury are taken up by the microfibrils as well as by the matrix, and neither appears to be a specific stain for sulphur.