Fixed in formalin, as pathologists prefer, tissue is useless for extracting nucleic acids and proteins.
Similar spots are produced on potatoes in America by the fungus Oospora scabies, and in both cases, if affected "seed" potatoes are steeped in a solution of 2 pint formalin in 15 gallons of water for two hours before planting, the attack on the resulting crop is materially lessened.
The more important of those in use to-day are carbolic acid, the perchloride and biniodide of mercury, iodoform, formalin, salicylic acid, &c. Carbolic acid is germicidal in strong solution, inhibitory in weaker ones.