Can·a·da bal·sam

a yellowish liquid resin from the balsam fir, Abies balsamea (family Pinaceae); contains kinene and bornyl acetate; used for mounting histologic specimens and as a cement for lenses.

Synonym(s): Canada turpentine

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

Canada balsam

a commonly used microscope slide mounting material for biological specimens. It is miscible with xylene.

Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005

Canada balsam

A transparent resinous substance produced by the sap of the Canadian balsam fir and used to cement glass (doublet, beam-splitting prisms, the segment of a bifocal lens, etc). Its index of refraction is equal to about 1.54. It has nowadays been superseded by modern chemical adhesives.

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References in periodicals archive

Nematode - the samples were fixed with a hot glycerin alcohol and were mounted with Canada balsam.

Ectoparasites and endoparasites among Oreochormis Niloticus (tilapia)

A method for mounting small insects on microscope slides in Canada balsam. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 61: 783-784.

Thrips (Thysanoptera) collected from Solanum dulcamara (Solanales: Solanaceae) in Washington and Idaho

Specimens were preserved in 70% ethanol, subsequently dissected and slide-mounted in Canada balsam using the techniques described by Wirth & Marston (1968), and identified by comparing them with slide-mounted specimens, photographs of female wings in the Neotropical Wing Atlas (Wirth et al.

New records of biting midges of the genus Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) from the Yungas, Paranaense rainforest and CHACO ecoregions of Argentina

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