SYNOPSISA freeze‐dryer is described which can easily be made at relatively low cost. A brief account of its operation is given. The various methods of dealing with frozen‐dried tissue for cytoplasmic studies are also described and a comparison made between the reliability of these methods and those customarily employed by cytologists in morphological (as distinct from chemical) studies of cells.When pancreatic tissue was frozen‐dried, fixedafterembedding, and subsequently stained, the cells and their inclusions were both inadequately preserved and stained. When similar tissue was frozen‐dried and fixed with formalin vapourbeforeembedding, the results were more satisfactory. However, in neither case was the quality as good as that obtained using customary cytological methods.An alternative procedure was therefore adopted. The cells were stained intra‐ and supra‐vitally before freeze‐drying, embedded in paraffin wax, cleared in xylene, and mounted in Canada balsam. When examined with a Baker interference microscope, cells so treated were found to be stained and excellen