Some introductory comments on silver staining

Silver staining has become a versatile method for the visualization of specific cell structures and products. The similarity of the impregnation "nuclei" of reduced silver staining to the silver "specks" or "nuclei" of the latent image in photography is noted. "Physical" development (reduction of ionic silver in solution) in silver staining as compared to "chemical" development (reduction of ionic silver remaining in a silver halide crystal) in photographic procedures is briefly discussed.