Modification of the tissue bath on the Oxford Vibratome Sectioning System facilitates simpler and more efficient operation. The basic modification consists of the introduction of a small, approximately 25 ml capacity tissue bath into the larger bath provided by the instrument's design. Temperature in the modified system is controlled by using the instrument's large bath as an ice chamber. This modification allows better temperature control, easier retrieval of tissue sections, and more efficient use of expensive buffers, reduces the chance of section carry-over from one specimen to another, and requires less cleanup time. When it is advantageous to have the tissue in a large volume of solution, more efficient section retrieval and solution use can still be obtained by substituting a wire mesh collection basket for the small tissue bath, while using the standard bath in the usual way.