“…Of course, we do not know to what extent the fixative changed the mechanical properties and thus the spontaneous acoustic contrast, acting thereby as an acoustic stain. Nevertheless, recently, high contrast acoustic images were obtained from unfixed coffee beans (Kolodziejczyk et al 1987) so that we can claim that fixation is not absolutely necessary; it depends solely on the aim of the study. On the other hand, it must be pointed out that dehydration of the specimen was not necessary for AM, which is a real advantage.…”