An automatically operating apparatus designed as a table-top apparatus for the reproducible production of cell or tissue samples to be examined and arranged on specimen slides comprises, located its center, a rotatably supported, advance device having arranged on its periphery a plurality of modular processing stations at a distance from the advance device. Receiving devices provided in the peripheral region of the advance device are disposed to receive specimen slides on which automatically segmented cell and tissue segments can be positioned in a reproducible and correctly aligned manner. The cell and tissue segments are durably fixed in position on the specimen slides with the use of a curable adhesive, and the specimen slides, after being delivered, are subjected to further treatment processes in a further treatment device.