Abstract: A method of gel electrophoresis carried out in a submerged gel mode in which the gel is a bed of water insoluble, transparent, cross linked gel, which has been formed by: dissolving a polysaccharide, including at least one linear polysaccharide such as agarose or hydroxyethyl cellulose, in a suitable solvent, such as water; adding a cross linking agent, which is not charged nor becomes charged upon contact with water in a pH in the range of about 2 to 11, to the solution; and incubating this mixture in a quiescent state to substantially simultaneously react the polysaccharide and the cross linking agent and to gel the reaction product into a bed. The polysaccharide is at least one linear polysaccharides, but that linear polysaccharide may also be admixed with other linear polysaccharides and/or at least one non-linear polysaccharide. Synthetic organic polymers may also be admixed in the cross linking reaction mixture.