HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE-G OS SI P. 



183 



slide are visible at once. The top slides rest on a 

 tray with a front ledge, and are prevented from shift- 

 ing by this ledge and the lid when the box is carried 

 about. All the shelves can be made of cardboard, as 

 they have little or no weight to bear, and are each 

 well supported by the partitions of the one below. 

 This construction lightens the weight of the box con- 

 siderably. If the shelves and sides Idc covered with 

 white enamelled paper, they will be less likely to get 

 dirt}', besides giving a pleasing effect. 



A box holding 35 slides, as in the illustration, would 

 be 9 in. long by 5 in. broad and 2 in. deep. 



The only spaces lost are those marked c and D in 

 <"'§• 153 • Ii^ ^ small box these could not well be 

 utilized ; but in a larger box I have made, these are 

 also filled with slides ; so that all the slides, 180 in 

 number, can be seen at once. 



I am indebted for the drawings to the kindness of 

 my friend Mr. G. C. Maile. 



Doubtless the idea is capable of improvement : 

 whether it has previously occurred to any one else, I 

 do not know, but I think the Irox has some 

 advantages over other boxes now in use. 



I have shown the box to jMr. Stanley, the optician, 

 Railway-approach, London-bridge, who api:iroves of 

 the design, and expresses his intention of forthwith 

 making some of this pattern. Should any of your 

 readers not care to make them for themselves, he would 

 doubtless be able to supply them. 



A. W. Stokes. 



Lalwratory, Guys Hospital. 



MICROSCOPY. 



'INIOUNTING IN Damar. — Having had a similar 

 experience in mounting in damar to that related by 

 Mr. Williams at p. 148 of the July numlier, T will 

 shortly relate it. I had mounted some scales of 

 Eleagnus in damar obtained from Mr. White, of 

 Litcham, and shortly after the slides had been put 

 aside to dry, I found in all of them crystals like those 

 in fig. 136, which had the property of polarizing 

 beautifully. Mr. White could not explain the cir- 

 cumstance, but gave me another bottle of damar, 

 which has not hitherto deposited any crystals. 

 Whether damar contains any ingredient of a saline 

 character, or whether the solvent added to licpefy it 

 was not free from such impurity I cannot say. — 

 G.D.B., Ealing. 



White Copal as a Mounting Medium. — I have 

 seen much correspondence respecting the merits of 

 damar as a mounting medium, but have found great 

 difficulty in drying. This has caused me to look 

 around for something which would possess the ad- 

 vantages of damar without the great disadvantage of 

 its not drying. This I think I have found in the best 

 white copal. I should be glad if any of your cor- 

 respondents would try it and report thereon. — T.B. 



" Histology of the Island of Reil." — 

 Thoughtful microscopists will be delighted with an 

 aj-ticle in the last number of the Monthly Microscopical 

 Journal, by Dr. II. C. Major, Medical Director of 

 the West Riding Asylum, on the above subject. It 

 is a careful histological inquiry into the structural 

 peculiarity of the central lobe of the brain, called the 

 insula or "Island of Reil." It is that part of the 

 brain which appears earliest both in the human foetus 

 and in the higher apes. With the exception of the 

 Makis, no indication of its presence has been observed 

 in other animals. There are good grounds for be- 

 lieving that this part of the brain is connected in 

 an especial manner with the exercise of the faculty 

 of language. 



ZOOLOGY. 



The British Association.^ In the matter of 

 excursions, the Plymouth meeting of the British 

 Association, commencing August 15th, under the 

 presidency of Professor Allen Thomson, will be 

 notably attractive. There are very few localities in 

 the kingdom in and around which there is so much 

 to interest; and the object of the Excursion Arrange- 

 ment Committee has been to cater for all tastes, and 

 to give the widest range of choice. Plymouth itself 

 is a very pleasant town, with its wide streets, de- 

 lightful suburbs, magnificent Guildhall, and its 

 famous promenade, the Hoe, which overlooks the 

 waters of the broad Sound, with the Breakwater and 

 the Eddystone, and the lovely domain on Mount 

 Edgcumbe on its western shores. At the sister-town 

 of Devonport are the Government dockyards and 

 arsenals, which are open to inspection, while scores 

 of ships of war, of all kinds and sizes, stud the 

 Hamoaze — the estuary of the noble river Tamar, — 

 across the upper reach of which Brunei threw the 

 famous Albert Bridge. As is usual, two days are 

 allotted to excursions. Saturday, the iSthof August, 

 and Thursday the 23rd, are those selected ; and the 

 local executive have endeavoured to arrange the 

 shorter excursions for the Saturday, to meet the case 

 of those members who may be engaged in the sections 

 which will sit on that day, so far as is possible. One 

 of the chief of the Saturday excursions will be by 

 steamer to the Breakwater and the Eddystone, and 

 on the return round Hamoaze, passing the various 

 Government establishments. The Breakwater is a 

 mile in length, and two miles from the Hoe. The 

 Eddystone, Smeaton's great work, is built on a 

 reef thirteen miles from Plymouth, and has now 

 defied the waves and the winds for over a century. 

 It is possible that while in Hamoaze a visit may be 

 paid to some of the ships there. One of the most 

 interesting features of the excursion to Plymouth and 

 Devonport at the time of the Exeter meeting was a 

 visit paid to the Cambridge gunnery ship, to witness 

 what may be called the electric gun drill and torpedo 



