HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE- G OSS IP. 



15 



The Monthly Microscopical Journal.— We 

 have received a copy of the November and December 

 number of this well-known journal, containing a 

 very brief account of the death of the late Editor 

 (Dr. Lawson), and a notice that the present number 

 is the last of the series, and that henceforth the 

 Royal Microscopical Society intend to publish their 

 own Transactions, after the manner of the other 

 learned societies. 



The " Spontaneous Generation " Contro- 

 versy. — At a recent meeting of the Royal Society, 

 Professor Tyndall referred to some hermetically- 

 sealed flasks opened on the Alps, which, he thought, 

 set this controversy at rest. Professor Tyndall 

 stated that he took with him last summer to the 

 Alps sixty hermetically-sealed flasks, containing 

 infusions of beef, mutton, turnip, and cucumber, 

 which had been boiled for five minutes, and her- 

 metically sealed whilst boiling was going on. The 

 flasks were kept for six weeks and were then 

 opened, some in haylofts and others near precipices. 

 The two groups of flasks were then placed in a 

 kitchen, where the temperature was from 65 to 

 90° Fahr. The result was that twenty-one out of 

 the twenty-three flasks opened in the hayloft were 

 filled with organisms, whilst all the flasks opened 

 near the edges of precipices remained as clear as 

 distilled water ! 



Sph/ERAPHIDES. — I have found the following 

 a very simple and efficient method for procuring 

 sphceraphides from rhubarb when not required to be 

 viewed in situ: — I take a piece of rhubarb and 

 separate the fibres into several small pieces, length- 

 wise, then allow them to remain for a few days until 

 moderately dry. If rubbed together over a sheet of 

 note-paper, the matter thus obtained may be collected 

 on a slide : it will be found to consist principally of 

 detached spharaphides. The few particles of fibre 

 may be easily removed with a camel-hair pencil. 

 They can then be mounted, when dry, as opaque 

 objects or in Canada balsam, as required. — W. H. 

 Harris. 



Birth of Vinegar Eels. — While occupied, a 

 few evenings since, with the microscope, examining 

 an eel from some vinegar, I was the fortunate witness 

 of an interesting event. I had, by the cap of the 

 live box, caused a sufficient amount of pressure to 

 keep the worm still, when a segment, about the 

 centre one, ruptured and allowed the egress of a 

 twin. The pair were, in all respects but size, pre- 

 cisely similar to their parent. I do not find any men- 

 tion of the like occurrence in Dr. Carpenter's very 

 excellent and interesting work, "The Microscope," 

 very little being written about Anguillulce aceti in the 

 chapter devoted to Ar.mdosa. — IV. H. S. 



The late Dr. Beatty. — We are sorry to notice 

 the death of Dr. Beatty, of Baltimore, at the early 



age of 40 years. Dr. Beatty was a valued contributor 

 to our pages, and microscopists are under a debt of 

 gratitude to him for the elaborate articles he pub- 

 lished in these columns on " Decolouring and Stain- 

 ing Vegetable Tissues." 



Cleaning Slides. — I have seen very frequently 

 in different books, plans, troublesome and awkward, 

 for cleaning the balsam off slides. Why do not people 

 just wash them with rectified naphtha? The balsam 

 is removed instantly. The hardest and oldest, when 

 thick, only requires the naphtha to be warm ; but all 

 that can be should be scraped off first. In this way 

 it is the easiest thing possible. I have used it for 

 slides and lenses for many years. — Edward Thos. 

 Scott. 



To Clean Old Slides. — The following has been 

 my plan for years, and is simple, easy, and effica- 

 cious : — Warm the slide over a spirit-lamp to remove 

 the covering glass which, place in a water-glass with 

 benzole. Scrape off as much as you can of the bal- 

 sam, or whatever it may be, from the slide, and 

 wash zvith benzole, and use an old silk pocket handker- 

 chief, which I dip into the benzole, a very little 

 of which is sufficient. — John Bramhall. 



To Preserve Glass Slips ready for Use 

 after Cleaning. — As it is most inconvenient to 

 make each slip chemically clean at the time it may be 

 wanted for mounting a specimen, doubtless most of 

 your readers clean a quantity (say half a gross) at a 

 time ; but then probably they have often, in common 

 with myself, experienced the inconvenience of their 

 again getting dirty before they are used, through their 

 lying about in a drawer or on the table of the laboratory. 

 To obviate this difficulty, I have recently adopted a 

 method which is simple, and, at the same time, so 

 effectual, that the slips may remain for months 

 covered with dust and dirt, and yet be clean and 

 ready for use whenever they are required. It is 

 this : — After cleaning, the slips are arranged side by 

 side, with their flat surfaces in approximation, when a 

 ready-gummed piece of silver or tissue paper,* 10 

 inches long by a width which varies according to the 

 number of slips, is affixed to their edges in the same 

 fashion as the sheets of paper in a drawing-block are 

 joined together, so that, although they are firmly 

 attached to each other by their edges, their surfaces 

 are left uncovered. The block thus bound is left to 

 dry, when each slip may be detached by running the 

 thumb-nail round its edges. The surface next the 

 adjoining slip should be used for the preparation to 

 be mounted as it is, of course, quite clean, although 

 the other (or exposed one) may have become dirty ; 

 the fragments of tissue-paper being removed after the 

 mount is completed. — J. W. Groves, London. 



* Any other paper is so thick that it is difficult to separate 

 the slips without the use of a knife. 



