40 



and he is now engaged in the perfection of machinery and apparatus by 

 ■which the proilucts in question may be made in commercial quantities. — 

 Journal, November 1902. 



A CHEAP DISSECTING MICROSCOPE. 



The following description and drawing ot a cheap dissecting raicro- 

 scope is taken from Prof. J. B. Farmer's Introduction to Botany. 



A hand-lens, with triplet combination, (costing about 3s. 6d.), can 

 easily be converted into a very usefnl dissecting microscope by raount- 

 ino- it in the way shown in the annexed fiuure. The bottle (B.) con- 

 tains shot in order to render it stable ; through the cork ptisses a stout 

 wire or knitting pin, W. On this a cork (C) slides stiffly. Through the 

 latter a second wire (W i) is passed, also sliding stiffly. The end is 

 turned up at right angles, and passes through the holes made in the 

 holder of the lens. In this holder is another cork (C i ) through which 

 the wire passes, and which serves to fix the lens firmly on the wire. 



Thus you have a lens, mounted on a firm support, capable of being 

 turned in any direction and nearly as serviceable as elaborate dissect- 

 ing microscopes. 



SOIL PROBLEMS IN JAMAICA. 



By H. H. Cousins, M.A., F.U.S. 



Government Analytical and Agricultural Chemist. 



The Director of Public Gardens and Plantations in his report to the Go- 

 vernment on a recent visit to the United States, published in the {Supple- 

 ment to Jamaica Gazette, *' made a suggestion as to the adoption of one or 

 more of the methods of the Soil Survey as carried out by the Division 

 of Soils under Professor Milton Whitney in place of those at present being 

 employed by the Chemical Department in Jamaica. 



I offer the lolbwing observations indicating that the problems awaiting 

 immediate solution in Jamaica are local and detailed rather than classifica- 

 tory and general, and that it is desirable for the present to pursue the 

 ■work onSoils in Jamaica in a manner to meet these conditions. 



* 15th January, 1903. 



