94 



althougli I trust I shall be exonerated from any desire to make 

 pettifogging criticisms. The first is a note, on page 428, on the 

 authority of Mr. Cole, who says alcohol is useless for harden- 

 ing, because of the water contained i7i it. This is a very extra- 

 ordinary statement, and I will make no further comment. 



The second is one that has often been repeated in books, and 

 may be very misleading. In treating of aqueous media for exami- 

 nation and preservation of specimens, on page 442, reference is 

 made to " fruit juice." Now most ordinary people, on reading 

 this bare statement, would think it meant the juice expressed 

 from some succulent fruit, say plums. It is really a free and 

 ignorant translation by Mr. Bolles Lee, " Microtomists' Vade- 

 Mecum," of the Grerman " frucht-wasser " or liquor amnii, the 

 fluid in which the foetus is suspended in its mother's womb ; a 

 material not easily obtained by the generality of microscopists. 

 It would be equally accurate to recommend "eye-water," mean- 

 ing thereby aqueous humour, which was formerly used for the 

 same purpose. 



Mr. E. M. Nelson said he entirely agreed with Mr. Karop as 

 to the remarks he had made about the word " loup." He 

 believed he was responsible for its introduction, having taken 

 it from a catalogue and made use of it at a meeting in connec- 

 tion with a hand-lens. It was apt to be misleading, and should, 

 therefore, be displaced by those which more accurately described 

 the kind of lens or combination intended. 



The Chairman said they all knew and respected Dr. Dallinger 

 so thoroughly, that knowing also how well everything he under- 

 took was sure to be done, any oversights, such as those men- 

 tioned, were likely to appear the greater by contrast. The 

 special parts of the book which had been entirely written by Dr. 

 Dallinger were so well done as to be almost beyond praise, and 

 when they looked into the remainder it would be seen that the 

 labour involved was almost too great for any one man, and, 

 therefore, it was not surprising that other parts, which he did 

 not write, did not come up to the same standard, that having 

 to concentrate his attention upon the optical parts of the 

 volume some other parts should have escaped the same careful 

 treatment. Dr. Dallinger's extreme sensitiveness and un- 

 willingness to trouble others had possibly prevented him from 

 ctfclling in the aid of those who were specialists in particular 



