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On Mounting Opaque Objects with Bees-Wax. 

 By Henry Morland. 



(Bead August 27th, 1880J 



Although the plan of mounting certain microscopic objects with 

 bees-wax cannot be called a new one, having been in use to my 

 knowledge at least four or five years, yet I trust the few remarks I 

 can offer on this subject may prove acceptable to the members of 

 the Club. 



It is not my intention either to enter into a history of this method 

 of microscopic mounting, or to give details of the various plans 

 which I have seen or myself adopt, but to confine myself to one plan 

 only, the one which I find most useful for a variety of opaque objects, 

 and which, if properly carried out, will, I am sure, give every satis- 

 faction. 



To begin ab initio ; I procure bleached bees-wax in cakes, and 

 colour portions of tlie same by melting them down in an oven with 

 either ultramarine or vegetable black, and stirring the whole well 

 together ; after allowing the mass to cool, I have a stock of white 

 and coloured bees-wax with which to commence operations. 



Care must be taken not to use too much ultramarine, as any 

 excess will crystallize out on the surface of the wax, and spoil 

 any slides mounted with it. This remark does not apply to the 

 vegetable black, this latter ingredient being amorphous. 



To mount an opaque object, I take an ordinary thick tin ring, and 

 place it on a 3" x 1" glass slip with a piece of wax in the centre ; 

 then moving the slip to and fro over a spirit lamp, for fear 

 of cracking the glass, the wax gradually melts and forms a cup- 

 shaped bottom to the cell ; I then at once take the slip away and 

 cool it under cover to exclude dust. 



When cooling the wax-cell I always place the warm slide upon 

 metal or marble, as the quicker the cooling is elfoctcd the finer the 

 surface will be ; there is little danger of cracking the glass slip, as 



