50 



'* Science Gossip " ... ... ... ... from the Publisher. 



"The American Quarterly Journal of)- 



Microscopy" I " *^^ ^•^^^°^'- ' 



** The American Naturalist " ... ... in exchange. 



" The Midland Naturalist " , „ 



"Annals of Natural History " ... ... purchased. 



3 Slides from Mr. F. Enock. 



2 Slides of Diatomaceae ,, Mr. H. Morland. 



6 Slides of Objects mounted in Copal •) 



Varnish 1 " Mr. Julien Deby. 



The thanks of the meeting were voted to the donors. 

 The Secretary made two communications on behalf of Mr. Julien Deby, 

 V.P. of the Belgian Microscopical Society ; one being " On Copal varnish 

 as a substitute for Canada balsam," and the other " On a new growing slide 

 for the examination of minute objects under high powers ;" the last-named 

 subject being illustrated by drawings upon the black board, and by the 

 exhibition of one of the slides. 



Dr. M. C. Cooke said that apropos to the subject of mounting in Copal, he 

 might mention that about ten years ago they had employed it in connection 

 with the work of the Fibre Committee ; also that some of the slides of the 

 bat's hair which he had presented to the Club some years ago were mounted 

 in Canada balsam, and others in Copal varnish. It was at the time of the 

 Fibre Committee a matter of conversation as to the relative merits of the 

 two fluids, the general opinion being that perhaps for some things Copal 

 might have an advantage. 



The Chairman thought it would be interesting to know if these slides 

 were still in existence, and if so in what condition they were at the present 

 time. 



Dr. Cooke did not knoAV what their present condition was, but he thought 

 they were all marked so as to distinguish them from the others. Copal 

 varnish kept fluid for a long time, and some slides broken several years 

 afterwards were found still to have the Copal in a fluid state ; and 

 this was also the case with one of the slides broken only a short time ago. 

 Mr. T. C. White said he was very pleased with the growing slide, which 

 he thought was ingeniously devised. He thought, however, that some of 

 the members might not know how easy it was to drill the hole in the slide 

 if they only went the right way about it. If they got a piece of steel, 

 gi'ound the end of it to a three-sided point, and made it perfectly hard, by 

 heating and dipping it in turpentine, they would find it qnite easy to bore 

 the glass. If they bored half-way through from one side and then began 

 on the other side the hole would break through as soon as the centre was 

 reached, and could then be cleared out with a small file. 



Mr. Hailes said with regard to the slides of bats' hair he believed that all, 

 or nearly all of them were still in as good condition as when they wei'e pre- 

 sented to the Club. A simple method of drilling glass was that of cement- 

 ing the glass to a piece of metal with shellac, the metal plate having a 

 hole through it of about the size required ; then if the tang of a file were 



