Journal of Applied Microscopy. 



89 



may be preserved through long periods 

 of time. The legs are made of five-six- 

 teenths copper rod bent as shown by the 

 dotted line and riveted to the copper 

 sheet. 



The advantages claimed for this con- 

 struction over the ordinary form are: 

 (1) its rigidity, due to the folded margin 

 of the table and the strength of the leg 

 bars underneath; (2) its greater stabil- 

 ity, since it cannot be overturned by 

 anything less than a very violent motion, 

 whereas the ordinary form, such as 

 depicted on page 63 or 71 of this journal, 

 is decidedly unstable; (3) the diminished 

 liability to accident in transferring from 

 table to stand owing to the lessened 

 height; (4) the easier manipulation of 

 objects in dishes or trays upon it, since 

 the elbows of the student may be rested 

 on the laboratory table, and his arms 

 need not be raised so high to reach the 

 dish. And, finally, in my opinion, at 

 least, the form described here is both 

 neater and more graceful in appearance. 



Henry Baldwin Ward. 

 The University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 



April 23, 1898. 



DISCUSSION. 



Papers upon live subjects within the province of 

 the Journal will be printed over the author's 

 signature. 



Educational Value of Microscopical 

 Work. 



E. W. Claypole. 



Apart altogether from the knowledge 

 gained through the mictoscope and the 

 value of this knowledge in future and 

 professional life, there are advantages 

 which are seldom realized before and 

 which are often forgotten after going 

 through a course of microscopical work. 

 I refer to the unconscious training of 

 the senses and the fingers that results 

 from the work itself, independent of any 

 ultimate purpose. The actual knowledge 

 is chiefly of value to the professional 

 worker in one or other of the many fields 

 in which this instrument is now import-, 

 ant or necessary. But the other benefit 

 is common to both the professional man 

 and to those by whom no special use is 

 made of the microscope in later life, and 

 this is my reason for claiming in behalf 

 of this study an important place in gen- 

 eral education. Teachers are gradually 

 awakening to the fact that they have 

 gone on too long in the old way of culti- 

 vating the memory to the comparative 

 neglect of the other powers. The truth 

 has been forced home upon them that 

 the education which they were giving 



was not an education that fitted the 

 young, as they should be fitted, for the 

 work of life. Good as far as it went, it 

 failed to develop the faculties evenly or 

 generally. There has consequently arisen 

 much dissatisfaction with existing 

 methods, and in response we see the in- 

 troduction of the kindergarten, the man- 

 ual training, and the laboratory course. 

 Of the first and second I cannot here 

 write save to say that they are most 

 important agents in the work of educa- 

 tional reform, and if carried out in spirit 

 and not allowed to subside into mere 

 routine, will ere long work important 

 and valuable improvements. But the 

 third of the three great innovations in 

 the old system of education, and that 

 pei'haps which has met with the most 

 opposition and has been attended with 

 the greatest success, the laboratory 

 method, is the one to which here I wish 

 to refer, only, however, to one part of 

 the subject, that in which the microscope 

 is the instrument employed. Other parts 

 are of not less value, but do not lie 

 within the scope of this note. 



I do not allude to the value of the 

 instrument as a means of fitting a man 

 to gain a living in one of those profes- 

 sions in which it is now indispensable. 

 This, as already admitted, is of vast 

 importance, but must be excluded for 

 the present. I desire only to emphasize 

 the value of microscopic work in general 

 education to those who never intend to 

 lead a professional life. Altogether, 

 aside from its monetary aspect, the work 

 itself is followed by certain manifest 

 and inseparable advantages. In the 

 first place, the neatness and care which 

 must be constantly present if good 

 results are to be attained, grow grad- 

 ually into habits. Attention to minute 

 details, everywhere desirable, here 

 becomes necessary. The eye grows criti- 

 cal and refuses to be satisfied with care- 

 less and unclean work. This reacts on 

 the mind and is in itself an education 

 of priceless value. Methods often sur- 

 pass results in practical life. It is not 

 too much to say that in a well-managed 

 laboratory the moral training superin- 

 duced by the very nature and quality 

 of the work is an element of the first 

 importance. This is said without preju- 

 dice to the results of study along other 

 lines. 



Again, the education of the hand is 

 second only to that of the brain and 

 eye. The clumsiness of many students 

 at the outset of a course in the micro- 

 scopical laboratory is one of the most 

 trying and vexatious impediments in the 

 way of their progress. Neglect of early 

 training is largely responsible for this 

 difficulty. Evils and defects that should 



