234 Journal of Applied Microscopy. 



one microscope, is so obvious as to need no emphasis here. In many of the 

 rapidly growing institutions, it is impossible to avoid " doubling up," a particu- 

 lar microscope and table being used by two students — at different times, of course. 

 When the numbers are large (as in general botany, where the number may be 

 from fifty to one hundred or more) it is necessary to keep the work fairly together. 

 For this purpose the material to be used during a period of a week or so is kept 

 in suitable dishes or jars, on a centrally placed table, and the sequence of the 

 successive " studies '' (" observations ") is indicated on the blackboard. I have 

 never liked the plan of outlining the steps in each study, but prefer to let each stu- 

 dent work out his problem for himself, aided of course by judicious suggestions 

 from the laboratory assistant. Each student is expected to do all the work con- 

 nected with the particular " study " in hand, and the assistant never does any 

 part of the work for the student. Doubtless less ground is covered by this practice, 

 but the student has learned every step of the work, and is able to repeat it in his 

 own laboratory when he he turns teacher after graduation. I have seen labora- 

 tories in which the sections were cut by the assistant, who distributed them to the 

 students ready for mounting, and I have known the assistant to accommoda- 

 tingly mount these nicely cut sections, leaving nothing but the drawing for the 

 student. 



Order in the laboratory ? Yes, there must be order, but it should be the order 

 which exists in a home, or a shop, or the salesroom of a business house. I like 

 to walk through my laboratory and hear the low talking of the interested work- 

 ers ; it is much more pleasant and conducive to good work than that class-room- 

 like silence which some advocate. The laboratory is a workshop in which each 

 man has a personal interest in the workroom, and like workers they work and 

 chat easily about what they are doing. 



In connection with the mechanical work in the laboratory, it must not be 

 overlooked that records must be made, and so one of the things to be insisted 

 upon is the making of intelligent notes and drawings. Meaningless notes are 

 almost as bad as none at all. So also drawings, even if excellently executed as 

 works of art, have no reason for existence unless they have a significance. The 

 mere making of a drawing has in itself little value, but it must be discrimina- 

 tingly made. It is the part of the teacher in charge or his assistant to help the 

 student to acquire the ability to distinguish what is worth recording in words and 

 lines from that which is meaningless and therefore not worth recording. 



Ch.\rles E. Bessey. 

 The University of Nebraska. 



When a carmine stain is to be used the results may be obtained quicker by 

 heating the stain. Place the watch glass containing the stain on a wire netting 

 over the opening of a water bath. As the water boils the heat of the steam will 

 cause the stain to penetrate more rapidly, with the result that the details of the 

 specimen are brought out more sharply. These results may be obtained only 

 with tissue which has been previously hardened. Those hardened in a solution 

 of chromate of potash to which a few drops of chromic acid have been added give 

 1 e best results. 



